According to this Nate Schierholtz is unsure of his chances for making the Giants' roster. The Giants are ready to let Dave Roberts take the majority of the playing time, and Schierholtz has to fight for a backup position against Fred Lewis and Rajai Davis. This whole debacle seems very silly to me.
All people have talked about is how the Giants need another power hitter. Rowand was a good signing, but right now the Giants are expected to bat him cleanup, and have Randy Winn/Ray Durham work around him. The Giants at the moment have three of the same guy in the outfield though. Dave Roberts is the old version, and Raj/Lewis are the 27 year old version. They've got a lot of speed but not much power (Lewis is better than Davis in this category at least.) They have all these speedsters who can get on base and steal second, but they need more RBI guys to hit them in.
This is where Schierholtz comes in. At 24, Baseball Prospectus still predicts he would rack up fifteen home runs with less than 600 plate appearances, with having the potential for twenty. This may not seem like a lot, but Pacific Bell Park is very pitcher friendly, and Winn is only predicted to get ten himself. With Schierholtz batting fifth and playing left, the Giants have a much better chance of hitting Roberts, Vizquel, and such home.
If there's any defense for the Giants action, it's that Schierholtz needs more work fixing his atrocious BB/K rate. He has potential to strike out nearly 100 times in a season with only 35 or so walks. This could definitely use work, but the Giants need his power. Outside of Angel Villanova, who was drafted last year and is still at least a couple years away, Schierholtz is really the only big bat that's coming up in the system. He needs major league experience and to get settled into a role so he can become comfortable in San Francisco.
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The Giants are going to have to be a Pitching-and-Defense team, no choice. What kind of glove/arm does Schierholtz have. Outfield miscues tend to be much harder to overcome than infield ones, especially at AT&T, no?
In the Outfield, he has a plus arm, but needs work on his routes. So he's usually in the upper tier of Outfield Assists, but as a poor range and can't track down Line Drives as well. This will probably be something he'll work on in AAA, but his arm will probably be a good fit for the cavernous right field of At&t park.
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