SAN FRANCISCO — Emmanuel Burriss is the first big winner in the San Francisco Giants' youth movement sweepstakes.

General manager Brian Sabean said Sunday that Burriss has made enough improvement in recent weeks that the starting shortstop job will be the 23-year-old's to lose when the Giants open camp next spring.

"He plugs that position as far as I'm concerned," Sabean said before the Giants' 11-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. "He's come a long way. He's more confident defensively, he's certainly done well with the bat — he's probably exceeded some expectations — and his arm's gotten better."

Burriss is batting .358 (24-for-67) since mid-August, and Sunday he was a key contributor in a 10-run fourth-inning rally, the Giants' biggest inning in nearly five years.

The switch hitter had two hits — the first was the Giants' first of the game — and scored twice in the uprising that wiped out a 5-0 deficit.

"He's (playing with confidence) and that sense of belonging here," manager Bruce Bochy said of Burriss, who had just completed his first season of A-ball at this time last year. "He's done a great job, considering where he played last year, and to be up here playing as well as he's done is a credit to how hard he has worked and how determined he is."

Burriss wasn't the only fresh-faced Giant to keep the rally moving.

Pablo Sandoval drove in the first four of his career-high five RBI in the inning (a three-run double and a sacrifice fly), Nate Schierholtz had two hits and drove in a run, and Fred Lewis, Travis Ishikawa and Eugenio Velez had run-scoring hits.

In all, the Giants sent 14 batters to the plate, and the first eight reached base safely.

"It was exciting," said Schierholtz, who has hit safely in all five games he's played in since he was called up last week.

"Hit after hit." Burriss said, "That was good for us. Hopefully that will be a snowball effect for us."

The Giants' youth movement has shown encouraging signs in recent weeks, and it was no secret that big changes are in store at the position that 11-time Gold Glove winner Omar Vizquel has called home for the past four seasons.

Burriss split time at shortstop with Vizquel for much of June and early July, but until recently his future appeared to be at second base.

After more than a month of regular duty at second base, Burriss was put in the lineup at shortstop on Aug. 29, and he's been the starter there for eight of the past nine games.

Asked if he feels as if he's establishing himself as a major-leaguer, Burriss said, "I feel like I'm working on it. They are putting me in the position to feel like that."

Burriss said the support from the coaching staff isn't only positive reinforcement.

"There are a lot of times I'll think I had a great game, and I'll hear four different coaches telling me why I didn't," he said, laughing. "But that's good. Being a rookie, they want to make sure that everything out there I can handle."

Now the Giants are convinced he can handle shortstop. His development, especially as a hitter, convinced the Giants brass that he's a better alternative than seeking a free agent this winter.

"It's a heck of a lot tougher to go on the outside to get a shortstop when there's somebody who all of a sudden is blossoming in front of your own eyes," said Sabean, who added, "You're not going to get a shortstop and solve your other needs, too."

Top among those needs is a second baseman. The Giants are taking a long look at defensively challenged Velez. Sabean said the club would not consider moving third-base prospect Conor Gillaspie to second in hopes of adding a power-hitting third baseman this winter but said Kevin Frandsen will be in the mix, even though he's missed the season with an Achilles tendon injury.

Frandsen, who will begin playing games in the Arizona instructional league later this month is, "the wild card," Sabean said. "Anything he does this year, we won't critically analyze or evaluate. We're going to have to wait until spring training and see how it looks."