San Francisco Giants: Who's Hot and Who's Not in Spring Training

Spring Training is an excellent measure of how a team is currently built and will be built for the future.  Many teams will plug in their future stars and prospects into the line-up rotation just to see if they can measure up to the hype against professional players, granted it is only Spring Training baseball.


Good examples of this are the San Francisco Giants' substantial depth at the catcher position.  We have seen five catchers this year in Spring Training: Andrew Susac, Tommy Joseph, Hector Sanchez, Eli Whiteside and Buster Posey.

Posey is the obvious starter, but there is a nice battle between Whiteside and Sanchez for that back-up spot in San Francisco, as Sanchez is having one terrific spring so far.

Here are the three hottest Giants' players in Arizona and the not-so-hot Giants' players so far.



HOT

1.  Melky Cabrera

What a start Cabrera has had in Arizona for the Giants.  One of the newest Giants' acquisitions has been terrific at the plate, with an average of .433 this spring.

Melky Cabrera has hit safely in all 7 of his spring games this season. He also has 5 multi-hit games so far. #SFGiants

— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiantsFans) March 12, 2012

The main assets he brings to the ball club is hitting for contact and getting on base, and he has done both moderately well so far.  He leads the team in Spring Training with 13 hits, but we would like to see his .433 OBP to be a bit higher, especially in the spring.

Expect to be leading off come Opening Day.


2.  Hector Sanchez

Sanchez came into Spring Training with Fresno most likely on his mind and in his future.  However, after the spring he is having, he may be rivaling Whiteside for the back-up catcher role behind Posey.  It would be up to manager Bruce Bochy to decide if he would rather Sanchez get consistent at-bats in Fresno to start the season, but Posey will need some breaks from catcher this season to play first base.

Hector Sanchez just told me yesterday was the first time he ever homered from both sides in the same game. Surprised me. Said his power ...

— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) March 12, 2012

Sanchez is batting .444 this spring, with eight hits in 18 at-bats and already has eight RBI, which is in second place to only Cabrera (9 RBIs) for the team lead.  Again, Sanchez only has had 18 at-bats so far in Spring Training.


3. Brandon Crawford

The man with the smooth glove-work at shortstop has been doing extraordinarily well at the plate this spring.  He has seven hits in 18 plate appearances with six RBI, which is good enough for a .389 batting average.  The main thing here is that he has four walks out of those 18 at-bats, so i would assume his patience and eye at the plate is getting increasingly better.

Crawford only has one extra base hit this spring, but as long as he hits for anything above .260 this season, we should be calling him a success based on the defensive stability he brings to the left side of the infield.


4. Gregor Blanco

Blanco is making a great case for why he should be in San Francisco to start the season for the Giants.  He has been arguably the hottest player for the team so far this spring, batting .500 through 26 at-bats, which is tied for third on the team for most at-bats.

Blanco has speed around the base paths, with the team lead of six stolen bases, and he also has nothing to lose out there.

It will be hard for Bochy not to turn down Blanco has the fourth or fifth outfielder entering the 2012 season.



NOT

1.  Angel Pagan

The other Giants' acquisition this offseason has shown glimpses of what he can do at the plate, but he has also shown what the fans are already worried about.

He was supposed to bring speed to this Giants line-up, yet he only has the one stolen base.  He was also in a 5 for 22 slide this spring and is now hitting just ..269.

We should expect him to start picking up his game, but do not be alarmed to see him become the fourth outfielder to start the season.


2.  Pablo Sandoval

All the discussion about his weight entering Spring Training should be thrown out the window -- he looks great.  However, his bat does not.  He is now batting just .222 through 27 at-bats this spring with four strikeouts.

Of course, it does take awhile for Sandoval's bat to show up, but he is arguably the X-factor for this team this season.  His bat could do wonders for a line-up that will most likely struggle to bring runs to the plate again this season.


3.  Gary Brown

I am not sure what we were expecting Brown to do this spring, but it sure was not to go two for your first 11 at-bats to start Spring Training.

This is sure to be a wake-up call for the young player with promise.

He does have good speed on the base paths, which we have seen a few times this spring, but he just has not seemed to have an eye for professional pitching so far in Spring Training.  Look for him to improve on what he has not been able to do this spring.