San Francisco Giants Paving the Way for Success with Young Talent

In 2010, the San Francisco Giants managed to pull off an unlikely feat. They quilted together a patchwork of savvy veterans to pair with a few young cornerstones and draped the Bay with a World Series banner.

Last year didn’t have the same kind of magic with Aubrey Huff’s struggles and injuries to key players like Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez. The result was a bumpy and disappointing journey of defending their first championship since moving to San Francisco.

The clear lesson here is that teams rarely can piece together a perfect roster full of veteran stop-gaps and manage to field a contender.

But now the Giants are in prime position to flip the switch from old fuzzy light bulb to energy efficient electricity.

With MLB’s release of official Opening Day rosters today, it’s evident that San Francisco is committed to developing and retaining its younger talent. Among the 25 players slotted to start the season in the big leagues are rookies Hector Sanchez and Dan Otero.

Sanchez, who is only 22 years old, has been nothing but impressive since busting onto the scene last year as an insurance at the depleted catcher position. This spring he logged 43 at-bats and posted a .372 batting average to go along with four home runs and 10 RBI. Though he struck out nine times and only walked once, manager Bruce Bochy has to be pleased with his newest backup to superstar Buster Posey behind the plate.

Pitcher Dan Otero had a strong spring himself. Appearing in 10 games, he recorded a 0.82 ERA in 11.0 innings pitched. His eight strikeouts to zero walks makes him a stingy hurler out of the bullpen, and he’ll join a deep group of talented pitchers set to back up a strong starting rotation.

Aside from these two rookies, the Giants also decided to keep both first basemen Brandon Belt and Brett Pill on the 25-man squad, suggesting that veteran Aubrey Huff may be moved to the outfield. Belt also has the potential to play outfield, and fans may be more comfortable with the youngster catching fly balls than the creaky Huffster.

Either way, both Belt and Pill showed excellent pop and plate discipline this spring to warrant this move. With a 1.055 OPS, a .389 batting average and a .430 on-base percentage in spring play, Belt looked mature and patient swinging the bat. Granted it’s not regular season, but these kinds of numbers have breakout written all over them.

Middle infielders Brandon Crawford and Emmanuel Burris have both looked great in the offseason, dishing out offensive production like animal style In-N-Out burgers. Crawford has already proven to be a wall defensively at shortstop, and if he can carry over his offensive numbers into the regular season, he could be a long-term mainstay at the position.

Meanwhile, Burris surprised with good plate production and appears determined to earn playing time. He could get the nod to start at second base. And with his decent wheels, if he can get on base more consistently, the Giants will have themselves quite a weapon late in the batting order. 

Combine these youngsters with already proven young players like Buster Posey (25 years old), Pablo Sandoval (25), Melky Cabrera (27), Matt Cain (27), Tim Lincecum (27) and Madison Bumgarner (22), and the San Francisco Giants have themselves quite a foundation of young talent.

Here’s to hoping 2012 is just the beginning of a long string of successful seasons.

Follow @JoshCembellin on Twitter