The Giants apparently feel that he is "over-matched" and needs more "seasoning." The organization feels that heading to Fresno will help him rebuild his "bat speed" and "confidence."
I say baloney. This was a numbers game and they made the tough decision based on a small sample size of MLB at-bats.
I don't think anyone's opinion of him as a prospect has changed. He still has excellent pitch recognition and approach. MLB pitchers have just found a slight hole in his swing and he hasn't made an adjustment to it yet. He played in 17 big league games and had 52 at bats. The hits didn't fall and he got off to a slow start and when the roster crunch came, he was held with the short straw.
I was surprised when he made the team out of spring and I wanted them to take the cautious route and wait until he had some more at-bats in Fresno to show that last year wasn't a flash in the pan and relieve some pressure that would come with the Opening Day nod. The Giants saw it differently. They thought he was ready for the Big Show and I thought it was a fair assessment. Now, they are not so sure and think he needs more time.
The way this happened wasn't anybody's first choice, but this was something that I saw coming and made me worried. This was the high risk, medium reward route and I think it has blown up in their face a little bit.
Hopefully this is just a minor set back and the struggles and the short leash won't get into his head.
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