“Kung Fu Panda 4” hits theaters March 8. Baseball’s Kung Fu Panda will be hitting for the SF Giants this spring.
Alex Pavlovic reports that 2012 World Series MVP Pablo Sandoval will come to Arizona as a non-roster invitee this year. While Sandoval hasn’t played in the major leagues since hitting four home runs and slashing .178/.302/.342 for the Atlanta Braves in 2021, the Panda has reportedly slimmed down and is in great shape, for him.
Since the Braves traded Sandoval and the Cleveland Indians subsequently released him in 2021, he’s continued playing. He hit baseball’s first six-run home run last fall playing in Dubai, and played for teams in Venezuela, Mexico, and Puerto Rico in 2022-3.
Sandoval won three rings and made two All-Star teams in his first go-round with the Giants, finishing 7th in the MVP vote as a 22-year-old in 2009. He hit three home runs in the opening game of the 2012 World Series, leading the Giants to a shocking series sweep of the Detroit Tigers. After the 2014 season, in which he caught the final out of the World Series, he left for a big free-agent deal with the Boston Red Sox.