Uribe, Sandoval bring deft, heft to hot corner,
Big men compete for Gold Glove as Dodgers, Giants vie for West title
Physically, neither one reminds anybody of Mike Schmidt, the strapping Hall of Famer who became the prototype third baseman.
In a way that’s fitting, because Juan Uribe and Pablo Sandoval weren’t born into the hot corner but rather arrived there from another spot, which has shaped the way they play the position.
Despite their hefty builds and beginnings elsewhere, advanced metrics and the eye test indicate two of the top defensive third basemen in the National League will be on display this week as the Los Angeles Dodgers host the San Francisco Giants in a three-game series with playoff implications.
The Giants entered Monday trailing the Dodgers by 4½ games in the NL West and have a more realistic chance at a wild card — they were tied for the wild-card lead.
Both teams appear headed for the postseason with the help of third basemen who once shared the left side of the infield — Uribe was Sandoval’s teammate as the Giants’ main shortstop in 2010 — and now might be competing for the NL’s top defensive honor.
“The Gold Glove could go here, it could go to Sandoval or it could go to the kid in Colorado (Nolan Arenado),” said Dodgers first-base coach Davey Lopes, a Gold Glove-winning second baseman in 1978. “You’ve got to have quick feet. Anybody who’s very good at third base has quick feet. That’s what all three ... possess.”
At 5-11 and 245 pounds, Sandoval looks more like a catcher, which he was through much of his career in the minors and even briefly after breaking into the big leagues in 2008. He made the transition to fulltime third baseman by taking countless grounders in the offseason and working on the nuances of the position with bench coach Ron Wotus, who’s in charge of the Giants’ infield defense.
Sandoval’s fielding prowess has fluctuated with his weight, but when he commits to keeping it down — he lost more than 30 pounds in the offseason — he plays a sturdy, consistent third base. This year he ranks fourth among NL third basemen in fielding percentage at .971.
Having learned the position at a late stage, Sandoval has focused on getting the right footwork. Uribe still plays with the looseness of the 173-pound shortstop he was when he reached the majors in 2001.
Uribe was the Chicago White Sox’s shortstop when they won the World Series in 2005 and grew out of the position and became primarily a third baseman when he joined the Dodgers before the 2011 season. He’s listed at 6 feet and 235 pounds.
“Both of them have very good hands, outstanding hands. And accurate throwing arms,” Wotus said. “Uribe is a little more of a one-handed, free-wheeling fielder, and Pablo is a little bit more fundamentally sound, fields the ball with two hands and tries to get in a proper position.”
The advanced defensive metrics also cast Uribe in a positive light. Uribe and Arenado are tied in Defensive Runs Saved with 16 each (Sandoval is seventh with five) and rank first and second in Ultimate Zone Rating. Sandoval is fourth.