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Oh look! It’s the cold, harsh glare of reality. What the hell? No one invited you! No one wants you here. Get out!
It’s Week 2 in review and the sneaking suspicion may be lurking in a corner of your mind that the one dubious consolation of the lost 2020 is that, in the green fields of our minds, no one ever went 0 for 4, there was nary a hat trick in sight. Instead, in our immaculate imaginations, there were unending fantasies of two-homer nights, five for fives for all!
In reality, there are tough nights, there are slumps and turnarounds. There are four K nights, or starts that last just two-thirds of an inning. But that’s ok! In the minors every tough night is a learning experience that shines a light on where a player needs to adjust, what part of the zone they need better coverage of, exactly how much more than just control is really needed with your pitches. Tough skids grease the wheels for future sprees. Players who succeed do so because they have the growth mindset, as friend of sit Lukas McKnight recently wrote about, which turns every failure to succeed into an opportunity. So don’t despair if your favorite player shows up with an ugly line from game to game, or even week to week. As JJ Cooper was pointing out, a 20-month layoff was bound to make re-entry difficult for players who lacked the six months of muscle memory repetition necessary to play the game intuitively. And beyond that, failing is a crucial part of development and it will pay dividends before too long.
Or perhaps, you’re not despairing at all because you only really pay attention to the hot nights and just ignore the rough ones. In which case, Bravo — that’s a solid strategy, too!
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Will Wilson, 8 for 19, .421/.476/.947
All footage courtesy MiLBTV/Eugene Emeralds, Harrisburg Senators, Las Vegas Aviators, and Oklahoma City Dodgers)
Will Wilson’s start has been truly insane. He’s hit in all 10 games he’s played and if it weren’t for the supremely talented Julio Rodriguez (#3 prospect in baseball), he’d be leading the High-A West in every possible offensive category. Wilson leads the league in hitting (.415) and slugging (.829) and is second in hits (17), doubles (6), total bases (34), and OBP (.500). Yes, that says .500!
As chronicled in Baseball Prospectus’ Monday Morning Ten Pack yesterday, one of the impressive things about Wilson’s start to the year is how much hard contact he’s making even when behind in the count. The Grand Slam he hit on Thursday night came on a 1-2 count and was driven 101 mph off the bat. He blistered a 102 mph double off the wall Sunday night when he was similarly down in the count. This suggests that Wilson is buying into the Giants philosophy of looking only for pitches to drive in all situations. And for now, at least, he is driving in the HOT lanes when he gets the ones he likes.
Don’t cry for me Luis Matos, there’s only room for one PLAYER of the Week, but your .462/.464/.808 week did not go unnoticed! We’ll talk more about you in a bit.
PITCHERS of the WEEK: Matt Frisbee, Joey Marciano, Matt Seelinger, Patrick Ruotolo: NO-HITTER
But there’s room for multiple pitchers! Especially when they combine on Richmond’s first 9-inning no-hitter in the franchise’s 11 year history, while simultaneously setting a franchise record with 8 wins in a row!
Of course, the largest share of the honor goes to starter Matt Frisbee, who was, indeed, named the Double-A Northeast League (that is really starting to flow off the tongue isn’t it?) Pitcher of the Week for his perfect 18 up/18 down performance Thursday night.
Almost alone among his talented rotation-mates, Frisbee seems to have found the touch on his fastball command coming into the year and is practically living around the edges of the strike zone. True to Gabe Kapler’s dictates, he’s winning the time of possession with a quick pace and a steady barrage of strikes. In the no-hitter, just 14 of Frisbee’s 56 pitches were balls. He gets batters to expand the strike zone up with his solid low 90s fastball, and then yanks the eye-line to the bottom with a couple of different off-speed pitches. The results so far have been a lot of weak contact when contact is made at all. Nice going, Matt!
Still, three full innings of that record-setting no-hitter were the work of Joey Marciano, Matt Seelinger, and Pat Ruotolo — all three of whom have been terrific this year for Richmond. Neither Marciano nor Seelinger has surrendered a run yet this year, while collectively striking out 17 batters in 9.1 innings. Ruotolo is the only one of the trio with an ERA above 0.00 and that’s the result of one harmless solo HR. Otherwise the team closer has been rock solid in his return to Double-A.
Let’s take a spin around the affiliates and check out where they stand, how they did, and who’s hot and who’s not in Week 2!
Sacramento River Cats:
3-4 Record for the week
Who’s Hot This Week?
Bryce Johnson: 10 for 25, 9 Runs, 3 2b, 4 BB, 9 K, .400/.500/.520
Chadwick Tromp: 4 for 10, 2 HR, 3 RBI, .400/.455/1.000
Joey Bart: 7 for 18, 2 HR, 2b, 4 Runs, 6 RBI, BB, 8 K, .389/.421/.778
Tyler Beede: 5 IP, 3.50 ERA, 2 H, 1 ER, BB, 8 K
Jimmy Sherfy: 2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 H, 0 R, 4 K
Who’s Not This Week?
Justin Bour: 4 for 20, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 6 K, .200/.273/.350
Anthony Banda: 7.0 IP, 12.86 ERA, 15 H, 10 ER, BB, 9 K, 3 HR
Shun Yamaguchi: 3.0 IP, 12.00 ERA, 3 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, HB, 3 K, L
Phil Pfeifer: 5.2 IP, 7.94 ERA, 7 H, 9 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 8 K, 2 HR
Kervin Castro: 3.0 IP, 9.00 ERA, 3 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, HR
Really, pretty much everybody was decently hot for Sacramento this week on the hitting side of the equation. Even poor Justin knocked a homer! And Thairo Estrada, who went just 6 for 23, managed to slug almost .500 by including 2 doubles and a homer. As for the pitchers? Well most of them were happy to make it out of Las Vegas — which is a rough way to reintegrate to a game playing environment.
But special notice is deserved for the work Bryce Johnson is doing in his first chance at Triple-A. The speedy CF leads the league in hits (18), doubles (6), and runs scored (15). He’s third in the league in hitting (.462) and a surprising fourth in OPS (1.322). What a week in Vegas can do!
We also need to credit the week that the River Cats catching tandem just had! Between them Chadwick Tromp and Joey Bart went 11 for 28 with 4 HRs and 9 RBI. These guys aren’t exactly adhering to the organizational philosophy of hitting, as they collectively have 18 strikeouts to just 4 walks, but they are certainly showing off some thunder. Tromp hit a ball out of Las Vegas stadium while Bart was peppering right field Sunday night.
Transactions:
Added Sam Wolff from Arizona Training Complex
Added Jason Vosler (optioned by Giants)
Deleted and then re-added LaMonte Wade, Jr. (recalled and optioned by Giants)
Added Donovan Solano on rehab assignment
We might presume they will soon be adding Braden Bishop as well, who the Giants claimed on waivers yesterday. But no announcement of that has been made as of yet.
What Should You Remember About this Week?
Probably this will still be the thing you should remember about this year when it’s all over and done with. It’ll be hard to beat this moment for the pure appreciation of the human spirit that sports always manages to highlight at its very best. Drew Robinson, who laid on a floor with a bullet in his head for hours, who when he realized he was still alive held a gun in one hand and a phone in the other and ultimately chose the phone to call for help and begin the process of rebuilding his life, produced a moment whose impact will far transcend simple Giants prospects blogs, a moment of transcendence. But Robinson’s impact on the roster wasn’t limited to a solitary moment of inspiration — Drew produced a solid .231/.412/.538 line for the week. A perfect Moneyball-er!
Richmond Flying Squirrels
3-3 Record for the Week
Who’s Hot This Week?
Vince Fernandez: 6 for 14, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 2 K, .429/.529/1.071
David Villar: 8 for 22, HR, 3 Runs, 4 RBI, 3 BB, 5 K, .364/.440/.500
Sam Long: 8.0 IP, 1.13 ERA, 5 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 10 K
Sean Hjelle: 5.1 IP, 1.68 ERA, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K, HR
Matt Frisbee: 6.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K
Bullpen: 23.1 IP, 1.90 ERA, 5 ER, 6 BB, 31 K
Who’s Not This Week?
Heliot Ramos: 2 for 21, 2b, 1 Run, BB, 9 K, .095/.174/.143
Shane Matheny: 3 for 22, RBI, 2 BB, 10 K, .135/.208/.136
Sandro Fabian: 2 for 12, 0 Runs, 0 RBI, 1 K .167/.167/.167
What a difference a week makes! Just last Tuesday when I tweeted out video of Heliot Ramos drilling a 405’ double, I got lots of responses like this:
Well, it turns out that six days does not a stable level of performance create! Because in the immediate aftermath of that, Heliot hit his first slump of 2021. The overall line is still strong thanks to the big first week — Ramos is in the top 35 in the league in OPS and nearly everyone above him is much older than the 21-year-old. But the larger point is, let the kid develop at his own pace and stop trying to rush him into greater challenges. I’d still think a month or 150 PA will give the Giants a solid basis on which to make an evaluation and we’ll see how things stand then. In the meantime, even when the hits aren’t falling in, Ramos can still do things like this:
On the other hand, David Villar has provided the Squirrels with a big power bat in the middle of the order and so far this year he’s cut his K rate and boosted his BB rate pretty significantly from 2019. It’s still early, obviously, but K and BB rates typically normalize around 100 PA and he’s at 50 already, because he’s also one of the two players on the team who has played in every game (Frankie Tostado being the other).
As anticipated at season’s beginning, the pitching staff has really been the strength of the team so far. Sam Long had the two start week and he was strong in both. Long’s fastball command is still dialing in, but in his two 4 inning starts, he allowed just 1 run overall on 5 hits, and striking out 10 — he’s had 5 strikeouts in each of his three starts this year. His fastball has mostly been sitting in the 93-95 range and he’s thrown enough strikes with it to be competitive, though he hasn’t quite pinpointed them, while using his breaking pitch and change to put batters away.
Sean Hjelle had the best start of his Double-A career this week as well, throwing five brilliant innings before tiring in the 6th. Hjelle allowed just two baserunners in the first five innings while striking out six. He tired in the 6th, allowing a long HR and walking his only two batters of the game, but it was definitely an encouraging step forward as he’d had trouble navigating lineups a second time in his handful of previous Double-A starts.
And the entire bullpen deserves a shoutout for their tremendous work, and not just in preserving no-hitters. It’s a stealth strength of this team that they tend to nail down the back half of games. Five different members of the pen — Joey Marciano, Frank Rubio, Matt Seelinger, Trent Toplikar, and Raffi Vizcaino — have yet to allow a run and the group as a whole has been extremely stingy with inherited runners.
Transactions:
Added Ronnie Freeman (minor league FA)
What Should You Remember About this Week?
Duh….
Eugene Emeralds:
3-3 Record for the Week
Who’s Hot This Week?
Will Wilson: 8 for 19, 2 HR, 4 2b, 5 Runs, 6 RBI, BB, 7 K, .421/.476/.947
Nick Morreale: 5.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K
Caleb Kilian: 5.2 IP, 3.17 ERA, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
Jose Marte: 3.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K
RJ Dabovich: 1.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 3 batters faced, 3 K
Who’s Not This Week?
Patrick Bailey: 4 for 20, HR, 2b, RBI, 2 BB, 10 K, .200/.273/.400
Logan Wyatt: 2 for 17, 3b, 1 Run, 2 BB, 2 K, .118/.211/.235
Sean Roby: 4 for 19, HR, 3 Runs, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 7 K, .211/.200/.368
Diego Rincones: 3 for 15, 2b, 2 Runs, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 5 K, .200/.188/.267
Simon Whiteman: 1 for 10, 2 Runs, 2 BB, 5 K, .100/.250/.100
I’m starting to wonder if some of those hot starts had something to do with the Spokane pitching staff. 🤔. A lot of hot bats turned cold with the switch in opponents from the apparently awful Spokane Indians to the whiff-tastic but still respectable Hops. Logan Wyatt was drawing walks nearly at will in Spokane, but the free passes dried up upon returning home. And the same was true for most of his teammates. The hits were just much harder to come by in Week 2. Still that’s the mutability of the daily game and the challenge of the long season — keeping consistency from day to day. Week 3 might see the bats turn hot again.
The most surprising element of the Emeralds offense gaining a bit of a spring chill this week comes in the form of Patrick Bailey’s K/BB ratio. Bailey comes with the reputation of a player with strong plate discipline who makes solid swing decisions consistently — a key strength, one imagines, with the Giants braintrust. But so far in his debut, Bailey’s control of the zone hasn’t been showing up in the stat line. Though, anecdotally, I will say that I haven’t seen Bailey doing much free swinging, he’s predominantly getting beat on the edges of the zone in my looks.
Transactions:
Deleted Hunter Bishop to the IL (Shoulder Strain)
Added Rob Emery from San Jose
What Should You Remember About this Week?
It was the week that Eugene made its Giants affiliate home debut, and a week where Emeralds starting pitching had some extraordinary pitching lines (they dominate the Who’s Hot category). The week in Eugene also saw the first 100 mph pitch in the system this year. See:
But for me, it was Will Wilson’s all-around play that made this week memorable — particularly his dominant performance on Sunday. We’ve been hearing for a year now how much the Giants loved Wilson, we’ve seen in their actions and assignments how much they value his game. This week was Wilson’s real coming out party, I think, for fans to understand why they love him so.
In a week in which his teammates struggled to provide offense, his bat was a steady rock to lean on. The team scored just 23 runs on the week, and Wilson scored or drove in nearly half of them (11).
Beyond the scorching bat, everything Wilson does on the field is helping the Emeralds win. His Sunday night performance was simply scintillating in every facet of the game. He showed off his instincts on the base paths scoring from 2b on a Sacrifice Fly, taking an aggressive turn around third and then intuitively hitting the gas when the ball bounced away from home.
And he ended the night with a bit of defensive legerdemain, turning a true Web Gem double play to preserve the victory. Quite a performance from our Player of the Week!
San Jose Giants:
4-2 Record for the Week
Who’s Hot This Week?
Luis Matos: 12 for 26, 2 HR, 3 2b, 6 Runs, 7 RBI, BB, 3 K, 2 SB, .462/.464/.808
Abdiel Layer: 6 for 15, 3 HR, 2b, 4 Runs, 7 RBI, 0 BB, 4 K, .429/.429/1.143
Luis Toribio: 5 for 15, 2b, 2 Runs, RBI, 3 BB, 6 K, .333/.444/.400
Ryan Murphy: 4.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 11 K
Ivan Armstrong: 4.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, HB, 7 K
Austin Reich: 3.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K
Chris Wright: 3.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K
Luis Moreno: 4.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K
Who’s Not This Week?
Jimmy Glowenke: 3 for 18, 2b, 2 Runs, RBI, 0 BB, 5 K, .167/.167/.222
Carson Ragsdale: 2 GS, 4 IP, 9.00 ERA, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 2 HR
Jorge Labrador: 3.2 IP, 7.36 ERA, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, HR
On the flip side of the A ball coin, slow bats started waking up in San Jose. Even players whose averages might have qualified for the Not list had strong weeks in different ways. Alex Canario was just 4 for 22, but he hit 2 homers, swiped three bags, was in the middle of a lot of scoring rallies, and returned to focusing on good swing decisions after a wild few days at the beginning of the week, drawing three walks on Sunday. Casey Schmitt had just three hits on the week, but they all went for extra bases and two of them left the yard. The week also saw the first HR of Garrett Frechette’s career and the first of the season for Marco Luciano, who hovered somewhere between the Hot and Not lists with a .250/.318/.500 week.
There are a lot of arms in that San Jose bullpen and I know it’s hard to keep them all straight! I’ll try to keep them all hovering in your consciousness and differentiated as we go along, but in general the San Jose bullpen had a very strong week. Ivan Armstrong essentially filled a bulk innings role this week, appearing only once and going for a long outing (after Ragsdale had been removed after 1 inning). The appropriately named “Armstrong” is a ginormous kid (he’s listed at 6’5” 250 lbs) with, indeed, a strong arm, and he dominated the young Stockton lineup in his lone appearance. Austin Reich, who was signed out of Northwestern State (LA) as an undrafted free agent following the 2019 draft, has emerged as a dependable arm for Lenn Sakata, leaning heavily on a fastball that sits 93-95. Luis Moreno has also seen his velocity bump up over the last year, and gets in that 93 range now as well. Left-hander Chris Wright was a two-way player at tiny Bryant college in Rhode Island. He has a fringy fastball in terms of velocity, but shows elite spin rate. Jorge Labrador had one of the few rough lines out of the pen this week, getting scored upon in both of his outings. The tall right-hander’s best pitch is his curve, but he’s struggled mightily with fastball command so far in the young season, and it gets hit when he’s wild with it in the zone.
Got all that? There will be a test!
Finally, a special category might be necessary for wild child Kyle Harrison, who has faced 28 hitters so far in his professional career, and allowed just four of them to put a ball in play. Harrison struck out 7 more in his second start, while walking five and making it just 2.1 innings. He gave up his first hit and his first run, but he also looked unhittable when locating in the zone, twice punching out A’s top prospect Tyler Soderstrom. Just need to get a wrangle on that fastball, Kyle!
Transactions:
Added Edison Mora (from Developmental List)
Deleted and re-added Tyler Flores (to and from Developmental List)
Deleted Kanoa Pagan to the IL (knee)
Deleted Nick Swiney to the IL (concussion)
Added Juan Sanchez from Arizona Complex
Added Brooks Crawford from Arizona Complex
Deleted Rob Emery to Eugene
Added Rodolfo Bone from Arizona Complex
Things are hopping down at the lowest level! The “Developmental List” is a new roster status this year and it has some intriguing potential — players can, according to MLB, be loaned out to other affiliated teams or even independent teams in the Partner Leagues while under this designation, or can even be working at an independent location like Driveline. From the looks of things this week, however, it’s also just a new designation on which to hide members of a traveling party who are not active roster — even with this year’s new, extended rosters apparently there’s still a need for some paper transactions.
Not a transaction, but Armani Smith missed the last three games of the week after fouling a ball off his shin. He hasn’t moved to the IL, but the Giants wanted to make sure the lingering soreness (because: OW!) was gone before putting him back on the field. Also, Ryan Murphy was pushed from his expected start on Sunday, but there’s nothing wrong with Murphy. The team simply wanted to get Carson Ragsdale back in action after his short 1 inning start on Tuesday. In that game, Ragsdale was removed after he passed the 30 pitch mark in his lone inning of work — a pretty standard precautionary measure used by most organizations, especially in the lower levels. Murphy will start tonight’s game for San Jose.
What Should You Remember About This Week?
Ok, now, I’ve spent far too long on this week in review without waxing poetic over the achievements of one Luis Matos, for this was the week in which Matos said: “level jump? I say FEH on your level jump!” and just started treating Low-A like an extension of the Dominican Summer League. Matos hit everything that moved. If the hot dog machine had caught his eye at the plate, he probably would have whacked a dog right into its bun complete with mustard and sauerkraut. Last Tuesday night, Matos went 1 for 4 with his first HR of the year — it was his worst night of the week. What followed were five consecutive multi-hit nights, with rockets firing off in every direction. He leads the Low-A West in batting average (.383) and hits (18) and is third in slugging (.617). But what’s most impressive about Matos is the consistency with which he raps out two hits a night. I feel like I’ve been updating these numbers ever since the summer of 2019, but it really is incredible: he has more than three times as many multi-hit games (36) as he does games without a hit (11) in his career. He has as many games with at least 3 hits (11) as he does 0-fers. Now it is worth acknowledging that Matos really is in swing mode — he’s swung at more than 65% of all pitches he’s seen this year. At some point pitchers will exploit that hyper-aggressive approach, but for now the sixth-youngest player in Low-A West is showing off some preternatural bat to ball skills.
He can hit! He can most definitely HIT! Hopefully we’ll get you that coveted Player of the Week next week, Luis!
About Last Night
Sacramento lost at Oklahoma City Dodgers, 7-6
Sacramento just kept on coming back in this game, but they finally ran out of opportunities when Rangel Ravalo’s ground single off Dominic Leone brought in the game-winning run in walk off fashion. Sacramento came from behind to tie the game three different times on the night, but the pitching staff kept putting them right back in a deficit.
Starter Anthony Banda hasn’t given the team much production on the hill so far this year — check that Not So Hot list above, that’s 15 hits and 10 earned runs in his two starts this week — but at least he helped with the comebacks some! We love #PITCHERSWHORAKE!
Still, in the more important “getting outs” category, it’s been a rough start for Banda and, in truth, much of the Sacramento staff. Exceptions must be made for Jimmie Sherfy who is still nearly perfect on the year. Sherfy has allowed just three of the 21 batters he’s faced to reach base, striking out 9 of them. Leone had his 0.00 season ERA defaced for the first time last night.
Joey Bart and Justin Bour teamed up for much of the damage last night on offense. Joey had two more hits, including another double — his third extra base hit in two nights. Twice Bour drove Bart in with the game tying run, including in the top of the 9th, to briefly delay the loss. LaMonte Wade, Jr. hit his first home run of the year, a solo shot in the 2nd inning that gave Sacramento its lone lead of the night.
Giants 2015 1st round pick Phil Bickford has never yet faced off against the Giants themselves, but in this series, he finally did face a Giants affiliate — and he has dominated them. Bickford struck out all three batters he faced in a perfect inning last night. It was his third appearance of the series and the right-hander has, so far, struck out 8 of the 11 batters he’s faced.
Bryce Johnson’s hot bat was cooled for the night, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t doing anything to impress — check out this craziness!
I love me a CF who covers some ground! (This is why I will never yield in my appreciation for Steven Duggar — keep holding onto that roster spot, Steven!)
What’s On Tap?
Sacramento (Nick Tropeano) @ Oklahoma City (Yerfy Ramirez), 5:05 pm, MiLBTV
Richmond (Sean Hjelle) vs Bowie (DL Hall), 3:35 pm, MiLBTV
Eugene (Kai-Wei Teng) @ Tri-City (Zachary Linginfelter), 6:30 pm, No Video
San Jose (Ryan Murphy) @ Fresno (Mitchell Kilkenny), 6:50 pm, MiLBTV
Sacramento finishes up their series against the Dodgers with a chance to go for the road series win! They’ll finally make their 2021 Sutter Field home debut Thursday night. The A-ball teams are apparently trading off MiLBtv feeds, as San Jose stays on the road but heads to tv-friendly Fresno while Eugene goes back to eastern Washington for another video-free week against the Tri-City Dust Devils.
We get to battle a couple of new organizations this week. Tri-City pits Eugene in competition with the Angels High-A affiliate. But the marquee battle comes out East where Richmond faces off against a resurgent Orioles system. First place Bowie comes to town led by the #2 prospect in all of baseball, catcher Adley Rutschman. Rutschman was the first overall pick in the 2019 draft. Bowie’s pitching staff is led by Orioles #3 prospect, hard-throwing left-hander DL Hall, who’s off to a terrific start this year. He’ll be a great matchup for Heliot Ramos, David Villar and the Richmond bats. And I will most happily be on site to watch it!
See you all tomorrow with the action! Have a great week at the ballyard everybody!