| On
Thursday Evening, August 6, Giants Rising Stars Pablo Sandoval and Andres Torres
visited Sports Gallery at our Walnut Creek Gallery. It was Pablo's second signing
at Sports Gallery and Andres' first.
Pablo
Sandoval, born
in Carabobo, Venezuela, is the latest Giants phenom. Signed by San Francisco in
2002 at the age of 16, few Giants players have generated as much buzz as Sandoval
so early in their career. He has torn up every league he's played in the last
two years with his bat (in 273 at-bats for A San Jose, he hit .359 with 12 home
runs and 59 RBI and in 175 at-bats with AA Connecticut, he hit .337 with eight
homers and 37 RBI) and he's doing the same with SF hitting well over .300 in 2009
and leading the team in HR's. And Pablo has proved very capable at multiple defensive
positions, playing Catcher, 3B and 1B extremely well, with third being his primary
position. Nicknamed "Kung Fu Panda"
by teammate Barry Zito because of his resemblance to the movie character, Pablo
is fast becoming one of the most popular athletes in the Bay Area. And watch out
for Andres
Torres,
already the owner of a rare non-Barry splash shot
in his first year as a Giant. This Puerto Rico native is turning heads around
the League with both his bat and his glove. A key part of the Giants future. |
| Signing
for over an hour, Pablo was his usual awesome-self, all smiles while he talked
with fans, posed for photographs and signed every type of Giants collectible imaginable.
And Andres was a blast as well...a really cool guy. It was a fun evening for all
of us at Sports Gallery, getting to meet see Pablo again, meet Andres, and watch
once again how much Giants fans love their Kung Fu Panda. |