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It’s been 81 at-bats and almost four entire weeks since the Giants called up 22-year-old prospect Pablo Sandoval. In that span Sandoval has played nine games at catcher, 11 games at first base, and five games at third base. He’s also batted anywhere from third to seventh in the lineup, with most of his time spent in the five hole (29 at-bats) or the three slot (22 at-bats).  His stat line so far is .358/.375/.519 with 14 runs scored, two home runs, and 14 RBI.

Sandoval made the jump from Double-A Connecticut to San Francisco after spending 44 games there and 68 games in Advanced Single-A San Jose. His combined 2008 minor league stat line in 448 at-bats is .350/.394/.578 with 20 home runs and 96 RBI. This switch hitting multi-position player is proving that he can hit at every level.

With enough games played to qualify at catcher and first base in just about every fantasy platform. And with enough third base games to qualify in a few others, it’s hard for me to see a fantasy team right now who couldn’t use the kind of numbers Sandoval is putting out.

• Over the last month Sandoval is the third ranked catcher behind Joe Mauer and Geovany Soto.
• He’s the 13th ranked third baseman over that same period of time.
• He’s the 19th ranked first baseman over the last month.
• If you compare him to the rest of the fantasy league over the last week he’s the top ranked catcher, the #3 third baseman, and the #5 first baseman.

There’s a bit of buzz surrounding Sandoval as well.

• Jokingly, at least I think it’s a bit tongue in cheek, Grant at the McCovey Chronicles thinks that Sandoval could be the next Babe Ruth.
  

  After watching Pablo Sandoval spray the ball all over Mays Field on Sunday, I have the perfect new comparison: a switch-hitting Vladimir Guerrero who can play catcher. Wait, let me qualify that. Sandoval’s worst-case scenario is a switch-hitting Vladimir Guerrero who can play catcher. His best-case comparison is a switch-pitching, multi-position Babe Ruth.

• David Pinto, (of Baseball Musings fame) in a recent article for The Sporting News, says that fantasy baseball owners should be skeptical about Sandoval as his MLB sample size is small, but is generally high on what 2009 could look like for this youngster.
  

  Fantasy owners should be skeptical that performance over their minor league norms can last. Recent history, however, points in a different direction. Here are the numbers for three good, young catchers now established in the majors:

  Player averages tend to go down when making the transition to the majors as they face better pitching. That makes this list all the more impressive. The catchers in this group either held their own or improved over their minor league numbers.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 9th, 2008 at 9:34 pm and is filed under Catchers, First Basemen, Prospects, Rookies, 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.