Energy, and now maturity
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — When last we left the Giants on the field in San Francisco, Pablo Sandoval was being mobbed at home plate after he homered in the ninth inning to beat the Padres in the final game of 2017, a joyous punctuation to a joyless season.
The Giants liked what they saw of Sandoval and wanted to see more, so they brought him back for 2018. On Wednesday, he brought his cacophonous personality into Scottsdale Stadium, greeting teammates with hollers and back slaps.
“In the clubhouse, I’m the loudest guy,” Sandoval said.
That was a boast, not an apology. The loudest guy now needs to be a true team guy, too.
The once and current Giant has had nearly two months to absorb the team’s acquisition of Evan Longoria to play his old position. The front office stated clearly after the 2017 season that it planned to get a third baseman.
Thus, Sandoval arrived for his first Giants spring training since 2014 knowing he would be vying for a backup job at a relatively youthful 31 — three seasons removed from catching the final out of the club’s World Series championship clincher in Kansas City.
“I’m excited,” Sandoval said Wednesday, using one of his favorite words. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been here in spring training. This is a great group we have here, young guys, veteran guys. It’s exciting to be back with this team.”
Moreover, Sandoval praised the acquisitions of Longoria and Andrew McCutchen and spoke about Longoria with admiration.
“That guy’s is a great hitter,” Sandoval said. “He’s a great defensive player and he’s a good teammate, from what I heard, one of the greatest leaders.”
Accepting a lesser role requires the type of maturity that Sandoval lacked when he left the Giants for a five-year, $95 million contract with the Red Sox and threw his former San Francisco teammates under the bus, save for manager Bruce Bochy and Hunter Pence.
Now, many of the same Giants players who got steamrolled by that bus might benefit from the humility that Sandoval endured during his disastrous time in Boston, filled with injury, scorn and bad statistics.
Sandoval genuinely seems ready to be a backup to Longoria at third and Brandon Belt at first, maybe the emergency catcher — he is breaking in a mitt that Hector Sanchez gave him — and perhaps most important, a firecracker in the dugout and clubhouse.
“That’s something we really haven’t had,” Bochy said. “It’s not a knock against some of the guys we’ve had, but they’re kind of locked in at what they’re doing. They’re quiet guys. But Pablo is a guy who’s making some noise and pulling for the guys.”
The Giants brought Sandoval back last summer after the Red Sox finally admitted their mistake in signing him. The Giants are paying mere pennies on the dollar to have him, because Boston is responsible for all but $545,000 of the $18 million he will earn this year.
Even with a bargain salary, Sandoval had to audition for the Giants in 47 games last year. They needed to see if he still could hit some, which he did after a hitless streak of 39 atbats, and be a positive force in a clubhouse that eyed him with some suspicion.
In other words, Sandoval’s time in San Francisco last year was a social experiment as well as baseball tryout. He passed. “I really believe that probably there were a couple of players that still had their opinions on Pablo, what he said, that they didn’t care for,” Bochy said. “Once they got to know him. … Pablo, he never means to do anyone any harm or wrong.
“Pablo’s a guy who wants to be liked. He wants to be a good guy on the ballclub. He wants to help out a team.”
If Sandoval can bring the Giants some emotion, and as a role player, hit a few more balls like that one that ended the 2017 season, he will earn his keep and then some. Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hankschulman