27-year old righty swinging 1B Brett Pill is hitting the heck out of the ball in AAA for the Giants this year. Pill has played in 75 games in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 90 for 298 (.302 avg, .865 OPS) with 46 runs scored, 13 homers, 60 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Pill has now played in 682 games in his first six years in the minors and he is 705 for 2,562 (.275 avg, .763 OPS) with 362 runs scored, 72 homers, 444 RBIs and 29 stolen bases. Pill is pretty well blocked at 1B by Aubrey Huff, Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Belt.

30-year old righty swinging RF Cody Ross is hitting the ball well so far this month. He has played in 24 games so far in June and he is 23 for 80 (.288 avg, .855 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 2 homers, 10 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Ross has played in 59 games for the Giants so far this year and he is 50 for 191 (.262 avg, .774 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 6 homers, 23 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Ross is tied for 2nd in runs scored (24), he is tied for 2nd in homers (6) and he is 3rd in RBIs (23) for the Giants this year. Those are alarming numbers as the Giants have had a really hard time scoring runs this year.

Righty swinging RF Jack Clark was a very solid player for the Giants. His best year with the Giants came in 1982 when he played in 157 games in which he was 154 of 563 (.274 avg, .853 OPS) with 90 runs scored, 27 homers, 103 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Clark finished 7th in the voting to the MVP Award in the N.L. in 1982. Clark played in 1,044 games in his 10 years with the Giants and he was 1,034 of 3,731 (.277 avg, .836 OPS) with 597 runs scored, 163 homers, 595 RBIs and 60 stolen bases. Clark only made it to two All-Star games with the Giants but he was a very consistent force with the bat for them.

The Giants have placed 28-year old lefty starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez on the 15-day disabled list with left biceps tendinitis. Sanchez has started 16 games for the Giants so far this year and he is 4-5 with a 3.81 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. He has only given up 68 hits this year while whiffing 92 batters in his first 89 2/3 innings, which shows just how nasty he can be. But he has also walked 59 batters so far this year and that has gotten him into a lot of trouble. The Giants have activated 33-year old lefty starting pitcher Barry Zito from the D.L. to replace Sanchez in the starting rotation. Zito started 3 games earlier this year for the Giants and he was 0-1 with a 6.23 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. Zito started 4 games on his rehab assignment inn A+AAA-ball and he was 4-0 with a 2.20 ERA and a 0.78 WHIP.

29-year old righty closer Brian Wilson started this season on the D.L. and he looked rusty in April. But, in May and June, Wilson has pitched in 21 games in which he is 5-0 with 12 saves, a 0.42 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. Wilson has pitched in 32 games (0 starts) overall this year for the Giants and he is 5-1 with 20 saves, a 2.53 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. Wilson needs to stay sharp because due to the Giants’ lack of offense, most of the games they play are close ones.

The Giants have signed 26-year old righty swinging catcher Max Ramirez to a minor league deal. Ramirez has played in 35 games in AAA-ball this year and he is 27 for 118 (.229 avg, .606 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 3 homers and 19 RBIs. Ramirez has played in 45 games in parts of two years in the majors and he is 25 for 115 (.217 avg, .699 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 4 homers and 17 RBIs. This was a good signing for the Giants as Ramirez was once one of the better prospects out there as a catcher. The Giants will likely give him a callup if he gets off to a good start in AAA.

The Giants are getting next to nothing out of the catchers offensively since the season ending injury to Buster Posey. 31-year old Eli Whiteside has played in 31 games for the Giants so far this year and he is 15 for 75 (.200 avg, .597 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 1 homer and 4 RBIs. Whiteside is a decent backup catcher but his weaknesses are exposed the more he plays. 29-year old righty swinging Chris Stewart hasn’t played well either for the Giants. He has played in 11 games for the Giants so far this year and he is 3 for 21 (.143 avg, .408 OPS) with 3 runs scored. The Giants need to go outside the organization to find a starting quality catcher in the trade market and they need to do that sooner rather than later.

The Giants really need to deal for a legit catcher. They are desperate, so the asking price is going to be too high for some guys. The Giants will likely be aiming for guys like Geovany Soto, Rod Barajas and Nick Hundley. If they fail to land one of them, look for them to go for cheaper options like Ivan Rodriguez, Taylor Teagarden or Jesus Flores. The Giants are winning despite the catching as Eli Whiteside and Chris Stewart are just hitting a tad better than the Giants’ pitchers. It’s hard to overcome two black holes in the same batting order, so the Giants either need to make a deal or a phone call to Bengie Molina.

34-year old lefty swinging 1B Aubrey Huff is heating up with the bat so far in June. He has played in 12 games for the Giants so far this June and he is 14 for 47 (.298 avg, .978 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 4 homers and 11 RBIs. Huff isn’t missing much at what he’s swinging at so far this month as he has only struck out 3 times so far in June. Huff has now played in 65 games so far this year and he is 57 for 244 (.234 avg, .681 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 8 homers, 34 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Huff has always been a strong second half hitter so the Giants will benefit from a big stick at 1B the rest of the year.

Starting 2B Freddy Sanchez dislocated his shoulder last night diving for a baseball, which will likely land him on the 15-day D.L. today. Sanchez has played in 60 games for the Giants so far this year and he is 69 for 239 (.289 avg, .730 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 3 homers and 24 RBIs. The Giants didn’t mess around finding a replacement as they have signed 31-year old righty swinging 2B/3B Bill Hall. Hall played in 46 games earlier this year for the Astros and he was 33 for 147 (.224 avg, .612 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 2 homers, 13 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Hall has now played in 1,031 games in his first 10 years in the majors and he is 819 for 3,287 (.249 avg, .746 OPS) with 442 runs scored, 124 homers, 438 RBIs and 60 stolen bases.