Pat Burrell Hits DL; Giants Call Up Hector Sanchez
By Editorial Staff
Pat Burrell has been placed on the 15 day disabled list with a mild foot strain. To replace the slugger, San Francisco called up 21 year old prospect Hector Sanchez.
Burrell has been dealing with foot issues for some time now. Earlier in the year he was forced out of the lineup due to bone spurs.
Even though Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy says that the foot strain is unrelated to the spurs, it will have the same impact as Burrell will be sidelined at least two weeks.
As many other teams with ailing players do this time of year, San Francisco was hoping the break this week would allow Burrell to heal without hitting the DL.
But the Giants were forced to make the move as the foot hasn’t improved to their liking. Burrell had to be removed from a game basically every time he reached base because of the injury, depleting Bochy’s bench and making a trip to the disabled list the obvious choice.
Over his 80 games with the Giants, Burrell has posted an OPS of .760 with 17 extra base hits and 21 RBIs. Pat the Bat played left field and came off the bench as a pinch hitter for San Francisco.
Sanchez has witnessed his stock balloon this season, as he’s made the jump from High-A to start the year all the way to the majors.
In 42 games with the Giants’ Single-A squad, Sanchez posted a line of .301/.321/.511 with 8 home runs and 46 RBIs before moving up to Triple-A. There Sanchez’s batting average and OBP increased, but his power went way down.
Still, San Francisco thinks that he is well enough along to produce as a pinch hitter and occasional starter at the major league level.
San Francisco already has backstops Eli Whiteside and Chris Stewart, so Sanchez will likely not be seeing too many starts behind the plate.
It will be interesting to see going forward if Sanchez proves he can hit at this level what the Giants will do to keep his bat in the lineup. Sanchez has received many comparisons to Pablo Sandoval as a Venezuelan native that rose through the minors as a catcher. Like Panda, a position change could be in Sanchez’s future.
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