Return of the Panda: How Pablo Sandoval Bounced Back to a Solid 2018 MLB Season
Washed-out superstars going back to their old teams has been a nice trend in baseball recently. Sometimes it works out well. Other times, not so well. In fact, it happens in other sports, too. Think Dwyane Wade going back to Miami this year or when Allen Iverson went back to the Philadelphia 76ers for 25 games in 2010.
This year, we’ve seen Matt Kemp return to the Dodgers with a bang — he leads the National League in batting average (.338 BA). But then we’ve also seen Ichiro Suzuki end his career abruptly after going 9-for-44 in 15 games with his old club (Seattle). Jose Reyes, despite a tough 2018 season, made good with the Mets after starring there, leaving, and coming back in 2016.
A common theme among these five guys is that they were all basically written off before landing back in the city that made them famous. Kemp is the one outlier in terms of salary; the other guys came back and were basically paid minimum salaries. (Kemp is still making a butt-load of dough.)
Another guy who was thought to be finished — maybe even worse than the others — is Pablo Sandoval. He signed a five-year, $95-million deal with Boston prior to the 2015 season and it went very, very badly. In fact, after he was DFA’d last season by the Red Sox, a Sports Illustrated article said that “Boston would have been better off with a mannequin” playing at third base. Over the course of three seasons with the BoSox, he hit just .237 with 14 home runs. As cruel as the comment seemed, the well-respected magazine was correct.
Luckily for Sandoval, though, the sports’ world is oft forgiving — especially when you were once a star somewhere. San Francisco, the team he won three World Series’ rings with, quickly signed the Kung-Fu Panda and had him nestled into the clean-up spot after just a few weeks in the minors. And while he didn’t set the world on fire in 2017 with the Giants, he was actually healthy enough to play and at that point, it was something. He played 47 games with San Francisco in 2017 — 12 more than his previous two seasons with Boston. Sandoval hit .225 with five home runs across 160 at-bats.
This year, however, thanks to a variety of reasons, Panda has been playing much better and has a solid slash-line. In 122 at-bats, Sandoval is hitting .279/.346/.451 and has his first positive WAR since he left San Francisco in 2014.
(Stats as of 6/16/18)
In my eyes, there are a few different reasons why he’s having such a bounce-back year. First, it’s because of some solid management from Bruce Bochy. After all, who knows Panda better than Bochy. You see, Sandoval is, by all means, an aging player. Probably a guy who can’t handle the everyday grind anymore and should be used in spots. So far this season, Sandoval has seen about 80 percent of his at-bats come against right-handed pitching — well below the days when he was playing everyday. Back in 2014, for whatever reason, he stopped mashing from the right side and Bochy has taken note. When they’ve faced quality lefties (ie: Quintana, CHC), Sandoval has been used as late-inning pinch-hitter rather than the starting third baseman. Against righties, however, he’s seen a lot of action and KILLED it.
Sandoval BA from Right/Left Side Since 2014
- 2014: .317/.199
- 2015: .292/.049
- 2016: N/A
- 2017: .241/.150
- 2018: .309/.160
It should be noted that it wasn’t always this way. Between 2008-2013, he hit over .270 from the right side in four out of six seasons and well over .200 every year. Since then, however, he hasn’t cracked the .200 mark at a right-handed bat.
So, limiting his exposure against lefties has helped. Also, something has to be said of the big-time bats the Giants added in the offseason — Evan Longoria and Andrew McCutchen. A little extra protection always helps, amirite?
Maybe, though, he just feels comfortable in his old digs. I mean, it makes a lot of sense. The folks in the Bay love them some Panda. He did, after all, throw the team on his back during their 2012 World Series run (and won the MVP because of it).
Just a few days ago, in a conversation with United Press International, Sandoval gave a lot of credit to the folks in the Bay Area for driving the Giants (and Warriors).
“It’s the fan support,” Sandoval told UPI Monday before the San Francisco Giants played the Marlins in Miami. “The fan support is a great compliment to play hard and do everything we can to play every day for them.”
Whatever the real reason is, and I think the three I spoke of are all legitimate, it’s nice to see Panda back playing well. And as improved as his hitting numbers are, he also pitched a scoreless inning of relief back in April. It was his first-ever outing and he sent the Dodgers down in order. The world, as crazy as it is, is better with Pablo Sandoval playing coherent baseball. He gives hope to bigger kids (although he does look slimmer these days) that they can play professional sports and he’s just a really easy dude to get behind. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that he can keep it up!
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