PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 8, 2021
KEIZERTIMES.COM
#4 Pablo Sandoval
TOP 20
20
Volcanoes
players
of all time
Charles Krupa/AP
Pablo Sandoval played fi rst base and catcher early in his career before fi nding a home at third
base.
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Pablo Sandoval, AKA
the Kung Fu Panda, comes
in at #4 on the Keizertimes
list of the 20 greatest Volca-
noes players of all time. The
switch-hitting third baseman
has won three World Series
rings over his 13-year Ma-
jor League Baseball (MLB)
career and has been selected
to a pair of All-Star Games.
He also was the MVP of the
2012 World Series.
Sandoval grew up in
Venezuela and was fi rst no-
ticed by scouts as a 16-year
old in 2002. As a youngster,
Sandoval was a left-hand-
ed outfi elder, but eventually
learned to throw right hand-
ed in order to be an infi elder
like his idol, Omar Vizquel.
Sandoval was signed by
the San Francisco Giants in
2004 and began his career in
the Arizona Rookie League
as a catcher, batting .266 in
47 games.
The
following
sea-
son, Sandoval came to Sa-
lem-Keizer and proved to be
one of the top players in the
Northwest League. He was
second in the league in bat-
ting average (.330) and RBIs
(50) and had an on-base per-
centage (OBP) of .383.
Sandoval played full-sea-
son A-ball with the Augus-
ta GreenJackets in 2006,
batting .265 with 49 RBIs
as he split time at fi rst and
third base. In 2007, Sandoval
played advanced Single-A
and helped San Jose win the
California League title after
hitting .287 with 11 homers
and 52 RBIs.
Sandoval split time be-
tween Single-A and Dou-
ble-A in 2008 before he
got called up by the Giants
on Aug 13, 2008. In his fi rst
MLB at-bat, Sandoval hit a
sacrifi ce fl y. He wound up
getting his fi rst hit the fol-
lowing day against Mike
Hampton of the Atlanta
Braves.
On Aug. 27, 2008, San-
doval hit his fi rst homer
off of Liván Hernández in
the Giants 4-1 victory over
the Colorado Rockies. In
45 games, Sandoval hit an
impressive .345 with three
homers and 24 RBIs.
Sandoval was also giv-
en the infamous nickname
“Kung Fu Panda” by team-
mate Barry Zito after San-
doval scored a run against
the Los Angeles Dodgers by
jumping acrobatically over
the catcher — Sandoval has
been a heavy-set player for
his entire career.
Even though it was just
his fi rst full year in MLB,
Sandoval's best season came
in 2009. Sandoval led the
Giants in every major bat-
ting category, hitting .330
with 25 homers, 90 RBIs
and 189 hits, which were all
career-highs. Sandoval also
had career-highs in slugging
percentage (.556) and OBP
(.387).
Defensively, Sandoval was
the Giants starting third
baseman and backup catcher.
However, after an elbow in-
jury, the Giants relieved San-
doval of his catching duties.
Sandoval hit his fi rst grand
slam on July 6, 2009 off of
Sean West in a 5-4 win for
San Francisco. His 189 hits
on the season were the most
ever by a Giants switch-hit-
ter. He had the second high-
est batting average among
National League (NL) hit-
ters and fi nished seventh in
NL MVP voting.
However, Sandoval en-
dured a bit of a sophomore
slump, batting .268 with 13
homers and 63 RBIs. He fell
to eighth in the batting or-
der and was even benched in
the 2010 NL Championship
Series (NLCS). He made just
three plate appearances in
the 2010 World Series, but
the Giants defeated the Tex-
as Rangers in fi ve games and
Sandoval got his fi rst cham-
pionship ring.
Despite spending 41
games on the disabled list,
Sandoval had a bounce-back
season in 2011. He had a 22-
game hit streak that lasted
from June 19 to July 14. On
July 10, 2011, Sandoval was
selected to his fi rst All-Star
Game — he hit a ground-
rule double in his fi rst all-
star at-bat off of Brandon
League.
On Sept. 15, 2011, Sando-
val hit for the cycle, with all
four hits coming off Rockies
pitcher Jhoulys Chacín, and
earned his fi rst NL Player of
the Week Award.
In just 426 at-bats, Sando-
val hit .313 with 23 homers
and 70 RBIs.
Sandoval began the 2012
season with a 20-game hit
streak, which set the Giants
record for longest hit streak
to begin a season. Despite
an injury in May that caused
him to miss a month of the
season, Sandoval was select-
ed to his second straight All-
Star Game.
In the 2012 All-Star Game,
Sandoval hit a bases-clearing
triple off of reigning Amer-
ican League (AL) Cy Young
Award winner Justin Ver-
lander in the fi rst inning.
However, Sandoval head-
ed back to the disabled list
from July 28 to Aug. 13 with
a left hamstring injury.
On Sept. 20, 2012, Sando-
val became the sixth Giants
player to ever homer from
both sides of the plate in a
game. He fi nished the season
batting .283 with 12 homers
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In his fi rst full season in the majors, Sandoval fi nished in the top 10 for the NL MVP award.
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