Pablo Sandoval was spotted in San Francisco on Wednesday, but he wasn’t in town for a baseball game.
The 30-year-old infielder signed with a Minor League contract with the Giants on July 22 with the expectation that at some point, his former club would give him an opportunity to prove himself at the Major League level at some point this season.
While that opportunity still remains likely, the Giants aren’t ready to call Sandoval up just yet. Initially, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said the team hoped that Sandoval would get 40-to-50 at-bats in the minors before they would re-evaluate his progress, and after Tuesday evening, Sandoval now has 44 plate appearances to his name.
On Wednesday, the Giants talked about Sandoval’s future, and decided that before calling him up, they’d like him to continue to play on an everyday basis with the AAA Sacramento River Cats.
“Pablo is going to go to Omaha, he’s going to continue to play. Get his at-bats. When that right time comes, it’ll happen. But right now, we feel that it’s still important for him to get a lot of at-bats. He’s missed a lot of playing time. Not just this year,” Bochy said.
Since joining the River Cats on July 25, Sandoval is just 6-for-25, good for a .240 batting average, but he’s proven a willingness to work counts as he’s drawn five walks and boasts a .364 on-base percentage. On Tuesday evening, Sandoval hit his first home run for the Giants’ AAA affiliate, and though he’s produced stronger at-bats of late, the Giants want to see him demonstrate more consistency before Sandoval puts on the orange and black again.
“He hit a home run, I know that, he’s getting close, but it’s a little different up here,” Bochy said. “I’d just like for him to continue to play.”
The reason behind Sandoval’s appearance in San Francisco? San Jose Mercury News reporter Andrew Baggarly tweeted that Sandoval was in town to pick up his family from the airport on the River Cats’ off day.
Yes, he was. Picked up his family at SFO on Sacramento’s off day. Hadn’t seen them in several weeks. https://t.co/FegIxfZK1F
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) August 3, 2017