I don’t want to jinx him, but it’s clear by now that Pablo Sandoval is having a hell of a season. He’s running out a very handsome .329/.371/.531 .902 OPS line, with 28 extra base hits. That .329 batting average is second only to league leader David Wright for third basemen, and is the fifth best batting average in the NL. His .902 OPS ranks as the fifteenth best in the league, right between Chipper Jones and Hanley Ramirez –two of the best players in baseball– which is pretty good company.
Marc Normandin, at BP, has some nice things to say about Sandoval as well:
…. Sandoval is just 60 games into the year, but his line is very similar to PECOTA’s most optimistic forecast. He is currently hitting .329/.371/.531, with walks in 5.5 percent of his plate appearances and a .205 ISO. He’s become more patient, which is the kind of thing that turns someone with Sandoval’s contact skills into a dangerous hitter.
…. Pitchers have also begun challenging him later in at-bats now: he saw first pitch strikes in over 70 percent of his plate appearances last year, and is down to a more league-average 58.9 percent this season. This may be partially due to his hitting .345 with a .621 slugging percentage on first pitches last year. That success has carried over, as he’s hitting .350 with a .600 slugging percentage on first pitches in 2009. Starting him out with a ball on the first pitch hasn’t helped either, as he’s hit .398/.459/.682 following a 1-0 count. The only times that it seems like Sandoval struggles at all is when he is behind in the count with two strikes, but good luck making him sit still long enough to get there.
His only real weakness as a hitter right now is his lack of walks, something that perhaps isn’t easy to learn, but then again, hitting as well as Sandoval isn’t easy either.
All in all, for a 22-year old, he’s having a terrific season. Over the next year or two, it’s up to the Giants to figure out where to play him, and make sure he learns how to play there. My guess is this year is the last one he spends bouncing around, and he settles in behind the plate. My hope is that the team –are you listening, Sabean?– realizes that a player with this much offense in him needs to learn to play first or third base, so that he can focus on hitting, and not get beat up so much.
UPDATE: As of Sunday night, Pabo Sandoval is batting .338, good for second in the entire National League, and third in all of baseball. It should go without saying that the Giants haven’t had a player rank in the top of any offensive category since Superman was around, so, it’s an accomplishment worth noting.
His overall numbers, .338/.386/.543 with a .929 OPS are simply outstanding for a 22 year old, and without question, bode well for his future.
10 Backtalkers
I’d really hope they’d stick him at 3rd base. It would be pretty silly to put him behind the plate with Buster Posey (arguably either the #1 or #2 hitting prospect the Giants have) coming up in 2010/2011. He seems like a good enough pure baseball player to play 3rd without a problem, and it doesn’t block any prospects I’ve heard of, especially with Angel Villanueva leaning towards 1B.
With his size (5′ 11″/245Lbs) catching is the logical place for him. I would worry less about his being beaten up than having him eat his way out of baseball. The guy has to ba a food addict. Aside from that he is a potential hall-of-Famer behind the plate. You don’t put a guy like that in a corner indield position until it’s necessary.
Posey? The best thing about Sandoval’s season is it makes Posey expendable. No team can afford to keep two top calibre catchers on the roster. Posey right now has a high trade value even though he is essentialy unproven in single A. I think all of baseball overvalues him because he is unproven. Bundle him with one of those hot starters in AA and what can you get? Start with Hanley Ramirez maybe. Maybe not, but they would surely be worth a young impact player. And the Giants wouldn’t be giving up anything they need.
Catching is pretty tough on the body though, and most catchers will catch around 125-140 games a year due to that. With no DH in the national league, you might wind up playing musical chairs to get him in the lineup on the days when he gets a break from catching. I agree though, that staying in shape may be a bigger problem for him than the wear-and-tear from catching regularly.
The Giants may want to help him to improve his diet and conditioning. He’s putting up very good numbers for a guy whose peak years are still ahead of him.
Thanks for posting the BP article.
Always a good read when they recognize a Giant doing well and break down why.
My opinion is bring up Posey and find out what you have before you trade him. Leave Pablo at third-it solves 50% of the corner infield production problem the Giants have had for years.
Sandoval is indeed having a really good season thus far. And if you don’t think the numbers above are impressive here are the rest of the Giants production sans Sandoval
BA .249
OBP .288
SLG .362
OPS .650
And what did Mr. Sabean think of Sandoval as recently as Mar. 26, of this year?
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Sabean was less committed to Pablo Sandoval as the everyday third baseman, saying, “It’s tough to evaluate Sandoval yet because we’re not at the point where you’re playing guys two or three days in a row. That’s when you get a better read.”
Not clear is what would happen to Sandoval if the brass decided he could not be an everyday third baseman and not the first baseman. The Giants need Sandoval’s bat in the lineup every day.
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Hope Sandoval finds his way clear to mixing in some veggies along the way.
And more Sabean genius on April 1. (Appropriate) From Henry Shulman SF Gate.
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“They told relievers Brandon Medders and Justin Miller they were not likely to make the team. Both pitched well, but their nonroster status might have hurt them.”
“Instead, nonroster invitees Rich Aurilia and Juan Uribe will be the backup infielders. …..management wanted older and more seasoned reserves.” (in response to Frandsen, Guzman and Torres getting sent down)
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And just for grins. Speaking of “”seasoned”; Randy Winn is .102/.115/.136/.250 against left handed pitching in 27 games and 69 ABs. But he does lead the Giants in one category: Games played.
You cannot make this shit up.
Pure Fucking Genius.
Credit where it’s due.
Romo, Miller, Medders, Affeldt.
He recognized his mistakes and fixed the pen.
No question. What was spooky though, was that he was leaning towards Ramon Ortiz, Alex Hinshaw and Keiichi Yabu to anchor the middle relief spots and he changed up just before they broke camp.
Since you bring up the pen El, Joe Torre is wringing a lot out of the Dodger Pen. They have one complete game and trail only the Marlins in bullpen innings pitched. They’ve been very effective if you look at their w-l, era, baa, and ops against, but I don’t see them holding up through August and September at this rate. (235 innings in 69 games or 3.4 innings per game)
Compare this to the Giants (197 innings in 64 fewer games for 3.0 innings per game) One of the side benefits of Cain and Lincecum so far has been their ability to save the bullpen. This won’t show up now, but it could later in the year when all those relief appearances begin to take their toll.
For all of the media deification of St Joseph of Torre, he rides a bullpen really hard and has clocked more than a few relievers careers before their time. It could get pretty interesting if Ned Colletti has to start worrying about frying the arms of Belisario, Troncoso, Broxton, Mota, and Wade as the innings and appearances pile up.
As for games pitched in, Belisario is on pace for 83, Troncoso for 74, Broxton for 76, Mota for 62, and Wade for 55. And these are just the guys who are averaging more than an inning per appearance. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than watching the Dodger pen implode along about the middle of August.
Having said that, the first 70 games of above average bullpen work by the Giants hardly mitigates the damage created by letting go of Accardo, Corriea, Nathan, Liriano, and Aardsma, and signing Benitez, Walker, Messenger, and so many other doofuses over the years.
And that is probably the last time I am going to give Sabean credit for anything other than bearing a resemblance to Rosie O’Donnell–only with less facial hair.
Will the Thrill was 22 in his debut season (1986).
Good catch on Torre’s long history of ruining his pen favorites.
I too expect it to burn LA this year (or next).