Saturday, April 02, 2011

Hensley Meulens dreaming about Giants future 3-4-5 hitters


As much as I would love to agree with Bam-Bam on this, I'm not sure I totally agree. The early returns on Belt are good. Posey shows no signs of succumbing to a sophomore jinx. But if Sandoval doesn't show less of an appetite for swinging at sliders in the dirt and fastballs above the neck, then all of his conditioning gains will be for naught.

The graph above and the commentary below from a Beyond the Box Score article compare Sandoval versus noted plate-disciplinarian Nick Johnson and the results speak for themselves. Granted the comparison was from 2009, but there doesn't seem to be much change in Sandoval's choice of pitches that he continually chooses to swing at.

A Yogi Berra or a Manny Sanguillen he is not. I don't think Sandoval can continue tossing away AB's in this manner and be anything more than a .260 or less hitter. And it may be fine to note the exceptions like Berra and Sanguillen who did have great major league careers with a similar approach, however that argument ignores the thousands of guys who took that approach and never advanced farther than AA. It's a losing approach long-term.

I hope I'm wrong on this, but I'm afraid I'm not. Sandoval needs a much more disciplined approach at the plate or he has little or no future with the Giants.



San Francisco Giants - Team Report - MLB - Yahoo! Sports:

"'We might have a chance to see those guys hitting 3-4-5 in the future, and they're all 24 or younger. They're a rare breed, and it's great to see. Possibly the cornerstone for the organization for a long time to come,'

—Hitting coach Hensley Meulens, on 1B Brandon Belt, C Buster Posey and 3B Pablo Sandoval."

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Graph of the Day: Plate Discipline (or not) - Beyond the Box Score:

"Of players who had at least 140 PA in 2008, Nick Johnson ranked lowest in swinging at pitches out of the zone at 10.0%. Pablo Sandoval ranked highest at 53.8%. These are their pitch charts on pitches out of the zone, red being pitches they swung at, blue pitches they took. For kicks, their contact rates on these pitches were 71% and 79.4% for Johnson and Sandoval respectively.

The 'strike zone' top and bottom is an average of the sz_top and sz_bot of all the player's PA per pitch fx. This is why it may look like some of the out of zone pitches are in the strike zone."


POSEY - BELT - SANDOVAL
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Giants Top Minor League Prospects

  • 1. Joey Bart 6-2, 215 C Power arm and a power bat, playing a premium defensive position. Good catch and throw skills.
  • 2. Heliot Ramos 6-2, 185 OF Potential high-ceiling player the Giants have been looking for. Great bat speed, early returns were impressive.
  • 3. Chris Shaw 6-3. 230 1B Lefty power bat, limited defensively to 1B, Matt Adams comp?
  • 4. Tyler Beede 6-4, 215 RHP from Vanderbilt projects as top of the rotation starter when he works out his command/control issues. When he misses, he misses by a bunch.
  • 5. Stephen Duggar 6-1, 170 CF Another toolsy, under-achieving OF in the Gary Brown mold, hoping for better results.
  • 6. Sandro Fabian 6-0, 180 OF Dominican signee from 2014, shows some pop in his bat. Below average arm and lack of speed should push him towards LF.
  • 7. Aramis Garcia 6-2, 220 C from Florida INTL projects as a good bat behind the dish with enough defensive skill to play there long-term
  • 8. Heath Quinn 6-2, 190 OF Strong hitter, makes contact with improving approach at the plate. Returns from hamate bone injury.
  • 9. Garrett Williams 6-1, 205 LHP Former Oklahoma standout, Giants prototype, low-ceiling, high-floor prospect.
  • 10. Shaun Anderson 6-4, 225 RHP Large frame, 3.36 K/BB rate. Can start or relieve
  • 11. Jacob Gonzalez 6-3, 190 3B Good pedigree, impressive bat for HS prospect.
  • 12. Seth Corry 6-2 195 LHP Highly regard HS pick. Was mentioned as possible chip in high profile trades.
  • 13. C.J. Hinojosa 5-10, 175 SS Scrappy IF prospect in the mold of Kelby Tomlinson, just gets it done.
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2019 MLB Draft - Top HS Draft Prospects

  • 1. Bobby Witt, Jr. 6-1,185 SS Colleyville Heritage HS (TX) Oklahoma commit. Outstanding defensive SS who can hit. 6.4 speed in 60 yd. Touched 97 on mound. Son of former major leaguer. Five tool potential.
  • 2. Riley Greene 6-2, 190 OF Haggerty HS (FL) Florida commit.Best HS hitting prospect. LH bat with good eye, plate discipline and developing power.
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  • 4. Reece Hinds 6-4, 210 SS Niceville HS (FL) Power bat, committed to LSU. Plus arm, solid enough bat to move to 3B down the road. 98MPH arm.
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2019 MLB Draft - Top College Draft Prospects

  • 1. Adley Rutschman C Oregon State Plus defender with great arm. Excellent receiver plus a switch hitter with some pop in the bat.
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