Pablo Sandoval: The Chosen One

Pablo Sandoval's OPS+ right now is at 149 -- if he were to sustain it, he'd join some ridiculous company. It's far, far more likely that Sandoval ends closer to the league average than at a historical level, which would still be impressive. If you're not a fanboy, it's more likely, that is. But I'm a fanboy. Sandoval's the same age as a lot of the college draftees from last year -- Buster Posey, Justin Smoak, and Gordon Beckham -- but he's tearing up the majors right now. If that doesn't mean he's the result of a laboratory experiment to splice the genes of Tony Gwynn and Mel Ott, then I'm not sure if I believe in anything anymore.

Here's what impresses me more than the bucket of historical stats, though: Sandoval already seems like he's adjusted his approach. The first couple of weeks, Sandoval was swinging at everything. Even when he slumped to start the season, he hacked his way out. Then someone said something like, "Have you ever tried not swinging at pitches above your head?", and Sandoval thought, hey, that's a good idea. Since then, he's actually taking an occasional walk. If he walks twice today, he'll lead the freaking team in walks. That kind of makes me want to punch something, but it also makes me feel like Pablo has already improved in-season. Sandoval doesn't need to walk to be a great player -- he just needs to walk enough to make the opposing pitcher know it's a reasonably possible outcome for any at-bat.

Pablo. Pablo. Pablo. Pablo. Pablo. We've waited a long time for a homegrown hitter to excite us like this. I'll set the over/under at 3,000 hits. Next year, he could have even more.

McCovey Chronicles