OAKLAND — On the same day the Giants decided to stand pat at the trade deadline and essentially guarantee their pool of potential big league players will remain mostly the same the rest of the season, Pablo Sandoval will wrap up the first week of his minor league redemption tour with AAA Sacramento.
Sandoval is set to play his seventh game in as many days for the River Cats on Monday night and will bat second while playing third base. Speaking to reporters ahead of Monday’s series opener against the A’s, San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy praised Sandoval’s performance and attitude thus far in the minors, possibly foreshadowing a call up in the not-too-distant future.
“He’s getting better swings now, yeah,” Bochy said. “He’s doing a good job at third. He has been great down there, from talking to (Dave) Brundage, their manager. He’s been upbeat, very positive, working hard. His timing’s coming around, he’s making better contact.”
Sandoval has five hits in 19 at-bats with Sacramento thus far, including a double and an RBI. Most importantly, though, are Sandoval’s four errorless appearances at the hot corner. The original plan for Sandoval’s progression was for him to get 40 or 50 at-bats down in the minors, and he is now about halfway there when including the nine at-bats he received in A San Jose before being promoted.
Jae-gyun Hwang is currently manning third base regularly for the Giants and has hit just .152 in 16 games. Between Sandoval and Ryder Jones, who is tearing it up in AAA and was praised by Bochy just yesterday, the position certainly figures to see some different faces in the coming weeks.
For now, Bochy is focused on his squad and will continue to monitor Sandoval from a distance. The good news for Sandoval is that Monday’s organizational inactivity leaves the landscape exactly the same as it has been since he signed with San Francisco. The path for his return to the Giants is simple and clear, and he knows what needs to be done. Based on Bochy’s comments thus far, it appears Sandoval is steadily climbing toward his goal.
“He’ll keep playing down there, and when we think he’s ready, you know, we’ll probably make a move,” Bochy said. “Like I said, there’s no guarantee, so we’ll see how his progress goes.”