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If you’ve been paying attention to spring box scores from the San Francisco Giants club, you may have noticed Eugenio Velez, a 26 yeal old rookie who’s hitting .340/.353/.511 with a double, two triples, and a home run. Most importantly he’s stolen 9 bases in 16 games. Velez is turning heads, and causing Giants decision makers to scratch theirs.

Manager Bruce Bochy would agree. After the Giants’ 11-6 exhibition victory over the Diamondbacks, Bochy declared Velez has a real shot of making the 25-man roster. Not only as a bench player but as someone who “might force the issue, too,” meaning get in the lineup on occasion.

“If we want a lineup with speed in there, he gives you another dimension,” Bochy said. “This kid is fun to watch.”

• In 2006 in Single-A Augusta, Velez hit .315 with 14 home runs and 64 stolen bases.
• In 2007 in 114 games of combined AA, AAA and MLB playing time, Velez stole 58 bases while hitting .296.

If Velez makes this club out of Spring Training, but doesn’t earn a starting spot, you should keep an eye on him and see if does earn his way into a starting role. If he surprises and starts from day one, he’s going to be one of those players who could single handedly vault your fantasy team to the top of the stolen base leader board.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 9:51 am and is filed under Second Basemen, Sleeper Picks, Third Basemen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.