Possible. But Crawford has not stunk up the field on D. He's a good shortstop.

It will be interesting. It's shaping up to be 2010 again except instead of a rookie, Posey, pushing the issue it may be the return of Freddy. That assumes he doesn't suffer another set back. During May teams traditionally start making decisions about players (maybe Huff in the Giants case) so we may want to keep an eye on the DFA list to see if any middle infielders become available who might be usable depending on how things shake out with Freddy, Crawford, Burris and Theriot.

How many times have you heard a player say defense is the first thing to come back, its the timing at the plate that takes awhile?

Man do we need to get more right-handed, too...

(I'm a Belt supporter, but I have no problem with The Pill getting AB's.)

As Grant over @ McCovey Chronicles pointed out, F. Sanchez hurt himself on pretty common baseball maneuver (diving for a ball); and his recovery has been slowed by the act of THROWING A BASEBALL...

It would be something if A) he made it back, and B) he didn't re-injure himself immediately.

Hey Cy,

I was at the SJG game tonight, and Sanchez swung the bat very well against a solid High Desert starter, LH James Gillheeney. His first AB, he drove a ball to the gap in left-center that was caught, and his second AB was a hard ground ball up the middle. He's covering the ball well.

Sadly, he and Ryan Lollis were the only guys who did anything, at all, at the plate in a 7-1 loss.

Regarding other prospects, Joe Panik didn't show much of anything, and Andrew Susac allowed a lot of low pitches to get past him.

That's about all there was worth mentioning from tonight's game. But I did get a seat right behind home plate, 3 rows back from the screen. $16.

LoneStar

Craw may be hitting .200, but he's still 3rd on the team in RBIs. Hitting in the 8 hole, that's impressive.

Hey Cy,

Yeah, Freddy's one hit came in a total clutch situation. San Jose hadn't produced a hit with RISP in what seemed like ages, and had managed to load the bases in the 6th. He smashed a two run single that triggered a 7 run rally.

The most painful/funny moment occurred with Sanchez on 3rd in the middle of the rally. The home plate umpire took a HARD tipped pitch directly to the cup. Sanchez flinched hard and got an "OMG, that's gotta hurt" look on his face as soon as it happened. To his credit, the umpire got through it and stayed behind the plate for the rest of the game.

Heard in the stands that Sanchez will report to Fresno this weekend, assuming no hiccups, and is planned to be ready to rejoin the club on 5/11.

As far as the game went...

Finally saw Panik do something at the plate, delivering a solid, long line drive hit. Defensively, he got eaten up on a short one-hop smash, kind of like the one that got Brandon Crawford in NY, but otherwise looked okay. Honestly, he looks more like a 2B to me, especially given what the club has in Crawford at SS.

Susac didn't allow any low pitches to get past him. The coaching staff probably talked to him about not getting lazy behind the plate, as 4-5 balls got past him on Monday night. Susac's body language was pretty negative in both games I saw. He seemed frustrated with how both he and the team are currently playing. He did get on base in the 7 run inning..he was one of three hitters who produced ground balls that were touched by IFs, but managed to get through. Three dribblers in one inning? The High Desert pitchers were losing their minds. Susac scored in the inning, showing off a stylish slide at the plate.

RF Ryan Lollis continued to be the one guy who appears to be completely dialed in at the plate.

LoneStar

Thank you for the great update lonestar! much appreciated!

Hey rcc,

My pleasure. It was fun going to these two games, but I'm heading back to Austin this afternoon.

The funny thing was that given where I was sitting, everyone around me were OLD time SJ Giant fans. As soon as I sat down, the people around me started asking questions to see how much I knew about the team, and the individual players that have gone through SJ in the past few seasons.

Once they realized I knew a little something, they were like..okay, he's okay, we can talk to him...;+)........

I didn't remember Johnny Monnell's name, though, when we were talking about all the catchers that have gone through the system.

But I got extra points for comparing High Desert's 3B to Chris Dominguez from the 2011 team. And a special note to chef...two of the old guys sitting around me were in awe of Dominguez' throwing arm....so there's that 80 you were talking about...;+)........

LoneStar

hah! that's great man. Then that means I wouldn't last too long in the stands because I'd be clueless... If they'd ask me questions, i would've been, "ummm... so how's the weather here lately LOL"

Panik is being groomed for 2nd base thats a fact... tks Lone..

I believe this interview is from 2 days ago. I gotta be honest, it doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence and I wonder what kind of possibility exists that Freddy's shoulder never really comes around.

When's he's asked about his shoulder he pretty much says that hitting is no problem but it sounds like throwing is still giving him problems.

At one point he implies that this rehab is intended to see if he can get the shoulder to come around. Usually a minor league rehab is more or less to get back up to game speed and get real game at bats. This one sounds like more of a test.

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