San Francisco Giants: 5 Reasons Brandon Crawford Is the Everyday Shortstop
Until Wednesday, San Francisco Giants rookie shortstop Brandon Crawford had shown flashes of promise, but not enough (for me) to declare him a demonstrably better long-term option than Emmanuel Burriss.
Not any more.
In a 3-1 win over the Washington Nationals, Crawford took a step—perhaps "leap" is more apt—forward as the clear choice to take over a critical spot at which the club has badly lacked stability.
After the game, manager Bruce Bochy publicly declared that the 24-year old Pleasanton native will stay in the lineup when Pablo Sandoval returns next week to third base.
That will displace veteran Miguel Tejada, the offseason signee who's been filling in for Sandoval. That, however, is incidental to a larger reality:
The Giants may finally have found a homegrown answer at shortstop, a position manned mostly by stopgap veteran free agents since Rich Aurilia left after the 2003 season.
For a time, Burriss was considered San Francisco's shortstop of the future. And he has a future in the bigs, whether in San Francisco as a utility middle-infielder or elsewhere.
But it's clear: Crawford, not Burriss, is the man at shortstop for San Francisco. Here are five reasons why.
Potential Run Production
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With Buster Posey gone for the rest of 2011 and several veterans still scuffling, the Giants desperately need offense.
They've already lost six games in 2011 in which they've allowed two runs or less. That's immensely frustrating to a pitching staff that deserves better and potentially damning to a club with legitimate World Series aspirations.
Though the sample size is small, Crawford has already shown run-producing potential, plate discipline and gap-to-gap power. Burriss has shown none of these.
And Crawford's core numbers (eight RBI, four extra-base hits, six walks, five strikeouts in 41 official plate appearances) are starkly better than Burriss' (0 RBI, 0 extra-base hits, 0 walks, six strikeouts in 44 appearances).
On a club with plenty of thump, this disparity might not be as crucial. But in San Francisco, it is.
The Past Is Predictive of the Future
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Burriss (Kent State) and Crawford (UCLA) both were college standouts. Burriss was a second-team All-American as a junior in 2006.
Both were high draft picks by San Francisco (Burriss in the first round, 2006; Crawford in the fourth, 2008).
And both have maintained consistent patterns of productivity: Burriss as a speedy, top-of-order guy; Crawford as a slugger.
In his final year at Kent State, Burriss batted .360, scored 70 runs and stole 42 bases.
In Crawford's final year at UCLA, he batted .302, pounded 25 extra-base hits and had 51 RBI.
Again: The Giants need Crawford's bat in the every-day lineup more than Burriss' speed.
(And this is not to discount Burriss' value; he may be a superior utility option to Mike Fontenot)
Defensive Tools
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It's tempting to give the nod to Crawford over Burriss as a defender based simply on the numerous dazzling plays the rookie has made in his first two weeks with San Francisco.
And he has dazzled, making two Top Ten-worthy plays on Wednesday alone in the Giants' 3-1 win over the Nationals.
On one, he made a difficult off-balance throw to first base while moving to his right, nailing Nationals' speedster Roger Bernadina. On the other, he dove head-long to his right to field a shot up the middle, scrambled to his feet and fired a strike to first.
Yet, Burriss had plenty of sparkling defensive moments of his own at shortstop before the Giants began transitioning him into a second baseman. And Crawford has had a bit of scatter-arm, so his edge over Burriss is less obvious.
But the rookie still gets the defensive edge, based on two factors:
1) Superior athleticism and arm strength
2) History
The second factor is rather revealing. As a college junior, in 56 games, Burriss committed 20 errors; his fielding percentage was .932. In 60 games as a junior, Crawford committed 13 errors; his fielding percentage was .957.
Durability
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Crawford is bigger (6'2", 215 pounds) than Burriss (6'0", 205 pounds) and he has been durable, playing in 177 games in three seasons at UCLA and 217 over two minor-league seasons in the Giants farm system.
Burriss' promise as a major leaguer was dimmed when a broken bone in his left foot in 2009 shut him down after 61 games. He reinjured the foot in early 2010, missing virtually the entire season.
He's been healthy this year, playing mostly at second base and filling in at shortstop prior to Crawford's promotion. Burriss appears fully recovered; he's been used as a pinch-runner in place of speedy rookie Darren Ford since his injury.
It'd be unfair to declare Burris "injury-prone," and that's not the point being made here. It is a simple combination of history, physical tools and early impressions of Crawford.
Presence
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Maybe it's the jersey number (35) Crawford wears—a proud lineage going back to two standout Giant shortstops, Chris Speier (1971-77; 1987-89) and Rich Aurilia (1995-2003; 2007-09).
Both were immensely popular with fans; both returned to San Francisco in the waning years of their playing careers.
Or perhaps it's the way he stepped onto the big stage from Class-A San Jose, becoming the seventh player in MLB history whose first major-league hit was a grand slam.
That, of course, conjured images of Will Clark's homer in his 1986 rookie debut in the Astrodome against Nolan Ryan.
Succeeding at the shortstop position demands confidence, poise and maturity. Crawford has displayed all three in abundance since his call-up.
(Again, this is not to diss Burriss. He's showed remarkable resilience battling back from a serious foot injury that cost him nearly two full seasons)
The rookie is eroding the skepticism Giants fans have had about their shortstops since Omar Vizquel departed after the 2008 season.
There's a new shortstop in San Francisco, folks. His name is Brandon Crawford.
