Walk Offs Rule!
SF Giants Minor Lines, June 10-12, 2022
There’s been a lot of injury issues lately on the farm — a sad, but constant truth over a season of baseball. It’s not always clear what’s going on with some of these injuries, but we got clarification on a big one this weekend from the indefatigable Melissa Lockard. Good news overall, though we’ll need to miss Marco Luciano for a little while longer.
But let’s turn to the guys who are appearing in games, because we have a huge weekend of activity to focus on — one that included a season’s worth of walk off drama, including a downright heroic effort from this guy, helping to end a disastrous streak:
Let’s get to it…
HITTER of the Weekend: Isan Diaz (Sac), 4 for 10, 3 HR (11), 4 R, 4 RBI
PITCHER of the Weekend: Nick Swiney (Eug), 5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K
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Sacramento lost series vs. Reno Aces (D’backs), 2-4
Losing 13-4 on Friday night STATCAST
Winning 4-3 on Saturday night (11 inn) STATCAST
Winning 10-5 on Sunday STATCAST
There hasn’t been a ton of great news lately for the River Cats — who entered the weekend losers of 10 straight games and stretched it out to 11 on Friday night (but just wait a minute!). Still, that Friday game might have given us a glimmer of something that could end up being great news indeed:
Twice on Friday, Heliot Ramos blistered balls — in the air — to the pull side, and both of those came against right-handed pitchers. That combination of events has been a real quest for Ramos for much of the past two years and especially this year, as hard hit ball after hard hit ball vanished into outs, in part due to an inability to get to pull side power (also, in part, due to bad luck). Seeing him get out in front of a slider and absolutely demolish it 413 feet to left field is the best sign of an improving swing we’ve seen from Ramos this year! Having it result in a dramatic 7th inning game-tying blast — so much the better (DO NOT pay too close attention to the line score to see what happened AFTER that dramatic game tying blast. It wasn’t pretty, unless you’re a fan of position players pitching).
The at bat before Ramos’ dramatic home run was, from a process perspective, possibly even better, as he fought back from an 0-2 count, fouling off plenty of tough pitches. At the end of an eight-pitch battle, Ramos got out in front of another slider and ripped it 107 mph (the HR was only 105), only to see the 3b made a fine leaping stab of the liner.
That Ramos followed this game up by heading to Oracle Park and immediately raking a line drive to left field off of Clayton Kershaw (caught, naturally; so goes Heliot’s luck this year) is a tremendously encouraging sign. Ramos has been crushing the ball with 100+ mph exit velocities consistently all year. His issue has largely been a matter of where that hard contact has been going: mostly on the ground or to right field (where hard contact generally plays down). Redirecting all of that hard contact to the part of the field where it will do him the most good is the project that he and the Giants are now engaged in.
This isn’t unlike some of the issues Austin Slater went through as he was trying to make the leap to the majors. In one of Slater’s first years playing with the Giants, he had the lowest launch angle in MLB — his average contact was straight down, in essence, wasting a lot of hard contact. But these mechanical issues can be fixed over time. An absence of hard contact — that’s a much tougher nut to crack. I should have more to say about Ramos later this week!
I told you not to look at the rest of that line score, but you did anyway, didn’t you? Yes, Jeremy Walker, Norwith Gudino, and …ahem…Jason Krizan combined to allow the Aces nine runs over the final two innings. Krizan actually performed quite well, but Gudino’s issues are getting quite acute. Out of 42 batters faced this year, 23 have reached base, including an incredible 15 walks. Poor Norwith really has no idea where his fastball is going right now. It must be incredibly frustrating.
Saturday night, however, it finally all came together for the River Cats, as they managed to win their first game since May 28 — thanks, as I said at the top, to a heroic effort from infielder Isan Diaz. Diaz came to the plate as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 9th with Sacramento down 1-0 — staring down the barrel of their 12th consecutive defeat. But Diaz didn’t let that happen. He found a high slider to his liking, demolishing it 427 feet to straightaway center field, sending things to extras.
After the two teams traded runs in the 10th (with Arquimedes Gamboa playing the hero in that inning), Diaz came to the plate in the bottom of the 11th with Sacramento once more down by a run and staring at bitter defeat. But again, Diaz found a hanging slider to his liking and crushed it even farther — going way, way out on the berm for a dramatic walk off home run. One hundred and ten mph and 442 feet for the game winner!
Now that’s how you end a losing streak in style!
Of course, before all of that homer drama, a game that was 1-0 going into the 9th naturally featured pitching. Specifically, Saturday night’s game featured the return of Anthony Desclafani, who appeared in his first rehab game, going through three scoreless innings, striking out three and allowing three hits. Disco Tony’s fastball average 92.5 mph — a tick down from where he was much of 2021 — but he kept the ball on the ground, and relied on his defense to help pile up outs. Gamboa (who would play an important offensive role later on) had an especially good game on defense, making several strong plays.
Among the parade of arms who gave Sacramento eight innings of strong relief, special credit should go to Joey Marciano and Yunior Marte, who collectively struck out six batters over three scoreless innings. Marciano hit 97 with his fastball and averaged 94. He only got three whiffs in his two innings of work, and got some very good defensive plays behind him, but he keeps piling up the zeros. Marciano’s allowed a run just once in his past seven appearances, dating back to May 25. He could use a little more precision on his command, but he still looks like a potential big league arm. Marte went pure power, sitting 98-100 in striking out all three batters he faced.
This newfound sensation of “winning” was so enjoyable for Sacramento that they went out and did it again on Sunday. They pounded out 14 hits, a total that included three hits, five RBI, and a first Giants’ organization home run from catcher Michael Papierski. Rehabbing Steven Duggar also provided three hits. Punctuating the weekend, they also got yet another home run from — that man again — Diaz, who homered three times in a period of four plate appearances. Despite not entering Saturday’s game until the 9th inning, he ended up with four different balls crushed over 104 mph in the final two games of the series.
Honestly, given how much roster disruption the Giants’ process causes their Triple A affiliate, it’s not that surprising that wins have been tough to come by. They travel with a large taxi squad and make almost daily transactions. Between the time that the losing streak started and ended, Luke Williams, Stuart Fairchild, Michael Plassmeyer, and Kevin Padlo were all removed from the roster. Ramos was gone twice, Jason Vosler was gone for much of the time, and Sean Hjelle missed a start to pitch a couple innings in relief for the Giants — it really is hard to get much traction under these circumstances. What’s most important is how all these pieces fit together at the top level, not at this one.
David Villar got in some more action at 2b on both Friday and Saturday, and this is something to watch with him as the Giants consider whether he can fit into the big squad over time. He also whistled his 9th and 10th doubles of the season among his three hits over the weekend. Villar’s home splits are probably more instructive of the kind of player he’s been this year than the road splits, and that is a player who walks a lot and has power, but with a lowish batting average (.239/.375/.478), somewhat akin to the player that Vosler was when the Giants signed him before last year.
Vosler, himself, has been heating up with some more regular at bats with Sacramento. Though he’s still hitting just .206 in Triple A, he had four hits, including two doubles over the last three games. The 3b has also worked on increasing his defensive versatility, playing LF twice this weekend.
One player who didn’t take part in the weekend games was LaMonte Wade, Jr., whose planned rehab stint was delayed by yet another injury — this time a hamstring issue.
Richmond won series vs. Erie SeaWolves (Tigers), 5-1
Losing 5-2 on Friday Night
Winning 6-5 on Saturday Night
Winning 5-4 on Sunday (10 inn)
Richmond came into the week at the bottom of a tight-knit scrum, in third place in the EL Southwest Division, but just two games back of Erie. With just three weeks remaining in the first half, they knew they had to take the series against the Sea Wolves to put themselves in a position to push for the automatic bid to the post-season that would come with a 1st half title.
Thanks to dramatic walk-offs on both Saturday and Sunday, MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED! Are you sensing a theme this weekend?
Richmond lost its only game of the week on Friday night — a game in which Sean Roby provided all of the team’s offense by hitting a solo home run (his third in three nights) and….[/checks record] …stealing home? Can that be right? Well, that’s not likely to happen too often, but the bashing of long balls — that’s become a regular occurrence for Roby, who has now hit 13 home runs at The Diamond in just 24 games played there and 16 overall! Sadly, the other consistent theme of Roby’s season has been strikeouts, and aside from the longball, he whiffed seven times over the past three games. That continues to be the Achilles Heel in his very Achilles-esque season.
The dinger has been Richmond’s offensive weapon of choice throughout the first half of the season, but in the clinching the series on Saturday, they lost the battle of homers: 3 to 1. Instead, it was the ol’ ground attack that led the Squirrels to victory. Matt Frisbee was victimized for all three home runs, accounting for the first four Erie runs. Frisbee only allowed six hits overall in six innings of work, but as we’ve seen from him for much of the last year, when he makes mistakes up in the strike zone, they tend to go far, and he makes just enough of them each game to make a difference in his numbers.
Richmond’s runs, on the other hand, came in the most prosaic of fashions — a double-play grounder, and RBI groundout — that is until Tyler Fitzgerald launched his eight home run of the year to tie the game up in the 6th. As with Roby, Fitzgerald’s line has been dragged down by strikeouts this year — an eye-popping 36.6% percent of the time, the talented infielder trudges back to the dugout. But he has real pop for a strong defensive infielder. He just needs to get to it more often than he’s been doing so far this year.
Coming on in the 8th to protect a 4-4 tie, Cole Waites was mostly overpowering — reaching 99 on the gun and striking out four of the eight batters he faced.
But he was also a wee bit wild (as we saw from him in his Double A debut), and that cost him. After issuing a two-out walk, he wild pitched the runner into scoring position, and a ground ball with eyes brought home what looked like the winning run. In response, the Squirrels took advantage of control issues themselves for a bottom of the 9th comeback rally. Following a Fitzgerald single, both Shane Matheny and Robert Emery worked determined, full-count walks before Michael Gigliotti brought home the tying run the hard way — by getting hit in the leg with a pitch.
With the bases loaded and one out, Brandon Martorano clinched the series and sent everyone into delirium with a walk off Sacrifice Fly.
But one walk off ain’t enough, jack, you better make it two! And that’s exactly what the Squirrels did on Sunday. Give the SeaWolves credit, they fought for their share of 1st place. Down 4-3 in the 9th, Erie’s Dane Myers got a belt-high fastball from R.J. Dabovich and drove it out the opposite way to right field to tie the score. Dabovich came back strong in the 10th though, stranding the free runner at second, thanks to a pair of strikeouts — as it has been all year, the knuckle curve was his Kill Pitch of choice.
That sent it to the bottom of the 10th, and, for the second day in a row, Gigliotti’s legs made the difference — though this time in a more traditional manner. Ironically, Gigliotti was only in the game because Franklin Labour had been strangely ejected after the bottom of the 9th — apparently for yelling at himself after grounding out to end the inning. Entering for Labour, Gigliotti then took his place on 2b to open the 10th, and promptly stole 3b — his 12th SB of the year, tied for 10th in the Eastern League. Erie responded to having the game winning run at 3b by walking the bases loaded, and Diego Rincones provided the second walk off of the weekend, sneaking an RBI grounder up the middle just under the shortstop’s glove.
That was the end of a huge week for Rincones, who entered the series with a microscopic .430 OPS. I noticed during BP on Tuesday that he was hitting the ball with much more authority than I’d seen from him previously:
And that authority showed up in the games as well. Rincones ended the week going 8 for 19 with three doubles and his first homer of the year. Before Tuesday, he had just two extra-base hits all season. That’s a good sign for a second half surge from Diego!
Another Squirrel who had a fine week was shortstop Will Wilson. Playing his first full series since April, Wilson walked twice, had five hits, and scored four runs. More impressively, three of the five hits were home runs, including a two run jack on Sunday — his 8th of the year in just 29 games.
(For what it’s worth, I’ve heard a rumor concerning Wilson — we’ll see later today or tomorrow if it’s accurate or not).
Richmond couldn’t have played much better than they have the past two weeks. Two Sundays ago, they were in 3rd place looking up at Akron and Erie. They responded by winning a road series in Akron and nearly sweeping a home series from Erie. Now with two weeks left in the half, they get to look down on the two foes. Not too far down, as Akron is just a game off the pace and Erie two. But taking the two walk offs on Saturday and Sunday from a tough foe put their fate solidly in their own hands.
This team is flying high!
Eugene won series vs Spokane Indians (Rockies), 5-1
Winning 8-7 on Friday Night
Losing 8-7 on Saturday Night
Winning 7-2 on Sunday
We are not finished with walk off tales just yet, folks! Eugene extended its streak to an incredible THREE STRAIGHT WALK OFF VICTORIES on Friday night, with its most improbable comeback of the week. Trailing 7-4 in the bottom of the 9th, two crucial boots from the Spokane 1b and a grounder that barely snuck by a diving infielder, eventually brought Jairo Pomares to the plate, representing the winning run with two outs. Pomares put up a tremendous battle, fouling off three consecutive two-strike pitches from a tough lefty, before sending a game winner arcing deep into the sky. If you haven’t been keeping count, that’s now the FOURTH walk off winner we’ve covered in today’s Minor Lines. ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
Pomares has spent much of the year working on his approach and trying to hone his natural aggressive approach to swinging to a more tactical attack mode, and it does seem to be paying off. His walk rate for the year is up to 9%, and since May 1, it’s been over 10%. The K rate has been stubbornly persistent above 30% — and that needs to come down, which seems to be a universal comment all around the system — but the hits are starting to come. So far in June, he’s hitting .302/.362/.558. Arbitrary end points are always suspicious, but I think we have seen Pomares working on changes to his approach over the course of this year — it’s tough to judge the results of those changes in the messy middle, but he’s a gifted hitter who will certainly benefit from better control of the plate.
If he’s able to use the Giants’ data-driven preparation approach to refine his discipline, look for it to pay dividends in the second half of the year. It certainly paid off this week, as he went 8 for 24 with three home runs and 10 RBI! Now that’s the guy we watched in San Jose last year!
Amazingly, Pomares had the chance to repeat the feat on Saturday night, as he once again came to the plate in the 9th with a runner on and a one-run deficit. He couldn’t quite pull off back-to-back walk-offs, however, and Eugene went down to defeat after a week of stunning victories. No matter, he showed up on Sunday and bashed his 8th home run in his very first at bat, and later came back with an RBI double, helping the team to a 7-2 win.
That the Emeralds were in need of walk-off help at all on Saturday night was due to a rare lapse from Clay Helvey, who came on in the 9th to close out a 5-4 win. After getting two quick outs, however, Helvey searched in vain for the third. A sharp hit ball to 1b Luis Toribio might have gotten Helvey out of a jam, but Toribio was unable to corral the grounder, and the resulting deflection allowed two runs to score before it could be tracked down. For Helvey, it was the first earned runs he’d allowed since way back in April. Over his last eight outings, covering the entire month of May and much of June (11.0 IP), Helvey had allowed just one hit and one unearned run, while striking out 20 batters and walking just three. He’s been truly outstanding, which made Saturday’s outburst (a walk and three singles) truly stunning!
Without that stumble, the Ems would have pulled off a rare six-game sweep — against the league’s second best team! This talented Eugene squad is finally starting to hum the way they’re capable. They’re 13-4 over their last three weeks of play, firmly establishing themselves atop the league’s standings. With two weeks to play and a 4.5 game lead, they should cruise to an easy first half title.
The offense gets a lot of the credit for the big week, as hot hitters were everywhere up and down the lineup. Ghordy Santos scuffled through a rough May, but he couldn’t have been much hotter this week, as he torched Spokane, going 12 for 26 in the series, with two doubles, three walks, and his fifth home run of the year. Santos had multi-hit efforts in five of the six games and reached base at least twice in all six. The multi-positional utility man has been flashing the leather this year as well.
Eugene’s play by play man mentioned this weekend that Casey Schmitt suffered a slight ankle injury a couple of weeks ago — not severe enough to keep him off the field (where he’s been badly needed), but probably enough to account for the slight dip in hitting we’ve seen from him this month. That’s “slight,” relative to his torrid early season pace. Apparently, the owie has cleared up, because he was back to his old bashing ways this weekend!
Schmitt was another hot bat this week, going 8 for 23 in the series. He had four hits over the weekend, including what may have been THE At Bat of the year on Friday night, when he fought his way through an 11 pitch AB before getting the mistake he was looking for. That’s ending the battle on a victorious note!
Schmitt is currently the only hitter in the Northwest League batting over .300. He’s third in OBP (.374), fourth in SLG (.488), and trails only Luciano in OPS (.867). He’s walking more than 10% of the time and has one of the lower strikeout rates in the system at 21%. Oh, and he’s filling in capably at short in Luciano’s absence. I was high on Schmitt after seeing him last year, but at this point, he might be a top five prospect in the system for me.
The plaudits really keep going. Patrick Bailey had four hits over his last three games. Carter Williams had a strong week, homering and doubling over the weekend and playing excellent defense in right field. And Hunter Bishop has been gradually turning things around. So far in June, Bishop is hitting .282/.391/.539, and he’s been keeping the strikeouts in check, with just 10 in 46 PA this month (22%). As he finally gets some regular reps, it does look like he’s feeling more comfortable in the box. For the series, he went 6 for 21 with two doubles and a classic Bishop-style HR — which are always terrific to watch!
The pitching side of things was a little spottier this weekend. I noted the ultra-rare Helvey blowup above. That ended a game that had started with a somewhat ragged outing from Jake Wong, who worked five innings and allowed just three runs, but once again had trouble commanding his pitches. I know I repeat this all the time, but that is a typical aspect of the comeback from TJ — really helps you appreciate what Logan Webb did when he posted a 1.82 ERA in San Jose in his first full season back from the surgery!
On Friday night, Mason Black had essentially his very first “it was that kind of night” pro experience. The six runs he allowed nearly matched his total for all other starts this year combined (7 runs in 10 starts previously). The two home runs he coughed up were more than the rest of the year combined! He’s been working his slider up in the zone a lot since coming to Eugene — whether intentionally or not it’s hard to say — and poorly located secondaries that didn’t have his sharpest break had a lot to do with the rough outing. But tougher competition and getting into the real grind of the pro workload will lead to this kind of outing now and again. He’s still having the best debut of the 2021 class, and has really put his name in the upper echelon of Giants’ pitching prospects.
On Sunday, however, the Ems got a beautiful melding of run scoring and run prevention, thanks to a gorgeous outing from lefty Nick Swiney. The 2nd rounder from 2020 has had a stop-and-start, inconsistent season. He pitched just 9.2 innings between May 1 and June 5, and had a hard time in his last outing at Everett, giving up plenty of loud contact to go with four runs in four innings. Sunday night, however, the stuff was really buzzing, as he picked up a season high 9 strikeouts, matching his career best, accomplished in his final outing of 2021.
Swiney’s fastball command is still a work in progress, and he leaves it high out of the zone enough to work a lot of long counts. But he worked his vertical game — establishing the fastballs up, and then putting guys away with off speed stuff down — with dazzling success on Sunday. He had 19 swinging strikes in the start, by far his best of the season. That double plus changeup of his is a true difference maker, but the key for Swiney is really keeping his fastball right at the top of the zone, where it misses bats, instead of just slightly lower where opponents can sometimes barrel it up hard. Spokane is a very good hitting club, and includes two of the best prospects in the league in Zac Veen and Drew Romo, so silencing them is a strong night’s work.
San Jose lost series @ Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres), 2-4
Losing 4-3 on Friday Night
Losing 7-6 on Saturday Night
Losing 6-2 on Sunday
It was a rough trip to the Southland, as San Jose dropped the final three games of their series, probably ending their hopes of a first half title, unless something highly dramatic happens in the next two weeks. With the series loss to the Southern division leaders, San Jose fell 6 games out of the Northern division chase, behind those Damn Grizzlies! The cruelest blow came on Saturday night, when Tyler Myrick failed to close out a two-run 9th inning lead, dropping a 7-6 heartbreaker — the Walk-Off isn’t so fun when it’s on the other side, now, is it?
In truth, the Storm really outplayed the Giants in this series in most every facet of the game. They were particularly outstanding on defense — cutting off extra bases, making diving catches and strong throws. That 7-6 walk off loss on Saturday might not have gone the way it did without great plays earlier in the night, like this robbery of a potential Dilan Rosario home run:
And heck, I probably should have shown you this little bit of magic when it happened back on Thursday, but better late than never. Herein, Storm pitcher Levi Thomas pulling off one of the greatest double plays you’ll ever see:
It really was like that all week long. Everything the Storm’s gloves touched turned to gold.
The odd, and slightly disconcerting debut of Will Bednar continued in Sunday’s finale, and I’m really not sure what to make of it. Based on his scouting profile and draft pedigree, you’d think that Low A shouldn’t be that much of a challenge for Bednar. But in reality, that hasn’t been the case, as he now features a 4.91 ERA and a 6.09 FIP in the Cal League. Even though he’s striking out batters at a solid clip, it hasn’t been difficult to identify the culprit in Bednar’s struggles: a shocking lack of fastball command. Bednar has walked more than a batter every other inning so far this year, and he’s now hit 12 batters after another HBP yesterday — that’s the second highest total in the minor leagues. Yesterday, he continuously left fastballs either non-competitively high out of the zone, or jerked them well down and to the gloveside. He threw just 30 of 58 pitches in the strike zone and was pitching in traffic nearly the entire outing. Bednar has very rarely used his changeup this year, and without a solid feel for his fastball, he’s often been limited to one effective pitch.
The second major culprit behind Bednar’s high ERA (and higher FIP) has been a tendency to cough up gopher balls. After escaping a bases loaded jam in the first yesterday (caused in part by Aeverson Arteaga losing a pop up in the sun), Bednar opened the second inning by giving up back to back jacks — the first on a get it in slider that caught too much of the plate and the second on a fastball that was middle-middle. That was his 6th and 7th HR allowed on the year — not a high total per se, but given that he’s allowed just 25 hits, it’s a bit elevated. I think that high total has been caused by two things: 1) the lack of fastball command, which sometimes misses in the zone rather than out; and 2) the heavy reliance on his slider, which will occasionally result in a hanger. The first of those two things is much more concerning to me as Bednar’s velo (which has mostly been 92-93 this year) isn’t enough to overcome poor command. This all bears watching!
Vaun Brown is really just a man among boys in Low A right now — and I mean that both statistically (where he leads the league in SLG and OPS while being 3rd in batting average and home runs), and physically, where he just looks bigger and stronger than most of the younger players in this league. That fits for a guy who’s about to turn 24. Brown went 4 for 14 on the weekend, with a triple and his 13th homer of the year, though he continues to strike out a tad more than you’d like to see for a near-24-year-old in Low A (should we make “needs to strike out less” a There R Giants drinking game?) Let’s move this kid up, Giants!
After an extremely rough start to the year, I’ve sort of lost sight of one of my favorite arms on this San Jose staff, so let’s backtrack a bit on what’s been going on with Manuel Mercedes. Bottom line: good things!
The explosive run that he gets on his fastball is probably always going to be hard to control with extreme precision, but after really having no idea where the pitch was going for much of the first month, he’s made real strides lately in controlling the ball better. Mercedes walked 21 of the first 78 batters he saw this year, an untenable 27% walk rate! But over his past five outings, he’s walked just 5 of 50. Progress! At the same time, he’s had a 28% K rate, allowed opponents to hit just .111 off of him, and posted a 1.38 ERA over 13 innings.
Friday night, he had his best outing of the year. After a leadoff error, he retired the next nine batters he faced — basically a better than perfect outing! There was still the occasional fastball off the Bull, but he mostly attacked the strike zone with nasty stuff, getting the Storm to pound the ball into the ground repeatedly. He had seven ground ball outs to go with two strike outs, and generally looked like the best version of his 19-year-old self (hopefully the best version of his 21-year-old self will be even better!)
It was his best outing of the year, and probably the best performance by a Giants pitcher this weekend. Although, 24-year-old right-hander Evan Gates might beg to differ with that assessment, after he struck out five of the six batters he faced in relief of Bednar on Sunday. Let’s give an attaboy to Evan, too! Dude’s got a 38% K rate!
Grant McCray had an ugly line Friday night, picking up a platinum sombrero with a five up/five K night that included some truly wild swings chasing fastballs out of the zone. He bounced back the rest of the weekend, walking twice, picking up a couple of hits, and stealing his 15th base of the year. McCray has had a true pop up year, but cutting down the Ks — and particularly refining the swing decisions behind some of his bigger strikeout nights — is still on the To Do list.
Arizona Complex League
ACL Giants Orange lost @ ACL D’backs Red, 3-2 (8 inn)
ACL Giants Orange beat ACL Giants Black, 5-0 on Saturday (7 inn)
Team Black’s Friday night game was cancelled due to a COVID outbreak. It appears that was confined to the Rockies team, as their Saturday game was also cancelled, while the Giants’ two teams faced off against each other on Saturday.
Team Orange didn’t do much hitting this weekend. They managed just two hits in their 8-inning game on Friday. The two runs they scored in that one came gift-wrapped, as the first two batters of the game were hit by pitches, and a two-base throwing error on a sacrifice bunt brought them both in. And they didn’t do much better in the friendly on Saturday, picking up just six more hits in a 5-0 whitewashing. Diego Velasquez and Irvin Murr III managed to collect a hit in each of the two games, with Murr’s double the lone extra-base hit for the Orange.
So far, the Black have been the much better offensive club, and that was certainly the case in Saturday’s affair. Anthony Rodriguez went deep for the second time this year — he’s hitting .400 with a 1.267 OPS to start his repeat season in the league, though he continues to strikeout more than you’d like to see (5 in 15 AB so far). He has the tools to produce much better results than he did in 2021 (.224 average, .704 OPS), so it’s good to see him getting off to a hot start, and particularly good to see the power start to actualize.
Other Team Black hitters that have also been quick out of the gates include 18-year-old Panamanian OF Mauricio Pierre and 19-year-old Dominican catcher Onil Perez. Each has had at least one hit in every game they’ve played so far, leading to batting averages of .417 and .385 respectively. Perez also showed off his plus arm, back picking Murr at 1b to end the 6th inning.
As I noted in the Rookie League preview, the ACL pitching staffs include a lot of rehabbing older pitchers. That number grew unexpectedly by one on Saturday, when Gregory Santos started the game for Giants Orange. I have to apologize — that’s one I let get away from me. Until I saw him show up in an ACL game, I hadn’t realized that he hadn’t appeared in a game since May 21. Obviously, there was some sort of minor injury there — again, the Giants aren’t terribly communicative when it comes to health issues (that’s true of all organizations these days). Santos pitched one inning for the Orange on Saturday, striking out one and giving up a single to Velasquez.
Another pitcher getting in some rehab work this weekend was Jorge Guzman, whom the Giants signed on a minor league deal this winter. Guzman was a low level international signing for the Astros back in 2014, but his extremely high velocity has caused him to be interesting enough that he was part of two different high-profile trades: the Astros acquisition of Brian McCann, and the Yankees acquisition of Giancarlo Stanton. At one point, Guzman was quite literally the hardest throwing pitcher in pro ball, averaging 99 mph with his four-seam fastball as a starter back in 2017. He was the Marlins’ #2 overall prospect in 2018, and made short appearances in Miami in both 2020 and 2021. However, he’s dealt with elbow soreness since the middle of last year, ending 2021 on the 60-day IL. The Giants signed him to a fairly unusual 2-year minor league deal this winter, on the understanding that much of this year would involve rehabilitating the elbow. Guzman struck out two and walked one in his one inning of work — again with the Orange. No wonder Team Black was having trouble getting hits, going up against this level of pitching!
Here’s what Guzman looked like in his Future’s Game appearance, four years ago:
Yet another former major leaguer appearing in the complex league this weekend was Joe Palumbo, a left-hander who was the Rangers’ #7 prospect two years ago. Palumbo has been dealing with back issues, but prior to the Giants signing him last year, he had appeared in nine games with the Rangers, starting four — none very successfully. He has a fastball that can get up into the mid-90s and, somewhat like Matt Mikulski, a deceptive, short-armed delivery that gets on hitters quickly. Palumbo threw 1.2 IP without a hit for Team Orange on Friday night. Team Orange’s pitching staff should be providing the spread at the Complex this week! Lotta major leaguers there! Palumbo, however, didn’t stay long, as he was transferred to Sacramento yesterday.
Rafael Martinez started the Friday night game, beginning his fourth straight year in rookie ball and second in Arizona. The 22-year-old has an intriguing slider, but his 88-90 fastball is on the fringy side.
Dominican Summer League
DSL Giants Black beat DSL Twins, 9-4 (7 inn) Friday
DSL Giants Black lost vs DSL Pittsburgh Black, 4-2 on Saturday (7 inn)
Mexican lefty slugger Guillermo Williamson continues to swing the biggest stick for the Black, belting a three-run homer as part of their big, seven-run inning in Friday morning’s victory. It was the 18-year-old’s first professional dinger. He also has a double among four hits to start the year.
Moises de la Rosa, one of the mid-six figure signings of this year’s international cycle, went 1 for 2, making him 4 for 8 on the year. De la Rosa is a corner outfield profile whose potential hit tool is his best feature. Like a good Giant, he has just as many walks as strikeouts so far (two of each).
Cuban refugee Jean Carlos Sio signed with the Giants for $90,000 last year’s cycle, but didn’t make his pro debut until this week. Sio singled in two runs and scored one in the Giants’ 9-4 win on Friday. On Saturday, he had the biggest of the team’s three hits, blasting a triple — his first extra-base hit. Sio came around to score one of the team’s two runs on an RBI single from returnee Javier Francisco, who also had two hits and an RBI in Friday’s game. He’s batting .500 over his first three games. Francisco is a shortstop by trade, but played almost exclusively 1b last year. He saw time at shortstop in both of the weekend’s games.
DSL Giants Orange beat DSL Tigers1, 4-3 Friday
DSL Giants Orange lost @ DSL Twins, 6-0 on Saturday (7 inn)
Ryan Reckley picked up his first professional hit Saturday, beating out an infield single to shortstop. It’s been a rough beginning for Reckley, who’s just 1 for 16 with eight strikeouts to start his career, albeit with seven walks. It’s somewhat unusual for Reckley to be starting in the DSL — I believe he’s the first seven figure international signing the Giants have ever had who didn’t start his career in Arizona. Fear not, however! I spoke this weekend with a scout from another organization who saw Reckley in extended games this spring and loved what he saw of the youngster in the box — advanced contact skills for a player his age from both sides of the plate with a line drive approach and great speed.
In the Friday night win, Reckley walked three times, scoring once, and stole his first bag of the year — his 2nd would come the very next day, while also getting caught for the first time. Juan Perez, the Giants’ other million dollar signing this year, isn’t off to a much better start than Reckley, going just 2 for 13, with two walks and five strikeouts in the first week of play. But Perez was expected to be a glove first player at this stage of his development.
Yeison Lemos and Jediael Maduro each hit doubles in Friday night’s win, while Cuban Lazaro Morales had the lone extra-base hit in Saturday’s game. Morales is now hitting .538 to start his career. No Giants Orange player had more than one hit over the two games.
The Week Ahead:
Sacramento River Cats: 24-36, 4th Place (10.5 GB), -71 Run Differential
Sacramento heads to Tacoma this week for a face off between the teams with the two worst records and run differential in the league, starting Tuesday.
Richmond Flying Squirrels: 33-24, 1st place, -6 Run Differential
With two series left in the first half, Richmond will try to put a little separation between themselves and 2nd place (currently one game in front of Akron and two in front of Erie) when they travel to Harrisburg to take on the 5th place Senators. Getting a positive run differential for the year wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Starts Tuesday.
Eugene Emeralds: 31-21, 1st Place, +23 Run Differential.
The 1st place Emeralds head to Vancouver to take on the last place Canadians. Eugene has a little more breathing room over 2nd place than Richmond does, with a 4.5 game lead. With a successful week across the border, they could solidify their title chances going into the final week. Presumably, however, Eugene will once again be without the services of Pomares this week, due to the visa issues involved with getting Cuban refugees into Canada. The series should be on MiLBTV (the last time Eugene visited Vancouver, the video feed didn’t work, but that seems to have been sorted out). Starts Tuesday.
San Jose Giants: 32-25, 2nd Place (6.0 GB), +53 Run Differential
1st place Fresno comes to visit, and with the Giants six games behind, they need to really dominate the series to get themselves back into the 1st half race. Is a six game sweep too much to ask? Starts Tuesday.
Today’s Games
ACL Giants Black (TBD) @ ACL Angels (TBD), 6:00 pm, No Video
ACL Giants Orange (TBD) vs. ACL D’backs Black (TBD), 6:00 pm, No Video
DSL Giants Black (TBD) @ DSL Pitt Black (TBD), 8:00 am, No Video
DSL Giants Orange (TBD) vs. DSL LAD Bautista (TBD), 8:00 am, No Video
At least it’s not LAD Lasorda! BEAT L-A!
This was a Free For All version of There R Giants’ Minor Lines. There won’t be many of these, so if you liked what you read, why not become a subscriber?
Does anyone connected to the Flying Squirrels have a theory on why home runs are up there? Were the fences moved? Is the ball juiced? Or are Villar and Roby just that impressive of sluggers?
I hate the Gatorade shower thing (in the first posted video). I remember Hall of Fame NFL coach George Allen getting doused, immediately getting sick and dying 6 weeks later. The LATimes worked hard trying to disprove the urban legend that grew out of it, but still... From the LAT article in 1990, "Hall of Fame football coach George Allen...allegedly died because of a Gatorade shower he received earlier that year." Anyway, now back to reading this post :)