Tuesday, April 24, 2012

What's with the start Hector Sanchez more movement?


Two Giants players who have gotten widely different reactions to the start of their seasons from the Giants.

Player A: .231/ .333/ .346, 102 wRC+ in 30 plate appearances

Player B: .280/ .269/ .400, 80 wRC+ in 26 plate appearances


Which one would you rather have going forward based on this very limited sample size? While neither seems to be running away with significantly better statistics you wouldn't really know it based on what is coming out of the Giants organization.

One of these players is getting talked about as playing his way into more playing time while the other has played his way toward less playing time and is being talked about needing to spend more time in Fresno. To me this makes almost no sense at all.

If you didn't guess the players yet let me reveal things for you, Player is Brandon Belt and Player B is Hector Sanchez.

I am a fan of Hector Sanchez, don't get me wrong. I think that his presence on the team makes them better considering that the other options were Eli Whiteside or Chris Stewart. He has the potential to be a decent hitter and seems to have done an adequate job defensibly in his limited opportunities behind the plate. Right now he is doing an excellent job as Buster Posey's backup.

I find it maddening that Sanchez is being talked up right now, it must be the .280 batting average because while he hasn't looked lost at the plate he isn't exactly hitting the cover off of the ball either.

I don't think that his stats or approach say that he is forcing the issue to the point that he should be pushing Posey from behind the plate to first base just to get his bat in the lineup more often. Sure if Posey needs more rest then give him more starts but not just for the sake of getting him more playing time.

Giving more starts to Sanchez causes a ripple effect that ultimately makes the Giants weaker and that isn't a good idea. One of the things that makes Posey so special is that he is a good hitter at a premium defensive position and to top it off is a very good defender. Moving him to first base decreases his defensive contribution and forces the Giants to move one of Huff/Betl/Pill/Schierholtz to the bench.

So the question is does Sanchez's bat plus the slightly more rested Posey makeup for not having one of the other guys in the lineup? I really don't think so at this point.

Sanchez will get plenty of time behind the plate giving Posey rest to keep him fresh but the Giants shouldn't go out of their way to give him time at the expense of players that make the team better offensively and defensively.

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