Welcome back to another Free For All Tuesday at There R Giants! There won’t be too many of these, so if you like what you see, you might want to subscribe for more Giants’ farm content delivered straight to your Inbox.
Or share it with a Giants fan you know.
The screw keeps tightening, the tension continues to mount to almost unbearable levels. It’s the thing we most look forward to — and most suffer from when it really comes to fruition — a push towards the playoffs.
Oh yeah, the most sublimely painful part of being a fan.
So for today’s Week in Review, it seems appropriate to check in on the playoff situations of the farm clubs — who’s in, who’s out, who’s feeling the needles of uncertainty prick them? Who doesn’t have anything to worry about because they don’t have no stinkin’ playoffs where they come from? We have some of every category on the Giants’ farm, so let’s get them all sorted out!
SACRAMENTO RIVER CATS: 46-58 (5th place)
This one’s easy: Triple-A has no playoff format this year, so the River Cats aren’t worrying about trying to push their way to the top of the standings. However, to help Triple-A owners who lost a month of games on the front-end of the season, twenty games were added to the schedule on the back end, causing the Triple-A season to now extend all the way into October.
And that will pay dividends for the REAL playoff push that many of the River Cats’ players are taking part in:
Yep. Adding an extra room on the back of the structure is really going to serve the Giants well — as they’ll have a place to keep optioning players to and recalling players from as try to navigate this long, final month with the roster attrition rate beginning to hit DEF CON 1 levels. I’m going to guess that for many Triple-A players who aren’t so use to pushing their bodies all the way to October (and for whom the chances of a big league call up are minimal at best) we’re going to start seeing effort levels start to come down into the “Half Hearted” or possibly the “Clock Punching” level, so the competition might not be razor sharp, but at least guys will have the chance to get reps and innings in between their stints on the Oracle roller coaster.
RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS: 52-49 (4th place)
Now we’re getting somewhere! Double-A does have a playoff format this year! As is true of all High- and Low-A levels, the Double-A Northeast League will take the two best records (regardless of their divisional standings) and give them a Best of Five Championship series. For Richmond, that places them firmly on the periphery of the situation, but still….you know
Richmond is currently sitting eight games back of the Somerset Patriots for the second playoff spot. Sadly, whatever hopes they might have had of making a push probably went away with the cancelation of their six-game series in Binghamton — a series that could have delivered a few W’s for the Squirrels. Not that Somerset is likely to feel any pity — they’re currently trying to deal with this situation:
With just 12 games left, the chances of leap-frogging three other teams to vault into the playoffs is likely too much to ask, but at least it gives the guys a reason to fight to the end!
EUGENE EMERALDS: 61-48 (2nd place)
It’s truly hard to fathom what has happened to the High-A West playoff race over the past month. For most of this season, the league has hosted what was clearly a two-team race for the top. At almost no point over the first three months was there any doubt who would be involved in the post-season championship round. Everett and Eugene traded spots at the top, but nobody else seemed to have pretensions to the throne. Then August happened.
On July 28, Everett had taken command of things by dominating Eugene 5-1 at home. Eugene sat 7.5 games out of 1st place. Another 7.5 games behind them, Spokane lurked in 3rd, waiting to pounce…and pounce they did. In August, Spokane posted the best record in minor league baseball, going 20-6. Everett, which saw an incredible nine different starting players promoted to Double-A (a group of players who still dominate the league’s offensive leaderboard), fell into a 8-19 slump — the worst record in High-A. Amongst this great disruption, Eugene did mostly ok, but after taking advantage of Everett’s fall to climb back into first, they suffered a brutally timed face plant and dropped back to back road series to the two worst clubs in the league, including an incredible 1-5 week at the hands of the woeful Tri-City Dust Devils.
And with all of that as prologue, here’s where things stand with two weeks to play.
Eugene hosts Everett this week, so they could consolidate their position with a strong series. So long as they at least hold their ground, they have an advantage in the final week as Spokane and Everett will play each other, so the Ems will have a chance to gain ground on at least one of their rivals each night. This one is gonna be a dogfight and the Eugene lineup has looked really tired lately. Ironically, after spending most of the summer with the hitters trying to outslug the opponents, with Eugene’s pitching often giving back the gains their offense had managed, it might be the suddenly strong starting pitching that needs to lead the way, particularly Pitcher of the Month Ryan Murphy and a suddenly revitalized Conner Nurse. Seth Corry has returned to the rotation as well, ensuring it’s gonna be a wild ride!
SAN JOSE GIANTS: 67-41 (2nd place)
The magic number is 5 for the Giants who, unlike Eugene, have maintained their position with Fresno as the two favorites to head to the post-season. San Jose fought off their closest rival to post-season contention when they dominated Rancho Cucamonga in their home park three weeks ago and have mostly had it in cruise control ever since. With 12 games to go they hold an 8 game lead on both the Quakes and the Modesto Nuts. They should have this in the bag.
Of course, that’s what Eugene thought a couple of weeks ago — best to take care of the business at hand. Ironically, both the High- and Low-A West championship series could come down to a match up between the Giants’ (Eugene and San Jose) and Rockies’ (Spokane and Fresno) affiliates. That could make for great entertainment as the Rockies’ teams have relied heavily on speed as their offensive choice of weapon while the Giants’ teams have mostly gone for power. In both cases, a lot of the players who started out the year competing against each other in Fresno-San Jose tilts could end the year in a Spokane-Eugene series. If Fresno has moved as much talent upwards as San Jose has, the Low-A West series might end up a war of attrition.
ARIZONA COMPLEX LEAGUE & DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE
Neither the Arizona nor Gulf Coast complex leagues are having a playoff of any sort this summer and, though I haven’t read confirmation of this anywhere, I presume the same is true of the DSL. Though, if any of those leagues WERE to have some sort of post-season, the situation for all four Giants representatives would be some version of: “LOL No!” as all are basically after-thoughts in their leagues from a W-L perspective.
Nope, all these guys have to look forward to is getting out on the field and competing and trying to make themselves into better baseball players — which is the point of this whole exercise anyway. The Arizona Complex League will end their season at the same time as the Double-A and A ball leagues, on September 19, so the Giants’ two Scottsdale teams have 10 more games to play before calling it quits for the summer. The DSL, like Triple-A, will play all the way until October 2nd to help make up for their late start to the year.
By the way, I’ve heard that the Giants won’t be having a big Instrux camp this fall — it seems that there’s little interest in this from several of the other Phoenix area teams, so the opportunity for competitive games likely won’t be there. Instead, the Giants plan to invite rotating small groups to camp to do more hands-on, one on one instructions.
And with that quick playoff roundup, let’s head on to check out…
The Week That Was!
HITTER of the WEEK: Patrick Bailey (SJ), 10 for 22, 2 2b, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 4 BB, 5 K
PITCHERS of the WEEK: Norwith Gudino, Conner Menez, Tyler Cyr, Trevor Gott (Sac): 9.0 IP, NO HITS!, 15 K
SACRAMENTO RIVER CATS: 46-58 (5th place, West Div.)
3-3 Week
Transactions (Omitting Options/Recalls):
Add RHP Jesus Tona (re-assigned from San Jose)
What You Should Remember About This Week:
You can hear it in Johnny Doskow’s voice — history is history, no matter the level. And no-hitters are always a thrilling thing to experience (unless you’re watching Kevin Brown throw one against the Giants — less than thrilling!)
Norwith Gudino started the night on an electric note, buzz-sawing through the Bees over the first four innings. Gudino struck out 9 of the 12 batters he faced. Gudino has an odd history of firing his best outings around the Labor Day weekend — normally the final weekend of the year. Gudino’s three best starts in his career — and the only three in which he’s posted double digit strikeout performances — came in his final starts of the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons. The 2018 game was three years to the day before Friday Night’s no-hitter.
Gudino has put himself on the doorstep of a major league career with a terrific 2021 season. The fastball command still isn’t quite where it needs to be to perform in the majors consistently, but with an explosive mid-90s fastball — which was up to 97 on Friday — and devastating split-finger, he’s absolutely an arm that could step into a major league roster and give some helpful innings in 2022. Gudino has been with the Giants since 2015 and will be a minor league FA this winter (if he’s not protected on the 40-man, which I more or less assume he won’t be).
Conner Menez’ hit batsman in the 6th inning was the only Bee to reach base in the effort. Tyler Cyr and Trevor Gott finished things off — and let’s raise a glass to Gott, who has certainly suffered a fall from grace over the last two years, but who has certainly handled his demotion to Triple-A with hard work and attention to the task at hand.
The Giants’ farm now has two 9-inning no-hitters this year — remember Richmond’s back in May? — and in both cases they were the first in their franchise’s history.
Speaking of hoisting a tankard, it would be hard to be a more valuable Triple-A teammate than Jason Krizan has been this year. The 32-year-old journeyman has watched his teammates shuffle up and down all season to a promised land he has never visited and which certainly won’t be offered up to him this season either. But he’s done everything the Giants could have asked of him — playing everywhere on the field and providing a consistent presence in the order that has never wavered. Steady as a metronome, Krizan has hit .325 at home and .330 on the road, .331 against right-handers and .316 against left-handers. Over the last month, he’s cranked his performance up even higher, hitting .373 in August and last week he showed off the power with back to back two-homer games. Somebody give this man a major league contract!
Two guys having slightly less strong months are Sacramento’s top prospects Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos. Bart missed a significant part of August on the IL with a groin strain and, since coming back, he hasn’t seemed like the same hitter he was in the first half of the season when the legs were still strong. In the seven games since coming off the IL, he’s gone 6 for 27 with no extra-base hits and nine strikeouts. Ramos did post a .279 batting average in August, but that came with just 10 extra-base hits and a 23 to 5 K:BB ratio. His Sacramento line of .266/.329/.417 is 15% below the league average production, according to Fangraphs’ wRC+ statistic (weighted Runs Created, adjusted to league average).
On the other side of the coin, 40-man members Camilo Doval and Kervin Castro are having their best success of the season lately, and both were rewarded with trips to the majors this weekend (with Doval’s appearance on Sunday being particularly memorable). Doval has allowed just two earned runs since August 1 (including two different appearances in San Francisco), while striking out 15 of the 37 batters he’s faced over that time and walking just six. Castro righted his season quickly after getting off to a somewhat stilted start, and he’s been sensational for the past three months. Going back to June 3, Castro has posted a 1.64 ERA with 42 strikeouts and 9 walks in 33 innings. Notably, he’s given up just 1 HR in that time. He doesn’t have Doval’s high-end velocity, but he generally has a better sense of the strikezone and his mid- to upper-90s fastball has good carry at the top of the zone. For his work, the man who had never pitched a day in full season ball prior to 2021, is about to make his major league debut — hopefully during the Colorado series!
Up Next: After finishing up their series against Salt Lake today, Sacramento heads up to Tacoma to take on the Rainiers, who are currently in a dead heat for 1st place with Reno.
RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS: 52-49 (4th place, SW Div)
0-0 Week
Transactions:
Delete RHP Pat Ruotolo (placed on 7-day IL)
Add RHP Ryan Walker (re-assigned from Eugene)
RHP Ryan Halstead transferred from 60-day IL to Rehab Assignment (ACL Giants Orange)
What You Should Remember About This Week:
The ongoing common enemy made itself known once again. Binghamton has a COVID outbreak and contact tracing and Health and Safety protocols ultimately wiped out the entire series as the Mets organization attempted to halt the spread of the disease. In the meantime, the fallout from Ida dumped a pretty good load of rain that might have wiped out one or more games anyway. So, a double cancellation!
At least that means you have time to read my interview with Simon Whiteman, an uncommonly bright and articulate young man, as you might guess from the Ivy Leaguer (also available in podcast form!).
Up Next: Richmond returns home for their final six games at The Diamond, facing off against the top team in the league, the Akron Rubber Ducks (Cleveland’s Double-A affiliate).
EUGENE EMERALDS: 61-48 (2nd place)
3-3 Week
Transactions:
Delete RHP Ryan Walker (re-assigned to Richmond)
What You Should Remember About This Week:
The story in Eugene has been a team-wide power outage. After hitting 31 home runs in the first three weeks of August, somebody pulled the plug on the Ems. They went a solid week without hitting a single longball and since August 24 have gone deep just five times — three of those coming off the bat of Jairo Pomares. It certainly didn’t help that league leading dinger-hitter Tyler Fitzgerald missed a week of action at the end of August with an undisclosed issue, nor that Heath Quinn was promoted up to Richmond.
But the lack of power has been much greater than any one or two pieces — it’s a team-wide issue. Sean Roby hit 8 home runs between Aug 2 and Aug 24. He’s hitting just .235 with no homers since. Brett Auerbach homered in three consecutive games August 18-20, giving him four in seven games. He’s hitting .229 with just two doubles and a triple since then. Franklin Labour, third on the team with 13 home runs, hit his first longball in a month on Sunday, and has just two round-trippers since August 1. You get the picture!
And then there’s the continuing struggles of Marco Luciano, who has just one home run since joining Eugene and has hit .218/.270/.287 with 44 strikeouts in 111 PA in High-A. It’s very hard to parse out the issue of fatigue at this point — particularly for a 19-year-old like Luciano, whose season effectively began in February when he joined the big league camp. Certainly, the final month of a minor league season is a difficult thing to grind through physically in the best of times and, following the missing 2020 season, it would make sense that this is an even bigger factor this year, especially for those who have never played through an entire full season before. So it’s quite possible that all of these players have just gotten to the point of the calendar where their bodies are cooked and they just can’t do it anymore. Still, it’s impossible to not be somewhat disappointed with Luciano’s slow adjustment to High-A. A good month here might have transported him straight to Richmond to start the 2022 season, but at this point, that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. He’ll need to come back to Eugene and prove he can handle High-A pitching before moving on.
Happily, as the bats have gone quiet, the pitching staff that has been something of a weight around the Ems collar for much of the summer has suddenly stepped up. Kai-Wei Teng’s ERA ballooned up over 6.00 in July, but he’s had a much more reasonable 2.37 ERA over his last six starts, striking out 42 batters in 30 innings. Conner Nurse seems to be performing a similar turnaround lately, allowing just four runs over his last 16.1 (2.20 ERA), striking out 19 and, significantly, allowing no home runs in his last three games after surrendering 20 dingers in his first 17 starts. The staff has also seen some welcome additions lately with Blake Rivera finally joining the team after rehabbing an undisclosed injury and Nick Morreale returning to the club following a rehab assignment. Even Seth Corry is back after working on his mechanics, though Corry’s first start literally had a power outage and was suspended after 1 inning.
The biggest addition to the staff, however, continues to be the minor league strikeout leader and perhaps the biggest story of the Giants minor league season — that 2020 draft after-thought, Ryan Murphy, who just seems to get better and better. Murphy was a very-last second scratch in his start this week — he felt some lower back spasms while making his final warmup pitches to start the game, but that doesn’t appear to be a long-term issue — and it didn’t stop him from earning more plaudits! Congrats, Ryan!
Up Next: It’s the big one — seven games (including a double-header) hosting the Everett AquaSox, who currently sit one-half game behind Eugene for the all-important second playoff spot.
SAN JOSE GIANTS: 67-41 (2nd place, North Div)
4-2 Week
Transactions:
Delete OF Hunter Bishop (Placed on 7-day IL)
Add OF Najee Gaskins (Activated from 7-day IL)
Delete RHP Jesus Tona (Re-assigned to Sacramento)
What You Should Remember About This Week:
While the overall trend lines for the Giants’ system have been going up in 2021, there’s no doubting there have been a few major step-backs in player development. Perhaps the biggest of those, and certainly the most regrettable, has been Hunter Bishop’s continued inability to get on the field. It’s seemingly been one thing after another for the physically gifted 2019 1st rounder. He was kept out of 2020 Summer Camp with a positive COVID test. He didn’t get to participate much in the big league camp this spring because of an ankle that was bothering him. And a shoulder strain has virtually wiped his 2021 season off the map. All along, he continues to miss badly needed reps on the field. Bishop, who turned 23 in late June, has just 202 professional plate appearances since signing with the Giants more than two years ago. His year has likely ended with just 5 games and 24 PA at the full-season level; he managed just two hits while striking out 11 times in those games.
Bishop’s 2020 counterpart, on the other hand, is on an upswing as the season comes to its conclusion. A short stint on the IL in mid-August certainly seems to have gotten Patrick Bailey on the right track, as he’s been white-hot in Low-A since returning. He’s had five different three-hit games in 15 games since coming off the IL, and eight multi-hit nights. His batting line with San Jose has now jumped up to .314 — that’s nearly 100 points higher from the .231 where it sat prior to hitting the IL. He’s also been showing the power since then with 5 home runs, giving him 8 for the year. Bailey needed a strong burst to the end of his year and he’s certainly getting it. The year has still been something of a disappointment in my eyes — he’s effectively swapped places with Ricardo Genovés on the Giants catcher depth chart — but he’s working to take the sting out of that disappointment with this strong final stretch run.
The flip side of that coin is Luis Matos, who, like Luciano, appears to be hitting the wall in his first long season. The 19-year-old has posted so many 0-fers lately he’s broken the big board! He has an unprecedented — for Matos — seven hitless games in his past 14, hitting just .158 over that period. In fact, going back to the point where he was hit on the wrist back on August 4, he’s hit just .226 over 120 PA, by far the longest and deepest slump of his pro career. His batting average is actually threatening to fall below .300! Matos did hit a milestone this weekend, however, with his 30th double of the season. He stole his 21st base that same night and that combination puts him in a very elite company. Only five players in the minor leagues this season have posted 30 doubles and 20 SB and virtually all of them are super prospects — the Yankees’ Anthony Volpe and the Pads’ Robert Hassell III (8th overall pick of the 2019 draft), along with Matos will all be moving high up Top 100 lists this winter.
Hey, speaking of being part of small groups:
That’s actually an element of Harrison’s terrific pro debut I hadn’t noticed. The lefty has given up just two HR on the year and opponents are slugging just .320 against him this year. Harrison is another player who is on the upswing as the season reaches its dregs. In his last five starts, he’s allowed just 2 earned runs on 12 hits over 19.2 innings, striking out 39 batters and walking just eight. His performance Thursday night was his finest yet, as he hit a career high 12 strikeouts — almost entirely with his fastball, which was electric all night (not for nothing, he was voted “Best Fastball” in the Low-A West by league managers in Baseball America’s Best Tools issue this week). Basically, the youngster has been everything you could ask from a high school draftee making his pro debut.
The story of much of the year for the San Jose pitching staff has been the sensational starting pitching — Carson Ragsdale, Harrison, Prelander Berroa, and Murphy currently hold the top four positions on the league’s strikeout leaderboard and fifth starter Wil Jensen is sixth. But the fantastic contribution from long-reliever/short-reliever/what have you, Randy Rodriguez, deserves attention as well. Rodriguez has posted a 2.01 ERA over 53.1 innings out of the pen this year, while striking out 88 batters himself. That’s the 13th best mark in the league, and everybody above him has piled up their totals in starting roles. For his excellent work, Rodriguez got a rare honor for a reliever — his league’s Pitcher of the Month! Congratulations, Randy!
Up Next: San Jose hosts the last place Stockton Ports, a team they’ve beaten down pretty badly so far this year. With their magic number counting down, San Jose should punch their ticket for the playoffs this week. It’s their final home series this year, so get out and root them on!
ARIZONA COMPLEX LEAGUE
GIANTS ORANGE: 28-21 (2nd in ACL East)
4-0 Week
GIANTS BLACK: 24-25 (4th in ACL East)
1-3 Week
What You Should Remember About This Week:
We’ve now seen nearly all of the 2021 draft class make their pro debuts, as top pick Will Bednar got into two games (two innings, one hit, three K) and second round pick Matt Mikulski made one appearance (one inning, three hits, one run, one K). At this point, just 3rd rounder Mason Black, 4th rounder Eric Silva, and 5th rounder Rohan Honda are still waiting in the wings. They’re all in camp and being worked with carefully. With two weeks to go in the complex league schedule, it’s conceivable that some or all of this trio might not appear at all (Honda did play in a summer league prior to the draft). Regardless, all should be on track for a full debut in 2022.
The best pro debuts have come from some of the lower round picks (as tends to happen when low round guys get some steady play in the complex league). Tenth round CF Vaun Brown has been sensational, hitting .339 with a 1.096 OPS and five stolen bases (in five attempts). Thirteenth rounder Jared Dupere has also shown off a productive bat, hitting .297 with a .438 SLG. Dupere hit his first professional home run this week. So, too, did 19th round pick Irvin Murr III, and nobody could have used a lift more than Irvin. The Florida high school pick has started his career just 3 for 39 with 18 strikeouts.
The ACL is yet another league where Giants dominate the strikeout leaders. Esmerlin Vinicio (63), Sonny Vargas (61), and Manuel Mercedes (55) hold the league’s three top spots on the leaderboard.
DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE
GIANTS ORANGE: 17-16 (3rd place in Northeast League)
4-2 Week
GIANTS BLACK: 14-18 (7th place in San Pedro Division)
2-4 Week
What You Should Remember About This Week:
Uh…..I can’t say that this season has been particularly memorable for the DSL Giants, but Giants Orange did post a winning week, which has been a rare accomplishment for the two teams. Ramon Peralta’s first pro home run — which he hit a month ago — also became an official stat this week when the suspended game was completed, so that’s pretty memorable as well.
Interesting youngster Javier Francisco did regain something of his power stroke this week, blasting a triple and his second home run. Francisco is hitting just .158, however, in a season that’s been afflicted by a COVID outbreak. Other Giants Black hitters who look to be recovering from the COVID outbreak include Elian Rayo, who was 5 for 19 this week with two doubles and a triple, and Panamanian CF Mauricio Pierre who went 4 for 12 with two doubles, his 4th HR of the season, and two stolen bases.
Mikell Manzano has had a couple of outings this year that have blown up on him on the scoreboard — his ERA is now up to 4.71 after a rough outing on Friday. But his 39 strikeouts are tied for 5th in the DSL. Gerelmi Maldonado, who seems like he might be the other arm to watch in this group, started the year with a series of rough outings in relief, but he’s steadily gotten stronger and had his best and longest outing of the year as a starter on Saturday, punching out six of his org-mates in the weekly Saturday Friendly.
About Last Night
Sacramento lost to Salt Lake Bees (Angels), 10-3
Notable Lines:
Jason Krizan 2b: 2 for 4, HR (15), Run, RBI
Mike Tauchman DH: 2 for 4, 2b (6), 3b (1), Run, KI
Matt Shoemaker: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, WP, 8.10 ERA
Jesus Tona: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR
Matt Shoemaker doesn’t appear to be pitching his way into the Giants’ contingency plans. Jesus Tona also got roughed up in his first Triple-A appearance, walking two batters and then surrendering a three-run homer to the Bees Jake Gatewood. Gatewood, a Clovis native, has hit 7 of his 24 HRs this year against Sacramento. Jason Krizan is more known for his pure hitting ability (.332 batting average) than his power, but he’s now hit 5 home runs in his last seven games. Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos each added a hit — for Ramos it was his 10th double since joining Sacramento and 24th overall. Conner Menez gave up one run on four hits — each of the three relievers who worked in Friday night’s no-hitter has pitched in the three days since, and each has allowed a hit in his first inning of work, subsequent to the no-hitter.
ARIZONA COMPLEX LEAGUE
Giants Orange lost @ ACL Cubs, 9-2
Notable Lines:
Vaun Brown CF: 2 for 3, Run, K, 2 HBP
Aeverson Arteaga SS: 1 for 4, HR (9), Run, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K, E (7)
Adrian Sugastey C: 2 for 4, HBP, .361 avg
P.J. Hilson RF: 0 for 2, 2 BB, 1 K, SB (7), Assist
Seth Lonsway: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, HR
Sonny Vargas: 2.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Giants Black lost to ACL Rockies, 5-2
Notable Lines:
Alex Suarez CF: 2 for 3, 2b (13), Run, BB, E (6)
Diego Velasquez SS: 0 for 4, E (7), .225 avg
Max Wright C: 2 for 4, 2b (7), RBI
Tristan Beck: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Lisander De La Cruz: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 2 WP, HB
Aeverson Arteaga hit his 9th home run of the season, tying for the top of the ACL HR leaderboard with the Reds Yerlin Confidan. Only one 18-year-old hitter has more in affiliated ball, the Tigers’ Manuel Sequera, who leads the Florida Complex League with 11. Arteaga leads the ACL in Total Bases as well, with 96. After hitting just three extra-base hits over three weeks, Arteaga now has two doubles and two home runs over his past four games. For the year, he’s slashing .326/.397/.558.
Third on the Total Bases leaderboard is Giants Black’s Alex Suarez, who picked up two more hits last night, including his 13th double. Suarez is also third in the league in stolen bases with 14 — and if you want to feel a little bit older, immediately in front of him on the SB lists is Yorvis Torrealba, son of former Giants Yorvit.
Tristan Beck’s rehab seems to be hitting a bit of a snag, as he’s allowed 10 hits and 8 runs in his last two games (4 innings). Of course, the point of rehab isn’t to put up fancy numbers, but rather to feel healthy. Still, you don’t really like to see advanced minors players getting knocked around in the complex league. For Giants Orange, 6th round pick Seth Lonsway made his second start, allowing a two-run homer in one inning of work. Lonsway was followed by Sonny Vargas, who had one of his Bad Sonny outings, allowing 6 hits and 4 runs in 2 innings, pushing his season ERA up to 6.00. He did strike out 3 more batters, though. After starting throughout the summer, Vargas’ last two outings have been shorter relief stints.
DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE
Giants Orange won @ DSL Orioles2, 6-2
Notable Lines:
Derwin Laya 3b: 2 for 5, 2b (6), Run, K
Fabio Villadiego CF: 2 for 3, 2b (2), Run, 2 RBI, BB, SB (2)
Miguel Mora: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, K, WP, HB
Giants Black lost vs DSL Rangers2, 17-8
Notable Lines:
Jose Astudillo 2b: 2 for 5, 2 Runs, SB (2)
Mauricio Pierre CF: 2 for 3, HR (4), 2 Runs, RBI, 2 BB, K, SB (3), E (2)
Onil Perez C: 3 for 5, 2 Runs, 2 BB
Oswaldo Ladera RF: 2 for 5, 2b (2), 2 Runs
Luis Castillo: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, WP, HB
Jan Caraballo: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, HB
Fernando Vasquez: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, K
Giants Black has, at least, been adequate as an offensive unit. They’re 11th best in the league in team OPS (.725), though they’ve only managed to turn that into 168 runs — 26th best in the league. But they’ve been brutal at preventing runs. Their 5.41 team ERA is 42nd in a league of 46 teams. In case you’re not good with the maths — that’s BAD!!! And after yesterday, they might have managed to take a dip downwards in that category, as their first three pitchers in the game each gave up four earned runs while collectively eating up fewer than 6 innings. Ouch. I keep trying to make Jan Caraballo happen, but I don’t think Jan Caraballo is gonna happen every time I see one of these box scores!
It was a good day for hitting, though, and Mauricio Pierre deserves a special shoutout for boosting his OPS back over the .900 line (.278/.373/.528) while also tying for team lead in home runs. He also tossed in the full combo meal, stealing his third base of the year.
Giants Orange has been on a little bit of a roll this week, winning six of their last eight games. Much of that success has been driven by Derwin Laya, who leads Team Orange with a .763 OPS (notably, the Orange offense hasn’t been quite as good as Black’s, but their pitching has been much less terrible with just the 28th worst team ERA!) Laya is 5 for 15 with two doubles over his last six games.
What’s On Tap?
Sacramento (TBD) vs. Salt Lake (Cooper Criswell), 7:05 pm, MiLBTV
Richmond (TBD) vs. Akron (TBD), 3:35 pm, MiLBTV
Eugene (TBD) vs. Everett (TBD), 7:05 pm, MiLBTV
San Jose (TBD) vs. Stockton (TBD), 6:30 pm, MiLBTV
ACL Giants Black (TBD) @ ACL D’backs (TBD), 6:00 pm, No Video
ACL Giants Orange vs. ACL Athletics: FORFEIT
DSL Giants Black (TBD) @ DSL Rangers2 (TBD), 7:30 am, No Video
DSL Giants Orange (TBD) vs. DSL Orioles2 (TBD), 7:30 am, No Video
Scott Kazmir is still listed as the probable for Sacramento, but it sounds like his return to the majors is imminent so we’re TBD across the board for today. That’s not very informative! Once again, the Giants ACL contingent will lose a potential game due to the A’s COVID outbreak, as the pandemic continues to play havoc with people’s lives. I’m heading down to Richmond for my final minor league games of the year. I can’t believe it’s gone so fast!
But maybe there are still some special moments waiting for us, just like Friday night!
Remember, if you like what you see in the Free For All Tuesdays at There R Giants, you might want to subscribe for more Giants’ farm content delivered straight to your Inbox.
Or share it with a Giants fan you know.