Yesterday, Jon Heyman tweeted the following about the Giants catcher opening:
#sfgiants not sure buster posey's ready to catch after Arizona league. seek catcher. may even move sandoval behind plate. 7:28 AM Dec 30th from web
Should Sandoval move to catcher, he would become a 3rd round pick in mixed leagues and possibly a 1st round choice in NL-Only leagues in 2010. Amongst catchers, Sandoval would be the 3rd best catcher in mixed leagues and the top ranked catcher in NL-Only leagues.
Here are how his 2009 stats rank amongst the top hitting catchers in 2009 (ranked by HRs):
Name
G
AB
H
2B
HR
R
RBI
BB
SO
AVG
Joe Mauer
138
523
191
30
28
94
96
76
63
0.365
Pablo Sandoval
153
572
189
44
25
79
90
52
83
0.33
Victor Martinez
155
588
178
33
23
88
108
75
74
0.303
Miguel Olivo
114
390
97
15
23
51
65
19
126
0.249
Jorge Posada
111
383
109
25
22
55
81
48
101
0.285
Brian McCann
138
488
137
35
21
63
94
49
83
0.281
Mike Napoli
114
382
104
22
20
60
56
40
103
0.272
Bengie Molina
132
491
130
25
20
52
80
13
68
0.265
Rod Barajas
125
429
97
19
19
43
71
20
76
0.226
Miguel Montero
128
425
125
30
16
61
59
38
78
0.294
I am not sure Sandoval would be picked before Victor Martinez, but he certainly would be picked before Brian McCann or Jorge Posada.