Pablo Sandoval, impressive rookie leaguers

Jason Grey - ESPN

When the Giants continued their youth movement by promoting three players from the minor leagues last week, the most intriguing name of the trio was catcher Pablo Sandoval.

I profiled Sandoval briefly in my Futures Game recap -- he played first base in the game -- and wrote about his hand-eye coordination, raw pop and plate coverage. The switch-hitter has a smooth, consistent stroke from both sides. He's a bit of a free swinger but covers the plate well and has done a better job of translating his batting-practice power to games this season.

Although Sandoval has played the corner-infield spots in the past, the 22-year-old began the year in Class A ball to work with manager Steve Decker, a former big league catcher. He can be a very useful offensive catcher if his weight doesn't cause any problems with his catch-and-throw skills. For a while he was listed at 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds even though he clearly was much bigger than that. In fact, my guess is that he's about 250 right now, so his future is likely behind the dish, but he could spot start at first base in a pinch.

He was promoted to Double-A just before the Futures Game, and he hit .350 with 20 homers and 96 RBIs in 112 games across the two levels before joining the big club, a big step up from .287 with 11 homers in a full season in high Class A last year.

His offensive profile is similar to new teammate Bengie Molina's, and fantasy owners will gladly take that. Molina is under contract for another season, and 2008 first-round pick Buster Posey is expected to move quickly through the system, so we'll have to see how this plays out. But Sandoval has made big strides this year.

• Speaking of Posey, I talked with a longtime Giants scout who has had the responsibility to see all the amateur catchers in the past three seasons. Granted, this scout obviously would be very pleased with the guy his team just drafted, but he added that Posey was the best catcher he had seen. That's not too surprising until you consider that Matt Wieters, who's in the Orioles organization, is included in that group as well. And yes, he'd seen Wieters extensively.

By the way, Wieters' stat line in his first season of pro ball so far: .348 average, 24 homers, 83 RBIs and more walks than strikeouts between high Class A and Double-A.