Posts Tagged ‘Pablo Sandoval’

DeRosa walks…

Simply put: the 2009 Giants’ lineup was riddled with a lack of plate discipline that made the lineup look like 7 year olds at tee ball practice.  Pre All Star break, the Giants ranked dead last in walks and second to last in OBP in the NL. 2009 wasn’t new – we were also dead last in both categories for the 2008 season. Carney Lansford was fired and everyone from Damon Bruce to Joe from Stockton to your mom couldn’t shut up about our offensive woes.

When the trade deadline came along and everyone, including myself, clamored for that One Big Bat thinking Barry part deux was the solution. Winding up with a wounded Sanchez and a shackled Ryan Garko the situation only improved slightly after the All Start Break. Still we were anxious at the plate and getting mocked by opposing pitchers.

2010 off season – enter Mark DeRosa: the most important move we made in the offseason (besides the Timmy signing). While Aubrey Huff hits for more power (34/108/.313 at his peak), it’s DeRosa whose patience has contributed more runs to each of his teams’ efforts. A simple comparison: in 505 AB with the Cubs in 2008, DeRosa managed to score 103 runs compared to Huff’s career high of 96, also in 2008 (on 93 more AB’s). Another measure: that same year, DeRosa’s OBP of .376 was still higher than Huff’s career best to date of .367 (with 131 more AB’s – 636 in 2003).

After seeing the team in action this weekend (all 13 innings Friday!), it’s clear there has been a shift in how we approach the plate. While we have a lot of work ahead of us (the Braves’ Hudson and Kawakami each averaged 10 around 10 pitches per inning) we’re improving in this area, finally. Both Bowker and DeRosa took walks on Friday after being down 0-2. Huff’s walk ended up scoring the tying run Friday and despite our loss on Saturday, we cajoled Derek Lowe into a career high 7 BB’s. DeRosa is contributing much more than his .212 average would leave you to believe. He’s reminding his teammates that there are a lot of fish in the sea and not to get suckered by the first thing that worms its way into McCovey Cove.

The Giants are 3rd in the NL in OBP and 5th in BB’s and on to something with a 6-1 start.