Many of you have asked in the last couple of weeks when we’d begin to see the newest draft class in games. I now have an answer for you: Saturday, July 29! It was debut time this weekend as ten of the 21 players drafted in July made their professional debut on Saturday night, in addition to two undrafted free agents. One other member of the draft, Tommy Kane, and two different UDFA had appeared in their first game previously, bringing our total of newbies up to 15 already. Quite a bonanza!
It had a real feel of an intra-squad workout, as the setting for most of those debuts was the ACL Giants Black and Giants Orange teams facing off against each other. Cole Foster, the Giants’ 3rd rounder, was the highest draft pick to take the field, batting in the #3 slot for the Orange. In the lineup with Foster were 5th round pick Quinn McDaniel, 9th rounder Charlie Szykowny, 13th rounder Jose Ortíz, 17th rounder Drew Cavanaugh, and 20th rounder Nadir Lewis. Looking out over the defense that lined up opposite him, he could spy 7th round pick Scott Bandura, 11th rounder Jack Payton, and 16th rounder Justin Wishkoski. And if all that wasn’t enough, 6th round pick Luke Shliger (Go Terps!) made his debut many hours northwest of the desert in San Jose.
Of course, we’re still all waiting for the Day One guys to show up, but the wave is definitely building towards the shore and those top three guys should show up soon. The new class is coming! And we’ll see some of it in the course of today’s post!
Sadly, there are some zero sum rules in effect when it comes to a minor league system, and with greetings there must come farewells. In addition to some recent releases, like Simon Whiteman and Rob Emery, this weekend brought the end to the Giants’ careers of LHP Joe Kemlage, INF Edison Mora, SS Abdiel Layer, C Max Wright, RHP Miguel Mora, RHP Jason Bonilla, and C Rayner Santana. There may still be a couple more of these coming (or possibly just 60-day IL moves), as I still have them slightly over the 180 maximum domestic reserve limit. It’s the part of the business that’s no fun for anybody involved, but everybody in the game knows the score. Best of luck for all of these young men in the next step in their lives and careers.
HITTER of the WEEKEND: Sean Roby (Eug), 5 for 12, HR (9), 3 2b, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB
PITCHER of the WEEKEND: Julio Rodriguez (SJ), 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K
Pitching wasn’t too notable this weekend, though both Haydens (Wynja and Birdsong) gave Eugene solid starts this weekend. The biggest development from the farm this weekend on the pitching side of things was the double-barrel injury news that hit on Friday that both Keaton Winn and Carson Whisenhunt had been scratched from starts with some elbow pain. Winn, who missed all of 2021 after having Tommy John surgery, got an MRI that showed no structural damage, but some elbow inflammation that will need to be cleared up, which likely sidelines him for awhile. Whisenhunt was diagnosed with a left elbow sprain and will be re-evaluated in four weeks. With the minor league season down to its final seven weeks at this point, there’s a good chance that ends what’s been a fantastic first full season for The Whiz.
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