Giants Depth Chart: RHP vol. II
Pick your favorite sleepers
Are you ready for RHP: The Sequeling!? I’ll try very hard not to give you just rehashed versions of all the best bits from the original, but let’s face it, my rhetorical toolkit is only so big...
My tour of the Giants prospect depth, position by position, has run aground on the sheer volume of right-handed pitching that I needed to touch on. So I’ve split this into multiple parts — three in fact, as I’m going to handle the relievers separately in my next post. Back in part one, I focused on a quartet that I consider to be the current top tier of right-handed pitching prospects for the Giants — though I’ll admit there’s not exactly any dark Sharpie lines separating these guys.
Today, I’m going to move on to what I consider more of the “muddle ground” of RHP — a group with a lot of similar attributes, each of whom could break out and move on up the charts, but all of whom, equally, could stall out and fail to progress much further. Just to set your expectations right: you’ll see a lot of “#4/5 ceilings” comments in today’s post.
Roughly speaking, there are two big buckets to cover here: 1) guys with solid repertoires and decent control but no real premium pitches; 2) guys with big stuff but little shown ability to fully harness it. Well, actually, come to mention it — that second bucket is mostly Jose Marte. Ok, we have two big buckets today: 1) guys with solid repertoires; and 2) Jose Marte. I’m gonna load you up with video to give a visual sense of bodies and delivery for pitchers you may not have seen before. Ok: on we go!
Guys who are solid
Kai-Wei Teng, 21 yrs old, 1.58 ERA, 49 Ks/ 14 BB in 50.2 IP b/t Midwest and Sally Leagues
Jake Wong, 23 yrs old, 3.90 ERA, 101 Ks/ 35 BB in 113 IP b/t Sally and Cal Leagues
Kervin Castro, 21 yrs old, 2.66 ERA, 61 Ks/ 13 BB, 67.2 IP in NWL
Matt Frisbee, 23 yrs old, 3.54 ERA, 154 Ks/ 28 BBs in 132.1 IP b/t Sally and Cal Lgs
Caleb Kilian, 23 yrs old, 17 Ks/ 2 BBs, 0 ER in 16 IP debut (AZL and NWL)
Teng was signed by the Twins out of Taiwan for $580,000 two months before his 19th birthday — the largest signing bonus for a Taiwanese player in the 2017 international class. Part of the Giants return from Minnesota for the broken strings of Sam Dyson’s elbow, Teng immediately made an impression with his new team, posting a 1.55 ERA in 5 starts with Augusta. He ended the season on an upswing, striking out 11 Columbia Fireflies over 7 innings in his final start of the year. That was one of two double-digit strikeout performances for Teng in the 2019 season — a season that began late as he was held back in XST.
Despite his big K numbers, though, Teng isn’t really a power pitcher. His fastball is — hey, here’s that word again — a solid low-to-mid 90s offering. Rather, what makes Teng enticing is three big attributes. First, he has what old school dudes (looking at you Kruk!) call a great feel for pitching — setting hitters up, reading swings, changing speeds, the old craft of pitching. Second, he mixes three secondary pitches well (as you could see in the strikeout highlights above, he goes to the breaking ball and change to put batters away). And third, despite being a big kid he has excellent balance in his motion, repeats his delivery well, and fills up the strike zone with all four of his offerings.
As you no doubt also saw, Teng isn’t exactly a projectable 20 year old — in fact, there’s the makings of a “high maintenance” body in the youngster. But even without future growth, being the possessor of four pitches that he can throw for strikes, repeatable mechanics and a solid sense of what he’s about is a recipe for some big league success. It may not be a sexy recipe, but it’s got solid nutritional value.
Wong is, in some ways, the antithesis of Teng. His fastball, which features heavy sink in the low-to-mid 90s raised him up the draft boards after an excellent showing in the Cape Cod League (where he had 22 Ks to just 3 BBs in 20 IP) and at Grand Canyon University. But the Giants are still working on his pitch shaping to try to craft secondaries that will work for him. As has frequently been the case over the years, they had him scrap his curveball for a slider and are working to make the change a usable third offering. Wong’s fastball lost some action as he chugged to the end of his first full year, and combined with the inconsistent secondaries that led to some hard knock life lessons in the Cal League, where he scuffled to a 5.26 ERA the second half of the year.
If the offspeed pitches come together and he holds his velocity better going forward, there’s the makings of a #5 starter. But if they don’t, it’s possible that middle relief could be a better option for Wong in the long run, allowing him to focus on his hard sinking fastball to get outs.
Perhaps this section should have been named “Guys who are solidly built.” Castro is another stout right-hander in the system. Signed as a Catcher — and built like one — the Giants decided they liked the arm too much and converted him to the mound before his first pro game. The conversion project hit a speed bump quickly, however, when he blew out his elbow and underwent Tommy John surgery, costing him nearly all of the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Finally back on the mound last year, Castro put together an All Star season in the Northwest League, leading the Salem-Keizer staff.
Castro relies heavily on a fastball that he likes to work up in the zone with — he can get it up to 95 though it mostly sits in the low 90s. But he reportedly cranks up the RPMs on the Trackman data. Castro backs up the fastball with a change that has some potential to become a go-to pitch. Castro struck out just a tick under a batter per inning in the NWL last year, but he kept batters off base, pounded the strike zone, and didn’t do a lot to hurt himself. Guess what — there’s a potential #5 starter package in there if things come together!
Ok, so look — let’s just assume everybody in this category has a fastball that they throw between 90-94 and we’ll get through all this more efficiently. Frisbee, NOT the creator of McCovey Chronicles, but rather the former UNC-Greensboro star (where he was SoCon Pitcher of the Year his Junior Year), followed the Conner Menez path to “Who’s that dude” fame by striking out large bushels of low-level hitters. There’s just a touch of Josh Collmenter about his delivery, which might help explain why his fastball gets on batters so quickly. His 154 strikeouts was tied for second highest in the system last year, behind only Seth Corry. The bulk of Frisbee’s work came in San Jose (he threw just 16 innings in the Sally) where he dominated Cal League hitters thanks to excellent control of his hard slider and that fastball that plays sneakier than it reads on a gun. If he carries the performance to AA, he could indeed be trodding the Menez Path to the big leagues.
The Giants kept Kilian in the slow lane for his pro debut, after he was used heavily by Texas Tech in a late run in the College World Series. After throwing nearly 100 innings in his college season, Kilian threw just 16 innings in his pro debut, mostly at the AZL rookie complex. Taken in the 8th round, Kilian was surprisingly the first pitcher the Giants drafted. He dominated the complex league kids, striking out 17 and walking just two and allowing only nine baserunners overall. He would likely be in line to jump up to Augusta or possibly even San Jose were this year to exist in a normal space-time continuum. Kilian features, let’s all say it together, a low-to-mid 90s fastball that he attacks hitters with aggressively, and a potential weapon in his curveball.
FWIW, the Giants drafted another, similar-style pitcher later in the 2019 draft in West Alabama’s Cole Waites. Waites doesn’t have the experience or track record of Kilian, but he brings a similarly repertoire and is a name worth keeping on the back shelf of your mind.
Guys who are Jose Marte
Jose Marte, 23 yrs old, 5.59 ERA, 80 K/ 44 BB in 74 IP in Cal League
If you read all the clippings and articles and bits at the end of beat reporter posts that come from the Giants development brass — and since you’re here I imagine you do — you’ve no doubt encountered a lot of enthusiasm regarding Marte’s potential. You might then, perhaps, have excitedly checked out his B-Ref page — and then the cognitive dissonance set in. This guy? You’d say? He’s one of the most exciting prospects in the system? Well, yes, he really is. Or he could be.
Marte’s story bears more than passing resemblance to Melvin Adon’s. An older Dominican signing, he’s the bearer of an electric arm, premium stuff which he can hold deep into a game, and very inconsistent results. For an imposing pitcher who can run his heater up to 99 he doesn’t always miss bats the way you’d like him to (another similarity with Adon) as hitters seem to get good looks off his fastball. And a potential wipe-out slider tends to come and go like a sullen teenager, without giving much account of its actions. Some of this stems from his lack of game experience which can often lead to a frustrating inability to execute pitches when he gets himself into favorable counts. Some is a lack of trust in his own stuff. In other words, after just 2.5 years as a professional pitcher, he’s a kid who’s still trying to find his way to becoming who he is.
There’s certainly the possibility here that, like Adon, the Giants will ultimately feel the call of the bullpen if Marte can’t improve his results as a starter. But you can’t blame them for wanting to make it work as a starter. As should be crystal clear by now, there really isn’t another starter’s arm like this in the system (at least not stateside). You want a litmus test for Farhan Zaidi’s new development team — the guy to watch might well be Marte. Here’s a line from this year’s Prospect Handbook:
The Giants analytical and biomechanical departments also peg Marte as one of their highest-ceiling pitching prospects.
If they can unloose the biomechanical lightning in Marte’s arm and get him performing up to his skills-level, we’ll have reason to start feeling very optimistic about direction the development team is heading.
Two to dream on
Trevor McDonald, 19 yrs old, 4.0 IP, K’d 8 of 16 batters faced in debut (AZL)
Manuel Mercedes, 17 yrs old, $400,000 signing bonus in 2019, yet to debut
McDonald was more talked about than seen in his pro debut, pitching just 4 innings after the Giants signed him to a $797,500 bonus as an 11th round pick (the highest signing bonus for an 11th round pick in the last three MLB drafts). McDonald was a pop up in the draft class after he hit 95 with his fastball at a January showcase. He had worked to put on 20 pounds of “good muscle” following his junior year and the work paid dividends with a marked increase in fastball velocity.
But what might really make McDonald exciting is his feel for spin — I’m personally a proponent of the old scout’s axiom “either you can spin it or you can’t.” McDonald can. He shows two distinct breaking balls that might both be average or better going forward. After catching scouts eyes in January, McDonald dominated the Mississippi prep scene, finishing the year with a flourish by racking up 30 strikeouts in a pair of playoff starts. In one of those two he dominated two-sport star Jerrion Ealy (who spurned the MLB draft to play football at Ole Miss), striking him out twice. Some scouts aren’t sold on McDonald’s size and projectability, and Mississippi high school baseball isn’t a great level of competition, but he’s easily the plum of the Giants 2019 pitching crop and the Giants are certainly excited to have him (refer once more to the signing bonus). Jim Callis told me last summer he considered McDonald a 4th-6th round pick on talent alone.
I mentioned above that nobody stateside in the Giants org can match Jose Marte’s pure stuff — if there’s anybody anywhere who can it might be the 17-year-old Mercedes. While lefty Esmerlin Vinicio got most of the attention in last year’s international crop, Mercedes should generate excitement as well. He’s just an arm-speed kid at the moment, but word is that arm is blurred-video electric. He was already up to 95 as a 16-year-old and with plenty of room to fill out that could push up to triple digits as he grows. He might hit the bull mascot plenty this year as well, but if you’re a velocity hound (like your humble narrator is well known to be) this is a kid to watch out for.
…
We’ll have one more post on the RHP crop as I’m saving the relievers for their own piece. There’s a bunch of them and they include some of the best arms in the system. So stick with me for one more pitching post and then we’re pushing on to the really sexy parts of the system (which I still haven’t completely ranked yet). You want a depth chart to make you drool…stay put for the OF and SS posts!
Until then, let me hear from you in the comments — which one of these guys is your breakout pick?
To catch up on all the Depth Charts so far:
On this(-ish) day in history*
Friday’s lineup came from the 2015 Augusta Greenjackets, who pounded the Rome Braves 6-1 behind strong starting pitching from Mark Reyes and big hits from John Riley and Andrew Cain.
Guess the team and year:
Brown, DH
Parker, CF
Cavan, 2b
Dominguez, 3b
Sanchez, C
Anders, 1b
Fairley, LF
Jurica, SS
Lollis, RF
Westcott, SP
1965: Bob Garibaldi, the Giants $175,000 bonus baby, picked up his first win of the year while trying to put arm woes behind him and climb the comeback trail. In 1962, pitching for Santa Clara University, Garibaldi had been named the Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series (the only Santa Clara player ever to receive that honor). Spurning Casey Stengel’s attempts to sign him to play for the Mets, Garibaldi signed a record contract with the Giants and went straight up the peninsula from campus to Candlestick. He would throw just 20 innings in 1962-63 before arm soreness began to plague him. Garibaldi would appear in just two more major league games: one in 1966 and one in 1969 when he made the only start of his big league career.
1968: Bobby Bonds personally halted Oklahoma City’s 7-game win streak, picking up five hits including a triple and a homer in Phoenix’ 6-1 win. The winning pitcher was none other than Bob Garibaldi who went the distance for the win. Garibaldi was still trying to climb back to the majors, beginning his sixth season in AAA. The 22-year-old Bonds, on the other hand, wouldn’t last long at all in the PCL, making his major league debut on June 25 of that year after hitting .370/.433/.616 in his 60 games in AAA.
2011: Justin Christian singled home Roger Kieschnick to end 11 innings of scoreless baseball as Richmond beat the Trenton Thunder 1-0. The Squirrels got a tremendous start from left-hander Eric Surkamp, who struck out 10 over 7 shutout innings. Surkamp was starting a breakout season that put him squarely on the prospect map, with a 2.02 ERA in the Eastern League and a system-leading 165 strikeouts over 142.1 IP. Surkamp was relieved by Dan Otero, who wasn’t making quite as big a name for himself but was catching the eyes of scouts. Otero has gone on to pitch in over 350 major league games for Oakland and Cleveland since the Giants DFA’d him in the spring of 2013.
* more of a “this week in history” as a couple of these fell on the weekend, but stories too good to dismiss on a technicality. My 60s and 70s “this day in history” stories have been coming from The Sporting News archives, courtesy of Paper of Record.
Last Word
I don’t know why I’d never seen this before, but this is just great content from SF Giants productions on the annual Rookie Camp at Oracle Park. Long enough to get a flavor for the personality of guys like Marco Luciano and Hunter Bishop, and even spotlight lesser known prospects like speed-and-defense whiz Javeyan Williams. Enjoy it everybody!
And if you want to get a feel for what Williams crashing into a fence for his pitcher looks like:
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Great write-up as always Roger, but it was something other than the right-handers that caught my attention here. Bob Garibaldi is mentioned in the book I authored! In 1960, Stagg High's basketball team participated in the Gridley Invitational postseason tournament. In the first round, they were stunned by little Orland High School - my alma mater and the subject of the book. Orland had sophomore Myron Erickson, a future prep All-American and team captain at Cal. I believe Garibaldi was the leading scorer in the game.
I included a note about Garibaldi earning College WS MVP honors at Santa Clara, but here's the kicker... Until reading your note, I had NO IDEA that he was drafted by the Giants, and with such grand expectations. Man, what could have been!
These are great, Roger. I hope you’ll weigh in on potential draftees at some point, too