The curse is over! Huge congratulations go out to Logan Webb and Heliot Ramos for making their first All Star teams! After bursting out as a post-season stud back in 2021 and finishing 2nd in Cy Young Award voting last year, Webb’s selection certainly should have been a foregone conclusion. His body of work had earned this honor before 2024 even began and hopefully he’ll be back more times. It’s been 10 long years since he was selected as 4th rounder out of Rocklin High School — a somewhat surprising pop-up pick who had spent much of his high school career better known as a football player. And it’s been six long years since he blew me away in Cubs’ minor league camp, prior to heading to San Jose (hat tip to former Giants’ prospect Ryan Kirby’s father for coming and grabbing me to let me know what I was missing)!
That was also the first minor league camp that I saw Ramos in. Heliot’s selection is much more shocking, as it took a monumental wave of injuries to open up an opportunity for him to play at all. He wasn’t even on the team until early May, and yet he comes into the break 7th among all NL outfielders in fWAR. His explosive two months has made this a well-earned honor and, finally, incredibly, he breaks the nearly 40-year long streak for the franchise without developing a homegrown All Star Outfielder, something the Giants haven’t had since Chili Davis’ last appearance as a Giants’ representative back in 1986. Just amazing!
If that isn’t a long enough trip in the Way Back machine for you, check out this nugget from Andy Baggarly:
It takes so long for these stories to develop….and then they seem to happen in a rush, don’t they? It feels like just yesterday I was watching him show off his man strength down in the minors.
And, as a late note, we should also wish a fond farewell to Austin Slater, who, along with Webb, made that 2014 draft (which also included unsigned high school picks, Joe Ryan and Kevin Ginkel) the Giants’ best of the 2010s. Slater, the Stanford grad taken four rounds after Webb, was second only to Joe Panik among all hitters drafted by the Giants in that decade (though Ramos may have something to say about that in the end). Good luck, Austin!
Anyway, to the matter at hand! It’s weird to have a Sunday with no minor league ball, isn’t it? (Technically, that’s not completely correct; there were two stray minor league games played yesterday around the country.)
On the bright side, however, that leaves us with a little less ground to cover on Monday. Only 14 games to get through today. Why, that’s downright leisurely!
But there was no shortage of action. We had four- and five-hit days from recent top signings. We had lefties accomplishing things they never had before. And, we had walk-offs both happy and sad. Seems like plenty to be getting along with!
HITTER of the WEEKEND: Rayner Arias (ACLG), 4 for 8, 2 2b, 3b, 3 R, 1 RBI
PITCHER of the WEEKEND: Joe Whitman (Eug), 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
Let’s stretch out and get comfy, as we take on another weekend of action in the Minor Lines! This is where we find (or least look for) those future All Stars!
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