San Francisco Giants: An In-Depth Look at Pablo Sandoval’s Pitching Debut

There’s no telling what will be seen on a baseball field, and on Saturday, we witnessed Pablo Sandoval’s pitching debut for the San Francisco Giants

Saturday was an emotional rollercoaster for the San Francisco Giants and their fans. The day started with Mac Williamson and Joe Panik hitting the disabled list, then followed with a 15-6 drubbing at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Game two looked like it would go the same way, with Johnny Cueto giving up three straight hits, including his first home run allowed on the year, to start the game, but he settled in and allowed the Giants to come back for a split. The day ended with more bad news, as Panik is likely headed for thumb surgery.

But the highest high of the day was, weirdly enough, at the backend of the loss in the first game of a doubleheader. Pablo Sandoval became the first Giants’ position player to take the mound in nearly 30 years, for the simple reason that they needed him to. Chris Stratton could only record four outs. Roberto Gomez threw 73 pitches, nearly double his heaviest workload this season, in 3.1 innings, and Derek Law threw 63 pitches, by far his most as a big leaguer, in three innings.

Sandoval’s inning, the only 1-2-3 inning Giants’ pitching would throw on the day, overshadowed Stratton’s worst start as a big leaguer. It overshadowed Alen Hanson hitting a massive home run over Triple’s Alley in his first at-bat as a Giant. It overshadowed all the bad things that happened before and during game one.

Most importantly, Sandoval’s time on the mound brought the life back to the team. With the Dodgers up by nine, the Giants’ dugout had no reason to smile. The fans in the stands had no reason to stand up and cheer. Until Sandoval toed the rubber, that is. This rare occurrence, especially for the Giants, gave everyone a reason to smile.

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And surprisingly enough, Sandoval was good! He looked like he had a clue on the mound, like he’d done this dozens of times in the past. He had no business pitching as well as he did, but he went ahead and did it anyway.

The inning started weird, which is saying something because it was an inning where the third baseman took the mound. The umpire crew made Sandoval trim the leather strings hanging off his glove, but that didn’t hurt Sandoval.

Max Muncy had the honor of being the first hitter to face a Giants’ pitching position player since the Houston Astros’ Casey Candaele, who popped out against Greg Litton, a utility player, on July 4th, 1991.  Sandoval’s first pitch was an 83-mph fastball that ran way off the plate to the outside.

That was a pitch that’s typically to be expected from a guy that isn’t regularly a pitcher. A low velocity, poor location fastball. Normally that’s a sign to buckle up for another long inning. Not this time.

Sandoval took his sign from catcher Nick Hundley, and fired in another fastball. This one, at 84 mph, was in the zone and Muncy chopped it to second base, where Hanson would throw on to first base for the out. Everyone was all smiles at that point. The crowd hadn’t stopped their boisterous cheering for their boisterous new pitcher, and the cameras showed Ty Blach in the Giants’ dugout, as well as Kenley Jansen in the Dodgers’ dugout, with grins they just couldn’t hide.

Next up was Yasmani Grandal, and Sandoval started him off with a pitch that surprised everyone. The third baseman broke off a curveball, a 69-mph beauty on the outside edge of the strikezone, falling in for strike one. Hundley didn’t even need to move his glove to receive the pitch.

Sandoval tried the pitch again twice in a row, but they both stayed away to put Grandal ahead 2-1. He came back with a fastball, peppering the corner low and away for strike two. Hundley, again, didn’t need to move his target for the 87-mph pitch. The fastball was the pitch choice on 2-2, and Grandal reached for the pitch away and grounded it to Evan Longoria, the third baseman who replaced Sandoval.

It should be noted at this point that Sandoval wasn’t fooling around on the mound. He threw his pitch, got the ball back from the catcher, and was ready to throw again almost immediately. He was working so quickly on the mound that it made Ty Blach look like a slow worker.

The third batter to step in against Sandoval was Chris Taylor, and Sandoval threw a pair of absolutely perfect pitches to start the at-bat. The first offering was a fastball at 87 that had a surprising amount of sink, which caught the bottom of the zone for strike one.

Next up, he went back to the curveball and he couldn’t have thrown it any better. The 70-mph hook kept diving away from Taylor, who could only swing over the top for the second strike of the at-bat. The next curveball wasn’t as perfectly placed, and Taylor fouled off the pitch in on his hands. Sandoval looked in for his sign, and when Hundley put down curveball, his pitcher shook it off.

Let’s think about that for a second. Pablo Sandoval is a position player pitching for the first time as a big leaguer. Nick Hundley is a major league catcher with 11 years and over 6,000 innings behind the plate under his belt. Sandoval shook him off. We’ve always known that Sandoval is a confident ballplayer, but that is a new level of confidence.

Sandoval wanted fastball, and he threw the fastball. This was another sinking heater that stayed down, and the pitch did its job. Taylor chopped it into the ground, and Kelby Tomlinson was able to make the throw on the run to complete the perfect inning.

Sandoval looked like a pitcher. He had a smooth, compact motion without extra moving parts. He followed through well, and put himself in a good position to field his spot after he threw. If this was your very first Giants’ game and you had no contextual knowledge, you could be excused for thinking that this guy is paid to pitch. He threw 11 pitches, eight for strikes, and for two minutes and 27 seconds, he was the Giants’ best pitcher of the game.

Next: Thoughts, Notes for Thursday's Off-Day

This was fun. Baseball is a game and it’s supposed to be fun, and this was about as fun as it could be as a fan watching their team lose 15-6. Manager Bruce Bochy continually talks about how Sandoval is breathing life into the clubhouse, and for one inning during a blowout loss, he breathed life into an entire stadium.