Week 16 in Review: Let's Hear it for Relievers!
August 16-22, 2021 SF Giants Minor Lines
It’s time for another Tuesday Free For All here at There R Giants! As you know, there aren’t a lot of these, so if you enjoy today’s post why not subscribe for daily posts, or share it with someone you think will like Giants farm system reports?
Let’s hear it for one of my long-time favorites:
Barely more than three months after opening the season in the Eugene Emeralds bullpen, Jose Marte made the show — and darn successfully, too! Where has the time gone since we were amazed at Marte becoming the first pitcher in the system to hit 100 mph with a pitch this year? Or just weeks later when one of his first appearances in Double-A caused Giants’ Coordinator of Pitching Sciences Matt Daniels to swoon:
Anyway, it’s been a great ride. Now Marte is on to better things and the Giants have another trustworthy arm trying to help this season reach a successful conclusion. But Marte’s promotion has reminded me that I’ve spent all year thinking about using one of these Weeks in Review to highlight the great work that relievers have been doing all over the system. Today is that day! With so many star players absorbing our attention, it’s not always easy to focus on some of the other players who are working hard and dreaming about big league success, but this farm is chock-full of relief arms who have had terrific years in 2021 and the time has come to shine our light on them fully!
Let’s go level by level and see how many potential big leaguers we can find:
SACRAMENTO: Of course, with the River Cats it’s more a matter of how many relief arms they’ve already provided the Giants! If you’re enjoying the sight of Dominic Leone, Zack Littell, and Jay Jackson soaking up valuable innings and making dramatic comebacks possible, thank these River Cats! As the Giants try to cover all of the tension-filled innings between here and October, you can bet we’ll be seeing more of other 40-man members like John Brebbia, Camilo Doval, Reyes Moronta, and maybe even forgotten 40-man member Caleb Baragar (if he survives some upcoming 40 man maneuvers).
Brebbia has looked a little shaky so far in coming back from Tommy John surgery, but he has a strong track record of success over three seasons in the St. Louis’ bullpen, so I’d think it’s just a matter of time before he becomes a valuable part of the pen. Moronta also appears to be having troubles getting over that final rehab hump. The velocity doesn’t seem to have gotten all the way back to the high 90s gas he was throwing pre-surgery, and in each of his last three outings in Sacramento, he failed to make it through an inning. Still, we know what kind of impact arm Moronta can be when healthy. Doval has really struggled with control this year, walking 22 batters in 26.1 IP in Sacramento, which is a big factor behind his 5.13 ERA. But it’s hard to match his pure velocity.
The control doesn’t need to be Maddux-esque to make that work. At some point you have to believe he’ll hone in on the right level of stuff/command for success. Getting tossed straight from A ball to the big leagues is a tough re-entry from a missing year.
Speaking of tough assignments, Kervin Castro looked terribly shaky over his first month, going from short-season ball to Triple-A. From May 6 to June 3, he walked 12 batters in 10 innings, surrendered two home runs, and posted a 7.20 ERA. But along the way he caught his breath and began to show the level of performance that excited the Giants enough to add him to the 40 man last winter. Since June 3, Castro has a 37 K to 8 BB ratio in 30 innings and has allowed just six earned runs. That’s good for a 1.80 ERA — a number that’s even higher than his miniscule .179 opponents batting average. Don’t be surprised to see Castro make his big league debut sometime next month.
RICHMOND: The Squirrels boast the Northeast League’s third best staff by ERA (3.86) and the third highest in terms of team strikeouts (938). And much of that has come from a yeoman’s effort from the bullpen, which has covered 45% of the team’s innings this year, and has picked up just over half of the team’s strikeouts (470). The pen also has posted an ERA about a half run better than the starters (3.63 vs. 4.09).
Marte was obviously a part of that success and so, too, was Marte’s Eugene teammate, R.J. Dabovich. Dabovich has moved the quickest of the Giants’ 2020 draft class, thanks to a fastball that can sometimes get up to the high 90s and a sharp downward-breaking curve that Dabovich worked hard to perfect last summer. While his command has certainly been tested by the better hitters in Double-A (4.30 BB/9), he’s also struck out nearly half of all the batters he’s faced this year, and almost 40% of Double-A hitters (25 of 63).
Three other relievers who have been with the Squirrels since Day 1 deserve special mention. LHP Joey Marciano throws strikes with a fastball that sits reliably in the mid-90s and a downward-sweeping slider with some bite. Marciano has been worked hard this year, appearing in 33 of the team’s 96 games. That caused him to dip a little in late July, when he surrendered 11 of the 21 runs he’s allowed this year. But he’s been a powerful workhorse for the team, often taking on its highest leverage situations in late innings. He’ll be an interesting Rule 5 call this winter, as lefties who can throw 95 with decent command are always in demand around the game.
The other high leverage arm who has shone for Richmond is RHP Pat Ruotolo. The 5’10” Ruotolo doesn’t have stuff that burns up a radar gun, but the spin rate on his fastball (~2500) combined with the lower, flatter angle of delivery gives the pitch tremendous carry through the zone (to use the buzz term du jour of baseball), and he tunnels it with an excellent 12-6 curve. He’s generated tremendous numbers in every year of his career, consistently striking out about 37-40% of the hitters he’s faced at every level, and rarely walking anybody. This season he’s taken that to an extreme with a career low 4.2% walk rate. As was the case with Tyler Rogers, with this much success at some point you need to give the guy a chance to succeed in the big leagues.
And finally, let’s give a shout out to RHP Ronnie Williams, who was selected in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft last December. With 57.2 innings thrown this year, Williams trails only starters Trenton Toplikar, Michael Plassmeyer, Sean Hjelle, and Caleb Kilian in innings pitched for Richmond. He’s been a multi-innings specialist, virtually always going multiple innings and sometimes knocking down as many as three or four at a time. No other reliever on the team is within 10 innings of his total. With his quick arm, he generates a 93-94 mph fastball with run and a sharp downward-breaking slider. Like Kervin Castro, he works at a rapid pace, pounds the strike zone, and his arm seems to bounce back quickly. He’s been a godsend to the Squirrels efforts this year.
EUGENE: Once Marte and Dabovich moved on, the late innings star of the Eugene bullpen quickly became LHP Chris Wright, who is a rising star in the organization. Though his fastball mostly sits at 90-91, he misses a tremendous amount of bats with it at the top of the zone, again due to fantastic carry and some deception in his delivery. But the showstopper for Wright this year has been a curve that has completely boggled the hitters he’s faced in Low and High-A. Wright has truly been one of the most dominant pitchers in minor league baseball this year. He’s struck out 43.6% of all batters he’s faced which is the 7th best K% mark of anybody in the minors with a minimum of 30 innings pitched. He’s walked 14% as well, and that’s the number that will need to improve as he moves up, but there’s no doubt this has been a true breakout year for the former two-way player from Bryant University in Rhode Island.
Beyond Wright, the Eugene bullpen has had some mixed results from its relievers. The side-winding RHP Ryan Walker, who appears to show his back to hitters until he’s releasing the ball, has struck out 55 batters in 39 innings and can be death on right-handed hitters. Lefties have posted an .841 OPS against him, however, which is no doubt why his ERA is a little on the high side (4.15). His FIP sits down at 3.39 in his time with Eugene. Walker recently got a brief tryout stint in Double-A before being returned. RHP Travis Perry has been the Ronnie Williams of this staff, covering 52 innings for the Emeralds, more than any non-starter on the team, while posting a solid 2.77 ERA. RHP Austin Reich, who spent much of the year in San Jose, hasn’t been too far behind Wright in terms of inducing swing and miss. The power-armed reliever has struck out 42.9% of the batters he’s faced this year which is 13th best in the minor leagues (30 IP min.).
Finally, keep an eye on erstwhile starting pitcher Nick Avila. As a starter, Avila’s outings often bore an unfortunate resemblance to Charlie Brown:
But coming out of the pen, he’s been showing an explosive 96-97 mph fastball and he really looks like a different guy entirely. Since being sent to the pen for shorter outings on August 3, Avila’s given up just three hits in 7 innings while striking out 10 and walking just 2 batters. Interesting!
SAN JOSE: Like the rest of San Jose’s über-talented roster, the pen has been an embarrassment of riches. Both Wright and Reich dominated here before earning their way up, and, of course, Ivan Armstrong, with his 98 mph turbo sinker became so interesting the Angels made him part of the Tony Watson deal. He, too, is now terrorizing High-A hitters (his ERA isn’t pretty there, but I’m sure hitters are terrorized by this ginormous man throwing 100 mph darts at them nonetheless).
Even in the absence of all of that talent, there’s plenty of arms to be impressed by in the San Jose pen. I’ve been talking up RHP Randy Rodriguez since getting a sight of him last month. Rodriguez has an electric arm that gets it up to 97 with a lot of movement. He’s filled the role taking on bulk relief innings for the San Jose squad, often getting them through short outings from starters, but he also can come into messy innings and clean up. His 46.1 innings is the most of any non-starter on the squad, and with a 2.33 ERA (2.10 FIP) he’s been providing quality innings. Rodriguez has punched out 71 batters in that time, with 36.7% of all his pitches being either called or swinging strikes. Abel Adames joined the club late in the year and he’s taken over Armstrong’s role of “Very Large Human.” Adames has a big, heavy, sinking fastball that hits the upper 90s and a slider that is more of a work in progress. It can get hit when he leaks it too much over the plate (especially by left-handers), but if he can learn to bury it under the zone it could become a weapon.
Clay Helvey leads the Low-A West in Saves and is another power-armed right-hander who’s gotten scouting buzz. He pairs a mid-90s fastball with both a cutter and slider, helping produce a 68/18 K/BB ratio in 42 innings.
And just last week, San Jose added a dude who throws a hund-o. So that’s fun!
I’m as guilty as anyone of pushing the “starting pitcher prospect” narrative, as I tend to focus on the starters in my posts and pushed nearly all of the relievers off of my Top 30 midseason rankings (maybe I need to rethink that this fall!). But rest assured, there are a lot of interesting arms in the bullpens around this system — more than the Giants will be able to use, I’d guess! Look forward to seeing several of these guys in bullpens around the majors in the years to come. Hopefully, many of those appearances will come from the hometown pen in Oracle!
The Week that Was
HITTER of the WEEK: David Villar (Rich), 7 for 17, 2 HR, 3 2b, .412/.600/.941
PITCHER of the WEEK: Randy Rodriguez (SJ), 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K
There were some strong contenders for Hitter of the Week, but David Villar’s .941 slugging pretty well sealed the deal. As for Pitcher of the Week, how could I not go with a reliever after the above? I went with Rodriguez, who turned in a perfect four innings of relief in a win on Friday night, and was nearly as good in two innings earlier in the week.
For his efforts, Rodriguez got an honor perhaps even larger than the coveted There R Giants Pitcher of the Week:
Sacramento River Cats: 40-54
2-3 week
Transactions: (skipping up-and-down optioned players)
Delete RHP Tyler Chatwood (contract purchased by Giants)
Delete INF/OF Joe McCarthy (placed on 7-day IL)
Add RHP Reyes Moronta (ended Rehab assignment, returned to 40-man and optioned to Sacramento)
Sacramento is the lone full-season affiliate with a record below .500 (though their run differential continues to suggest they shouldn’t be), but as noted above they’ve done their job by serving as a talent pipeline to the majors. And they’ve been running a lineup out lately that carries with it a lot of fine memories and significant production from the Giants 80-44 team, as Andy Baggarly noted:
One player who had hoped to contribute to the Giants this year, but hasn’t quite gotten that far, is 21-year-old Heliot Ramos. Ramos has had his ups and downs this year, but it feels like he’s starting to be comfortable at the Triple-A level. Over his last 9 games with Sacramento, Ramos is hitting .289 with two doubles, a triple and his first two Triple-A home runs. That’s come with 11 strikeouts to one walk, so the process is ongoing, but things are starting to turn Ramos’ way.
As the great twitter follow @GiantsProspects has pointed out, Ramos has taken just 17 PA as a professional against pitchers younger than him — and 1,485 against pitchers older than him. Just 11 months older than Jairo Pomares, Ramos’ talent has always caused him to be pushed aggressively, but he’s still performing at a precocious level for his age.
It feels like Thairo Estrada has passed Mauricio Dubón on the Giants’ depth chart, but Dubón certainly doesn’t appear to be sulking about things any. Since being sent down to Sacramento, he’s hit .344 with a .414 on base percentage, and he’s played the heck out of the shortstop position.
Estrada, meanwhile, continues to shine with both Sacramento and San Francisco. He’s posting an OPS of 1.036 in Triple-A and hit two home runs this week after being sent back down by the Giants.
In health news, Joey Bart continues to sit out with a quad strain and Tyler Beede’s comeback year was shut down for good when he was placed back on the Giants’ 60-day IL. Joe McCarthy, who has been one of the most consistent threats in the River Cats lineup, missed the entire week’s action and was placed on the IL, retroactive to August 19.
What’s Next: After finishing up the series with Tacoma, Sacramento heads back up I-80 to face the 1st place Reno Aces, whose lead has not been helped by Sacramento playing the second place Rainiers this week.
Richmond Flying Squirrels: 49-47
5-1 week
Transactions:
Delete OF Andy Sugilio (released)
Add OF Heath Quinn (re-assigned from Eugene)
It looked like the Squirrels’ season was sinking rapidly beyond repair, as both their record and their run differential dipped into the negative. But Richmond came roaring back to life with a 5-1 romp over Erie — nearly getting close enough to pass the SeaWolves in the standings. Erie came into the week with their top three players having been promoted to Triple-A and they looked lost without the star power in the middle of their lineup.
Richmond, on the other hand, was revived, scoring 36 runs over the final five games of the week. Possibly someone from the Giants front office whispered in their collective ears: “pssst…..the secret to life is dingers!” because the key to their revival has been an offense as homer soaked as the parent club. They’ve clubbed 25 round trippers over the past two weeks, vaulting them from 9th in the league in home runs to 4th! That’s hard to do this late in the year. The leaders of the charge have been OF Diego Rincones and 3b/1b David Villar — between them the pair has socked 9 of those 25 home runs in the past two series. Rincones has long since passed his career best for home runs (was 8, now 13!) and he’s slugging .594 in the month of August. After a rough start upon being promoted to Double-A, Rincones has his batting line up to .288/.358/.530 for Richmond.
That’s kid stuff to Villar, who is bashing an even healthier .698 in August and has reached base in nearly 1 out of every 2 plate appearances this month (.468 OBP). Villar’s year has gotten better and better as it’s gone along. His 16 home runs are tied for 7th best in the league and his .854 OPS is 30th. Perhaps most impressively, he’s gone from a player who struck out nearly three times as much he walked through the season’s first three months, to one who is walking (12) about as often as he whiffs (14) in August. It’s been quite a transformation for the power-packed 3b.
Both Rincones and Villar homered in the final two games of the week, so you get to judge which one styled it best! Do you like Rincones 107 mph laser shot scraping just over the fence, or Villar’s majestic opposite field shot out where right-handed hitters fear to tread at the Diamond? I put them all in one place, so you don’t need to choose!
Speaking of dingers, returning to Double-A hasn’t solved Matt Frisbee’s longball woes. He’s coughed up six in his three starts since coming back to Richmond, after allowing just two in his five starts in May (both in homerific Reading). Even more concerning, after putting up a 32 to 1 K/BB ratio with Richmond in May, he’s walked five in 16 innings since coming back, while striking out 16. Michael Plassmeyer has also been a wee-bit prone to the longball, surrendering nine in his 12 starts with Richmond including four in the past two, but he’s controlled the strike zone with 70 K to just 11 BB in his 66 innings. Plassmeyer threw a brilliantly efficient 7 innings of one-run ball this week, striking out 9 and allowing just a single run on, what else, a solo homer.
The team’s top remaining prospect, Will Wilson, missed most of the week for undisclosed reasons. He came back with two nice games on the weekend, however, picking up three hits including an opposite field three-run homer, his 14th of the year and 4th with Richmond. Wilson endured a brutal stretch in which he struck out 16 times in 23 at bats, but now has six hits in his last four games. It’s a start!
Finally, I don’t want you to think it’s all dingers around Richmond. Mitchell Tolman, Simon Whiteman, and Villar turned a double play so pretty it made SportsCenters Top 10 for the night! We still appreciate the finer elements of the game at There R Giants!
What’s Next: Richmond hits the road for the next two weeks, first visiting the 3rd place Altoona Curve. If they can keep up their winning ways, a good week could leap-frog them over the Curve.
Eugene Emeralds: 57-40
5-2 week
Transactions:
Add OF Jairo Pomares (re-assigned from San Jose)
Delete OF Heath Quinn (re-assigned to Richmond)
Add RHP Nick Morreale (activated following rehab assignment)
Add RHP Blake Rivera (activated following rehab assignment)
If you look at the High-A West leaderboard in OPS, you’ll find that eight of the top ten players in the league belong to the Everett AquaSox — it’s the reason why they’ve maintained such a hold on the 1st place slot in the league’s standings all year. But of those eight players, only one remains in Everett at this point, with the rest having moved up to Double-A Arkansas or sent out in trades, including the #2 overall prospect in baseball, Julio Rodriguez. With Eugene’s roster heading in the opposite direction — hello Marco, pleased to meet you Jairo — the balance of power in the league feels like it’s tipped Eugene’s way. While the Emeralds have been boosted mightily by promotions from San Jose this year (in addition to Luciano and Pomares, count Brett Auerbach, Armani Smith, Ricardo Genovés, Ryan Murphy, and Chris Wright among the incoming help), Everett hasn’t been able to gain nearly as much talent from a depleted Modesto roster (which still has its best prospect, 19-year-old Noélvi Marté).
That made this week a propitious time for a seven-game homestand against the team atop the standings, and Eugene took advantage of it. The Emeralds stormed the castle, taking five of seven from Everett, including a couple of white-knucklers. In the series’ first game, Eugene fell behind 7-0 by the 4th inning, but charged back on the strength of a seven-run inning that included four doubles and Tyler Fitzgerald’s 17th home run. They’d go on to take that game 10-9. Just three days later, they took an 8-7 victory that ended on Sean Roby’s 16th homer of the year, a solo walk-off shot. It was Roby's seventh home run in an epic August run that has seen him slug .714 over 20 games.
Like Richmond, Eugene has gotten religion when it comes to the longball. They overtook Everett for the league lead in that category as well, hitting 11 in the week. That included Fitzgerald’s league leading 18th, Jairo Pomares’ first at his new level, and a three-homer week for Brett Auerbach. That included shots that were impressive…
…and some that were a little less so…
Speaking of Pomares, his transition to High-A was as friction-less as his transition to Low-A had been. In his opening week in Eugene, he hit a mere .407 with a double, a homer, and five RBI. The six K to 0 BB could stand to be spruced up a bit, but dude can hit!
Marco Luciano seems to be gaining his bearing after a rough couple of weeks. With five hits in his final two games, he ended the week hitting .429 (9 for 21). There was only one extra-base hit in there (a double) but he repeatedly hit the ball sharply. Similarly, though he struck out 9 times and walked just twice, he has been showing a patient eye and worked long counts consistently, averaging 4.14 pitches per plate appearance so far in Eugene. The adjustments are coming for the #5 prospect in the game. And, remember, at this level, good process doesn’t always lead to good results.
The biggest weakness in Eugene’s game this year has been the failure of the starting pitching. But this week, two big performances gave hopes for a more reliable rotation down the stretch. Ryan Murphy put himself back atop the minor league strikeout leaderboard (though Cade Cavalli once agin jumped over him as they alternate leads every start) with another terrific start. Murphy was touched up for 2 first inning runs, in part thanks to an error, before settling down to retire 12 straight batters including five consecutive strikeouts at one point. Kai-Wei Teng followed with an even better start, throwing a 7 inning complete game with 11 strikeouts, allowing just a solo home run. Teng has had an up and down year, but he’s definitely on an upswing right now. Over his last five starts, Teng has allowed just four earned runs in 28 innings (1.29 ERA) while striking out 40 and walking 12. All the runs he’s allowed have come on home runs.
What’s Next: After jumping into a tie for 1st place, Eugene hits the road to visit the woebegone Tri-City Dust Devils. The talent-averse Tri-City club sits in last place, 22 games below .500. This should be a week for the Ems to strengthen their place in the standings.
San Jose Giants: 60-36
5-1 Week
Transactions:
Delete OF Jairo Pomares (re-assigned to Eugene)
Delete OF Carter Williams (transferred to Development List)
Delete INF Casey Schmitt (placed on 7-day IL)
Add OF Hunter Bishop (re-assigned from Eugene following rehab assignment with ACL Giants Black)
Add INF/OF Edison Mora (re-assigned from ACL Giants Orange)
Delete OF Najee Gaskins (placed on 7-day IL)
Add OF Grant McCray (re-assigned from ACL Giants Orange)
Add C Patrick Bailey (activated from 7-day IL)
The Giants all but ended the race for the Low-A playoffs, putting serious distance between them and the only legitimate contenders for the second spot in the post-season. The playoff format for all Double- and Single-A levels this year takes the league’s top two records, divisional standings don’t matter. Thus, Rancho Cucamonga’s situation as the number one team in the Southern Division won’t get it into the playoffs, they must overtake San Jose’s record. With the Giants’ 5-1 series win, they extended their lead over the Quakes to 7.5 games as we passed the one month mark in the year. With just 24 games remaining, San Jose holds a strong position. If they make it into the playoffs, their head-to-head matchups with the Quakes will have made the difference, as they won the season series 10-2.
It was quite a week of comings and goings for San Jose which saw a significant roster churn. While Eugene’s roster has taken on the flavor of early season San Jose, the San Jose roster was buoyed by two major presences who started their season in Eugene.
Patrick Bailey returned from the 7-day IL to have his biggest game of the season, walloping two home runs in his first game back. It’s been a rough debut for Bailey, who’s hit just .209 this season and just .233 since being sent down to Low-A. It was very good to see him pulling the ball with authority for one night at least.
Meanwhile, the Giants also saw 2019 top pick Hunter Bishop join the roster following his rehab assignment in the ACL. Bishop didn’t stage quite the return that Bailey did, striking out in 7 of his 8 plate appearances over two nights. He did get to display his speed, flying around the bases to score on a double off the wall. Bishop is still trying to work his way back into shape from a shoulder strain that has kept him out of action most of the year, but his swing and miss tendencies certainly continue to be a red flag. He’s struck out in 21 of 56 PA this year over three levels (including 10 of 32 in the complex level) and for his minor league career, he’s K’d in 40% of his At Bats (the figure is about 30% for PA). He’s got exceptional physical tools, but getting those tools to play is dependent upon meeting ball with bat with greater consistency. Even more concerning than his play for two games was the fact that he didn’t come back for a third.
A lot of things are going right for the Giants’ system this year — the performance of the top round picks isn’t one of them, sadly.
Bishop wasn’t the only anticipated return for the Giants this week. The 2019 third round pick, Grant McCray finally showed up in full season ball, after rehabbing an elbow injury most of the summer. Like Bailey, McCray knew how to make an entrance!
It’s great to see McCray get to finish the year out at a full-season level. I left McCray out of my Top 30 because he hadn’t been able to challenge himself at the appropriate level this year — but there’s no doubt that he has tremendous upside and, on talent alone, is a top 30 level player in this system. A strong final month will definitely push him up for me. For the week, McCray went 4 for 11.
There were reinforcements on the mound this week, as well. Nick Swiney, who suffered a freak concussion following his first start of the year finally made his way back to San Jose — which can certainly use his arm for the rotation as other pitchers start reducing their innings load (Kyle Harrison has thrown just 5 innings in his last two starts combined, despite being highly effective in those innings). Swiney’s first start didn’t last long either, but it was highly efficient as he struck out 5 of the 11 batters he faced, while giving up just one unearned run in 2.1 IP. Swiney set batters up with his curve and changeup and then knocked them out with elevated fastballs.
The other major addition to the pitching staff used no such subtlety.
Even with all the newcomers, the Giants were playing somewhat short-handed on the position player side this week. In addition to losing Pomares and Casey Schmitt (place on the 7-day IL after being hit in the wrist with a pitch — there’s a strong chance that his season is over), Najee Gaskins was placed on the IL and Carter Williams, who was such a strong presence on the lineup in July, was placed on the Development List. The return of Edison Mora helps a little, but this club could probably use another position player, especially if Bishop continues to sit.
There wasn’t much video from Rancho, so I’m sure you want to see a little slider action from Harrison before we go, courtesy of good friend Kevin Cunningham once again.
What’s Next: San Jose continues its long trip through the south land, heading to Lake Elsinore to take on the Storm. For the first time in several years, the Padres affiliate has one of the league’s weaker rosters (reflecting the 40-some prospects San Diego has sent out in trades the last couple of years). At just 42-53, this is another chance for San Jose to fortify their position in the standings.
Arizona Fall League
ACL Giants Orange: 21-18 (3-2 week)
ACL Giants Black 20-19 (2-3 week)
Rehabs and debuts have dominated the news out of the complex league lately. As touched on above, Swiney, Bishop, McCray, and Waites have all been deemed ready to go and ended their rehab stints in the ACL. But this week brought a new — and very welcome — return to box scores when the long-absent RHP Tristan Beck began making rehab appearances with the Giants Black team. Beck, who has been recovering from a herniated disk for most of the summer, has thrown 4.1 innings over three appearances with team Black. Another pitcher who continues to work his way back in the desert is RHP Blake Rivera. While it’s unknown what Rivera’s medical issue was, it doesn’t appear to have involved surgery (this is a guess on my part, given the recovery time). His fastball was in the 93-94 range when I saw him, so a little reduced from 2019, but the slider looked deadly. He’s struck out 14 in 10 innings in the ACL.
Meanwhile, 2021 draftees have continued to show up. This week, we saw debuts from 14th rounder Tyler Myrick and 11th round prep pick Donovan McIntyre, who tripled off Beck in his very first professional at bast. McIntyre (in the foreground of this picture), is a tall, lean, thin, athletic-looking young man who looks like his body will add plenty of good weight as he matures.
None of the Giants top 7 round picks have made their debuts as of yet. Thirteenth round pick Jared Dupere has had the most impact of the new class. Over his first 11 games with Team Black, Dupere, the Colonial Athletic Association’s Player of the Year, has hit .324 with four doubles. He looks like a really intriguing bat for a third day pick.
Dupere joins a team with a couple of other surging bats. In the month of August, Alexander Suarez has hit .367 with a .667 SLG and 1.082 OPS. Luis Matos’ first cousin is putting his mark on the ACL as one of the finest power/speed talents at the rookie ball level.
Another hitter coming around for the Giants Black is Diego Velasquez. I’ve noted before that the 17-year-old Velasquez was keeping his head above water despite a lack of hits. For the youngest player in camp, keeping his walks (10) and strikeouts (12) at a near 1:1 ratio has been truly impressive. Lately, all of that contact has been leading to hits falling in. After hitting just .170 in July, his average is a robust .362 in August. He’s currently riding a seven-game hitting streak during which he’s gone 9 for 24 with a double.
Aeverson Arteaga is heading the opposite way from Velasquez. He’s hitting just .250 in August and hasn’t homered since way back on July 27. Adrian Sugastey continues to show a consistent, line-drive bat. He hit .355 in July and he’s currently hitting .356 in August.
Dominican Summer League
DSL Giants Black: 10-10
5th place in San Pedro Division
DSL Giants Orange: 10-12
5th place in Northeast Division
Weather continued to be the big story coming out of the Dominican Republic, as a series of tropical storms limited both Giants Black and Orange (as well as much of the rest of the league) to just two games last week. Giants Black won both of their games, while Giants Orange split their two games and played one inning of another before that, too, was suspended.
In the sporadic week of play, Derwin Laya had a rather remarkable moment on Tuesday, when he hit a final inning Grand Slam for the second consecutive game. His Grand Slam in the Saturday friendly with Team Black way back on August 14 (literally three games ago for the Giants Orange!) was a walk-off winner. In the team’s next game on August 17, his Grand Slam was part of a six-run 9th that gave the club a 7-0 win. Another major signing for this international class, shortstop Ramon Peralta hit his official, first career pro homer in Team Orange’s second game this week. Peralta had previously homered in a game that was suspended by rain a couple of weeks ago. If that game is completed as scheduled in September, Peralta already has #2 in the books!
The best news for Team Black was that Mauricio Pierre and Javier Francisco finally returned to the lineup after long bouts with COVID. Their return only lasted an inning as that game, too, was suspended by rain in the top of the 1st inning, but they finally got a full game in yesterday morning (see below).
Throughout all of this madness, Giants Black’s Estanlin Cassiani is having quite a professional debut, hitting .400 through his first 12 games (16 for 40) with a 1.017 OPS. The 18-year-old OF has also stolen 9 bases in 10 tries.
About Last Night
Sacramento lost to Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners), 6-4
Notable Lines:
Mauricio Dubón SS: 1 for 4, 2 RBI, BB, K CS (2)
Heliot Ramos CF: 2 for 5, 2b (22), K
Jason Krizan 2b: 3 for 4, Run, K
Kervin Castro: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
Reyes Moronta: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, BS
Camilo Doval: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Caleb Baragar: 1.0 IP 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HR
Top prospect (and sometime Mariner) Taylor Trammell’s two-run, 9th inning homer off Caleb Baragar was the deciding blow in a see-saw game. Much of the relief depth discussed at the top of today’s post was on display in a bullgame game started by Norwith Gudino. Castro continued to shine — and really does deserve his big league callup someday soon. Since June 1, Castro has allowed just two extra-base hits in 130 batters. He’s struck out 42 and walked just 11 in that stretch while posting a 2.18 ERA. Reyes Moronta, however, continues to struggle. For the fourth consecutive appearance last night he failed to make it through a complete inning and Camilo Doval had to bail him out (and preserve the tie for the moment) with a strikeout. Baragar’s star has dimmed significantly from his surprise 2020 season. The lefty struggled through a long 9th inning and took the loss, allowing two runs on four hits. His ERA with Sacramento is 10.67, as he’s now allowed 10 earned runs in his past 5.1 innings. For the season with Sacramento, he’s walked more batters (16) than he’s struck out (14), which isn’t the best approach for success!
Arizona Complex League
Giants Black lost @ ACL Cleveland, 10-4 (7 inn)
Notable Lines:
Alexander Suarez CF: 1 for 4, 2b (11), 3 K, E
Jared Dupere RF: 2 for 4, 2b (4), Run, RBI, K
Irwin Murr III DH: 1 for 3, RBI
Odue Civada: 2.0 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, WP
Giants Orange lost to ACL Padres, 5-4 (7 inn)
Notable Lines:
Donovan McIntyre RF: 1 for 3, BB, K, SB (1)
Aeverson Arteaga SS: 1 for 3, 2 R, BB, 2 K
Garrett Frechette 1b: 2 for 4, Run, RBI, K
Anthony Rodriguez 3b: 2 for 3, BB, K
Trevor McDonald: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 8 K
Jesus Gomez: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR
While Suarez’ production has been tantalizing, his propensity for Ks is a bit of a red flag. While hitting his 11th double last night, he also took the hat trick, giving him 52 strikeouts in 150 PA. Obviously that level of swing and miss won’t play at higher levels (though, if you’d like an example where that kind of whiffing at the complex level wasn’t a development killer, Heliot Ramos struck out 48 times in 151 PA in the AZL).
Irwin Murr III had to breathe a huge sigh of relief when he collected his first professional hit last night. The 19th-round pick had started his career 0 for 18 with 10 K before singling in his first trip to the plate last night. Congratulations, young man! I’ll bet you slept well last night.
Trevor McDonald’s had a low-key disappointing 2021. After an undisclosed spring injury kept him in XST, he’s scuffled in his return to rookie league, particularly with his command. He’s walked 25 batters in 46 innings, no doubt helping that ERA swell up to 5.09. The saving grace has been his ability to get strikeouts. With 8 more last night, he’s now up to 48 on the year.
Lefty Jesus Gomez took the loss, thanks to a home run surrendered to rehabbing John Andreoli. If you remember old friend Andreoli, he was one of the earlier signs of the waiver wire extravaganza that was Farhan Zaidi’s early months with the club. The Giants claimed him off waivers on February 1st, DFA’d him on February 5, got him through waivers, outrighted him to Sacramento, invited him to big league camp and then traded him with a week left in the spring to Minnesota for Michael Reed, opening day starter. Those were heady days! Since then Andreoli has played for Seattle, Boston, and San Diego.
Dominican Summer League
DSL Giants Black lost to DSL Cubs Red, 9-7
Notable Lines:
Mauricio Pierre CF: 1 for 3, HR (3), Run, RBI
Juanel Urena RF: 1 for 3, Run, RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, CS
Diego Villegas LF: 2 for 5, 2 RBI, K
Jose Rojas: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Anderson Azor: 1.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, K, HR
Luis Castillo: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, HB
DSL Giants Orange lost @ DSL Colorado, 11-2
Notable Lines:
Ramon Peralta SS: 1 for 3, HR (1), Run, RBI, 2 BB
Brandy Rosario DH: 1 for 4, HR (1), Run, RBI, 3 K
Miguel Mora: 3.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, WP
Victor Gonzalez: 0.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, WP, HB
Mauricio Pierre picked right up where he left off, knocking a solo home run. Not counting a couple of aborted efforts suspended by rain and a long battle with COVID, it’s the second consecutive official game Pierre has played in with a home run and third in his last five. That brings his season line up to .310/.356/.619. He’s becoming, possibly, the most interesting player of this year’s DSL crop for me so far.
Shortstop Ramon Peralta was another of the higher bonus signings from this year’s class, but he’s gotten off to a really slow start (.121 average in his first 66 at bats). Yesterday’s solo home run may go down in history as his first career homer, but he did also hit one in a game suspended by rain that is scheduled to be finished sometime in September (if the tropical storms ever die down and leave the island alone). If that game is completed, yesterday’s homer will officially become #2 of his career. If it is not, yesterday’s will be #1, and the real first will be washed out of the record books forever.
What’s On Tap?
Sacramento (Conner Menez) vs Tacoma (TBD), 7:05 pm, MiLBTV
Richmond (Michael Plassmeyer) @ Altoona (Jeffrey Passantino), 3:00 pm, MiLBTV
Eugene (TBD) @ Tri-City (Ky Bush), 7:05 pm, No Video
San Jose (TBD) @ Lake Elsinore (TBD), 7:05 pm, MiLBTV
ACL Giants Black (TBD) @ ACL White Sox (TBD), 6:00 pm, No Video
ACL Giants Orange (TBD) vs. ACL Royals Gold (TBD), 6:00 pm, No Video
DSL Giants Orange (TBD) vs. DSL Colorado (TBD), 7:30 am, No Video
DSL Giants Black (TBD) @ DSL Cubs Red (TBD), 7:30 am, No Video
With Sammy Long in New York with the Giants, Sacramento goes with their second consecutive bullpenning game. Conner Menez gets his first start since a two inning start with the Giants in Washington, DC way back on June 12 (you may recall this as part of the day the Giants got shutout over all 14 regulation innings of a double-header, but still managed to emerge with a split). Both Eugene and San Jose have yet to announce their rotation for the week. The Emeralds take on Ky Bush, who was the Angels 2nd round pick this year out of St. Mary’s College in Moraga. This is Bush’s third career start, though he’s pitched just 3.1 innings in the first two. All the rookie league teams are scheduled to take the field.
Look for a few extra items coming from There R Giants this week. I have two podcasts coming this week with a Top 30 kind of theme. Later today you’ll get my conversation with Wrenzie Regodon, one of the Giants prospect writers for Around the Foghorn. Wrenzie recently released his mid-season top 30 as well, so we spent an hour talking about our lists and our love of many, many Giants’ players. I’m dropping that podcast today because later this week I’ll have a special podcast guest, which also focuses on a Top 30 ranking! I’m hoping to get a feature article or two out this week as well — so now’s a great time to subscribe to the site to get all of my work delivered right to your Inbox.
You mentioned the possibility of Castro potentially debuting in September. Who would you guess will be the guys getting called up in September?
Great topic!
I also love your "Delete/Add" list to help me catch up on movement of the prospects I wonder about.
Brooks Crawford in SJ is MyGuy™ and I had hoped he would gt some love from you. When they use in for 2 IP relief does that mean they are undecided on pushing him to be a SP?