In Which I Walk Off the Island!

SF Giants Minor Lines, July 15, 2025

It’s been an amazing experience, but this morning, it’s time for me to pack my bags, head to the airport, and come on back home to my loving wife and my sometimes-adorable cats.

But before I left, the Baseball Gods (and the schedule) had one more gift to bestow on me. As I had hoped and suspected, I did get to see Alberto Laroche take the mound on my final day. It wasn’t his strongest performance of the year — he really had to battle at times, and his ERA jumped by nearly a full run. But, man is there a lot to be excited about with this young man!

Before we get into that, it is a sad fact of the prospecting life that a lot of excitement leads to harsh reality in the end — and there was plenty of that yesterday as well. The MiLB.com transactions log yesterday listed releases for both Jairo Pomares and Vaun Brown — and, while I know that I’ve cautioned against trusting the MiLB website too much, they don’t typically make up things like this. We’ll get no official word from Richmond until Friday, I would guess, but it certainly seems like this is the end of two once-promising careers.

Both Pomares and Brown were Top 10 Giants’ prospects in There R Giants’ rankings — Pomares was top five. There’s probably an object lesson in there about getting too wound up about Cal League performances, but for now, it’s just the sad end of high hopes. Injuries played a role in both downturns, as Pomares had back, leg, and hip issues — you’d see him doing a little “hip open” movement before every at bat, and it’s likely that hip flexibility had a role in his declining performance. The same with Brown’s many lower body issues that undermined his powerful base. I really enjoyed my interactions with both of these young men tremendously, and this part of the business is the one that everybody hates — but everybody understands it, too. It’s a results-based world in baseball. Harsh.

The question on a lot of your minds, no doubt — since this would currently leave Richmond with only nine position players — is whether these moves open the door for a promotion for Bo Davidson and/or Scott Bandura. A Davidson promotion could well daisy chain down to Dakota Jordan. This could be a big week in the making. We shall see in two days’ time.

HITTER of the DAY: Oliver Tejada (ACLG), 3 for 3, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
PITCHER of the DAY: Albert Laroche (DSLGB), 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Let’s hop to today’s “short” lines — because I have another goodie coming for you this morning. It’s time to start a little mid-season retrospective, and today, I’m going to name my first half All Stars for the Giants’ system, as well as the Gold Glove team. That’s coming in another post this morning, so I’d better make this one short and sweet and let you get to it! Let’s talk a little bit about young Mr. Laroche.

As my Dominican sojourn comes to an end, so does my “Yay for the DSL!” sale. Which makes today the last chance to take advantage of it. For one more day, 25% of your first year as a There R Giants’ subscriber, whether you want an annual or monthly subscription. When I touch down back on domestic soil, the sale ends, folks!