Sean Hjelle continues strong run to beat the Curve
June 4, SF Giants Minor Lines
Ok, does this look like it should be a double play to you? Because this was a double play. You gotta wait for it though….
It’s hard to imagine such a cockamamie combination of not running when you should be, and yes running when you shouldn’t be as that display. Baseball man! What is this sport smoking?
And with that, how about a little Saturday supplement of the Giants Minor Lines with all the action around the system on Friday night? Saturday’s are free for all, so if you like what you see and would like more There R Giants posts, why not subscribe?
HITTER of the Night: Sandro Fabian, 2 for 3, HR, 3 RBI
PITCHER of the Night: Sean Hjelle, 6.0+ IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 7 K, HR
Sacramento lost at Reno Aces (Diamondbacks), 6-4
The River Cats got eight fascinating innings of work from two pitchers who figure to play important roles in the Giants future — and maybe in their near-term present as well.
The first four of those came from Tyler Beede — I know I linked this story from KNBR’s Mark Sanchez earlier in the week, but I just want to repeat that the most important thing about Beede’s rehab so far is that his arm feels good. Everything else right now is gravy — and some of that gravy is a little lumpy and maybe doesn’t taste all that great on the mashed potatoes, but still gravy! Beede’s control of his fastball was actually a bit improved in this game from his six walk effort in his previous outing. He threw a much higher percentage of pitches for strikes and was overall more competitive with his pitches. There was more missing his spot in the zone going on last night, and he surrendered two fairly well struck home runs, but he was also pitching on top of a mountain. It’s still going to take some time for the “feel” part of pitching to return as his body adjusts itself to the new part and that’s a normal part of TJ rehab. But Beede’s consistently been throwing his fastball in the 96-97 range and that’s going to be a huge boon as the command eventually dials in.
Hey, that was Heliot’s big bro Henry Ramos doing some damage there!
The bigger question now is how the Giants handle the end of his 30 day rehab period. As I wrote last week, he can be returned to the 40 man and optioned to Sacramento to keep working on, but that will obviously mean somebody is getting DFA’d. The Giants can halt his rehab for now and start a new one later, but that will mean a pause in his regular game activity. We shall see which route they decide to travel.
Beede was followed by four more innings of Sam Long, who continues to be incandescent in his hometown uni. Long has now faced 24 Triple-A batters and punched 15 of them out. Including his one walk from last night, that’s just 8 batters at this level who’ve managed to put his stuff in play. That’s a little crazy, ain’t it? In particular, Long’s curve is a snapping turtle right now, and it looks like it will play at the top level, especially combined with a fastball that continues to sit in the 93-95 range and a terrific changeup that consistently induces whiffs (you’ll see Ramos and Andrew Young flailing at that one below).
That’s a killer combination of pitches that should play! I just need to take a moment to pat myself on the back, because I’m getting more and more excited that Long IS going to becoming the Pitching Yaz (also an excellent Band Name, I think!). I noted after his Triple-A debut that Long’s pitch count has stayed consistently in the 55-60 range all year, even as other starters have stretched out further, and it was right in that sweet spot again last night at 59. The Giants are clearly looking at him as a potential swing man, who might be able to give the Giants valuable bulk innings from either a starting spot or the bullpen. In other words, if Scott Kazmir’s inspirational return to baseball takes a less inspirational turn for the worse, the Giants might just have a younger version waiting in the wings!
I haven’t talked all that much here about Joe McCarthy, who sadly is still sitting on an .000 career batting line in the big leagues, but the former Rays prospect has been on fire of late in Sacramento’s lineup. He gave the River Cats most of their offense last night, blasting a 3-run homer off Corbin Burnes to flash some comeback hopes in Sacramento’s dugout in the 6th. It was McCarthy’s fifth home run in the last seven games and pushed his hit streak to 9 games. McCarthy now leads the team in HRs and is third in the Triple-A West, as well as tenth in the league with a .613 SLG.
Joey Bart didn’t have much to show for his night at the plate, but he sure could brag on his arm after the game. Bart saved his pitchers two outs with a couple of cannon throws. First he back picked slugger Seth Beer, who got a little froggy out at 2b:
Then he gunned down leadoff man Josh Van Meter trying to advance on a ball in the dirt. I’m not entirely sure he got Van Meter, but it sure looked good!
Richmond beat Altoona Curve (Pirates), 5-3
Sean Hjelle is somewhat quietly putting together a terrific year in the Richmond rotation. He’s progressively getting deeper and deeper into games, reaching the 7th inning for the first time in his Double-A career last night and proving that he can successfully turn lineups over. He’s given up 1 or 0 runs in four of his seven starts this year, and just five total over his last four outings, covering 22.1 innings. And though you don’t necessarily think of Hjelle as a big strikeout pitcher, rather like his former rotation-mate Matt Frisbee, he’s able to use command and sequencing to pile up a fairly impressive amount of whiffs.
The Double-A Northeast league isn’t playing like A ball this year — there aren’t 19 and 20 K games every single night. At this level, Hjelle’s 35 K (in 28.1 IP) is the 7th highest total in the league. His K9 of 11.3% is the league’s 15th best total, as is his percentage of Called and Swinging Strikes (32.1%). Hjelle does give up a little more contact than you’d prefer, a sign that the fastball isn’t a true swing and miss pitch, but a lot of that contact goes into the ground, so it’s not hurting him very much on the scoreboard. It feels like every single night out I’m saying that Hjelle had his best Double-A start ever. If I keep on saying it, pretty soon he’s not going to be making Double-A starts anymore. The Big Man is really learning the lessons that this level has to teach right now and pretty soon now it seems he might be ready for a more advanced course.
Hjelle’s run support came from an unexpected source, as Sandro Fabian broke out of a horrific slump to give the Squirrels a lift. Over his past 16 games, Fabian had hit just .194/.216/.333. Though he’s been putting the ball in play (just 5 K over 38 PA), there hasn’t been much hard contact coming off his bat. But that changed last night. After starting the scoring with a bloop single for an RBI, he did more than bloop it his next time at the plate.
That gave Richmond some breathing room at 4-1, and boy were they going to need it! Trying to protect a three-run lead in the 9th, Raffi Vizcaino got into all manner of trouble, allowing two hits and then walking two, loading the bases with just one out. Jose Marte was called to try and figure the mess out and after his rough outing on Wednesday afternoon, he was back to his bat missing ways just when the Squirrels needed it most. Marte struck out a pair to leave the bases stranded, repeatedly hitting 99 with his fastball and then bringing the sharp slider with the downward bite to end the threat.
Eugene won @ Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays), 10-4
In a sloppy night of baseball that produced seven errors and sixteen walks for the two teams combined, it was Eugene who ultimately made the most of the gifts they were handed to walk away with the win.
Eight different batters scores as the Emeralds staged two separate four-run rallies. Not surprisingly, Logan Wyatt kept cutting in the giveaway line, working four free passes in the game.
But Eugene also got less expected contributions. Light-hitting CF Javeyan Williams had a big game, reaching base three times, scoring twice, and stealing three of the team’s four bags. He also picked up an OF assist to complete an all around night. Backup catcher Brandon Martorano also continued his hot hitting, blasting his first home run of the season out to right — against a strong breeze blowing from right to left throughout the game (causing a few of the defensive issues).
Another unexpected contributor was Travis Perry, making his first start of the year, throwing four strong innings. The Ems bullpen handled things from there and Chris Wright shut the door with another excellent effort. The left-hander from Rhode Island has now struck out 9 of the 14 batters he’s faced in just 3.1 innings since his promotion to High-A, while allowing just three to reach base. There’s something going on with this young man’s pitch characteristics because hitters are just not getting decent swings off against him.
With the sloppy win, Eugene continues to hold onto 1st place in the High-A West, pushing their record up to 18-10 on the year.
San Jose lost to Modesto Nuts (Mariners), 6-3
The Nuts came into this series with the league’s most prolific offense, and it finally displayed itself, punishing nearly every pitcher San Jose sent to the mound. Starter Ryan Murphy was a little less familiar with the strike zone than normal, throwing just 46 of 77 pitches for strikes and walking three. The right-hander had handed out just four free passes in his five May starts combined (24.2 IP). While Modesto didn’t turn those walks into much on the scoreboard, they did get Murphy out of the game fairly early, and then feasted on his teammates. Lefty Juan Sanchez had the worst time of it, walking three batters in the 7th and uncorking a wild pitch to help them all on their way. His line would look even worse when Brooks Crawford allowed both inherited runners to score. The messy inning blew a taut 3-2 game open and the Giants normally stout offense didn’t have a response to give last night.
Marco Luciano didn’t collect any hits, but he did have a two walk night with no strikeouts. The youngster has been showing more and more control of the strike-zone lately, as teams have been reasonably more wary of attacking him where he can do damage. It’s a good trend to see.
I don’t know if it’s a trend but the struggling Alex Canario had his first two-hit night since the second game of the season, including his 4th double. That’s three hits in two nights for the RF who had just 8 hits in his previous 20 games. Canario looks to be struggling a bit to adjust to a more patient approach. His walk total has risen dramatically this year and his swing rate of just 42% is one of the lowest on the team. It’s possible that in attempting to be more discerning at the plate, he’s having trouble with the tricky balance of controlled aggression. It’s a learning process!
CF Luis Matos matched Canario with two hits, including his 8th double of the year. Matos, too, has been in something of a mini-slump, going just 5 for 39 over the last 10 games. Matos’ swing can reach almost anything — he has just 6 K over that time — but that likely gets him into the habit of feeling he should swing at anything, a common phenomenon for young hitters with excellent bat to ball skills. Again, it’s a learning process! Dude can still hit!
The 17-11 Giants could possibly jump into a tie for first if they can take the final two games from the Nuts this weekend.
So get out there and cheer them on! Like my friend says, they’re hella fun!
What’s On Tap?
Sacramento (TBD) @ Reno (Tyler Gilbert), 6:35 pm
Richmond (Phil Pfeifer) vs. Altoona (Osvaldo Bido), 3:05 pm
Eugene (Seth Corry) @ Vancouver (Adam Kloffenstein), 7:05 pm
San Jose (Wil Jensen) vs. Modesto (TBD), 6:00 pm
Sacramento is bullpenning it tonight, while recently demoted Phil Pfeifer steps in for Richmond. Tristan Beck, who hasn’t pitched since May 21, continues to be bothered by some shoulder soreness. Seth Corry takes a marquee assignment against the Blue Jays #9 prospect in what should be a terrific matchup tonight in Hillsboro.
Let the fireworks loose. It’s Saturday night at the ballyard!
Four hits for Simon Whiteman doesn’t merit a mention? He seems like he’s on a hot streak. Do you think he has the potential to be more than an org player or will his almost complete lack of power consign him to the minors?
good to see sandro fabian showing what he can do. i feel like he's been left out of the prospect party this season.
also more length and strength from norwith. very interesting pitcher.