Behind 27 home runs in 84 Triple-A games, David Villar has emerged as the biggest power-hitting prospect in the San Francisco Giants system in many years. And in 2022, the Pacific Coast League confirmed how good he was, naming Villar the League’s Most Valuable Player.
Over those 84 games, the third baseman hit .275 with a .404 on-base percentage and a .617 slugging percentage. He hit 19 doubles, one triple, and 27 home runs. He did strike out 93 times, but also walked 55 times, a career-high despite being the least games he played in a league in a season since 2018.
While Villar did not play in enough games to qualify for the league’s batting number titles, Villar’s 1.021 was second in the league in OPS among players who played in at least 80 games. His 28 home runs in 84 games was 6th-highest in the league, despite playing in less games than anyone else in the Top 8, and five home runs behind the league leaders, who had 32.
Like many of the top-performing Triple-A players, Villar’s time at the level was cut by spending time in the Majors. He made his debut on July 4th, hitting a double off of former Giant Madison Bumgarner for his first hit. He stayed in San Francisco for much of the rest of the season, although he did come back to Villar in August for 18 games. The 25-year old VIllar was more challenged in the big leagues, where he hit .231 with six doubles, a triple, and nine home runs in 52 games with the Giants.
Villar was named the PCL Players of the Week once, for the week of May 10th-15th while in El Paso, where he went 8-for-20 (.400) with two doubles and four home runs, and posting a 1.620 OPS.
In 2021, Villar had a breakout season in Double-A Richmond. The 11th round pick became the first player in the franchise’s 11 seasons to hit 20 or more home runs, doing it in 106 games, and won the team’s MVP award.
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