Depth Charts: 1b
We’re back, baby! Happy Opening Day everyone! Win, lose, or …. whatever the hell that was last night, it’s great to have baseball finally back. And, after all, the day wasn’t without its charms…
But of course we’re here to talk about the minor leagues, which are still a month away from opening their year (fingers crossed). So, let’s turn our attention back to the farm system (after all, you have to do something while waiting for tonight’s game to begin!). So far in our Depth Chart series, we’ve:
But with 1b now in our sights, we’ve come to the Baby Bear position — there’s not too few guys, not too many guys, it’s jussssst right! There are enough players to fill out the rosters, but not so many that playing time will be tough to come by. And by and large, the levels line up in a way that makes sense for each guy’s experience level.
So my work here should be relatively straightforward for once! And, since we can’t have that, I think I’ll mix things up today with a little bit of a Prospect Hot Take. Let’s Rank!
Ranking the Prospects!
I’ve spent much of the last year pointing at Logan Wyatt as the canary in the coal mine for the Giants’ new development regime. He’s the blueprint of what they’re trying to do, and successful development of Wyatt’s offensive potential will be a real indication that the club is able to implement their ideas and philosophies into real enhanced prospect development.
All that’s still true and the Giants pretty clearly signaled their appreciation for Wyatt with his NRI to big league camp and extensive play in spring games. But with all that said, I’m gonna plant my own personal flag with this ranking: Garrett Frechette is going to be the 2021 version of Luis Matos. By the end of the year, he’s going to be the pop up prospect in the system that everyone wants to talk about.
Garrett Frechette
Logan Wyatt
Connor Cannon
Victor Bericoto
Of course, you, dear There R Giants’ reader, won’t be surprised to see Frechette bust loose in 2021, because we’ve already talked all about him, too. Frechette is a prime example of value falling into the Giants laps. One of the better hitters in his high school class, he went through injuries and illness that caused him to fall in the draft. The Giants scooped him up with a high value upside play in the 5th round and his debut was solid. With time to fully recover his strength, develop and mature physically, there’s every reason to believe that Frechette might take the field and just start doing this to Low-A pitchers:
Now let’s be frank — I’m cheating with these rankings specifically in order to signal my faith in Frechette’s ability to take a big leap in his development. In the real world, I doubt there are any organizations (including the Giants) that would have Frechette in front of Wyatt on their pref lists. Wyatt is the more advanced, more knowledgeable, more accomplished hitter. His knowledge of the strike zone is quite possibly as good or better than any other player in the organization, including the major league roster. He got an extended look in front of Gabe Kapler and staff this spring, and could move quickly just by doing what he does: work counts, take walks, put the ball in play, essentially be something like a minor league version of Sean Casey (though perhaps not quite so gregarious).
No professional prospect outlet would have Frechette in front of Wyatt (though they are close in several outlets’ rankings). But I wanted to make a point. All rankings are a snapshot in time; in this case, I’m choosing to make them a snapshot of some other time that I anticipate coming to fruition in the near future. Please feel free to yell at me about this post in October in case I’m wrong.
I’ve also written previously about Connor Cannon, the statuesque mountain of a prospect out of UC Riverside. In a system with Marco Luciano and Joey Bart, Cannon could possibly have the org’s one true “80 Power” grade, and, in the AZL in 2019, he produced exit velocities that sat comfortably with the Giancarlo Stantons and Aaron Judges of the world. But there’s a long, LONG way between a Connor Cannon firing rockets around the backfields of Scottsdale and a Connor Cannon who can do the same against even upper minors pitching. The power ensures he’ll get looks, but he needs to stay on the field, and he’ll have to prove out at every level right from the jump. But beyond the box score, if you get the chance to catch a Cannon BP session, I highly recommend taking that opportunity!
Victor Bericoto has flown under the radar the last couple of years. And it’s not because he wasn’t sensational in his debut. The 17-year-old posted an eye-opening .344/.472/.485 line in the DSL, giving the 2019 DSL Giants a second middle of the order presence behind Luis Matos. And, at the end of the year, Bericoto made the late season trip up to the AZL with Matos. He walked at an extraordinary 19% clip while also making excellent contact. He was, in other words, yet another example of the kind of hitter the current Giants are trying to develop: a player with a strong sense of what he should swing at, combined with the ability to make hard contact when he does swing.
The ability to make good swing decisions is, in fact, something of a theme with this 1b group. That’s probably not surprising, given that 1b have nothing else to fall back on if the bat doesn’t develop to it’s maximum capacity. A 1b who doesn’t hit better than the large majority of all major leaguers is a Triple-A player (or worse). So focusing on the elements that lead to hitting success is not an Optional Assignment for these guys, it’s Checklist Item #1.
The demands of a 1b offensive ability is likely why the Giants have at least talked about getting most of these guys some time in LF. Immediately after the 2019 draft, Michael Holmes talked about Wyatt being athletic enough “to maybe play some LF.” Jim Callis mentioned that the Giants were talking about getting Frechette some LF time this year. And Bericoto actually did get some LF time in the DSL in 2019. Hey, you never know — I remember when Giants officials were saying the same thing about a 19-year-old Travis Ishikawa, and look how that worked out! My guess is that will remain more “talk” than “walk” as time goes on. It’s not like the Giants OFs aren’t pretty crowded in the lower minors as well. And without knocking Wyatt’s or Frechette’s athleticism, they both are likely to settle into what we might call “1b speed.” If any of this group does see time in the OF, it’s probably most important that it be Bericoto, as the dreaded R-R 1b profile (Right-Handed hitter, Right-Handed thrower) puts an even bigger onus on a player’s offensive ability, as they don’t even have the platoon advantage in their favor. It’s a rare breed that turns into Paul Goldschmidt, so Victor would do well to be working on his range and footspeed and ball-tracking abilities, even while he’s wearing the 1b mitt in games. Dude can hit, though!
Depth Charts
Back when I did the Sacramento River Cats “way too early” roster preview, I essentially had just a Shrug Emoji for the 1b position. But since then, Sacramento’s filled in the depth chart admirably! They signed Jason Vosler and traded for La Monte Wade, Jr., both of whom can play the 3-spot, though each will likely spend the bulk of their time elsewhere. To take the majority of starts, Farhan Zaidi signed veteran Justin Bour, probably because he hates you personally and wants to force you to remember one of the worst moments in semi-recent Giants history:
Other than that side of sadism, however, it’s another solid depth move!
Once again, it’s Double-A where it becomes hard to scratch up some candidates. Fangraphs’ Roster Resource is consistently out ahead of me. Their abhorrence of a vaccum has caused them to boost guys like Will Wilson and Logan Wyatt up to the Richmond roster. My thinking is that the Giants are going to prioritize putting their most important prospects in a position to get off to a strong start, and I don’t really believe that pushing guys who have barely played above rookie ball straight into Double-A is putting them in position to succeed. I may be wrong, but I’m going to be consistently wrong! For me, you have to let Wilson, Wyatt, Bishop, Bailey — that whole college crew — find their footing in A ball for at least a few weeks before thinking about boosting them further. And that means scrambling to fill out some elements of the Richmond roster.
Enter Tyler Flores! An undrafted free agent signing back in 2018, Flores would need to take a giant leap to catch up to AA pitching as well, but he’s exactly the type of org guy who is likely to be sent where there’s a roster need. David Villar might make even more sense as a starting 1b for the Squirrels. Villar’s shown a lot of power as a pro, though it’s come with gale force swing and miss. He did see some time at 1b with San Jose in 2019 and looked good there. The problem with Villar at 1b is it leaves a corresponding hole at 3b, where the Squirrels are also likely to be thin. I won’t be surprised to see some minor league FA fill ins signed before April is done.
The A ball squads fall into line pretty decently, with the collegian Wyatt taking the lion’s share of at bats in High A and the high schooler Frechette manning the spot in Low-A. The backups for that pair are a little harder to pin down. Cannon should be ready for a move up to High-A but that will make it harder for former 2nd rounder Jacob Gonzalez to work his way into a lineup. And if that trio is all in Eugene, it becomes all but impossible for Frankie Tostado to make the move up that he likely expects, following a fairly successful power year in Augusta in 2019 (albeit a year in which his chase rate was far too high for this organization). Labour has never played 1b, but OF spots in San Jose should be at a premium, so learning a new trade might help Labour in his route to more playing time — and help us in our quest to see more of this:
And who doesn’t want to see more of that? That’s what a good 1b is all about, after all!
Next up, it’s…. well it’s a surprise. What do you think is the next position on our tour through the organization?
YES YES YES! It’s nice to see my constant Frechette fandom (Frechdom?) has worn you down😊. I can’t wait to follow Garrett this season. Thank you for helping me do that this year.