Sleepers: San Francisco Giants
The Shallow
Jonathan Sanchez – Starting Pitcher
Should Jonathan Sanchez be a sleeper? Perhaps not; however, in many 12-team mixed leagues, this flame-thrower might be someone that falls through the cracks and sneaks into the ranks of the waiver wire hot names.
After getting the 2008 season going with a great April, Sanchez faltered a bit in May, and somewhat tumbled back to earth. He then spent the final four months of the season continuing his flip-flop pattern of one month on, one month off, as far as statistics go.
While Sanchez has an incredible fastball, he depends on it mightily, by throwing nearly two-thirds of his pitches for heat, and while he has considerable movement, he still needs to develop his slider, and his change-up to become more effective.
When Sanchez is on, he is nearly untouchable. Unfortunately, more often than naught, he struggles with his location as pointed out by his 2.09K/BB ratio, especially when acknowledging his 8.94K/9IP in the big leagues, which would put him in the top tier of strikeout pitchers in the National League. The solid lefty isn’t fancy by any means. He just simply throws the ball past batters. Not too many pitchers can do that with success; however, those that do…I’m sure that you get my point.
Sanchez is a typical high-risk, high-reward type pitcher on a very sub-par team that will, struggle to win 75+ games. While I am a fan, a more cautious fantasy manager may be scared off by such peripherals. With this advice, use your discretion.
The Deep
Buster Posey – Catcher
This decorated collegiate superstar is currently slotted behind the super-slow Bengie Molina, and relatively unknown Steven Holm. You could also add Pablo Sandoval to the list, although he is penciled in as their starting first baseman on the Giants depth chart at catcher. However, after finishing 2nd in votes for the Johnny Bench Award in his first season behind the plate (after shifting to the position over from SS) in his sophomore season at Florida State, only to win the honor in his junior season. He was also named the 2008 Collegiate Player of the Year, and then decided to make the transition to minor league ball after the conclusion of the FSU season.
In what can be considered a seamless transition, Poseys’ brief exposure to playing against minor league talent went very well. Roping at a .341 clip, all the while knocking the ball around for extra-base hits (8 of his 15H in his 45 AB’s were for extra bases), and displaying a great eye at the plate with 9BB’s, compared to only 6K’s. Posey will be from the mold of Joe Mauer, hitting for a solid average, while providing a contact type bat to the line-up, that will nestle him into the two or three slot, giving him a chance to knock in some runs.
Posey is a good defensive catcher, and given the age of Molina, he could be given a shot sooner than most think. Consider the fact that he is only 21-years old, and really only two full seasons into being groomed as a catcher, 2010 is more than likely a career start for this budding young catching stud with a cool nickname.
