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We interrupt our regularly scheduled Top 50 roll out for a brief diversion into this week’s transactions wire. We may or may not have a big league Rule 5 draft this year (that’s still TBD once the CBA situation is settled), but we did get the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft this week and the Giants were actually major players, so let’s check out all the comings (few) and goings (many!).
In a typical year, the minor league phase, or Triple A phase as it’s officially designated, is the dull after taste of the Rule 5 draft — the “oh yeah, and this happened, too” aftermath. But no minor league transaction is ever too minor for us prospect fiends to parse, and with this year’s transaction freeze on major league happenings, the minor league phase somewhat awkwardly took the baseball world’s center stage for a few hours on Wednesday.
Just to do a little housekeeping, as long as the lockout lasts, no major league transactions can take place — no signings, no trades of players on 40-man rosters or major league free agents — and obviously that includes the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft, as that mechanism adds new members to teams’ 40-man roster. Signing and maneuvering minor league players, however, is fully acceptable, as they don’t impact the CBA negotiations. So we can expect Farhan and Scott to be burning up the minor league free agent waiver wire over the coming weeks — maybe we’ll even see the rare minor leaguer for minor leaguer deals come in! Hey, what this’s in my timeline:
But before we talk players, it’s worth taking a moment to linger over the great Advocates for Minor Leaguers’ view of Wednesday’s draft:
Yes, teams spend about twice as much in making these minor moves as they pay the players for the season, which is certainly a perverse economic reality once you look at it through that lens (and helping people look at things through that lens is the great value add that Garrett Broshuis and his MiLB Advocates organization has brought to the baseball landscape). In theory, Rule 5 drafts are meant to help players gain opportunities, but historically, the minor league phase is much more about clubs moving organizational types around the chessboard than it is really offering up avenues to success. Quite a few players end up being selected several years in a row, moving from team to team to occupy a need on a roster somewhere without really progressing upwards.
Last year’s draft, however, was one of the most successful in history when it comes to that, as five different players selected in the minor league phase went on to appear in the big leagues, including NorCal kid Tyler Gilbert, who made his big league debut against the Giants last August and, two weeks later, rather incredibly, threw a no-hitter against the powerful Padres’ lineup. Hopefully, we’ll see more of those success stories in 2022.
The Rules
Unlike its major league cousin, the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft comes with no onerous regulations for keeping a player. When selecting a player in the minor league phase, they must be assigned to the Triple A roster, but this is strictly a paper move and has no bearing on where the player needs to be assigned once the season begins. Draft a player, pay the originating team a one-time $24,500 transaction fee, and that player is now yours — without the player having any say in his new home (something we’ll discuss more in a moment).
One reason why the Minor League phase has always been something a forgotten child is its lack of clarity and transparency. Players are eligible to be selected in the Triple A phase if they are not currently “assigned” to the 38-man Triple A roster. The problem, of course, is that there is no public accounting of this Triple A roster — nobody outside the industry knows what roster minor league players are assigned to.
Fortunately, Baseball America had us covered as J.J. Cooper was able to access enough industry information to actually put together a preview of players who might get drafted (amazingly, they ended up identifying 25% of the eventual players who were selected).
BA reported that four teams had full Triple A rosters and would not be able to participate (as you must have an open space on the Triple A roster in order to select a player). That number did NOT include the Giants, who had at least one open spot on their Triple A roster. That’s an important bit of information as we can extrapolate from it the fact that the Giants could have protected any of the six players they lost in the draft had they chosen to do so. All of the players they lost were assigned to the Double A roster (procedurally), which means the Giants did not consider them among the top 78 players in the organization worth protecting — something that speaks volumes. Again, this “roster” is simply a paper concept — certainly the Giants chose to protect many of the players we discussed in the big league Rule 5 preview — Seth Corry, Prelander Berroa, Ismael Munguia, etc — on their Triple A roster despite the fact that they will all be assigned to lower levels once the 2022 season begins.
In all, the Giants lost six players from their organization on Wednesday — the highest total that any team lost in this year’s draft. This is yet another data point speaking to the increasing depth of the Giants organization. Other teams want what they’ve got (something to keep in mind when and if the major league phase is held this year). Putting those last two facts together, we can view this process as an opportunity to prune a bit from the front office’s perspective: they had players who were still of value to other clubs whom they could have protected, and so kept control of, but chose not to. In the coming weeks, the Giants will, we can rest assured, be filling some of those player slots with new incoming minor league free agents that the front office sees as more valuable than the players they’ve lost.
Speaking of which, let’s stop burying the lede and say goodbye to the players who have left the org:
Outgoing Players
LHP Conner Menez (Pick #7)
to the Chicago Cubs
Menez is well-known to Giants’ fans, having appeared on the big league club each of the past three seasons. Menez is a tremendous development success story, having transformed himself from a 14th round pick out of a tiny college (The Master’s College in Santa Clarita, CA) into a big leaguer in an astonishingly quick three years time!
It became clear, however, that the current regime didn’t view him highly on their organizational depth chart. After a fairly successful beginning to the 2020 season (2.38 ERA over 8 games), he was sent down to the Alternate Site barely two weeks into the season. Though the club made many, MANY roster moves in their bullpen over the course of the 2020 season, Menez’ name was never called again, buried behind a deep group of left-handed relievers (the club had as many as five LHP in their pen during the 60-game season).
In 2021, Menez spent much of the month of June in the Giants’ pen. But after six straight scoreless outings, he allowed five earned runs in back to back appearances and was sent back to Sacramento for good. Pitching in the River Cats pen, he’d post a 6.82 ERA the rest of the season and clearly didn’t seem to be quite right. Menez always survived on a fringy fastball with good extension and a sweeping slider, but it appears the Giants had tried to change his pitch mix over the last couple of years. In his major league work his fastball usage plunged from 61% in 2019 (and 54% in 2020) down to 34% in 2021. His slider took up the bulk of that change, going from 24% in 2020 to 62% in 2021.
This could be in keeping with their acquisitions last winter of pitchers like Matt Wisler and Jake McGee and an organizational emphasis on utilizing a pitcher’s best weapons more often. Regardless, the change didn’t seem to help Menez’ performance any. The fact that the Giants had moved him down from the Triple A roster to the Double A roster speaks volumes about their view of Menez’ fit in their organizational depth chart at this point. Nonetheless, I will follow Conner’s career and wish him great success in Chicago. His big league debut was one of the real bright lights of the 2019 season for me.
RHP Matt Seelinger (Pick #16)
to the Philadelphia Phillies
A 28th round pick by the Pirates in the 2017 draft, the strong-armed Seelinger is already well-traveled in his career. With his selection by the Phillies, Seelinger will join his fourth major league organization in just a four-year minor league career. He moved from the Pirates to the Rays in a waiver wire deal for shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria in August of 2018. The Rays held on to him for barely 20 innings of work, before moving him onto the Giants in a cash deal the following May. And now he heads back to Pennsylvania to add the other Keystone state team to his collection.
It’s easy to see why Seelinger appeals to so many clubs. The strong-armed righty has good velocity on his mid-90s fastball that also comes with elite spin rates and carry through the zone. That’s helped him rack up some big strikeout totals — particularly while in the Giants organization. In 2021, his 35.6% K rate in Richmond was one of the best in the Flying Squirrels’ bullpen — tied with Jose Marte and Patrick Ruotolo. Only Norwith Gudino and R.J. Dabovich exceeded that strikeout rate. Even with that success, I had trouble finding a space for him in the “way too early” roster previews, as he seemed to be squeezed out in my mind behind the optionable 40-man relievers waiting their turns in Sacramento, the incoming minor league FA arms, and the other quality members of the Richmond squad who deserved to move up.
That Seelinger’s K rate didn’t make him one of the standouts in the Richmond pen hints at some of the reasons why so many organizations have let him go already in his career. Only the now-retired Mac Marshall issued more walks than Seelinger’s sky high 17.5% rate last year. He also had the highest rate of HRs to flyballs in the bullpen with 15% of the flyballs he allowed leaving the yard. Home run rates tend to fluctuate for pitchers, but Seelinger’s had a bit of dingeritis throughout his career so far.Not surprisingly, lots of free passes and lots of big flies are a rough combination, and Seelinger ended the year with a 4.56 FIP. Still, his fastball velocity and characteristics are going to keep earning him chances with teams who might hope to unlock some finer control.
Seelinger will, however, forever be remembered in Richmond for playing a part in one of the most memorable nights in franchise history:
1b/OF John Nogowski (pick #19)
to the Atlanta Braves
Johnny, we hardly knew ye (not the only time I get to make that joke in today’s post)! Nogowski was signed by the Giants to a multi-year contract in the very waning days of the 2021 minor league season. It was so late, in fact, that his September 23 signing came after the scheduled minor league season had already concluded. His only time in the Giants’ organization ended up coming in the ten days added on to the end of the Triple A season (during the so-called “Final Stretch” tournament that helped Triple A owners recoup some ticket revenue from games canceled at the start of the year).
Nogowski has some big league experience, having appeared in 53 games with the Cardinals and Pirates over the past two seasons. Though he doesn’t have the typical power associated with 1b bats, he has a long track record of controlling the strike zone with high walk rates and low, low strikeout rates. Over his 7-year minor league career, he has an almost perfect 1 to 1 ratio between the two, with 259 BB and 261 K over 2,305 PA.
Nogowski was involved in winter league activity in the Dominican Republic, but he stopped playing after just 15 games. It’s unknown whether an injury or other cause cropped up. He hit .192 with a .514 OPS in 60 PA in the LIDOM. It seems possible that Nogowski’s quick time in and out of the Giants organization could be related to Brandon Belt’s free agent status. With the possibility of Belt leaving via free agency, it might have seemed like a good idea to have some additional 1b depth with a little major league experience in the org. Now that Belt is back for at least another year, that need was less pressing. If that indeed is the case, it’s notable that Atlanta, currently dickering with their 1b free agent Freddy Freeman over a sixth year, was the team to claim Nogowski.
OF Vince Fernandez (2nd Rd, pick #48)
to the Oakland A’s
You can make a solid argument that Fernandez had more raw power than any other member of the Richmond team in 2021 — indeed, with just a month to play in the season it was Fernandez, not eventual record holder David Villar, who led the Squirrels in home runs. And, by my friend Phil Goyette’s “Estimated Barrels%” calculation, his 12.2% barrel rate was one of the highest in the organization last year. As the old saying goes, when he hit ‘em, they stayed hit! Sadly, he didn’t hit ‘em quite often enough, striking out nearly 35% of the time with Richmond, ending with a .229/.331/.470 slash line. Fernandez also proved to be a surprisingly athletic and capable defender in the corners of the outfield with solid speed, good routes, and an accurate arm.
Once again, the OF depth chart would seem to hold the key to Fernandez’ availability. Sacramento’s roster is stacked with potential outfielders: Heliot Ramos, Austin Dean, Jaylin Davis, Ka’ai Tom, Bryce Johnson. And that’s before we try to find a place for Diego Rincones! Meanwhile, a wave of potential promotions from Eugene should be headed to Double A next year: Ismael Munguia, Armani Smith, Franklin Labour. With holdovers like Simon Whiteman, Jacob Heyward, and even someone like Kwan Adkins potentially in the mix, Fernandez became the odd man out.
Still, one can’t help thinking about Fernandez’ career in the terms of the tweet above from Minor League Advocates. The Giants had selected Fernandez in this same Triple A phase of the Rule 5 draft just one year earlier plucking him out of the Colorado Rockies’ system. Now he’s on the move yet again, with no control over his destination. That means he’s now had about 4x his annual salary paid in transactions fees over the past 12 months while he rearranges his world yet again. Quite a life! Fare thee well, Vince! Good luck on your journey.
INF Jacob Gonzalez (3rd Rd, pick #64)
to Pittsburgh Pirates
For a few heady months back in the late summer of 2017, it looked like the Giants had nabbed a dynamic duo at the top of their draft class. Ramos and Gonzalez formed a teenaged 1-2 punch in helping push the AZL Giants to a league championship appearance (Seth Corry took the L in the deciding game of the three-game championship series).
Sadly, virtually nothing has gone right in Gonzalez’ career since that initial taste of pro ball. After posting a robust .876 OPS in the rookie league, Gonzalez has hit just .237 since, including two straight lost seasons in Low A Augusta. He opened 2021 as part of Eugene’s bench, but after hitting just .174 over 27 games he was reassigned back down to the Arizona Complex League. There as a 23-year-old, he was able to reclaim his lost glory, hitting .301. But nobody could really explain what good it was doing either Gonzalez or the organization to have a 23-year-old three-year A ball vet whacking around teenagers in the complex league. It might have been a courtesy gesture, as Gonzalez’ family lives in the Phoenix area (where father Luis still does some work for the Diamondbacks).
The Giants have a fairly dubious history of 2nd round picks this century. The only pick since Nate Schierholtz way back in 2003 who has had any success at all was the one they seemingly couldn’t wait to get rid of (Bryan Reynolds, who certainly represents the worst decision making of the previous regime). But even among that motley company, nobody’s career has gone south quite as quickly as Gonzalez’ did. The game really is incredibly difficult!
Still, we can always remember the glory days!
RHP Jon Duplantier (3rd Rd, pick #89)
to the Los Angeles Dodgers
Johnny (or Jonny in this case), we hardly knew ye, take 2! Without a doubt, Duplantier’s selection was the most bizarre aspect of this draft. The Giants had signed the bespectacled former top prospect for the Diamondbacks just five days earlier. And, as noted above, the team did have at least one spot left on the Triple A roster to protect him, but they chose to assign him to the Double A roster and risk losing him. The mind boggles a bit at the reasons behind this move. Could they not have merely waited a few days to announce the signing, one thinks? It took weeks to get Alex Wood checked out and announced, or Alex Cobb. Why the rush to sign Duplantier just in time to have him snatched away? Were they surprised by the selection? Did they think he’d be safe on the Double A roster? Was there a deadline that had passed? (Note: I don’t think there was a deadline that had passed) All of these thoughts whiz through the mind. It is a true puzzlement.
It’s less surprising that it was the Dodgers who did the snatching. These two organizations have shown repeatedly that they tend to value the same sorts of players. And the two rivals both stand in need starting rotation depth as they look to the 2022 season, and Duplantier, who was considered one of the best starting pitching prospects in baseball just two years ago, is the perfect Triple A rotation stash (though his big league career hasn’t gone well).
Whatever the Giants were thinking with regards to Duplantier, one imagines that somewhere in the Dodgers front office, somebody allowed himself a moment to smirk at the thought of having pulled a fast one on their old friend. Indeed, Baseball America’s summary of the draft featured the Dodgers “next-level cleverness” as one of their primary takeaways from the draft. But I think, once again, of the lack of control these players have over their lives. Being a minor league free agent is not an easy situation, but at least they have the ability to choose a destination, a new club to sign with (well, they have the ability to choose if two teams are offering, I guess). Duplantier thought he’d made that choice and less than a week later, choice was stripped away from him. That blows, not to put too fine a point on it.
Incoming
The Giants kept at least one spot open on their Triple A roster to allow them to get involved in the action — because you know the Giants’ front office can’t just sit by and watch transactions taking place without them! They selected one player. Let’s meet him!
CF Michael Gigliotti (Rd 1, pick #30)
Up the middle athletes always have a place in baseball and the Giants went speed and defense with their selection of a true CF and SB threat. Gigliotti was a 4th round selection by the Royals in 2017, following a very loud career at small school Lipscomb University and a strong performance on the Cape. The left-handed hitter has long had a history of taking pitches and working deep counts — with some scouts even thinking he can be a little too passive at times at the plate. But he’s hit well as a pro, with a career .287 batting average and .389 OBP.
All of that has come in the lower levels, however, as his career has been plagued by injuries that have curtailed his progress upwards. A serious knee injury wrecked his 2018 season completely and he played just 89 games the following year. All of that time on the IL has caused him to fall down depth charts despite his physical gifts, as he’ll enter 2022 as a 26-year-old with no Double A experience on his resume. That’s not a typical path to success!
Still, speed, defense, and good at bats will get you opportunities in this game, and certainly with the Giants. Gigliotti will match up with Whiteman as one of the fastest runners in the system and the two can probably wage a nice battle for stolen base champ of the org!
And it’s certainly a point in Gigliotti’s favor that the past two teams to acquire him — the Rays and Giants — are possibly the two smartest teams in the game. So there’s clearly much to like about this new Giant. The Rays, ironically, acquired him in return for former Giants’ prospect Stephen Woods, Jr., in a transaction that also involved the Rule 5 draft! Woods was sent by the Giants to Tampa Bay in the Evan Longoria deal, and later selected in the major league portion of the 2021 Rule 5 draft by Kansas City. Though the Royals didn’t keep Woods on their major league roster, they ultimately worked out a deal to keep him by sending Gigliotti to the Rays. Now Gigliotti is a Giant and Woods a Royal with Tampa having been the way station for both.
Circle of life, man. The Rule 5 draft has deep connections!
Will this be all the Rule 5 action we get this year or will the currently-postponed major league phase happen at some point this spring? We keep hearing different rumors regarding that. My guess is it will have to do with when a new CBA is complete. If it happens in February and there’s a somewhat normal ramp up to the season, then it feels like there’s a good chance that they can squeeze in a Rule 5 draft. But if regular season games get lost in the bargaining and the entire industry is trying to go from “where is my roster?” to opening day in a matter of weeks, then the Rule 5 might not be the highest priority for teams’ scrambling front offices. We’ll see!
Oh, and as for Tanner Andrews, who apparently joined the organization while I was writing this piece, the RHP was drafted out of Purdue as a 4-year senior sign by the Marlins in 2018. He has decent arm strength, but missed most of the 2021 season on the 60 day IL after having Tommy John surgery. He was released by Miami at the end of the season and picked up by Atlanta — for a few weeks! Prior to his IL stint, he posted an 11.12 ERA in a very short stint in Double A Pensacola.
Today’s post on the Rule 5 draft minor league phase will replace the normal Friday post. Next Monday, we’ll get back to the Top 50 with another speedy, up the middle type player. Until then, enjoy your weekend everybody!
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I'm quite baffled by the Duplantier situation. I generally defend the FO and while I'm not bashing them here I'm certainly left with questions as to how this was handled.
"the Giants lost six players from their organization on Wednesday — the highest total that any team lost in this year’s draft. This is yet another data point speaking to the increasing depth of the Giants organization" the key line for me. Yes, the Giants minor league system is rich and getting richer (no doubt!)
And my guess for the next name on the top fifty, is one of those guys with the initials 'AA'.