Giants Depth Chart: C
Now we're getting into some fun!
Center Field or Catcher? Catcher or Center Field? The final two position depth charts bring us a “pick ‘em” of personal delights. Both offer up a top prospect who shouldn’t be too far from the majors (depending on how far the majors are away from us, of course) and both have even more excitement further down the line.
The Catcher position has been a real organizational weakness for much of the past decade, as the team has consistently brought in minor league vets and even forced some of their bullpen Catchers into game action. As recently as the 2017 season, the Giants Catcher contingent for the full season affiliates was the following: Trevor Brown, Jeff Arnold, Matt Winn, the ageless Eliezer Zambrano, organizational Swiss army knife Myles Schroeder, Aramis Garcia, Conner Sabanosh, media star Matt Paré, Skyler Ewing, Will Albertson, and Adam Sonabend.
A lot of very nice guys and hard workers in that group but that is not an organizational strength. In the draft that summer the Giants were heavily connected to young catching prospect Luis Campusano (who would have been an excellent pick as he’s quickly become one of the best Catching prospects in the minors). They ended up going with Heliot Ramos that year, but they got their guy at the top of the next draft and even now are being connected with local Catching prospect Tyler Soderstrom in the 2020 draft. The club has also focussed on Catching talent through their international acquisitions and it’s that venue that has brought a raft of interesting depth to the organization — it’s young but there’s the potential that Catching may become the strength of this system for the next few years.
Star Tier
Joey Bart, 23 yrs old, .278/.328/.495, 16 HRs in 79 games between San Jose/Richmond;
.333/.524/.767, 4 HRs in 42 ABs in Arizona Fall League.
The Giants’ history of selecting in the top 5 picks is about as good as a team can get. The worst they’ve managed at the very top of the draft is a player who was used to obtain Livan Hernandez:
(I’m looking for the silver lining there, Jason, because honestly one of those things is not like the others). Now that’s all of that list you need pay attention to —- NO DON’T GO ON TO LOOK AT THE 6TH OVERALL PICK. AVERT YOUR EYES FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HO’OH….WHY!!!!!!! —- anyhoo, it’s a pretty good list. Not every team has it quite this good, though I’m not one cast aspersions.
The point is, that part of the things Joey Bart must carry is the burden of expectation. All you gotta do to keep the fans happy, Joey, is wrap up all the best elements Will Clark and Buster Posey into one tidy, new package. Be one of the best defensive catchers in the majors. Hit historic dingers. Guide a pitching staff to glory. Make the world sing with the power of your smile. All the usual stuff.
You want to know how tough it is to follow these guys’ acts? After one injury marred full season, Bart has now played 130 games in the minor leagues which is exactly twice the amount Will Clark ever played there before his major league debut. It’s five games more than Posey had under his belt when he made his debut.
Oh and if you’re thinking of easing into a big league assignment gently — Clark tagged a Hall of Famer for one of the greatest home runs in Giants history with his first big league swing. And while Posey’s September 2009 debut wasn’t good for much other than motivating Bengie Molina back into the starting lineup, when he returned in 2010 he’d go 6 for 9 in his first two starts.
But that’s ok, Joey. You got this! In truth, one of the things that Bart seems to carry is an innate sense of confidence in his abilities that is the mark of so many great players, famously including The Thrill himself. So I suspect he isn’t worried about living up to expectations. My early impressions of Bart’s ability were formed by the glowing reports from one of my favorite scouting writers in the blogosphere, one time Augusta Greenjackets beat writer David Lee, who got some up close and personal views of Bart in college.
That said, professional baseball is a machine built to crush young self-confidence and make jaw-dropping abilities look suddenly like fatal flaws, so let’s not chalk up Bart’s career 40 WAR just yet. As always, there’s a long way to go between here and there, and his first full season showed just how circuitous the journey could be.
The first of two HBP that would cause breaks in his hand, ended up having a major impact on his 2019 season. Even after missing nearly two months healing, Bart struggled for more than a month after his return with reduced hand strength resulting from the break. You can get a great visual of how that injury affected his season in the rolling trend chart below (which is a nifty feature I recommend you check out at Prospects Live site).
Under normal circumstances, the #2 overall pick in the draft from an elite NCAA conference shouldn’t be having such trouble keeping up with a league average performance in the Cal League. But, of course, this wasn’t really “under normal circumstances.” Putting the above trend line with one that charted his ground ball rate, I think we can see how the loss of grip strength affected his ability to launch baseballs. The OPS dip basically coincided with big spikes in his ground ball rate.
The good news is that somewhere in mid-to-late July both of those trend lines started pointing back in the right direction. Which allowed him to end his season with a flurry upon promotion to AA, where I got to witness his very loud lift-and-separate abilities first hand.
Over his final 12 games he would go 18 for 46 with 3 homers, 3 doubles and a triple — all while tackling the hardest promotion in the minors. And he followed that up by homering twice in his first game in the Arizona Fall League.
Unfortunately yet another HBP resulted in a broken finger which capped the fall campaign (making him and his teammates hopping mad). But come spring he went right back to hitting dingers again — going oppo in his very first at bat of the spring.
That’s something he does quite a bit actually. One thing that’s very difficult to get out of video is the physicality of players — the sheer size. Seeing Bart on a video screen —you see a guy with a pretty swing punishing baseballs. But seeing him in person you see a beast. The man is huge, with big long levers that just jolt the ball (one reason why pitchers keep hitting him is they’re trying to attack him in where the hole in his swing lives so that he can’t extend his arms). Here, let my bobblehead collection give you an idea of the difference between Bart and other players:
Yes! An accurate Artist’s Rendition! That size gives him easy power to all fields, as a quick look at his spray chart reveals (again, the good folks at Prospects Live provide!).
The ability to create easy loft and distance to all fields should allow his hit tool to play up, ultimately, as he doesn’t have to sell out for power. Even nice easy swings produce impressive results.
There’s not much else to say here really. There’s legitimate question of where the hit tool lands in the big leagues as he’ll need to adjust to the insane stuff that major league pitchers can put on a dot. Whether he’s a low-average, low-OBP guy with power and defense or a guy who’s starting All Star games like his predecessor is something that only time will tell. He’s a big league Catcher for a number of years, no doubt. Whether he’s the type of big league Catcher who meets the burden of expectation? That we’ll have to see. But we’re not far away from seeing the beginning of that journey. Indeed, the first step may be just around the corner. Will Clark only played 65 games in the minors, after all.
Major League Depth….oh, that’s not good
Aramis Garcia, 27 yrs old, .271/.343/.488 371 PA in Sacramento
Pity poor Aramis Garcia, whose minor league career has so often been disrupted by injuries of all sorts (including a broken face). Now when the road was absolutely clear for him to get a lengthy audition as the Giants backup Catcher, he’s out for (probably) the year after undergoing labrum surgery on his hip just prior to spring training. Garcia injured the hip playing winter ball in the Dominican as he tuned up for what he hoped would be his big chance. Garcia’s been overwhelmed by big league pitching in his various short auditions thus far, and the career .258 average in the minors suggests pretty strongly that his ceiling is a well below average hitter. But he has power, a strong arm, and the ability to receive and that’s a backup in the majors if he can hit .220. The fact that Bart is there waiting to swoop in and fill the vacuum that Garcia’s injury has created only adds to the frustration.
Two More with a Chance to Excite
Ricardo Genoves, 21 yrs old, .265/.335/.469 in 51 G between Salem-Keizer and Augusta
Rayner Santana, 17 yrs old, .294/.439/.553 in 48 G in DSL
Did I say that power, a strong arm and the ability to receive were a ticket to a big league career? Well here’s a couple of youngsters that have the requisite building blocks. Though he’s just turning old enough to drink tomorrow (Happy Birthday, Ricardo!) Genoves has been on the periphery of prospect lists for several years. His work as an amateur with the former pitching phenom Anderson Espinosa displayed his bonafides at catching top shelf stuff (Johnny Cueto also used Genoves as a bullpen Catcher while getting work in at the Felipe Alou Academy). But the offensive side of Genoves’ game has been a slow bit of work. Last year, something about his offensive game underwent a metamorphosis, as the skinny kid with a big frame turned into…well…this:
Holy Thighs of Thunder, batman! That clip is an easy opposite field home run by the way! One of seven he hit in his short stay in Salem-Keizer last summer where he posted an .803 OPS in 32 games. Unlike his teammate Franklin Labour, Genoves carried that success with him to the Sally and finished out the year hitting .292/.361/.446 with Augusta with two more long balls. At 21 and still developing Genoves could well turn himself into a real-two way threat before it’s all said and done. At the very least there’s a strong chance at a backup Catcher career with these tools.
Santana doesn’t come with Genoves’ defensive superlatives (the word “stiff” featured in some of his amateur scouting reports), but there’s a strong arm to work with and plenty of power in the swing. The Giants were reportedly very happy with the work Santana did on his fitness, conditioning, and weight training over his first year as a pro, and his added muscle mass showed up in the stat line where the 16-year-old pounded a near-team record 10 HRs while posting a .992 OPS. As a 16 year old! He’s ticketed for the states the next time there’s minor league action to be had. If his domestic performance can come close to repeating his DSL season he will fly up prospect charts.
A ‘Pick ‘Em’ Raft of Kids
Ronaldo Flores, 17 yrs old, .325/.370/.408 in 51 Games in DSL
Adrian Sugastey, 17 yrs old, signed for $525,000 out of Panama
Victor Coronil, 17 yrs old, signed out of Venezuela
Onil Perez, 17 yrs old, signed for $200,000 out of Dominican Republic
We’ve already talked about quite a few of the Giants top international signings from the 2019 class in other depth charts — most notably the SS group. But they also came away with an interesting crop of Catchers for the system. The best of those could be Adrian Sugastey, the year’s top J2 prospect out of Panama.
Sugastey has a long history of international competition. He played on the Panamanian 15-U national youth team in the Pan Am games, and has been a staple of the Panamanian team in tournaments around South America, the Caribbean and even in Michigan. After signing with the Giants he took part in the 18-U World Cup competition in Japan. The long resumé of high level game experience has given Sugastey strong instincts for the game and the type of baseball IQ and leadership skills teams look for in a catcher. He’s also been a standout with the bat on his youth teams, showing especially good contact skills combined with a more mature hitting approach than one might expect of so young a player. The potential to grow into power is there as well. A solid, two-way player, Sugastey was reportedly a standout in the Giants Dominican instructional camp last fall.
The other two major Catcher signings both excel on one side of the ball or the other. Onil Perez is a classic catch-and-throw player whose strong, accurate throwing arm and quick transfer are his standout skills. Victor Coronil, on the other hand, is a strong right-hand hitter who should add power as he fills out his compact frame. Coronil has a strong arm but might not stick at Catcher and may need to move to either 3b or 1b (where he’d be the dreaded R-R 1b profile).
While Rayner Santana stole the headlines with the DSL Giants in 2019, Ronaldo Flores also had a very successful pro debut on the DSL team. Yet another Catcher the Giants have signed out of their Venezuelan-Catcher connection, the right-handed hitter has a short, smooth swing and is a smaller, athletic-looking Catcher.
This crop is a very strong list and as some of the younger players advance this could well become the strength of the organization. You can never have too many Catchers in this industry! This could easily have been my top position, which we’ll see on Friday.
Here’s the full list of Depth Charts so far:
RHP Depth Chart Vol 1, 2, and 3
On this Day in History
Reader Bryce once again nailed the lineup. The 2016 Richmond squad suffered a 6-2 loss in Altoona. They suffered a few losses that year actually!
Name the team and the year:
Bocock, SS
Rohlinger, 3b
Felmy, LF
Pill, 1b
Weston, RF
Buller, DH
Gutierrez-Portalatin, C
Schoop, 2b
Simmons, CF
Calicutt, SP
1975: The Giants weren’t convinced that Johnnie LeMaster was ready for the jump from A ball to AAA to open the season, but he gave them reason to believe he could handle the rapid promotion with a hot start. Following a six game streak that saw him raise his average by 22 points, LeMaster led the Phoenix club with a .330 batting average. His seven doubles led the entire PCL and 20 runs scored was second in the league, just one behind teammate Mike Sadek. Despite a high K rate that hinted at darker things (he had K’d in 20% of his PA, 273 times, in his first three years in pro ball) the Giants would be pleased enough with his offensive progress in 1975 to bring him up for his major league debut in September of that year. Our long national nightmare was just beginning.
1982: Manager Wendell Kim devised a unique promotion to help fill the stands for the Clinton Giants (MWL) — “Win a Date with the Manager!” Fans in attendance at each game of the homestand received raffle tickets for the prize — but they had to be in attendance for the drawing, held on this date, to receive their prize. Kim had been an infielder in the Giants system throughout the 70s and upon retiring took over the manager’s position in Clinton at the age of 30. He would manage Giants affiliates throughout the system until 1988 — including leading Fresno to the California League title in 1985 — before becoming one of Roger Craig’s coaches on the big league club. Of the unusual promotion, Kim said: “I don’t care who wins — kids, men women — anyone who wants to win a luncheon to talk about baseball.”
2014: Fresno got huge production out of the middle of their order, helping pound out a 7-4 victory in Reno. Adam Duvall doubled, tripled, and homered, while Andrew Susac hit two HRs giving him 6 for the year and four in four games. The early season power surge was about to come to a sudden end for Susac who wouldn’t homer again until July 1. During that time his SLG fell from .644 to .450. Both of the sluggers would make it to San Francisco that summer for their MLB debuts, and Susac would wind up appearing in 2 games in the 2014 World Series. Both would be traded out of the organization within the next two years, however.
Final Thoughts
Uncertainty is still hanging in the air — as it frankly should with so much about the Coronavirus still needing to be understood. MLB Owners apparently presented players with proposed health and safety protocols yesterday as well as giving a presentation on the economics of playing a season without stadium fans:
Meanwhile, in a very different venue, Dr. Anthony Fauci laid out a dramatic case for slowing down our return to activity.
And if you want to see a great case study of how returning to sports can go wrong, the UFC basically wrote the text book last week:
People I’ve talked with believe that no minor league action is likely to take place before the Fall (at the earliest) though it’s entirely unclear what the suggested “Taxi Squad” might look like. We’re still a long way from Kansas at this point. Stay safe everyone!
Great article Roger...
What do you think the MLB ETAs of the Giants top 5 prospects are, and also what do you think their ceilings and floors are?
Thanks, Roger ... these prospect write-ups have been a boon during the shutdown. So great to see the direction the Giants are moving towards; really great work, much appreciated!