Shortstop Brandon Crawford said Sandoval was underappreciated as a fielder.

“People give him a lot of flak about his size, but he moves around well,” Crawford said. “What he does athletically is spectacular.”

Sandoval’s dexterity is such that he not only can bat from either side of the plate, but he can also throw adeptly with either hand. (A natural left-hander, he learned to throw with his right, which he now uses exclusively, at age 9 in order to play shortstop.)

As much success as the 5-foot-11 Sandoval is having these days, things weren’t always so good. He was in similarly heavyweight shape during the Giants’ 2010 stretch run, but declining production kept him tethered to the bench as the team surged to its first championship in San Francisco. General Manager Brian Sabean publicly threatened to send Sandoval to the minor leagues.

That winter, Sandoval stayed away from his native Venezuela for the first time as a big leaguer, instead heading to Arizona for an intensive workout program called Camp Panda, at which he shed some 40 pounds.

It seemed to work. In 2011, the slimmed-down Panda hit .315 with 23 home runs, even while missing 45 games because of a broken bone in his right hand. After another injury-plagued season in 2012 — he broke the same bone in his other hand — and his Series M.V.P. performance, he was back home over the winter, as large as ever and leading Navegantes del Magallanes to the Venezuelan Winter League title. He followed that by hitting .308 with a homer and two doubles in three games for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic earlier this spring.

Sandoval’s ability to square up on pitches high and low, inside and out — he is perhaps the best bad-ball hitter since Vladimir Guerrero — should not detract from the fact that he is far more selective at the plate than he was two seasons ago.

“He has a big zone, but not as big as it was,” Giants Manager Bruch Bochy said.

The Giants’ brass appears resigned to the size of Sandoval’s waistline, but that does not mean it has escaped their attention.