Are Injuries Hampering Sandoval's Power?

Pablo Sandoval is in a rut. The world must be ending, right? Because over his young five year career, the lovable “Panda” seemingly never falls into ruts in spite of his free swinging mentality. Well, Sandoval is in the midst of a rut which has included a broken hamate bone and a hamstring injury that often tightens up on him in the middle of games. With all of that said, his power is no where in sight.

It might not be gone for good, but he surely won’t be popping 25+ home runs per season, unless he tweaks his approach. And the likelihood of that happening is very, very small.

When Sandoval broke the hamate bone in his right hand, he missed over a month of action. It was like 2011 all over for Giants fans. But that wasn’t nearly the case as San Francisco rallied together and went 21-14 in his prolonged absence, large part due to Joaquin Arias’s exceptional play.

Sandoval proceeded to return in mid-June, and lasted 38 games before injuring his hamstring which ultimately put him back on the shelf. This time around, the Giants struggled without him, posting an 8-10 record. It became evident how valuable he was to a rather soft lineup.

The point is, Sandoval has yet to stabilize himself in the lineup. He’s never enjoyed a long period of games without having to nurse an injury. Believe it or not, weird trends affect a player’s performance. And bouncing from the DL to the lineup back to the DL is a weird trend for anyone, even Sandoval.

Maybe that explains his power outage. Seeing that he hasn’t hit a home run since July 8th which adds up to be a scattered 29 games, there is more than just one component in his power outage, however.  Alex Pavlovic of the San Jose Mercury News pointed out that Sandoval’s home run on July 8th was the last time a Giants’ corner infielder hit a homer. So the power slump is mutual between Brandon Belt and the “Panda”. Sandoval, though, has much higher expectations than Belt does.

 Assuming Sandoval keeps rolling at this woeful pace, ESPN projects him to finish the season with only ten home runs. That would be a career low by a pretty decent margin, but you also have to take into account that he’s on pace to finish the season with just 359 at-bats. That mark would be a career low too.

Sandoval has always been a relatively streaky home run hitter. In retrospect, he has never been a strictly “power” hitter. Manager Bruce Bochy stated that setbacks and wobbly timing are factors in his third baseman’s power outage.

“A couple of the setbacks he’s had with the DL has affected him. He’s streaky with that, too,” Bochy said. “His timing was off a little bit. Wasn’t staying behind the ball as he normally does.”

That makes sense considering the circumstances. But Sandoval is still going to struggle to consistently hit home runs because he’s naturally a free-swinger. 2012 has been nothing out of the ordinary in that regard.

On the other end of the spectrum, weight remains an issue for Sandoval. Before Saturday’s game against the Cubs, Bochy stated that he would like to see him drop a few pounds, but also noted that it would be hard to do so in the midst of a playoff race. For those of you who think that a little extra weight doesn’t hold a player down, you would be incorrect. Just look at what Sandoval experienced in 2010--- he barely touched the field during the playoffs because he was vastly overweight.

Simply, Sandoval’s power is certainly not gone for good. Once his nagging hamstring tightness fades, and all the minor injuries pass, a plunge in his power numbers wouldn’t be a surprise.

Posted in: Bruce Bochy,Joaquin Arias,pablo sandoval,San Francisco Giants