Surprise Player of the Year: Pablo Sandoval
Pablo Sandoval is currently second in batting in the NL and is hitting .333.
The Giants are currently hitting .262 which is the same exact batting average they had at the end of last season.
I was expecting to see some improvement with the Giants having the second best hitter in the league in Pablo Sandoval. He is currently hitting .333 and has been consistent all season.
Sandoval had 15 too many at bats in 2008 to qualify for NL Rookie of the Year in 2009.
For a player who has been 22 most of the season Sandoval has to be my surprise player of the year.
He is tied for third in hits with Ryan Braun with both having 148 hits. Most amazing to me is that he is fifth in the NL in extra base hits being tied with Andre Ethier with both players having 59 extra base hits. They are only 11 extra base hits behind the leader Albert Pujols who has 70.
His 37 doubles which is surprising considering he is 5 foot 11 and 245 pounds lead the NL.
The Venezuelan was 23 on August 11 and is in position to be a force for the Giants for many years to come.
He had hit 19 homers and drove in 72 runs. Sandoval is hitting .359 for the month of August showing he is not intimidated by the pressure of being in a pennant race.
After his first 30 at bats he had only five hits and was hitting .179. By the end of April he was hitting .307.
It was evident last season that Sandoval would be a power hitter. He hit 23 homers and drove in 120 runs at three levels. He started the season in A ball, advanced to AA ball and then played for the Giants hitting .345 in 145 at bats with the Giants.
There is no doubt that pitching has been the main factor in the Giants emergence as a contender in the NL West. However Sandoval has done his part to help the offense.
It is safe to say that we will be hearing the name of Pablo Sandoval for many years to come.
Baseball Notebook 
I could not agree more. Even being local, he flew under my radar as I wish I had him on my fantasy team this year. His nick name is “Kunf Fu Panda” from the kids cartoon movie and he has brought energy and some fun back to San Francisco after the departure of Barry “Mr Steroids” Bonds. The Giants are actually a fun team to watch this year and with a little more hitting, could be a real contender to go with their pitching.
The Giants really needed more hitting and Sandoval took some pressure off of Benjie Molina who was more or less the offense for the Giants in 2008.
The only concern longtime for Sandoval is being 245 pounds ten years from now but for right now he is keeping the Giants in the race along with some great pitching.
If only the Giants could clone Sandoval a couple of times. With the pitching that they have, that would be all the offensive punch that they would need. But having only one great hitter is not enough(example: Barry Bonds 2007)
That must be why they let Barry go after 2007 season. If they were going to lose anyway why pay him in the $20 million range? Aaron Rowand has 12 homers and 53 RBI’s for $9.6 million. He has of today 25 homers total in two seasons with S.F. after hitting 27 in his last season with the Phillies.