The Giants made it clear they were
going to play Posey at first base for a lot of games this season, so that means
the backup catcher is going to play a lot of games this season. Given the
Giants terrible offensive production last year, the team needs all of the
offense it could get and Hector Sanchez gives the team that offense. Chris Stewart may be a good fielding catcher
but he can’t hit a baseball if his life depended on it. He only had a batting
average of .200 last season. Whiteside was not much better as he only batted
.218. Those numbers are not going to cut it for the Giants this season and
neither Stewart nor Whiteside are showing signs of doing any better this
season. Whiteside is only batting .250 in spring training right now and while
that average is okay for the regular season, it’s not for spring training.
Players usually post much better numbers in the preseason because they are
facing a lot of pitchers who will not even make a major league roster. So
Whiteside should be hitting a lot better than .250. Stewart is only hitting .242 in the preseason
so he also is showing that he struggles to hit against preseason pitching.
Sanchez, on the other hand, is one
of the hottest hitters for the Giants right now in the preseason. He is batting
.405, four homeruns, 10 RBI’s, and three doubles in 17 games this spring. I don’t expect those numbers in the regular
season but he certainly is playing better than Stewart or Whiteside and that is
what should matter right now. Even last regular season he batted .258 in
limited action which was better than Stewart or Whiteside.
Everyone says that Sanchez needs
more minor league seasoning before he makes the big leagues but I think he’s
ready. He’s 23 years old and that is when many players start their MLB
careers. He already showed that he can
hit in the minors when he put up good offensive numbers last season in Single A
and Triple A baseball. So I don’t think
he has much more to prove in the minors. Sanchez has to experience the majors sooner
or later so why not now when the Giants need offense? The Giants can’t wait to
get more offense. The offense has to be on the team now. The more players that can
hit the ball, the better the team is. When you can put on the field a player like
Posey and Sanchez at the same time, your offense is better than when you have
just Posey and Stewart or Whiteside.
Another concern that the Giants have
on Sanchez is that he will be catching for a great pitching staff and the
pitchers might not be comfortable pitching to him yet. I think that is
overrated. I don’t think the catcher has as big of an impact on a pitching
staff as people make it out to be. Do you really think Lincecum and Cain are going
to suddenly pitch like crap because the catcher is someone they are not use to?
The Giants had this same stupid fear, when Buster Posey came up to the Majors
in 2010. They felt that he would not do well with such a great pitching staff
so the team kept Molina around at the start of that season. But when Molina
struggled, Posey came in and took over and look where that lead the Giants: to
a World Series title. Who is to say that Sanchez can’t come in at a young age
and lead this strong pitching staff?
The
Giants veterans did not do their jobs on offense last year so now it’s time to
play the young guys. People like Brandon Belt and Hector Sanchez need to play
because they are playing the best right now in spring training. People like Huff, Stewart, and Whiteside need
to sit on the bench. They had their chances and they are proving they are not
going to hit the ball. The Giants cannot afford to have their best offensive
weapons in the minor leagues.
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