Giants Depth Chart: 1b
Reviewing the system, position by position
Courtesy MLB.com
The unfortunate thing, really, is that I’m just not much of a sim fan — or to tell the honest truth, a fan of video games at all. I always feared when young that my addictive personality would cause me to disappear down a video game wormhole one day and never be heard from again, and so I used up one of my rare “have some self-control” cards to (mostly) avoid playing video games of any kind in my life. Consequently, I’m not the host to try fake a simulated minor league season here (though I can see how that would help us all through) and instead I’m going to have to fill up baseball cryogenic time with just a wall of words and thoughts. Cold comfort, I’ll admit.
So, to start the season that isn’t out at There R Giants, I want to look at the org’s depth on a position by position basis, starting with — in my opinion — the weakest in the organization and working my way up to the strongest. If you’ve been reading my stuff for awhile, you no doubt know that I’m just a jeepster for big impact talents, but I also value the potential to provide complementary and even just depth big league value, especially if it’s close to the majors. Keeping those perspectives in some reasonable alignment will guide me on my journey upwards through the positions. The exciting thing, for me, is that it’s pretty competitive up there at the top!
We’re going to start off with a look at 1b. I don’t think it’s a particularly controversial take to peg 1b as the starting point — so hold onto your disagreements for later installments! For one thing, we’ve seen a significant turnover of 1b talent in the upper levels of the system lately — the Giants severed ties with Ryder Jones, Jonah Arenado, Gio Brusa, and Ryan Kirby over the past year. And while Chris Shaw, the team’s former #2 prospect, is still here, the new front office has certainly been stingy signaling votes of confidence for my fellow Golden Eagle. All of which suggests strongly that Farhan Zaidi & Co. were not impressed with the 1b contingent they inherited upon taking over.
The good news is, if you have to have a weakest link, 1b is not the worst place to lack depth. Strong hitters will invariably slide down the defensive scale through one or another exigency and teams should be able to fill the role adequately in the end (a position I stubbornly cling to despite having once watched the Giants intentionally start Enos Cabell at 1b for most of a year). The Giants have a lot of intriguing hitting prospects with positional question marks hovering over their future, so this should be something that works itself out over time.
That said, the current crop has done little to stand out so far, and what potential exists here is a long ways off. While the front office was parting ways with many of the upper system 1b-types, the new ones coming in through the bottom of the system have done little yet to excite prospect watchers. Fangraphs had no Giants 1b in their Giants top 30, while Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and MLB Pipeline all included just one. Essentially, the question of whether There R Giants in the current crop of 1b rests mainly on two members of the 2019 draft: Logan Wyatt and Garrett Frechette.
Top Tier
Logan Wyatt, 22 yrs old, 2019 2nd rd pick, .278/.388/.377 across three levels in debut
My sense is that Wyatt’s selection didn’t spark much excitement amongst Giants’ draft watchers and his pro debut (divided about equally between Salem-Keizer and Augusta) did little to crank up enthusiasm. “Singles hitting college 1b” seems to sum up much of the vibe from fans in Wyatt’s first year.
And yes, power-shy 1b is about the least exciting phylum one can imagine in the prospect world. And yet, something I read very recently in Baseball America came to my mind when thinking about Wyatt:
It’s pretty easy to see the appeal of Wyatt to the Giants’ braintrust. The previous regime spent most of the last decade spending high round picks on contact-shy sluggers and hoped to teach them to hit enough (by and large, unsuccessfully). This regime wants to find guys who control the strikezone, show bat to ball skills, and teach them to add loft. Not the sexiest profile, but if the development team can deliver, the payoff is obvious.
During his Sophomore and Junior years at the University of Louisville, Wyatt walked 132 times and struck out just 85 times while developing a reputation as a player who knew the strike zone better than most umpires. He similarly walked more than striking out with wood bats in the Cape Cod League, where his .896 OPS compared favorably with Orleans teammate (and future top 10 pick) JJ Bleday (.874 OPS). While Bleday hit for more power overall, their HR totals were even (4 for Wyatt, 5 for Bleday). Add a modicum of power to that strikezone discipline and it’s not hard to envision major league productivity.
Of course, imagining isn’t doing. Athleticism, adaptability, muscle memory, the ability to self-analyze and self-correct — there’s all manner of complication between the saying and the doing when it comes to swing mechanics. But it’s certainly easy enough to see the thought process behind the Giants selection of this player.
Garrett Frechette, 19 yrs old, 2019 5th rd pick, .290/.364/.366 debut in the AZL
The Giants showed a mastery of cap-onomics in the 2019 draft, signing their top two picks to underslot deals that allowed them to go overslot on 6 of the next 9 picks. One of the biggest of those overslot deals went to San Diego State commit Frechette, who offers some of the most tantalizing upside in the Giants draft class.
In a recent MLB Pipeline podcast, Jim Callis picked Garrett Frechette as his favorite hitter among all the prospects who didn’t make their team’s top 30s. After bemoaning his inability to keep Frechette in the Giants top 30 following the acquisitions of Will Wilson and Dany Jimenez, Callis said of Frechette:
I thought he was a very interesting HS hitter who kind of slipped in the draft a little bit last year — 5th rounder — because he got mono and didn’t have the best Senior season …[he] wasn’t at full strength. But as long as he doesn’t lapse into kind of selling out for power at times, he’s got the pure hitting ability, the bat speed, the leverage to produce for power and average. I really like him.
Frechette was a well-known and well-scouted player on the High School showcase circuit during his Junior year. But after transferring to Southern California high school power Orange Lutheran to gain more exposure going into his draft year, things went sideways on him in a hurry: a hamstring injury, a hamate bone injury, and finally a bout with mono that sapped his strength throughout his senior year (he had just three extra-base hits total for the spring). But given health and maturation, he offers size and swing to develop into a prototypical sweet-swinging lefty 1b. Of course, there’s a long path between here and there.
Major League Depth Pieces
Chris Shaw, 26 yrs old, .294/.360/.559, 28 HRs between Richmond-Sacramento;
31 K in 82 career MLB PA
Zach Green, 26 yrs old, .282/.380/.659 w/ 25 HRs in 72 games in Sacramento;
.464 OPS w/ 6 Ks in 16 PA w/ Giants
With his long levers, natural loft, and raw strength Chris Shaw probably offers more left handed power than anybody in the organization. And Zach Green isn’t far behind from the right hand side. But both 26 year olds have likely arrived at the cruel state of the game where opportunity and a hot streak are going to need to coincide for them to get over the hump. The time that it takes to go from up and coming hot prospect to AAA vet whose last best chance is in imminent danger of passing by can be shockingly fast. But both Green and Shaw are close by and likely to get their chances to contribute in 2020 — assuming there are any contributions to be had in 2020. And they won’t have to look far around the locker room to find examples of the rewards of meeting the right moment when it comes. Hiya, Yaz! How’s it going, Donovan?
Low-Level Guys to Keep an Eye on
Victor Bericoto, 18 yrs old, .344/.472/.485 in DSL with 53 BB, 56 Ks
Connor Cannon, 21 yrs old, .326/.399/.689 13 HRs in 35 AZL games
I started to call this section “Sleepers” but if you’re here reading my stuff it’s likely that the notion of a sleeper is irrelevant — you already know everybody on both AZL squads and are currently trying to guess opening day lineups for the DSL teams. So these are just guys who bring interesting tools and bear watching, but who are at step five of their marathon.
DSL stats are basically the Snapchat of the prospect world — tantalizing promise for a moment before disappearing with the challenge of even slightly better competition. Still, as a general rule it’s better to perform well than not and keeping BBs and Ks aligned generally is a positive sign in the DSL. Bericoto certainly did that on his way to posting the 5th best OBP in the 40+ team DSL. Bericoto’s DSL debut was good enough to get him an ultra-rare promotion to the AZL at the end of the year, along with Luis Matos, a sign that the organization took his rookie performance seriously. In some ways, Bericoto’s debut was reminiscent of Luis Toribio’s the year before: both players showed a feel and discipline for hitting beyond their experience or age. Both use short, sharp strokes to make hard contact and though physically mature show hints of more power. If Bericoto remains a R-R 1b, however, the pressure will be on the bat to develop to elite levels; chances will look better for him if he can stick in LF (although: spoiler, we wont’ be getting to the OF positions for quite some time on this journey so competition will be fierce in that route as well).
I’m contractually obligated to note that Connor Cannon is a Very Large Human Being who pulverizes baseballs Very Far Distances. He led the Big West conference in HRs his Junior year, bashing 18 in 51 games. Combined with his pro debut he hit 31 longballs in 2019 over just less than 90 games, while setting UC Riverside’s season and career records in HRs and making a run at the AZL record too. He shows good plate discipline and doesn’t strike out all that much for a 6’5” guys with long levers and huge loft. All of which sounds good! But his injury history is long and unsettling (including surgeries on both knees and a shoulder) and he likely needs to hope that the NL has adopted the Designated Hitter by the time he’s ready. Still, your humble narrator is a confirmed lover of watching baseballs travel breath-taking distances, so I’m going to make a point of catching a Connor Cannon BP session sometime soon.
Others of Note
Frankie Tostado, 22 yrs old, .259/.313/.427 in Augusta
David Villar, 23 yrs old, .262/.334/.421 in San Jose
Jacob Gonzalez, 21 yrs old, .241/.312/.367 in Augusta
Tostado is basically the opposite of Wyatt — he showed excellent power in Augusta with 18 HRs (5th best in the Sally), but a chase rate that was one of the worst in the league did serious damage to his overall line. At one point in mid-season, Tostado was chasing an incredible >40% of pitches outside the zone. He’ll need to find a way to stay in the strikezone to allow his strengths to play.
Villar likewise was harmed by swing and miss tendencies, striking out 30% of the time in the Cal League last year. But he offers excellent right-handed power (one of his highlights last year was smashing a 400+ foot HR off of rehabbing Garrett Richards) and some positional versatility. Some may disagree with my placing him with the 1b crop when he’s played 3b so far in his career but he seems to fall into the Ryder Jones/Zach Green school of corner IF player for me.
The now 21 year old Gonzalez suffered through his second straight miserable year in the Sally. There is still a body to dream on, raw strength and a decent approach. But he has to find a way to make some more quality contact — way too many strikeouts and groundballs.
…
So, for a position I’m calling the weakest in the system that’s a decent amount of depth, even if it’s mostly low level and often low-ceilinged talent. Still I can tell you for a fact that I am NOT going to find 9 players to talk about with our next position…
Let me know what you think in the comment section. IS 1b the weakest position in the system? Are you passionate about the new development team’s ability to turn Logan Wyatt into Joey Votto? Or are you excited by the teenage promise of Frechette or Bericoto? Who’s your Giant?
On this day in history
I’m absolutely NOT above stealing bits, and one of my favorite bits currently going in the twitterverse is Chris Blessing’s (@C_Blessing) posts of random lineups from baseball history, to see if people can guess the team and year.
So let’s adopt it, Giants org style. Guess the team and year:
Lewis, CF
Labarbera, 2b
Buscher, 3b
Ortmeier, RF
Von Schell, 1b
Walter, LF
Benavidez, DH
Curry, C
Hutting, SS
James Garcia, SP
The best part of this exercise is names that have completely fallen out of the brain. Seriously, Anthony Labarbera? Thaaaat never happened!
Anyhoo…on this date in Giants’ semi-recent prospect history:
2005: Jonathan Sanchez made his full season debut, throwing 6.2 shutout innings for Augusta. Sanchez had been the Giants 27th round pick the year before out of Ohio Dominican, where he set school records for strikeouts in a game (16), season (105), and career (311), helping Ohio Dominican reach the NAIA World Series in three consecutive seasons. Though Sanchez’ B-Ref page suggests he never appeared in a San Jose uni, he was in fact promoted to San Jose for the 2005 Cal League playoffs, where his two strong starts helped the Giants capture the league title.
2009: Buster Posey reached base four times including his second HR of the year (and 3rd of his career), leading San Jose to an 11 hit attack (unfortunately resulting in a 4-3 loss. Brandon Crawford also had two hits pushing his early season average to .529 and a 1.560 OPS in 5 games. Crawford would play just 25 games in the Cal League before being promoted to AA with 6 HRs and a 1.045 OPS.
2010: In just his second game ever against a Giants affiliate, Paul Goldschmidt showed off his Giants-killing instincts, picking up three hits including a double and homer off San Jose starter Aaron King. It was part of a six-hit series for Goldschmidt in his first taste of Giants’ pitching. He was just warming up.
FINAL WORD
If Augusta ever has a season, there will be a new voice behind the mic for games. Last year’s PxP man, Santa Rosa native Rylan Kobre is pursuing a graduate degree and the Greenjackets now welcome Cullen Holt to be their voice. Holt isn’t waiting for the season to start to make a name for himself. He’s putting out great content even without a roster to talk about. So far he’s posted interviews with Manager Carlos Valderrama and Pitching Coach Alain Quijano and he’s promised more to come. Keep an eye out!
Happy National Siblings Day: it sure would be great to see the family get back together again!
Have a great day everyone! Stay safe out there and be kind to others.
I looked up the answer to this day, but my initial guess was San Jose in 04. I remember thinking Dan Ortmeier was going to be Carlos Beltran after he hit 20 homeruns in Norfolk.