The San Francisco Giants are still keeping their hopes of making the 2023 MLB playoffs alive. Their chances should get better if Joc Pederson starts to produce in a much more consistent manner the rest of the way in the regular season.

Pederson's numbers have been down this year compared to his production in 2022, and that's despite the fact that he's doing a decent job at making powerful contact with the ball.

“I hit home runs in bunches, that could easily be 13 then 17 and then they just keep coming,” Pederson shared about his 2023 experience at the plate, per Danny Emerman of KNBR. “I’m not really worried about my power numbers. It sucks. Obviously I’d like to slug and hit more home runs, but that’s not always how the game works.”

Entering Wednesday, Joc Pederson only has 13 home runs through 105 games played in the 2023 MLB regular season. In 2022, he hit 23 deep balls in 134 games. Apart from that, he only has a 116 OPS+ after recording a 145 OPS+ a season ago. However, his hard hit percentage is nearly identical to the one he posted in 2022. Prior to Wednesday's game against the Cleveland Guardians, Pederson had a 52.7 percent hard hit rate — slightly better even than his 52.3 percent clip in 2022.

Although the Giants are going to need something close to a miracle to win the National League West division title that is seemingly already in the bag of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pederson and company are still in the thick of the race for one of the three Wild Card spots in the NL.