What is a matter with Pablo Sandoval?

The lovable Kung Fu Panda isn't hitting and the natives are getting restless.

I am seeing calls for Pablo Sandoval to be sent down to Fresno, that he needs to be benched, that something must be done.

Looking at the stats it is not pretty: Pablo's battling Aaron Rowand and Freddy Sanchez for guy that is the biggest drag on the offense with a wOBA of just .303 and an OPS of .701.

Another big change is that his value as measured by WAR is basically zero. Fangraph's has him at 0.9 and Baseball-Reference has him at -0.1 for the season, a far cry from his 5+ WAR from last season.

What explains this slump? There is no shortage of explanations, it is the divorce he is going through, his eye sight issues haven't been fixed, his weight is a problem, he is just going through a string of bad luck.

I wish I knew the answer here but unfortunately it is unknowable wait that's not what bloggers do let me re-phrase that. I know the answer; he has pissed off the baseball gods. He needs to go all Pedro Cerrano and make some voodoo chicken sacrifices and wrap his bats in golf club head covers to placate them. He needs to don the stirrups and do whatever Babe Ruth did because you know he had a similar body type.

In all seriousness I have no idea what is the matter. Looking at his batted ball data it looks very similar to last season.

Season	Team	GB/FB	LD%	GB%	FB%	IFFB%
2008	Giants	1.56	25.9 %	45.2 %	28.9 %	12.8 %
2009	Giants	1.23	18.6 %	44.9 %	36.5 %	7.9 %
2010	Giants	1.26	16.7 %	46.4 %	36.9 %	10.5 %

When you look at every thing it all looks about the same, slightly less line drives, a few more groundballs and fly balls, the only one that is higher is infield fly balls but still nothing that is horribly different.

Season	Split	BB%	K%	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	BABIP	wRC	wRAA	wOBA	wRC+
2010	Mar/Apr	10.3 %	9.2 %	.433	.575	1.008	.207	.382	20.2	8.9	.437	176
2010	May	5.0 %	17.1 %	.275	.342	.617	.108	.269	7.4	-6.5	.256	55
2010	Jun	9.5 %	11.7 %	.305	.340	.645	.106	.244	8.7	-3.5	.283	72
2010	Jul	9.4 %	20.0 %	.302	.295	.597	.063	.286	7.3	-5.0	.265	60
2010	Aug	3.2 %	10.0 %	.290	.333	.624	.067	.296	2.1	-1.5	.263	60

Looking at the splits by month it only gets more depressing. Since his awesome March and April he has been a bad hitter. Maybe the batted ball data by month will help out:

Season	Split	GB/FB	LD%	GB%	FB%	IFFB%	HR/FB	IFH%
2010	Mar/Apr	1.44	16.5 %	49.4 %	34.2 %	7.4 %	11.1 %	10.3 %
2010	May	0.98	16.0 %	41.5 %	42.6 %	10.0 %	2.5 %	2.6 %
2010	Jun	1.48	13.3 %	51.8 %	34.9 %	10.3 %	6.9 %	9.3 %
2010	Jul	1.10	20.8 %	41.6 %	37.7 %	10.3 %	0.0 %	3.1 %
2010	Aug	1.75	18.5 %	51.9 %	29.6 %	0.0 %	0.0 %	21.4 %

Again nothing jumps out at me that is different between April where he excelled and the other months where he has slumped.

I have no conclusion here, I am stumped, Pablo Sandoval you have defeated me whoops sorry not sure how that thought got in there, of course I know the answer. Voodoo or these steps from the all knowing wikihow (that's where I learn everything) I will just forward this to Bruce Bochy to share with Aaron Rowand and Freddy Sanchez as well.

Step 1) Relax. Don't get mad and stress out as you'll won't
improve and even -gasp- form bad habits. Just take a few breathes, count to ten,
and focus on the fundamentals.

Step 2) Take a Break. Continuing to do bad? Then it's time
to take a break, you'll be amazed how much this helps. Work on something else
for a while or take a walk to blow off some steam.

Step 3) Think. Try to think, try to correct what your doing
wrong. Go through the process step by step to see if you forgetting something or
doing something wrong.

Step 4) Change. Sometimes your body changes, and you just a
little taller or hit a little faster which throws off your game. Ask a coach for
help, and change up your swing. :)

Warnings:

• Don't hurt yourself or overstrain yourself when following these steps.
• it is HIGHLY recommended to ONLY do Step 4 with the supervision of a coach.

There you go, the internet has spoken.