Giants of 2011 Versus the Giants of 2010- Second Base

Second base for the past few years has always been an inconsistent position for the Giants.

Since the reliable Jeff Kent and Ray Durham eras', the Giants have yet to find a long term solution.Since 2009, the Giants have seen guys like Emmanuel Burriss, Matt Downs, Kevin Frandsen, Eugenio Velez, Juan Uribe, Mike Fontenot, Bill Hall, Miguel Tejada and Freddy Sanchez in the second base position.

Since the Giants traded for Sanchez from Pittsburgh at the trade deadline in 2009, he has only played 192 games. That's a mere 60% of the games played since his acquisition.

He has been a decent player when he's is healthy, but unfortunately, the Giants prefer him to play 85-90% of the games.

Now that he is injured once again (just 58 games into the season), Burriss and Hall look to fill the void at second base.

Let's see how they have fared:

2010 Team Record (through July 11th): 47-41
2011 Team Record (through July 11th): 52-40

Second Base

	2010	2011
Batting Average	.277	.268
On-Base %	.342	.321
Home runs	4	4
RBIs	46	30
Stolen Bases	1	5
Hits	91	101
Runs	43	37
Walks	32	23
Strikeouts	62	52

So this year's production from second base has been a step worse from the Giant's World Series season last year, but has it been much worse? I don't believe so.

Sanchez played in 109 games last year. This year he has played in 58, and is probably out for the remainder of the season. 

With Burriss and Hall picking up the pieces, finishing the season with them will damper the second base offense. Hall has only played in 10 games, while Burriss has contributed in only 25 but they both have averages under .215 with only four collective RBIs.

To compare with Sanchez this season, the Hall/Burriss platoon is putting up an OPS about .200 less than Freddy has. 

Hopefully Burriss or Hall can improve because the way they are hitting just not enough.