Week 3 in Review: Sean Hjelle, Caleb Kilian shine in dominant week of pitching
Hello and welcome to the Tuesday Free For All where we look back on the week that was. So come on, everyone! Let’s all Do the Heliot!
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I’ve written about this before, but one of the side effects of the awesome information that is now available to baseball fans on Baseball Savant really makes the minor league fan hungry for the same sorts of data — how hard are they hitting it? What’s the spin rate? Where are my sweet, sweet exit velocities for crying out loud!!!!
The Giants official prospect twitter account has been good about dropping some advanced numbers in their tweets — hey, look at Marco Luciano hitting the ball 105 mph!
And, on occasion, a play by play man gets a little Trackman data to drop into the radiocast, if you’re listening along. But for the most part, the minors are an “analytics-data free zone.” And that can skew our understanding of what’s actually going on.
But there is a way of obtaining a very limited amount of game data, using R, including some batted ball data. That, unfortunately, doesn’t include exit velocity, but one measurement MLB does make available in its game packs is a Hit Strength measurement for every batted ball, defined as “Hard/Medium/Soft” contact. Statcast defines “Hard Hit” as batted balls hit 95 mph or more, because that’s the velocity at which batted balls clearly begin to correlate to increased offensive production:
Though I haven’t found precise definitions for what’s driving the minor league “Hit Strength” designations, assuming that Hard contact is something similar to the 95 mph mark is probably a reasonable place to start, though where exactly “Medium” contact makes way for “Soft” is more in the realm of conjecture.
Still, using this metric (provided by Sports Data Solutions), we can look at some of the system’s hitters through a different lens, based on quality of contact. If you had to guess, who would you think is producing the hardest contact in the system so far this year? Go ahead and guess….I’ll wait.
Maybe you guessed Joey Bart or Heliot Ramos, perhaps you came up with hitting savant Diego Rincones. But if Tyler Fitzgerald, currently hitting .196 came to mind, I’ll say you peeked at the numbers first. And yet, look!
Rincones has legitimately been the best bat in the Eugene lineup all year and here’s reason to believe Fitzgerald and Bailey are going to increase their production soon too. Bart, like Rincones, is already turning his hard hitting into great numbers. Drew Robinson’s profile is fascinating because he’s striking out at an exorbitant 56% rate, but has been a valuable part of Sacramento’s lineup because he works a lot of walks and he’s really scalding the ball when he makes contact.
On the other side of the coin, well, suffice it to say Logan Wyatt isn’t doing too much to dispel that reputation for soft contact thus far — or at least medium.
This is just another lens through which to view things, and a lack of precise numbers makes one wonder exactly how these designations are determined. Also, hard hit data, even with exit velocities, needs launch angle to be really valuable, as there are a lot of blistered ground balls that turn into easy outs these days. But this might at least give us pause when wondering why Patrick Bailey’s numbers look a little lackluster. Here’s at least one view to suggest he might be hitting into some tough luck so far.
By the way, if you’re wondering (and I know you are), Heliot Ramos is producing a solid 28.6% Hard Hit rate thus far by this metric.
HITTER OF THE WEEK: Abdiel Layer 8 for 16 .500/.556/.876
Near the end of minor league spring training, Kyle Haines mentioned Layer to KNBR as one of the players who had really caught his eye in camp. The 22-year-old had come into camp in great shape, according to Haines, and really opened the eyes of the development staff. Still, though he played his way onto the Low-A roster with a strong camp, he didn’t figure to have much of an impact on it. His position on the roster seemed to be clear when he played just twice in the season’s first 10 days. But when he produced four hits and two HRs in a spot start for Marco Luciano, he opened the door to more opportunities, and every time Lenn Sakata has penciled his name into the lineup, he’s made an impression.
In his last seven games, Layer has produced 14 hits, including 5 HRs, and posted a 1.000 SLG, turning himself from an after-thought on the bench to an indispensable part of the lineup. You want flexibility? Layer is a switch-hitter who has now started at least one game at every infield position. Farhan Zaidi’s bow tie is spinning just reading that sentence! Though Layer’s mostly seen right-handed pitchers, he hasn’t shown much platoon split in his handful of attempts against lefties either. Four of his five homers have been hit off of RHP, but he’s 4 for 10 with a HR when he gets turned around to the right side as well. Right now, Layer’s just hitting everything in sight. Ironically, it was his older brother Jose who was supposed to be the mover — Jose was drafted in the 13th round in 2017, while Abdiel lasted until the 40th round the following year. But now Jose’s been released and it’s Abdiel who is causing a commotion. The Layer brothers both came out of Puerto Rican academy baseball (though Abdiel played Junior College ball at Miami-Dade). Scouting Puerto Rican baseball has been a real emphasis for the Giants the last half decade, as they drafted at least one high school player from the island every year between 2013-2019, including Layer’s current San Jose teammate Edison Mora, and, of course, the #3 prospect in the system Heliot Ramos.
PITCHER of the WEEK: Sean Hjelle, 8.1 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 13 K
With all due respect to Caleb Kilian, who was sensational Saturday night, and to Kai-Wei Teng, who threw two beauties in Tri-City, I’m going with The Tall Man this week. His numbers may not be quite as pristine as the Eugene pair, but the accomplishment was more impressive coming at a higher level and against much better competition. Hjelle twice went up against a Bowie team that has scored more runs per game than any team in Double-A, a team that includes the #2 prospect in baseball in Orioles catching prospect Adley Rutschman, and rather than familiarity getting the better of him, it was Hjelle who seeemed to get stronger and stronger the more looks the BaySox had of him.
The two outings represented some real growth for Hjelle, who has frequently in his Double-A career mowed through a lineup the first time only to get knocked around when he faced it a second time. In his first start of the week, he flipped that script. He battled through a nearly disastrous sequence of bleeders of rollers in the 1st inning, getting down 2-0 and using up 35 pitches but avoiding a blow up. Through two innings he pushed his pitch count over 60, but stranded five base runners and struck out four, including Rutschman twice (as we can see from the well-titled clip above). The long innings made his night short, but he kept his team in a game they’d ultimately win and got stronger as he went along, rather than weaker as had been the case in his first few Double-A starts.
Then he came back against that same powerful club and delivered the best start of his Double-A career five days later. This time Hjelle mowed through a tough order when he went through it the second time, retiring eight consecutive batters before issuing a walk to his final batter of the night. He spotted his low 90s fastball well and made devastating use of his changeup and curve, inducing 12 swing throughs and 6 Ks on those two off-speed pitches. The change, in particular, had excellent fading action on Sunday (as you can see below). So here’s to Sean Hjelle — as hard as it is to believe, it felt like he was growing in front of our very eyes last week.
Sacramento River Cats:
2-4 Record for the week
Who’s Hot This Week?
Thairo Estrada: 7 for 20, 2 2b, HR, 4 R, 3 RBI, .350/.435/.600
LaMonte Wade, Jr.: 5 for 20, 2 HR, 3 R, 6 RBI, 3 BB, .250/.348/.550
Jimmie Sherfy: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
Sam Wolff: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Who’s Not This Week?
Bryce Johnson: 4 for 23, 0 XBH, 3 R, 4 BB, 8 K, .174/.321/.174
Jason Vosler: 2 for 21, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K, .095/.200/.238
Phil Pfeifer: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 5 ER, 6 BB, 4 K, HR, 9.00 ERA
Luis Gonzalez: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HB 15.43 ERA
Outside of Thairo Estrada, who has been the early offensive leader for this team, most of the offense had a sluggish week, which largely accounts for their 2-4 record. Mitchell Tolman hit HRs in back to back games, but he went just 2 for 17 in the rest of the week. Joey Bart has been swinging a hot bat for the River Cats lately, but he left Thursday night’s game with groin tightness, and had just 7 plate appearances for the week — as well as an unclear future. Hopefully that was just precautionary and we’ll see Joey banging the ball around again soon.
Bryce Johnson’s season numbers still look strong thanks to his white-hot opening week, but he’s slugged just .265 since leaving Las Vegas, so the power numbers definitely bear watching. But speed and defense still play in this game and Johnson showed plenty of both during the week. He brought home Sacramento’s lone win at home this weekend by stealing 3b and scampering home on an errant throw for the walk off — or I guess that’s a Scamper Off! And his frequent thefts of hoped-for hits in Oklahoma City were so frequent and dramatic, he made his way onto Sports Center’s Top 10:
Transactions (A LOT!):
Added and then Deleted Braden Bishop (claimed and DFA’d)
Added and then Deleted Trevor Hilgenberger (claimed and DFA’d)
Deleted Arismendy Alcantara to IL
Deleted Nick Tropeano (added to Giants roster)
Deleted Scott Kazmir (added to Giants roster)
Added Camilo Doval (from Giants)
Added then Deleted Sam Selman (probably going to add again soon!)
Added Jasier Herrera (from Eugene)
Delete Jimmie Sherfy (temporary inactive list)
Melvin Adon was added to Sacramento’s 60 Day IL
LATE EDIT: There’s MORE!
A lot was written about the happy family story of the Giants bringing the Bishop Brothers together. Hopefully, Braden clears waivers so they can stay together. Although it’s a lot better to be on a 40-man than not. Well, now I don’t know what to hope for. Jimmie Sherfy has been one of Sacramento’s best relievers this year, and could well see big league action at some point, but he’s hitting the ‘Pause’ button on his season as he joins the US Olympic team. The Adon move (like others below) was a paper transaction. He is still rehabbing his off-season surgery.
What Should You Remember About this Week?
The reigning champs lined up at Sutter Field again for the first time since taking the Triple-A title in September 2019. There wasn’t a banner raising or a ring ceremony — but they have time! They’ll still be the reigning Triple-A champs next year (and the PCL champs in perpetuity, I guess). The results on the field weren’t exactly what the fans were hoping for, but it sure was a beautiful sky!
And, while it’s maybe not specifically a Sacramento story, you might want to remember the night Scott Kazmir DIDN’T start for the River Cats.
Richmond Flying Squirrels
2-4 Record for the Week
Who’s Hot This Week?
Heliot Ramos: 7 for 23, HR, 2 2b, 4 R, 6 RBI, 5 BB, 8 K .304/.429/.522
Andres Angulo: 6 for 20, HR, 2 2b, 4 R, 5 RBI, BB, 6 K, .300/.333/.550
Sean Hjelle: 8.1 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 13 K, 2.16 ERA,
Joey Marciano: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, BB, 5 K, 0.00 ERA, .205 opponent OPS
Ronnie Williams: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 0.00 ERA, .368 opponent OPS
Who’s Not This Week?
Vince Fernandez: 0 for 16, BB, 11 K, .000/.063/.000
David Villar: 2 for 18, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 9 K, .111/.238/.278
Gerson Garabito: 2.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 16.87 ERA
Tristan Beck: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 2 HR, 7.20 ERA
Raffi Vizcaino: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, HR, 18.00 ERA
Of course, looking at the micro-splits of weekly stats is inherently ridiculous and meaningless, but it’s a good reminder of how hard it is for players to maintain a consistent flow. Vince Fernandez was the majority of the team’s offense last week, homering three times in four games. That earns him steady time and he just gets buzz sawed. It’s tough to stay on that beam!
Which makes what Ramos’ is doing so interesting. With the exception of his one big game, it didn’t really feel like Heliot was thriving this week — a ground single there, double poked down the line here, a three-walk night mixed in between. But add it all up and the production is really there. He’s still swinging and missing a ton — 15th highest swinging strike percentage in the league — and opponents are having a lot of success getting him to chase fastballs above the zone. But when he makes contact, something exciting is apt to ensue!
And his comments to MiLB.com after Friday night’s game show you he’s taking a plan to the plate and really thinking about how to attack back. Ramos developed a strong off-field approach when he was in Augusta, and it’s really serving him well this year as he’s been able to make hard contact the other way against sliders in the zone. He does sometime appear to try to force the action rather than let it come to him, but he’s certainly having fun out there and he’s been a joy to watch play.
I noted this in yesterday’s post, but it bears repeating: here’s Ramos’ line in Richmond’s wins:
13 for 29 (.448), 5 2b, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 5 BB, 9 K
and in Richmond’s losses:
5 for 33 (.152), 2b, 2 RBI, 4 BB, 14 K
There’s no doubt he’s been the engine that makes their offense go. Here, I don’t think I ever used this one this week, so let’s get in one more Ramos’ clip:
Transactions:
Added Jose Marte (from Eugene)
Added Caleb Kilian (from Eugene)
Deleted Sam Long (to Sacramento)
What Should You Remember About this Week?
There’s always just a little more buzz when you’re going up against the best and this week the Richmond pitchers got to face off against, truly, one of the most heralded prospects in the game, the top pick in the 2019 draft and #2 overall prospect, Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman. Rutschman showed me why he’s so highly regarded, moving like a young Buster Posey behind the plate and showing off a strong arm — gunning down Heliot Ramos as the ghost runner in extra innings in a crucial moment Sunday. He’s an excellent base runner and has tremendous power.
So it had to feel pretty good to the Richmond pitching staff that they mostly handled him pretty well during the week. Hjelle struck him out twice in crucial spots in his Tuesday start and Matt Frisbee caught him looking once as well. But the real mano a mano came when Marciano entered a bases-loaded mess with a 6-3 lead to protect, and blew a high hard one past Rutschman to escape the jam. That’s just fun!
Eugene Emeralds
4-2 Record for the Week
Who’s Hot This Week?
Diego Rincones: 5 for 17, HR, 3 Runs, 3 BB, 3 K, .294/.455/.471
Caleb Kilian: 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K
Kai-Wei Teng: 10.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 18 K, HR, 1.80 ERA
RJ Dabovich: 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K,
Jose Marte: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 HB, 5 K, Sv
Who’s Not This Week?
Patrick Bailey: 3 for 19, 2b, 2 RBI, 6 BB, 5 K, .158/.360/.211
Will Wilson: 1 for 19, Run, RBI, 4 BB, 7 K, .053/.208/.053
Logan Wyatt: 3 for 22, 2b, RBI, 1 BB, 8 K .136/.174/.182
A simpler way to have put this is that the hitters were cold, the pitchers were hot. That’s just a taste of how good the pitching was. I could have added in Seth Corry or Conner Nurse, both of whom had strong starts, or Ryan Walker’s excellent work out of the pen. Basically, the Emeralds took the road series despite the entire lineup hitting .070 because their pitching staff overwhelmed Tri-City bats.
The rotation has been extraordinary and the bullpen has nearly matched them zero for zero. But we have to give special attention this week to the double-headed fire breathing monster coming out of the Ems pen at the end of games. R.J. Dabovich has dispatched 15 of the 23 batters he’s faced as a professional via the K. Jose Marte is a little behind the pace — he’s struck out just 14 of 25 batters. These are big league arms for sure — and Marte’s week pushed him one level further along that course, as he was promoted to Richmond during yesterday’s weekly day of rest, perhaps the first true system promotion of the year (as opposed to simply filling specific roster needs created by injuries, etc).
The one hitter who continued to put up numbers was Diego Rincones who is now third in the High-A West in batting average (.333), fifth in OBP (.413) and second in SLG (.630) and OPS (1.042). Rincones is another player who will, I believe, be participating in the Olympics for the Venezuelan team (which will be piloted by Richmond manager Jose Alguacil).
Transactions:
Deleted Jasier Herrera (to Sacramento)
Jake Wong added to 60-Day IL
John Gavin added to 60-Day IL
Deleted Jose Marte (to Richmond)
Deleted Caleb Kilian (to Richmond)
Added Tyler Flores (from San Jose)
What Should You Remember About this Week?
Kilian’s brilliance and his emergence as a prospect who’s really going places. One of the trends for “smart” teams in pitching development these days is to grab guys with plus control and pitchability and teach them to increase their velocity (that’s why Santa Barbara’s Michael McGreevy is racing up draft boards this spring). Kilian fits the mold as well as anybody in the Giants system. An advanced strike thrower with a solid, but not overwhelming fastball when he was Texas Tech’s ace, he’s boosted his stuff up without losing his ability to hit his mark and the High-A West has no answer for him. For his near perfection, Caleb Kilian was named the High-A West Pitcher of the Week — for the second time in three weeks! Lawdy but the man is having himself a spring! Here, enjoy some video the Emeralds provided of Kilian striking out many, many batters!
Footage courtesy MiLBTV/Eugene Emeralds
Enjoy the Tri-City trip through the eyes and camera of my guest on this week’s There R Giants pod) Alex Stimson!
San Jose Giants
4-2 Record for the Week
Who’s Hot This Week?
Marco Luciano: 6 for 20, 2b, 2 HR, 3 R, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K, .300/.364/.650
Ricardo Genovés: 8 for 20, 2b, 2 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, BB, 5 K, .400/.455/.750
Abdiel Layer: 8 for 16, 2 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K, .500/.556/.875
Ryan Murphy: 12.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 13 K, HR, 1.50 ERA
Kyle Harrison: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 2 HB, 4.90 ERA
Chris Wright: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 0.00 ERA
Who’s Not This Week?
Casey Schmitt: 0 for 14, BB, 2 K, .000/.067/.000
Alex Canario: 2 for 19, BB, 10 K, .105/.150/.105
Jimmy Glowenke: 4 for 18, 2b, BB, 8 K, .222/.263/.278
Prelander Berroa: 0.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 0 ER, BB, K, 0.00 ERA
Jorge Labrador: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 2 HB 6.00 ERA
The unexpected emergence of Layer and hot weeks from Luciano and, especially, Genovés helped offset cold snaps from the entire rest of the lineup. In addition, to those who made the “Who’s Not” list, the Giants got little production out of Luis Toribio (.485 OPS), Harrison Freed (.417), Brett Auerbach (.444) or Garrett Frechette (.349). Not only did Luciano, Genovés, and Layer hit all six home runs for the league’s leading longball team, they accounted for eight of the team’s 11 extra-base hits. It was particularly good to see Genovés get his power game going, as he’d come into the week with a fairly empty .300 batting average made up of singles without walks. But this week the man who looks, as Eric Longenhagen memorably wrote for Fangraphs, “like one of the Maoi sculptures on Easter Island,” started putting both cheeks into the ball and sent it screaming.
Together with strong pitching performances, the three-headed offense was enough to take a road series from the 1st place Grizzlies. Ryan Murphy, the 5th round pick out of “Where the Heck is” LeMoyne College, has been a reliably steady presence in a somewhat mercurial San Jose rotation. Murphy gave the team two more outstanding starts this week (both leading to wins for the team) and has now allowed just 2 runs in his last three starts (16.2 IP), while striking out 24 against just 2 walks. It’s nice to know you have Murphy’s turn coming up to offset the sometimes short outings that youth and inexperience can lead to. Already, the team has seen starts of less than 1 inning from Carson Ragsdale and Prelander Berroa.
Kyle Harrison’s start maybe shouldn’t quite qualify as “hot” given the unevenness of the night. But seeing him issue just one walk and start to hone in on his fastball command was terrifically encouraging, because when he’s in the zone his stuff has been near unhittable.
Transactions:
Added Julio Rodriguez (from Arizona complex)
What Should You Remember About this Week?
Those of you who listened to my podcast with Ahmed Fareed have heard me talk before of the virtues of watching clubs with opposing styles of play attack each other. In my mind’s eye, when I talk on that subject, I always picture the unfairly unremembered 1982 World Series, which pitted Harvey’s Wallbangers against the running St. Louis Cardinals. Milwaukee’s lineup had six starters who hit 20 or more homers that year — most of them over 30 — while the Cards’ most prolific power hitter had just 19 on the year, and had only two players in double figures. But St. Louis featured four players with 25 SB and six who were in the double-digits. The matchup made for glorious entertainment!
Well friends, I would be remiss if I let this week go without noting that those lucky fans who took in the San Jose-Fresno tilts this year have seen just such a matchup of contrasting styles. While the Giants have bashed 22 home runs in their last 13 games — taking over their league lead and the second highest HR total in all of the Low-A leagues — the Grizzlies entered Sunday’s game with just 5 HR on the year, but they run every chance they get. Their 33 SB leads the Low-A West and sits just behind the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (36) for the highest total in Low-A leagues. In the season-opening series, Fresno stole 15 bases off of the Giants and attempted 21! While they didn’t match that aggressiveness this week, they did constantly push the action, twice taking two bases on a wild pitch and inducing multiple balks and rules violations by the San Jose pitchers.
It was, once again, a reminder that differences can be fun, enlightening, and just plain awesome — even on a baseball diamond. Vive la différence!
About Last Night
Sacramento beat Reno Aces (Diamondbacks), 14-9
Notable Lines:
Bryce Johnson CF: 2 for 5, 2 Runs, 2 RBI, 2 SB (7), BB, K
Thairo Estrada SS: 3 for 5, 2b, HR (5), SB (4), 4 R, 3 RBI
Jason Vosler 3b: 1 for 3, HR (2), 4 RBI, BB, K
Jason Krizan 2b: 3 for 3, 2b, 3b, 3 RBI
Drew Robinson LF: 2 for 4, HR (2), 3 R, RBI, BB, 2 K
Conner Menez: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, BB, 5 K, HR
Daniel Álvarez: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 2 K
Gregory Santos: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, BB, K
Camilo Doval: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, HR
The two teams forgot they were playing in Sacramento and busted out an old fashioned Reno game in this one, scoring 22 runs by the top of the 5th inning. Most of that damage came from the River Cats’ bats. They pounded Reno starter Justin Donatella for 5 runs in less than two innings, then put up 5 more on old friend Carlos Navas in one inning more.
What was that I said above about nobody really being hot? Well, it was a hot time in the old town tonight, and everybody got involved. The Cats bashed out 7 extra base hits from 5 different players. Once again, the leader was Estrada who seems to be completely healed from his shooting incident and botched surgery, and is off to the best start of his professional career. His 1.049 OPS is 9th best in the Triple-A West league and top 20 in Triple-A overall. With his 5th HR of the season, he’s also more than halfway to his career high — he’s never had 10 HR in a season at any level. The 25-year-old SS has long been on the prospect map, and he looks to be a very solid depth pickup for the Giants who could pay dividends down the line.
Soon to be 32-year-old Jason Krizan is less likely to be a long-term piece (though we thought the same of Donavan Solano a couple of years ago), but he’s given Sacramento tremendous value this year. The minor league FA has played 1b, 2b, 3b, LF — he’s even Pitched — and he’s hit everywhere he’s played. He’s also posting the lowest strikeout rate (9.8%) in tehe league — he really is like Solano!
Drew Robinson hit his 2nd HR of the year, and Bryce Johnson added a speed element, stealing his 6th and 7th bases of the season. Johnson has been successful in every attempt this year. He’s almost halfway to Abiatal Avelino’s 2019 team leading total of 17, and he’s one off the organizational lead, held by Eugene’s Simon Whiteman (who also has yet to be caught).
It continues to be somewhat confusing as to why Gregory Santos isn’t getting a little more swing and miss with his ridiculous stuff. Small sample size applies, but Santos’ is only striking out 6.14 per 9 in his time in Sacramento — and that’s actually not terribly out of line with his minor league career numbers (he had a 6.75 K9 with Augusta in 2019). Guys who throw 100 really should miss more bats. The Giants similarly need to build Camilo Doval’s confidence (and effectiveness) in his heater back up.
What’s On Tap?
Sacramento (Tyler Beede) vs. Reno (TBD), 12:05 pm, MiLBTV
Richmond (Matt Frisbee) @ Reading (TBD), 4:05 pm, MiLBTV
Eugene (Seth Corry) vs. Spokane (TBD), 7:35 pm, MiLBTV
San Jose (TBD) vs. Lake Elsinore (TBD), 6:30 pm, MiLBTV
New opponents for all! (well, Sacramento is finishing its series tonight). Eugene stormed over a weak Spokane team to open the year, so this should be a good opportunity to increase their hold on 1st place. San Jose, meanwhile, welcomes the current 1st place club from the Southern Division — albeit at 9-9, not exactly a power — in the Lake Elsinore Storm, the Padres representative in the league. All four clubs are available on MiLBtv for the first time this year, so it’s a real smorgasbord for those of you who have a subscription. We’ll bring you all the action tomorrow! Have a great night everybody.
How many no hit starts from starting pitching does the giants ORG have this year?
Every time I see a clip of Joey Bart mashing a pitch all i can think is why in the world do pitchers leave anything out where he can extend his arms? Is he doing better handling pitches on the inner part of the plate?