Former SF Giants third baseman of the future continues struggles with new team

This year has not been great for the former Giant.
San Diego Padres v San Francisco Giants
San Diego Padres v San Francisco Giants | Lachlan Cunningham/GettyImages

Former SF Giants infielder David Villar has had a bit of a topsy turvy year. He began the season with the Giants but was DFA'd on two separate occasions. He is now in the New York Mets organization where he is struggling.

Villar was seen as a guy who needed to have a huge spring training to make the team since he was out of minor league options. He did not do enough so the Giants designated him for assignment at the end of March.

Former SF Giants infielder David Villar continues to struggle

The Georgia native wound up clearing waivers and was sent to Triple-A Sacramento. There, he hit well enough that he earned a call-up in April when the Giants had some injuries to other infielders.

Unfortunately, Villar did not do much in his brief stint with the Giants this season. In nine games he slashed .200/.360/.250 with four hits and four walks in 20 at-bats. The Giants ended up having to DFA him yet again towards the end of May.

That time, Villar elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the New York Mets. In Triple-A with New York, he is slashing .196/.322/.346 with six home runs and 18 runs driven in across 45 games. Those are not numbers likely to earn him a big league promotion anytime soon.

Villar was once thought of as the third baseman of the future in San Francisco. He has a nice showing late in the 2022 season which earned him the starting role to begin 2023. However, he struggled mightily at the plate that season and was quickly supplanted at third base by J.D. Davis.

Ultimately, neither of those players wound up being the third baseman of the future for the team because the Giants signed Matt Chapman who is going to be a Giant for the rest of this decade.

It is a shame things did not work out for Villar in San Francisco because he flashed impressive power, especially to the opposite field, and had 27 homers in Triple-A back in 2022 which got people excited about his potential.

He still has time to turn things around so it will be interesting to see if he gets another shot at the big leagues somewhere.

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