33-year old lefty swinging 1B/LF Aubrey Huff has been really solid for the Giants this season. He has played in 72 games for the Giants this year and he is 75 of 256 (.293 avg, .895 OPS) with 42 runs scored, 12 homers and 40 RBIs. Huff is leading the Giants in runs scored and he’s tied for first on the team in homers with Juan Uribe. He is also second on the team in RBIs behind only Uribe. Huff has done everything the Giants expected out of him and more so far this season. He even moved to LF for a while when the need arose out there. The great thing for the Giants is that Huff is a notorious second half hitter so he could post monster numbers by the end of 2010.

35-year old righty swinging LF Mark DeRosa will have season ending wrist surgery next week. DeRosa played in 26 games for the Giants this year and he was 18 of 93 (.194 avg, .537 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 1 homer and 10 RBIs. The Giants were lucky to find Pat Burrell on the free agent market as he is giving the Giants the bat they thought they were going to have in DeRosa. Burrell has played in 15 games for the Giants so far this season and he is 15 of 44 (.341 avg, 1.014 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 3 homers and 8 RBIs. The Giants hope Burrell keeps up the good work and that DeRosa returns healthy in 2011.

30-year old righty swinging Eli Whiteside was nothing special in 2009 for the Giants. He played in 49 games in which he was 29 of 127 (.228 avg, .607 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 2 homers and 13 RBIs. But this season Whiteside looks like a different player. He has played in 31 games for the Giants this year and he is 20 of 73 (.274 avg, .863 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 4 homers and 9 RBIs. Whiteside is playing for his future with the Giants this year as Buster Posey will likely replace Bengie Molina as the starting catcher in 2011. I don’t see Molina willing to accept a backup job next season meaning that Whiteside will return as the backup as long as he finishes this season strongly.

Freddy Sanchez, Buster Posey and Pat Burrell have really added some juice to the Giants’ lineup as of late. Sanchez (the starting 2B) spent a lot of time on the D.L. to start this season for the Giants. But he has come off the D.L. swinging as he has played in 24 games this season for the Giants in which he is 31 of 91 (.341 avg, .812 OPS) with 14 runs scored and 14 RBIs. The Giants gave up a nice prospect for Sanchez at the trade deadline last season (Tim Alderson) and that’s likely why he was brought back for 2010. The Giants need him to keep hitting like he is right now and for him to stay healthy the rest of the year. 23-year old righty swinging 1B/C Buster Posey is one of the best prospects the Giants have and he’s showing why since they have called him up. Posey has played in 16 games for the Giants so far this season and he is 22 of 61 (.361 avg, .899 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 1 homer and 7 RBIs. The Giants expect that Posey’s power is going to come around soon and they will be giving him full time at bats as long as he’s in San Francisco. 33-year old righty swinging LF Pat Burrell has been on fire since the Giants have called him up. He has played in 10 games for the Giants so far this season and he is 11 of 27 (.407 avg, 1.192 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 2 homers and 5 RBIs. The Giants are really happy with the bat Burrell is swinging right now and he could very well be the starting LF the rest of the year for the Giants as long as he keeps hitting the ball.

It appears that 2009 was a career year for 31-year old lefty reliever Jeremy Affeldt. Affeldt has pitched in 21 games (0 starts) for the Giants this year and he is 2-3 with 2 saves, a 4.43 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP. He has given up 22 hits and walked 15 batters in only 20 1/3 innings for the Giants this year. The Giants expected more out of him after last season in which he pitched in 74 games (0 starts) in which he was 2-2 with a 1.73 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. The Giants don’t need him to be as good as he was last season but they do need him to start pitching better soon.