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National Football League rookies reported to training camp earlier this week, and Giants youngsters continued to impress in Salem-Keizer, Ore.
Only these are the baseball Giants’ first-year minor leaguers. And they look like they could compose a pretty intimidating offensive line. Salem-Keizer, San Francisco’s short-season Low-A affiliate, boasts a 28-11 record, the best in the Northwest League. It has a pair of standouts: Third baseman Chris Dominguez and left-handed pitcher Chris Gloor — whose numbers are as impressive as their statures.
Dominguez, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound slugging third baseman, was San Francisco’s top college draft pick this year. Originally drafted out of Louisville in the fifth round by Colorado in 2008, Dominguez decided to return to college for his junior season, citing last year’s hitting-rich draft class.
The move paid off for Dominguez — the Giants selected him this year in the third round. After hitting 61 home runs in three years at Louisville, Dominguez has shown no sign of slowing down with wood bats. He entered play last night having hit nine home runs in 102 professional at-bats.
“[His home runs have been] primarily from left-center to the left-field line, and they have been majestic,” Volcanoes manager Tom Trebelhorn said. “He has tremendous power, and the power frequency has been very good. He has special, special power.”
In regards to third base, Trebelhorn has the best problem a manager can have. This year’s 22nd-round draft pick, Drew Biery, was quick to sign out of Kansas State, and the third baseman has been hitting .382 since starting the year at Salem-Keizer. Since Dominguez has joined the team after a two-week stint in the Arizona League, the two have split time at third and at designated hitter.
Dominguez has also played some first base for the Volcanoes, a position that is so new to him that he had to borrow a first baseman’s glove from the team. Having played shortstop in high school and outfield in the Cape Cod League two summers ago, Dominguez has some versatility.
“I’ll play wherever they want me, and wherever it takes to win,” Dominguez said. “I like to play third base, and I want to play at third base. I have more competition there. But wherever the organization wants me to play is fine.”
The Giants are evaluating him at the hot corner, but one thing is for sure: They like his arm. And why shouldn’t they? Although he didn’t have the control to stick as a pitcher in college, Dominguez was clocked as high as 97 mph in an 11-game relief stint as a freshman.
“He’s got as good a throwing arm as anybody I’ve ever seen,” Trebelhorn said.
The concerns about Dominguez’s defense have always been about his range.
“Third base range is dictated by a step and a dive,” Trebelhorn said. “He’s very athletic … so I think across the board, definitely he has plus tools. But are those tools going to translate to third base defensively? We’ll see.”
Despite his hulking frame, Dominguez should blend right into this year’s team picture. The Volcanoes feature some big boys, including 6-foot-7, right-handed starter Jose Valdez, and 6-8, right-handed reliever Gary Moran. No one is quite built like Gloor, though. At 6-6 and 255 pounds, the kid is built like a Humvee in a baseball uniform. And with a name like Gloor, he doesn’t even need a nickname. On the field, he is something of a one-named superhero, like Thor or Thing.
“A couple months into the season, I think I forget my first name just because I haven’t heard it in awhile,” Gloor said.
A 17th-round pick out of Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, Gloor had quite a run last week, notching four wins in four consecutive relief appearances. He made his first professional start Wednesday, going four innings — a normal outing for a short-season pitcher’s first start — surrendering two runs to Rockies affiliate Tri-City, in a game Salem-Keizer eventually won, 4-3. Gloor is now 4-0, with a 1.40 ERA, striking out 23 against five walks in 19 1/3 innings.
A three-pitch hurler, the southpaw has had equal success against right-handed and left-handed hitters. Thus far at Salem-Keizer, he has averaged just under eight strikeouts per nine innings against lefties. Against right-handers, his K-rate is nearly twice that, at 12.3 per nine innings.
“I think I actually feel more comfortable against righties,” Gloor said. “But I’m not intimidated by lefties. I know most lefties are intimidated by left-handed pitching.”
Growing up in Long Island, N.Y., Gloor was an all-conference soccer goalkeeper. That isn’t to say the folks at Bay Shore High didn’t try to recruit him for football.
“The high school coaches, and even in junior high, the coaches were all over me to get me to play,” Gloor said.
If the 49ers are looking for protection for quarterbacks Alex Smith and Shaun Hill this season, they might think about doing the same with all the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. |