With one crack of the bat Brandon Crawford has vaulted his stock in the San Francisco Giants organization more than anyone could have possibly imagined. The 24 year old call up from the Single A San Jose Giants made the most of his Major League opportunity Friday night when he crushed a grand slam in his first major league game. But could he now possibly be a legitimate option at shortstop for the G-Men? Let's take a closer look at Mr. Crawford and his historic home run.
Crawford became the first Giant since Bobby Bonds in June of 1968 to hit a grand slam in his first game in the Majors, and the first since Daniel Nava did so last summer for the Boston Red Sox. But was this just a lucky break or can this kid really hit? His stats lean to the latter. He has a career .270/.336/.412 batting line in four years in the minors, and despite having a late start to his season due to a broken finger, he's batting .322 with three home runs and 15 RBI in only 59 at bats for the year.
Brandon made some nice plays in the field on Friday as well, looking more than comfortable fielding in the Majors. Can be become the Giants shortstop? Probably not. With Pablo Sandoval returning soon, Miguel Tejada will likely be moved back to shortstop. Mike Fontenot will be out for a few weeks still, while Emmanuel Burriss brings the speed element to his game the Crawford does not. If he can really stay hot at the plate, like really hot, he may be able to stay with the big boys. But more than likely he'll be back to the minors when everyone is healthy again. But the Giants might have gotten a great sneak peak of their shortstop of the future while he's around.