Week 6 Stats Review

SF Giants Minor Lines, May 15-21, 2023

A picture featuring Giants’ legends Will Clark, Joe Panik, and Vaun Brown (maybe someday that won’t sound strange)!

Let’s graphics up this Stats Review! Everyone likes graphics!

The most valuable thing a hitter can do at the plate is to combine “hitting the ball often” with “hitting the ball hard.” So here’s a graph of all Giants’ minor league hitters this year (minimum 30 PA), plotted by their ability to hit the ball hard (Isolated Slugging on the X-axis) and their ability to make contact (K%, on the Y axis). The Y axis is reversed, so that the lowest K rates are at the top — that gives us that pleasant visual of the best outcomes (high ISO, low K rate) being in the upper right hand quadrant, while the worst (no power, high strikeouts) would be in the lower left — where fortunately we find relatively few hitters in the system. I’ve also identified a few of the real outliers, to give you an idea of who is excelling at what.

The sweet spot here would seem to be that group in the .200+ ISO, but 20-25% K rate, where we find Matt Higgins, Victor Bericoto, and Carter Aldrete doing fine work. Jimmy Glowenke is doing particularly well at limiting the Ks, albeit with fewer PA than most of the others. Thomas Gavello and Tyler Fitzgerald are showing excellent power at slightly higher K rates, and Marco Luciano, he’s in a quadrant of his own at this point. On the opposite quadrant from Luciano we see the big contact, little power guys, led by Onil Perez, Wade Meckler, and Luis Matos.

Anyone surprising you? One unlabeled guy somewhat surprising to me is the one waaaaay over to the left, rocking the .000 ISO. Any guesses?

And how about one for pitchers. This one’s a simple correlation — walks versus strikeouts. Once again, it’s good to be in the upper right hand quadrant — otherwise known as the Carson Ragsdale zone. That’s the area where high K rates (X axis) meet low walk rates (Y axis). I knew Ragsdale was having a fine year — but this visual really puts how good he’s been into stark relief! It’s not a big surprise to find Carson Whisenhunt, Jack Choate, and Hayden Birdsong in the sweet spot — but I must admit that I was surprised to see Mat Olsen popping up there! Kyle Harrison plays the role of Marco Luciano in this graph — we need to get these guys to move up the Y! And Sean Hjelle is playing the Onil Perez role, more or less playing his own brand of ball over there. Unlike the hitters, we do have some pitchers hanging out in the worst part of this graph — the quadrant where high walk rates and low K rates collide. As you might imagine, the Sacramento bullpen is well represented in that lower left quadrant (Joey Marciano, Cole Waites, and Clay Helvey all reside over there, for instance. Indeed, Waites’ incredibly low 17% K rates is one of the most shocking elements of the spring).

And with that — let’s get back to the standard format.

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Sacramento River Cats (21-24), T-2nd Pl, 7.0 GB

-10 Run Differential

A beat down in the Biggest Little City in the World finally put Sacramento’s run differential under water, where their W-L record has been for awhile. They try to make another assault on the summit of .500 with a tough series against the best team in the league, the stupid OKC Dodgers.

SORTABLE TABLES: HITTERS PITCHERS

PCL LEADERS*

Clint Coulter: FB% (9th)
Shane Matheny: SB (T-10th)
Ford Proctor: BB (6th), BB% (2nd), BB/K(7th)
Casey Schmitt: Avg (10th)

Melvin Adón: K% (7th), GB% (5th), SwS% (9th)
Nick Avila: Opp Avg (7th), WHIP (8th), BABIP (6th)
Jorge Guzman: ERA (5th), LOB% (9th), LD% (10th)
Kyle Harrison: SO (3rd), K% (2nd), K-BB% (8th), Opp Avg (5th)
Joey Marciano: GB% (10th), LD% (9th)
Ryan Walker: ERA (1st), FIP (2nd), K% (4th), K-BB% (6th), Opp Avg (1st), WHIP (1st), BABIP (2nd), LOB% (6th)

A little insight into why Ryan Walker is now in the major leagues.

*Pitcher Innings Limit set at 20

TRANSACTIONS (not including recall/options to/from SF)

RHP Ty Weber assigned to Eugene from Sacramento
OF Luis Matos assigned to Sacramento from Richmond
RHP Luke Jackson rehab assignment transferred to Sacramento
RHP Miguel Yajure sent on rehab assignment to San Jose
SS Tyler Fitzgerald placed on 7-day IL
OF Heliot Ramos transferred from 7- to 60-day IL
2b Brady Whalen transferred to Richmond
2b Isan Diaz activated from 7-day IL
OF Cal Stevenson DFA’d

Whew! That’s a lot! Of course, we’ll see the most important transactions of the week take place immediately after I post this in 5…4…3…

Ramos’ move to the 60-day makes 2023 look like a second consecutive lost year — in his second option year. An unfortunate confluence of events.

Nobody in the Giants’ system garnered a Player of the Week award, but for the second time this month, an opponent of a Giants affiliate did, as Reno’s Tristan English was the PCL’s POW after demolishing Sac pitching, including a two-homer game against Kyle Harrison.

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Richmond Flying Squirrels (20-18) 1st Pl, 0.5 GA

+29 Run Differential

Richmond is the only team in the six-team Southwest Division with a positive run differential. But they’re still in a dogfight!

SORTABLE TABLES: HITTERS PITCHERS

Small sample size shenanigans would seem to be at work in construing Brown’s 2 for 7 with five strikeouts as a team-best 189 wRC+. Home runs are powerful!

EL LEADERS*

Carter Aldrete: RBI (T-4th), Pull% (7th)
Hayden Cantrelle: OBP (7th), BB% (9th), K% (10th), BB/K (5th), SwS% (7th)
Tyler Fitzgerald: 3b (T-1st)
Luis Matos: Avg (8th), K% (2nd), BB/K (1st), SwS% (3rd)
Riley Mahan: RBI (T-6th)
Ismael Munguia: Avg (10th), Hits (7th), K% (9th), LD% (8th), SwS% (8th)
Simon Whiteman: Pull% (4th)

Mason Black: K% (9th), K-BB% (4th)
Evan Gates: SV (T-6th)
Wil Jensen: ERA (7th)
Randy Rodriguez: Opp Avg (10th)
Carson Seymour: GB% (9th)
Kai-Wei Teng: FIP (6th), SO (T-6th), K% (2nd), K-BB% (2nd), WHIP (7th)

*Pitcher Innings Limit set at 20

Sneaky Wil Jensen! Carving up EL hitters in his second go round.

TRANSACTIONS

OF Vaun Brown activated from 7-day IL
OF Luis Matos assigned to Sacramento from Richmond
OF Wade Meckler assigned to Richmond from Eugene
INF Brady Whalen activated from 7-day IL, assigned to Richmond
OF Ismael Munguia placed on 7-day IL

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Eugene Emeralds (21-17), T-1st Pl

+35 Run Differential

Eugene has the best run differential in the league at this point, though within a few runs of Spokane, with whom they are tied for first by percentage. Spokane has played two fewer games than Eugene. The Emeralds have done a lot of damage against the weaker teams in the league, as they have a losing record against teams that are >.500.

SORTABLE TABLES: HITTERS PITCHERS

NWL LEADERS*

Aeverson Arteaga: 2b (T-7th), 3b (T-5th), RBI (T-8th), BB (T-9th), FB% (7th) Pull% (6th)
Victor Bericoto: SLG (8th), Hits (7th), HR (T-7th), Runs (T-10th), RBI (T-8th), ISO (10th)
Damon Dues: OBP (10th), SB (T-7th), BB% (4th), BB/K (5th), SwS% (7th)
Jared Dupere: SB (T-10th), LD% (3rd), Pull% (7th)
Grant McCray: 3b (T-5th), HR (T-7th), Runs (1st), BB (8th), SB (3rd), FB% (2nd)
Wade Meckler: Hits (T-9th)
Adrian Sugastey: Avg (6th), K% (6th)
Luis Toribio: OPS (10th), HR (5th), RBI (T-4th), BB (T-9th), BB% (T-10th), ISO (8th), Pull% (2nd)
Logan Wyatt: HR (T-10th), BB (T-3rd), BB% (8th), BB/K (T-10th), FB% (6th), FB% (8th), SwS% (8th)

Hunter Dula: SV (T-3rd)
Seth Lonsway: LD% (9th), GB% (1st)
Matt Mikulski: LD% (1st)
Tyler Myrick: SV (2nd)
Carson Ragsdale: ERA (7th), FIP (2nd), SO (2nd), K% (1st), BB% (4th), K-BB% (1st), Opp Avg (6th), WHIP (2nd), LD% (2nd), SwS% (3rd)
Eric Silva: ERA (6th), IP (5th), Opp Avg (5th), WHIP (7th), BABIP (7th)
Nick Sinacola: FIP (7th), SO (T-3rd), IP (9th), K% (6th), BB% (8th), K-BB% (4th), WHIP (10th), SwS% (1st)

*Pitcher Innings Limit set at 20

McCray has the seventh highest swinging strike rate in the league (among qualified hitters) at 16.3%, which is probably the biggest factor in his slow start and something to watch as he develops.

TRANSACTIONS

RHP Ty Weber assigned to Eugene from Sacramento
OF Wade Meckler assigned to Richmond from Eugene
INF Edison Mora assigned to Eugene from San Jose

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San Jose Giants (24-15) 1st Pl, 3.0 GA

+65 Run Differential

Despite dropping their high scoring series in Stockton, San Jose has the best run differential in the league, topping even the mighty Dodgers/Quakes by ten runs to the positive.

SORTABLE TABLES: HITTERS PITCHERS

CAL LEAGUE LEADERS*

Thomas Gavello: Avg (9th), OBP (2nd), SLG (4th), OPS (1st), HR (5th), RBI (9th), ISO (4th), Pull% (1st), wRC+ (1st)
Matt Higgins: Avg (5th), SLG (5th), OPS (7th), Hits (T-3rd), HR (T-6th), Runs (T-8th), RBI (2nd), ISO (9th), LD% (8th), wRC+ (7th)
Carter Howell: Avg (2nd), Hits (1st), 3b (T-3rd), Runs (1st), SwS% (T-10th), wRC+ (T-10th)
Andrew Kachel: Avg (7th), OPS (10th), 2b (T-1st)
Zach Morgan: BB% (3rd), K% (10th), BB/K (2nd), Pul% (2nd), SwS% (1st)
Jose Ramos: 2b (T-4th), FB% (10th)
Alex Suarez: 3b (T-3rd)
Tanner O’Tremba: FB% (6th)
Diego Velasquez: Avg (6th), Hits (T-3rd), 2b (T-4th), Run (4th), RBI (4th), K% (9th)

Hayden Birdsong: ERA (4th), FIP (4th) SO (4th), K% (2nd), K-BB% (3rd), SwS% (9th)
Daniel Blair: ERA (7th), Opp Avg (3rd), WHIP (5th), BABIP (1st)
Jack Choate: FIP (3rd), SO (5th), K% (4th), K-BB% (5th), Opp Avg (9th), WHIP (T-10th), SwS% (3rd)
Dylan Cumming: SV (4th), GB% (8th)
William Kempner: Opp Avg (T-6th), BABIP (7th), LD% (8th)
Nomar Medina: BB% (10th)
Manuel Mercedes: BB% (6th), GB% (1st)
Liam Simon: FIP (7th), K% (5th), K-BB% (6th), LD% (9th), SwS% (4th)
Tyler Vogel: SV (T-8th)
Hayden Wynja: SV (T-8th)

*Pitcher Innings Limit set at 20

TRANSACTIONS

RHP Liam Simon placed on 7-day IL
INF Edison Mora assigned to Eugene from San Jose
RHP Miguel Yajure sent on rehab assignment to San Jose

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Coming Up

Sacramento (Harrison) vs Oklahoma City (Andriese), 6:45 pm, MiLBTV
Richmond (Teng) at Binghamton (Santos), 8:05 am, MiLBTV
Eugene (TBD) vs Everett (Alcantara), 6:35 pm, MiLBTV (we hope)
San Jose (Yajure) at Modesto (TBD), 7:05 pm, MiLBTV

Richmond is already most of the way through their game in Binghamton. Harrison goes up against the Dodgers for the third time already this year. Go see him!

Baseball is upon us once again.