A Look At Some Giants Hitters

• Nate Schierholtz is a 25 year old who stands 6-2, 215. The lefty hitter/thrower has a medium frame that is maxed out. He has slightly above average speed and is an adequate defensive outfielder, though is nothing special. He has a slightly open stance with hands held a little in front of him and little behind his back shoulder. He is slightly crouched and doesn't use batting gloves. His trigger is a stride and a cocking of the bat. He shows above average power, but not great pitch recognition. He appears to be another SF 4-A outfielder. He could probably provide 15-20 homers in an everyday role, but at the price of strikeouts and a low batting average. Could stick as a bench bat.
• Matt Downs made his major league debut tonight, the recipient of the 2B job now that Manny Burriss has been optioned to AAA. Downs is a 6-2, 190 pound righty thrower/hitter. The 25 year old has a medium frame that can add a little more muscle. He has an open stance with a little bat tap and holds his hands slightly in front. His bat is horizontal over his shoulder. His trigger is a double step (one to square himself up, another to start the swing) and a cocking of the bat. He shows a short, somewhat powerful swing. He has a slightly above average arm and decent range. Downs hit the ball hard each at-bat, but had nothing to show for it. He strikes me as a utility infielder. He has mostly gap power and is a doubles hitter and isn't a great defender, merely league average. He will get a chance to prove he belongs.
• Eli Whiteside got a pinch hit appearance and caught for an inning. The 6-2, 215 pound 29 year old is a righty thrower/hitter and has a medium frame that can add a little more muscle. He has a straight on stance with a little bat tap. He takes a leg kick and cocks his bat as a trigger. He is a back-up catcher at best. He will never hit for a ton of average and has modest power. He will strike out a lot, as his pitch recognition skills are somewhat lacking. The Giants are parading a cast of characters around as backup catchers (Holm, Alfonzo, Whiteside) as they wait for Buster Posey to make his long awaited arrival to the bigs.
• Edgar Renteria looked done to me. His bat has slowed and his range is nearly non-existent. He easily costs his team runs when he is playing SS.
• Pablo Sandoval made 3 errors, but he and Bengie Molina are the only real power threats in the lineup. The real question will be how to get them all in the lineup when Posey arrives?
• Travis Ishikawa pinch hit and struck out. Not a major league player and I don't know how much longer the Giants can have him take a spot on the roster.

LAA @ SF: Pitchers

• Jonathan Sanchez is a 6-2, 190 pound lefty. The 26 year old has a medium frame taht can add a lot more muscle. He comes from a 3/4 release and his stuff is nowhere near where it was last year. His fastball is a straight 4-seam that appears to have lost a couple miles per hour of velocity. His slider is a 9-4 pitch that no longer has great bite and is more slurvy. His change shows some fade and sink and is now his best off-speed pitch. He can battle his command from pitch to pitch and outing to outing. The Giants may need to sell now while he still has value, as he is now just a # 5 starter. He could be a dynamite reliever if he returns to the mid 90's with his fastball.

1st: FB (91-93), SL (80-83), CU (84-85)

2nd: FB (89-92), SL (79-82), CU (83-84)

3rd: FB (89-92), SL (78-82), CU (82-85)

4th: FB (88-91), SL (79-82), CU (84-85)

• Sean O'Sullivan was very impressive in his major league debut. He is a 6-2, 230 pound righty. The 21 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out and he is carrying some bad weight. He may have a gut and needs to work some of that bad weight off and he will likely see his velocity rise. He comes from an over the top release. He has a classic drop and drive delivery with a moderate head jerk. His fastball is a 2-seam sinker with some sink and fade and is more comparable to Mike Pelfrey as opposed to Brandon Webb. His slider or curveball (it is one pitch, just not sure which one), is a 3-9 type pitch with good bite, though it can also just float to the plate. His changeup shows great fade and sink and will throw it to both righties and lefties and even throw it inside to lefties. It flashes plus. He did an excellent job of keeping the ball down at the knees all night and rarely missed up. A guy that could grow into being a # 3 starter.

1st: FB (90-92)

2nd: FB (90-93), SL (79), CU (77-78)

3rd: FB (86-92), SL (77-82)

4th: FB (89-92), SL (77-79), CU (77-78)

5th: FB (90-91), SL (77-81)

6th: FB (88-93), SL (79-83), CU (75-77)

7th: FB (89-91), SL (78-81), CU (75-76)

• Justin Miller is a 6-2, 200 pound righty. The 31 year old has a medium frame that can add a little more muscle. He comes from a 3/4 release and shows a fastball with some fade and sink, a 2-7 slider with decent bite and a split with some good dive and is average. Solid reliever, but more of a 10th or 11th guy in a pen.

4th: FB (87), Split (80)

5th: FB (87-89), SL (79-81), Split (79-81)

6th: FB (87-90), SL (78-79), Split (79-80)

• Brandon Medders is a 6-1, 195 pound righty. The 29 year old has a medium frame that can add more muscle. He comes from an over the top release and shows a fastball with some sink and fade. His slider is a 2-7 pitch with good bite and his curveball is a 12-6 pitch with good depth. Borderline major league pitcher.

7th: FB (88-89), CB (70-72), SL (82-84)

8th: FB (86-89), CB (70-71), SL (80-82)

• Justin Speier is a 6-3, 205 pound righty. The 35 year old has a medium to big frame that can add more muscle. He comes from a 3/4 release. His fastball has some fade and sink. His slider is a 3-9 offering with good side to side movement. His splitter shows good dive and he has solid command of it. Solid middle reliever.

8th: FB (89-90), SL (84), Split (81-82)

• Jason Bulger is a 6-4, 210 pound righty. The 30 year old has a big frame that can add a lot more muscle. He comes from a high 3/4 release. He showed a fastball with some fade and sink. His curveball is a power 12-7 pitch with good depth. His change has some sink and a little fade. The command of all his pitches are very inconsistent. Middle reliever is his upside and he is close to it now. He is a major league pitcher if he is throwing strikes.

9th: FB (92-96), CB (78-80), CU (83-85)

• Jeremy Affeldt is a 6-5, 225 pound lefty. The 30 year old has a big frame that can add quite a bit more muscle. He comes from a high 3/4 release and shows a fastball with some fade, a 11-4 curveball with good depth and a straight change with some sink. Good middle reliever who can face both righties and lefties.

9th: FB (92-94), CB (75-78), CU (86-89)

WAS @ NYY

• C.C. Sabathia is a 6-7, 290 pound left hander. The 28 year old has a big frame that is maxed out. He comes from a high 3/4 release. His fastball is a straight 4-seam with a little run. His change is a straight change that looks like a fastball out of his hand. He will throw a slurvy SL that is a 11-4 pitch early to try and steal a strike and will throw a sharper slier with a little better bite as an out pitch, but it isn't where it was last year. It shows some late bite, but he is struggling to bury it as a true out pitch. He stays away from righties with the change and is FB-SL only to lefties. He has a classic drop and drive delivery. His slider regression makes him a strong # 2 as opposed to an ace to me. He still has plus-plus command, but the days of him striking out 10-12 a game will be gone unless he rediscovers that slider.

1st: FB (93), CU (87)

2nd: FB (93-94), CU (86-87), SL (77-81)

3rd: FB (92-94), CU (87)

4th: FB (93-94), CU (85-86), SL (76-81)

5th: FB (92-95), CU (84-85), SL (77-81)

6th: FB (93-95), CU (85-87), SL (77-79)

7th: FB (92-93), CU (84-85), SL (78)

8th: FB (92-95), CU (84-85), SL (79)

• Shairon Martis comes from a 3/4 release and shows a fastball with some fade and sink, a change that is his best off-speed offering that has movement like his fastball, but to a greater degree, and looks like a fastball out of his hand. His slider is a 3-8 pitch with some bite, but is just average, if that. He will throw his change to righties and in any count. His fastball command can be inconsistent. He loves to throw 3-2 changeups. He is very comfortable throwing to his armside corner, but struggles when asked to go the other corner. He is a nibbler. # 5 starter with little projection left.

1st: FB (88-92), CU (81-85), SL (82-84)

2nd: FB (88-91), CU (81-82), SL (78-83)

3rd: FB (86-91), CU (80-82), SL (84)

4th: FB (86-90), CU (82), SL (79-84)

5th: FB (86-90), SL (83)

6th: FB (86-89), CU (82), SL (81)

• Know how I know your team stinks? You bring in Ron Villone with a 1-run lead in the 7th. Villone comes from a high 3/4 release and has a little bit of herky-jerk in his delivery. His slider is a slurvy 11-4, his fastball has some sink, but can be straight and his change has good fade and sink and looks like a fastball out of his hand.

7th: FB (88-90), SL (78-80), CU (81-83)

• Brian Bruney is a 6-3, 235 pound righty. The 27 year old has a medium to big frame that is maxed out. He comes from an over the top release. His fastball is a straight 4-seam. His slider is a sharp 2-7 pitch with great bite. I believe he throws an occasional cutter and it was pretty straight. Good 8th inning guy and should be able to fill the role as long as he stays healthy.

8th: FB (96), SL (89), Cut (90)

• Mike MacDougal is a 6-4, 190 pound 32 year old. The righty has a big frame that can add a lot more muscle. He comes from a high 3/4 release with a closer's arsenal, featuring a fastball with some fade and a little sink and a sharp, late breaking 2-7 slider. The problem is he has absolutely zero idea where the ball is going.

8th: FB (94-97), SL (86)

• Joe Beimel comes from a high 3/4 release and throws across his body to generate extra deception. His fastball is a 4-seam with a little run. His curveball is a slow 11-4 with solid depth. His change is straight with a little fade.

8th: FB (84-89), CB (71-72), CU (80)

• Mariano Rivera is a 39 year old who stands 6-2, 185. The right hander has a medium frame that can add more muscle if he so desires. His cutter is still plus and has good hard cut and he can put it wherever he wants to. Talk of his demise are premature.

9th: Cut (90-93)