Burriss Named Starting SS for 2009

Or at least it is his position to lose: Merc's account.

Emmanuel Burriss is the first big winner in the Giants' youth movement sweepstakes.

General Manager Brian Sabean said Sunday that Burriss has made enough improvement in recent weeks that the starting shortstop job will be the 23-year-old's to lose when the Giants open camp next spring.

"He plugs that position as far as I'm concerned,'' Sabean said before the Giants' 11-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. "He's come a long way. He's more confident defensively, he's certainly done well with the bat — he's probably exceeded some expectations — and his arm's gotten better.''

Burriss is batting .358 (24 for 67) since mid-August...

Looks like he's learning from Carney Lansford on how to hit better. Plus, his defense was always a question mark coming up, some thought his best position would be 2B. But given the Giants plethora of options at 2B but paucity of options at SS (Bocock didn't hit well when he returned to the minors, in fact, he did extremely poorly at AAA; in the Giants season of "throw the jell-o to the wall and see what sticks" methodology to trying out prospects, Bocock didn't stick) as long as he is at least passable at SS defensively and can hit OK, he's got the job.

Also:

Burriss split time at shortstop with Vizquel for much of June and early July, but until recently his future appeared to be at second base. After more than a month at there, Burriss was in the lineup at shortstop on Aug. 29, and he's been the starter there for eight of the past nine games.

Asked if he feels like he's establishing himself as a major leaguer, Burriss said, "I feel like I'm working on it. They are putting me in the position to feel like that.''

Now the Giants are convinced he can handle shortstop. His development, especially as a hitter, convinced the Giants that he's a better alternative to seeking a free agent this winter.

So congrats to Burriss for his achievement, he has done very well since he got his chance.

SFGiants.com had their version of the events:

General manager Brian Sabean asserted Sunday that he's projecting Emmanuel Burriss as the starting shortstop as the offseason nears. The switch-hitting Burriss, 23, who has eclipsed 41-year-old Omar Vizquel as the team's primary shortstop, entered Sunday's series finale against Pittsburgh batting .355 (22-for-62) with eight RBIs in his previous 20 games...

Burriss' emergence will enable the Giants to focus more heavily on other priorities, most notably finding a power-hitting corner infielder. "You guys know the price of doing business in the market. You're not going to get a shortstop and solve your other needs, too," Sabean said.

Barely more than a month ago, Burriss was included among the crowded field of candidates for the second-base job. But since starting 24 games at second from July 27-Aug. 27, Burriss has made eight of his last nine starts at shortstop.

About the Giants 2B situation, Sabes had this to say:

Sabean was less definite about the Giants' chances of filling their second-base vacancy from within. Contenders include Eugenio Velez, Ivan Ochoa, Travis Denker and Kevin Frandsen, who's recovering from a ruptured left Achilles tendon.

"Franny's the wild card," Sabean said. "Anything he does this year, we won't critically analyze or evaluate. We're going to have to wait until Spring Training and see how it looks. Anything he does on the field, whether it's in instructional league or if we brought him up here for the end, would be a bonus."

The Merc added about the 2B situation:

Top among those needs is a second baseman. The Giants are taking a long look at defensively challenged Velez. Sabean said the club would not consider moving third-base prospect Gillaspie to second base in hopes of adding a power-hitting third baseman this winter, but said Kevin Frandsen will be in the mix even though he's missed the season with an Achilles tendon injury.

Interesting point here was the note about Gillaspie. There were rumors of moving him to 2B because it was feared that he won't hit or field good enough to man 3B. Obviously, with the call-up, he is getting his chance at 3B.

About Posey:

Sabean also sounded duly impressed after watching catcher Buster Posey play Saturday night with Class A San Jose in a California League playoff game. It was Sabean's first opportunity to see Posey perform in the flesh since the Giants selected him fifth overall in June's First-Year Player Draft.

"He was as advertised," Sabean said. "He caught and threw exceptionally well, threw a runner out easily, blocked the ball, caught third strikes." Sabean added that Posey demonstrated power, discipline and plate coverage while going 1-for-4 with an RBI single.

But Sabean said that the Giants won't summon Posey to the Majors, as they have done with third baseman Conor Gillaspie, their sandwich pick in this year's Draft.

"We've already got that position spoken for, at least for this year," Sabean said. "It would be counterproductive for the people here, not for him. He might have good experience here, but with Bengie [Molina], [Pablo] Sandoval and [Steve] Holm, there's no reason to experiment. We need to experiment more at third base."

Sounds good, plus Posey is a much larger investment, they are going to give him all the chance and time in the world to deliver value, whereas they didn't pay that much for Gillaspie, so they could be a little more rushed in evaluating him, because if he doesn't develop in three years, he's probably not the long-term solution there either.

Giants News of the Weekend

Just wanted to note some accomplishments:

• The biggest was Conor Gillaspie was brought up to the majors, mainly because he's a 3B and we really have no 3B other than Sandoval who is ready (apparently Rohlinger has not impressed enough in his time up here thus far). However, this does not mean that Posey will be up, as Sabean noted that we are full up there already with Molina, Sandoval and Holm. Some have noted that this starts up his clock on the 40 man roster, limiting him to getting up to the majors in the next three seasons. Frankly, if he isn't up by then for good, then he's probably not going to be that significant a contributor anyhow, he would be reaching the age (26 in his fourth year) where you become a non-prospect and given that he is considered to have advanced batting skills but is poor defensively, they should be able to figure out whether he's ready by then or not.
• Posey on the other hand, with a $6.2M bonus, is going to be given every chance to stick and make it, so there really is no use to adding him to the 40 man now and bring him up to the majors. Since he's in the neighborhood anyhow, he can come up and soak in some of the atmosphere when he has the chance. Meanwhile, his clock don't start up and he can make the majors on his own time. Yes, I understand the concept of sunk costs but that doesn't happen in baseball, if you spent the money, you try to get some value out of it.
• Nate Schierholtz hit his first major league homerun. He is like the 10th Giants rookie to do that this season, which must be some kind of record, I would imagine. I think it is a good sign that he's ready to do some damage up here, but we will have to see if he can continue it. But he's at least getting a hit each day, so I don't think Bochy will take him out of the lineup as long as he's doing that. As I've been saying for over a year now, we need to trade Winn and allow Schierholtz to take over as starting RF. I like Winn and he would be a good complementary player on a competing team but he'll probably be retired by the time we are competitive again, in probably 2-3 seasons (I think we have a chance in 2009 but it would take a lot of our young players delivering - Burriss, Sandoval, Ishikawa, Schierholtz, Lewis, Sanchez, Hinshaw, Romo, Wilson - for us to do that, which is not likely)
• Scott McClain had his second HR and he enjoyed it more, since it was in SF and helped to put us ahead. I should also note that he got his first HR ball back with no problem as the fan who caught it on the road immediately tossed it back on the field. I was deathly afraid that he would not get his, like Bowker whose first HR ball could not be bribed away from the fan even though he follows another NL team and couldn't care less about a no-name Giants rookie.
• Wow, I knew the offense could be good, but the Giants, led by their rookies, scored 10 runs in one inning in Sunday's game. Last time was like in 1997. As I said, if they produce as they appear capable of doing, then the offense should be good in 2009 but they would all have to consistently perform and right now that is a huge question mark. But dang, that felt good listening to them run around the bases and scoring at will!

September 2009 Call-ups: Standing Up

I've been fiddling with a large post on pitch count and, shame on me, didn't report on the call-ups for this season. Players who got the call-up in September, not in any particular order:

• Brad Hennessey


• Scott McClain


• Geno Espineli


• Nate Schierholtz


• Pat Misch


• John Bowker


• Steve Holm

In addition, Jonathan Sanchez was taken off the DL and put on the active roster. To make room for McCain on the 40-man roster, Guillermo Rodriguez was the guy who was released. Thanks, Guillermo, we hardly knew ye!

The young guys have had some bright spots this month. Pablo Sandoval has been the brightest and most consistently bright and has continued it into September, but also Travis Ishikawa has had a number of good moments (and big RBI games) and just had another one today. Burriss has been very hot, even hotter, hitting around 1.000 OPS over the past 7 days and past 14 days.

Among the actual call-ups, Scott McClain had a big day today, as well, including his first major league home run, which is great considering he has 287 homers in the minors (and counting) in 13 seasons. Nate Schierholtz followed up yesterday's 2 for 6 game with one run scored with today's 4 for 5 game with three runs scored: he's 6 for 11 now, with 2 doubles and 4 runs scored. It's nice to play in Colorado when you are a visiting hitter.

Augusta Pitching Coach Interview

Andy Baggarly had a nice interview with the Augusta Greenjackets' pitching coach, Ross Grimsley, focused mostly on Bumgarner. Here are key bits of information in that interview:

• Apparently the Giants tried to get him to change his mechanics, causing him to give up 10 runs over 11.2 IP in his first three starts. He returned to his old mechanics and had a 0.90 ERA in the 21 starts since then.


• About his extraordinary command, Grimsley noted: "...he’s around the plate and aggressive. He goes after hitters, as all our pitchers have done, and it’s been great to watch. That’s the first step in this process to get to big leagues: to have confidence in yourself to throw strikes while establishing your fastball to both sides of the plate."


• Grimsley compared him to other Giant's lefty pitching prospects: "At his point in his career, he’s further along than Jonathan Sanchez was, than Francisco Liriano was when they were here. He’s done better at this level, and that’s really impressive. The sky’s the limit."


• About Bumgarner's pitching: "He tops out at 95-96 mph and pitches around 92-93. That can vary depending on the situation of the game. When he needs to jack it up a notch, he will. He’s already got a good idea, and that’s what impresses me the most. He’s learning these things now, so when he gets to the big leagues, he can focus on the other things he’ll work on. I’ve always felt you don’t learn to pitch until you’re in the big leagues for two or three years. I think this young man will be there a lot longer than that."

Giants Thoughts


There has been a question over the years whether the Giants have any sort of pitching philosophy that is taught to our young pitchers, mainly because a number of them seem to have trouble finding the plate and end up walking a lot of people. The statement above is the closest I've seen about this from Giants management. I'll quote here again for emphasis:

He goes after hitters, as all our pitchers have done, and it’s been great
to watch. That’s the first step in this process to get to big leagues: to have
confidence in yourself to throw strikes while establishing your fastball to both
sides of the plate.

Not a big statement, but that's a start. Perhaps the problem has been that the Giants have focused more on the big strikeout guys who also usually have a problem throwing the ball over the plate and into the strikezone with consistency.


Also big to note was how dominating Bumgarner actually was, with is 0.90 ERA using his regular mechanics. That's Lincecum dominating when he was in the minors. Perhaps he can make the jump to the majors by sometime next season, that's what the Giants did with Sanchez, though in a relief role, but if the #5 starter is as crappy as he has been this season, it would not be shocking to see one of Bumgarner, Alderson, or Sosa up as the 5th starter if they are doing very well at the mid-season point in 2009.


About the call-ups, the major surprise to me was that Denker and Horwitz did not get the call. Maybe surprise is too strong, more like disappointed but understanding. The main thing is that the Giants are trying to evaluate Burriss, Ochoa, and Velez right now, leaving very little time at 2B for Denker, and any spare time at 3B will go to Sandoval, leaving no playing time for Denker, whereas the outfield has Lewis, Rowand and Winn probably seeing a lot of play still, with Schierholtz and Bowker needing a lot of playing time as well, particularly Schierholtz, leaving no playing time for Horwitz.


Besides which, it seems to be the same trait that is harming both players' chances to get called up now: neither one fields well enough to get their bat into the lineup. Denker is particularly bad defensely, making him a right-handed version of the guy he was traded for, Mark Sweeney. Horwitz appears to be a hitting machine who is passable in the OF, but without the power to warrant inclusion into the lineup, though he muscled up this season, and, oddly enough, wasn't much of a hitting machine up in the majors, but hit 2 HR in 36 AB.

I think both could become key bench players in the 2010-12 Giants, when we are hopefully returned to competitiveness and don't need to try out prospects in bench roster spots. They provide hitting and power from the bench, which is something every team needs, plus could be key if the Giants ever make the World Series and need a DH.


The outfield will be interesting, with Lewis, Rowand, and Winn wanting regular playing time, with Roberts also available, and with the Giants wanting to play Schierholtz and Bowker regularly (as long as Ishikawa is hitting, Bowker isn't seeing any time at 1B most probably). Yesterday, Rowand and Lewis sat so that Roberts and Schierholtz could play (Winn also played); today, Rowand sat so that Schierholtz could play (Lewis and Winn played).


With Schierholtz going 6 for 11, I don't see Bochy sitting him down anytime soon, so Winn will probably not start the next game, allowing Schierholtz to play RF. Besides which, the Giants know that they owe Schierholtz for not bringing him up earlier when all the other prospects got the call and yet he was doing really well too, they've been saying it is not fair since spring training, both Sabean and Bochy, so I expect somebody to be sitting down in most games to allow Schierholtz starting playing time, perhaps 3 out of every 4 games, much like how Frandsen and Ortmeier got their opportunity last season, plus that is about the frequency of LHP starting.


Speaking of which, Ortmeier also didn't get the call, but that's not too surprising as he did not hit well in the minors after he recovered from his injury. Had he been slugging the ball like, say, Sandoval or Ishikawa, he would be up here making playing time interesting at 1B and the corner OF positions. Given how well players in his possible positions are doing (Ishikawa, Sandoval, Lewis, Schierholtz), his window of opportunity to start is probably closed and his best bet would be a versatile bench player who can switch hit with power and speed to steal while playing 1B and the OF positions (he's manned CF a few times).


FYI, Buster Posey was promoted after helping the Giants win the Instructional League to Short-Season Salem-Keizer, which is battling for the Northwest League title again (third straight time if they can win again this season). Not sure how he did in instructional league, other than what I reported previously. Conor Gillaspie is also playing for S-K as well. Augusta and San Jose are also battling for league titles as well. The Giant's teams have been dominating the lower minors for a number of years now, hopefully such success will rise to the majors in short order.