Ka'ai Tom gets a Rocky Mountain High
SF Giants Minor Lines, April 26, 2022
Just a reminder — why do we pay attention to the guys on the farm? So we can really appreciate how much went into these moments:
Congratulations to SF Giants #1,000 for his pulse-racing, cheer-raising career HR #1. Way to pick your moments, Luis Gonzalez! And to think the Giants have this player because the ChiSox were too cheap to pay a pro-rated major league minimum on him while he healed from shoulder surgery. Now, he’s healthy, productive, and back to being the type of player that made him a 3rd round pick back in 2017 and a top 10 prospect in the Chicago system just two years ago. And we know, the more a player like Gonzalez produces, the more opportunities he’ll get to stick. Congratulations, man!
And speaking of congratulations, I pulled into the Diamond yesterday morning for a little Education Day action just in time to see a new roster move announced:
Turns out that Tristan Beck’s second stay in Richmond wasn’t any longer than the first — but for a much better reason this time! He’s on his way to Sacramento after three strong starts with Richmond. Back in the early days of There R Giants Top 50, I wrote this about Beck at #46:
“there might not be another player in the system who would seem to be so assured of a productive big league career if he could just stay out of the trainer’s room for awhile.”
He’s reminding us what he can do when he’s feeling good and, as he told me, able to spend his energy working on his craft, rather than just working on staying healthy. I’m excited to see Beck go after the next level! You can hear Beck talk about his baseball journey with Richmond Director of Communications Trey Wilson on the latest Funville Nine podcast.
And one more incoming transaction:
Kevin Padlo, a Southen California kid, was a Rockies 5th round pick back in 2014, before being sent to Tampa Bay in a deal for German Marquéz. He has big, BIG power and has always walked at an elite rate, but strikes out a lot and has a below average hit tool — another Three True Outcomes type. He’s struggled at AAA the last couple of years, but can really sock dingers. He’s mostly a 3b/1b type, but has played some 2b as well. He gives the Giants more infield depth from the right-hand side — basically something of a RH version of Jason Vosler. As Pavs says in his write-up, Padlo’s acquisition comes a day after Gonzalez reminded us that “no transaction is too small” to take note of. No 40-man offset will be necessary until Mike Yastrzemski (and possibly Zack Littell?) comes off the COVID IL.
And with that, let’s get to the lines!
HITTER of the Night: Ka’ai Tom (Sac), 3 for 4, 2 HR (2), 4 RBI
PITCHER of the Night: Jake Dahlberg (Rich), 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K
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