Week 9 in Review: The Future(s Game) is Here!
Week 9 in Review: The Future(s Game) is Here!
There's a lot of Futurism coming on Sunday when both the Futures Game and Draft take place
Welcome to Free For All Tuesday here at There R Giants, where we take a look at the week that was around the Giants farm system. If you enjoy the weekly post and would like to become a There R Giants’ subscriber, you’re in luck, because today is the final day of my 4th of July sale! In addition to the daily posts, we’ll have some draft content coming up this week and I’ll be rolling out a new look at the top 30 soon! So it’s a great time to join.
2021 Futures Game
Like our good friends in San Jose, we’re keeping our eyes on the future every day here, which makes this week’s news so gratifying. Richmond outfielder Heliot Ramos and San Jose shortstop Marco Luciano will head to Denver to take part in this year’s Futures Game.
For Ramos, this will be his third time to the top prospect showcase in the game. Asked about the honor after the announcement this week, Ramos talked about how much he enjoyed the people and the environment in his previous trips, but noted “of course, this time I want to start the game if I can.” Heliot is a perfect 2 for 2 in his Futures Game career with two singles and hopes to keep his perfect record going this year. “I’ll do my best,” he said. “I’m trying to get a line drive, I’m trying to get a double. I want the extra-base hit this time.”
Ramos also talked about all of the talent on the Giants’ A ball teams, including his 2021 Futures Game travel-mate Luciano, saying that Luciano, Alex Canario, and several other of the Giants standout prospects in A ball have a good chance to be talented big leaguers. Ramos and Luciano will get to showcase that talent before a national audience this Sunday. The two come to the game in very different contexts as Luciano has been tearing up Low-A with home runs in five of his past seven games. Ramos, on the other hand, has been working through a rough patch that saw his numbers drop precipitously throughout the month of June, when he hit .155/.261/.268. I talked with Richmond hitting coach Doug Clark about Ramos on last week’s podcast and I think Clark’s response about the difficult and lonely mental struggles that can accompany such a slump was really illuminating. As Clark repeatedly noted, the minors are a place to learn to problem solve, because that is the skill that keeps players in the majors, where the most talented players in the world will relentlessly probe a player’s every weakness, constantly seeking a competitive advantage. Big leaguers aren’t immune to slumping; they’re just much quicker at problem solving their ways out of a scuffle. And those are the skills Ramos is learning now — and which Luciano will need to learn, too, as he rises.
For now, though, both of these talented young players get their chance to impress on the national stage! The Futures Game hasn’t often been kind to Giants prospects, but maybe this will be the year that our guys are the story!
Are the Big Moves Finally Coming?
Every week, I post the Week in Review Tuesday morning, only to watch a bevy of personnel moves get announced later in the day. Time to be proactive about this and guess who’s going to be on the move in the coming hours! So let’s take a look at the candidates.
As noted above, Marco Luciano has been hot! Have you noticed? If I asked you how hot he was in the month of June, what would you guess his OPS was? Go ahead, guess. I’ll just stop writing here and wait…
Did you guess that it was over 1.000? Yes! The teenaged prodigy posted a 1.026 OPS in June on the strength of a .398 OBP and an eye-popping .628 SLG! Perhaps even more impressive for a young slugger, since June 1 he has nearly a 1 to 1 BB:K ratio with 21 walks and 25 K. I’ve been speculating all week that it appears his time in Low-A may be coming to an end. The trip to the Futures Game often marks a convenient moment to promote top talent since they’re on the move anyway, so I wouldn’t be shocked to see Luciano head to Eugene upon his return from Denver.
The bigger question is: are the Giants ready to move Will Wilson up to Richmond to make room for Marco in Eugene’s lineup? That’s slightly trickier questions, as Wilson has cooled down from the red-hot hitter he was in May, but has still been a productive and powerful hitter in June. Though Wilson hit just .232 in June, he still posted an OPS near .800 and hit for excellent power for a middle infielder. He homered in three straight games June 19-22, and last week was an extra-base machine against the Hops, hitting three doubles, a triple and a home run (to briefly take the High-A West home run lead with 10).
The Squirrels have already seen one player move up this week, as Sacramento announced yesterday that RHP Norwith Gudino had joined the River Cats. The arrival over the past few weeks of Jose Marte and RJ Dabovich has lessened the opportunities for late innings relief work for Gudino, who has been having a sensational season. Gudino has gotten a called or swinging strike on 37% of his pitches this year — one of the highest such rates in the Double-A Northeast league. The long-time farmhand has definitely taken a big step up in his development this year and is definitely starting to look like a guy who could fill some major league innings at some point. I’ve also heard that Richmond infielder Kyle Mottice has been released. So there are spots opening on the Richmond roster for the coming week.
The timing of the Futures Game throws a wrinkle into all of this, but my guess is that the Giants have seen enough from Wilson to punch his ticket to Double-A. I’m guessing he’s joining the Squirrels today, with Luciano coming up to High-A either today or in a week when he’s done with the Futures Game festivities. Now also seems like the right time for Wilson to take his oft-MIA teammate Diego Rincones with him to Richmond. Rincones, who played for Richmond manager Jose Alguacil on the Venezuelan national team that failed to make the playoffs, has been the most productive hitter on the Eugene squad when he’s been there. With Armani Smith, Heath Quinn, and Brett Auerbach recently joining the Emeralds, there’s more than enough OF depth around — time for Diego to move on.
Now how Richmond fits Rincones into an OF that includes Ramos, Sandro Fabian, Vince Fernandez, and Jacob Heyward is a different question, but with Ramos taking some time off at the end of the week to get to Denver and back, perhaps they don’t need to worry about that just yet. There will also be the question of how San Jose is going to fill the Luciano void and who from the complex league is ready to try to make that jump (Jean Peña?)? But that’s a topic for another day (suffice it to say, I won’t be surprised to see San Jose’s record to take a downward turn in the second half!)
It’s Time for the Draft!
As if the Futures Game isn’t enough excitement for one week, MLB has managed to pile the 2021 Draft onto the same Day! It’s all part of MLB’s efforts to get some synergy going around these prospect-related events, tying everything into the All Star Weekend. The Futures Game (which has been sadly shortened to a 7-inning affair) will begin at 11 am and should be done early afternoon. That gives you time to shift your attention to the first day of the 2021 MLB draft, which will begin at 7 pm the same night.
As it has been for several years, the draft will span over three days, with the first round taking place on Sunday the 11th, rounds 2-10 on Monday the 12th, and rounds 11-20 coming on Tuesday afternoon, prior to the All Star Game.
Look for some dedicated draft content coming later this week at There R Giants, but just to whet your appetite, what might we look forward to when the Giants #14 pick comes on Sunday night?
Here’s how the top tier of the draft seems to be shaking out:
Historic High School Shortstop crop: It’s seeming highly likely that four of the first 10 picks of the draft will be high school shortstops (in some order, Marcelo Mayer, Jordan Lawler, Khalil Watson, Brady House) leading the charge on what is almost certain to be the largest 1st round class of high school shortstops in draft history. If you know anything about me, it’s probably that I drool over a good high school shortstop pick, and I’ve done more than a little grieving over Watson’s rise up and above the Giants pick. But all of this group will be gone when the Giants pick.
Strong group of College Pitchers: If you follow baseball at all, you know all about the incredible pair of Vanderbilt pitchers Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, who headline this year’s college pitching crop and will also likely be gone somewhere in the first half dozen picks. But beyond that pair, there is a group of college arms that is likely to be going off in the 5-15 range, any of whom could fall into the Giants sweet spot. This group includes Texas right hander Ty Madden, Miami (Ohio) right-hander Sam Bachman, and Kansas State’s Jordan Wicks, the class’ best left-hander (and only real college lefty worthy of a top round pick). Madden and Bachman boast power arsenals with some of the best fastball velo in the class, though there is also some reliever risk questions that dog both. Wicks has possibly the best changeup in the class, but doesn’t evoke a ton of passion about his repertoire otherwise (though the fastball spin rate is exceptional). Where the class really gets interesting is in two guys known for their elite strike throwing capabilities, University of Mississippi’s Gunnar Hoglund and UC Santa Barbara’s Michael McGreevy. Hoglund, a supplemental 1st round pick of the Pirates in 2018, has long been known for his exceptional command, but he showed up this year with a more mature body and greater strength, and began pairing that plus command with stuff that was boosting his stock into a top 10 pick. Those hopes ended when he went down with an elbow injury and underwent Tommy John surgery, but for teams willing to take on the risk of TJ rehab, he could end up representing one of the best values of the middle of the 1st round. McGreevy has come out of nowhere to fly up boards based on a similar profile — a plus plus strike thrower whose stuff is ticking upwards. Because he’s a Santa Barbara Gaucho, there’s a lazy tendency to connect him to Shane Bieber, who underwent a similar metamorphosis from soft-tossing strike thrower to one of the best pitchers in the majors. It’s a stretch to assume McGreevy will add that much velo after turning pro, but smart teams are really starting to look at command profiles like this and assume they can boost the velo up through modern training techniques.
Weak College Bats this Year: If you hear scouts or prospectors bemoan this year’s draft class, it’s because of the relative lack of impact college bats. This is the favorite phylum for most teams because it typically brings the least risk and the greatest track record of success. But the cupboards are a little bare this year, possibly due, in part, to the loss of most of these kids’ sophomore years and wood bat summer leagues like the Cape Cod League due to COVID. There is, however, a small group of college bats likely to rise to the top. Louisville catcher Henry Davis is in the conversation for the 1-1 pick, and will probably go off somewhere in the top 5. Behind him, there’s a small group of players who might represent the widest range of possible destinations: Boston College CF Sal Frelick, UCLA SS Matt McLain, and Sam Houston State OF Colton Cowser. As the class’ best college bats, they’re likely to rise to the top as draft day approaches. Early in the year, Frelick appeared to be moving into top 5 range and McLain dropping to the back half of the 1st round, but as the college season’s came to a close, both of those positions reversed as teams began to express worry over Frelick’s power potential and McLain returned from a wrist injury to mash. The likeliest scenario is that both of these guys go by around pick 11 or 12. Cowser is more of a question mark as he seems to be the best college bat over whom scouts are least enthusiastic. He has always performed though, and brings a tremendous track record of success. The Giants first two years under Farhan Zaidi has seen them go college bats at the top, and if they want to do that again this year, Cowser is likely to be the best one still on the board.
High School Pitching: I don’t believe the Giants are overly dogmatic about their approach to the draft, but if there’s a phylum I’d assume they’d steer furthest from in the top of the draft, it’s High School pitcher, the riskiest group of the bunch. At this point, it looks like Oklahoma right-hander Jackson Jobe has separated himself from the class thanks to his extraordinarily high spin rates on his slider (although in an era of Spider Tack crackdown, do we know what that means exactly?). He’ll probably be the one high school pitcher off the board when the Giants draft, and the only one I’d think they’d take a chance on if he were still around. Strapping Florida right-hander Andrew Painter will likely be the second off the board, but I’d expect he’ll go after the Giants picks.
The Wild Cards: If you’ve been following all of this so far, you may have noticed that all of the guys that really get teams excited are likely to have left the board when the Giants #14 pick comes around, leaving a few players who bring legitimate first round talent, but don’t perhaps fire up scouts enthusiasms (like Madden and Cowser). Perhaps this is the reason that the Giants have been so heavily connected this spring with a second group of toolsy but very raw high school position players. This is a group of kids who get great tools grades from scouts, but haven’t really put the performance together to launch them into that top 10 group of shortstops. In various insider mocks this year, we’ve seen the Giants connected heavily with Pennsylvania OF Benny Montgomery, Georgia two way player Bubba Chandler (who will be costly as he’s also committed to play QB for Clemson next year), Georgia high school catcher Harry Ford (who, somewhat like Tyler Soderstrom seems to have the athleticism and even speed to play other positions), and even a rising Indiana shortstop named Colson Montgomery.
There seems to be some real smoke here, enough to make me think that the Giants really are off the top college bats. All of these high schoolers bring some monster physical tools along with some questions about the offensive potential. All are fast and tremendously athletic, and a smart, confident development-oriented organization (like the Giants?) might well look at the up-the-middle athleticism and assume it can get the offensive performance to come out. It sounds to me like the Giants really are on Benny Montgomery if he’s there at 14. If he’s not, then the question becomes whether they like the upside play of either Hoglund or McGreevy better than the next best high school kid in this group.
The Giants don’t have a ton of money this year (due to limited number of picks and their mid-round drafting position), which might well make Chandler non-feasible for them. My magic 8 ball is leaning towards a Montgomery/Hoglund toss up. We shall see!
As I say, I’ll have a supplementary post out later this week that breaks all of these players down in a little greater detail, but if you’re really interested in getting into the nuts and bolts of the draft class, I encourage you to check out my friend Brian Recca’s draft board — which really is an incredible resource (his favorite, by the way, is Ford).
And one last thing — I’ll go out on a limb and predict that the Giants use one of their 2nd-3rd round picks on northern California high school shortstop Davis Diaz. The Lafayette, CA high school player seems to have been crafted in a laboratory by the Giants — he’s a local kid who has posted huge OBP on Team USA international teams since he was 12 years old (highlighted by his team high .514 OBP for the 15-U Team USA that won a World Cup Championship in 2018 in Panama). Diaz isn’t particularly toolsy, but he’s known for recognizing strikes, making good swing decisions, and playing smart. Sounds like a winner!
I, of course, am also rooting for the Giants to call the name of one of the all time greatest Legacy Giants: Cal’s Darren Baker, who doesn’t look like this anymore!
Sacramento River Cats: 23-29
(3-3 week)
Transactions:
Delete LHP Anthony Banda traded to NY Mets in exchange for 3b Will Toffey
Add Will Toffey
Add RHP Logan Webb began rehab assignment
Delete RHP Gregory Santos (suspended 80 games)
Add INF Mauricio Dubon (re-assigned from San Francisco)
Delete INF Thairo Estrada (re-assigned to San Francisco)
Delete OF Jaylin Davis (finished rehab assignment, return to San Francisco 40 man and active roster)
Add RHP Norwith Gudino (re-assigned from Richmond)
Delete C Chadwick Tromp (recalled to San Francisco)
The River Cats continue their trend of combining one of their league’s worst records with one of its best run differentials, and last week was an seminar in how they’re accomplishing the trick. Over the last seven games, Sacramento won three games by a total of 23 runs, while losing four by a total of six runs. In two of those losses they entered the 9th with a lead but the bullpen couldn’t nail down a save (like last night: see below!). In fact, the staff allowed seven 9th inning runs in the four losses overall. Seems like it’s a good thing Norwith Gudino is coming to town!
Sacramento’s troubles this year are pretty easy to diagnose. The team is second in the league in runs scored (357), total bases (960), batting average (.293), OBP (.371), SLG (.507) — you name it, pick an offensive category and the River Cats are likely the second best unit in the league, just behind first-place Reno. But the run prevention unit has been dismal — particularly given the fact that they play their home games in one of the more pitching-friendly environments in the league. Their average Runs per Game (6.25) is only 5th in the league, just below league average (6.18), but all five clubs who are worse than them share a Rocky Mountain High or desert elevation home environment. While Sacramento’s staff does lead the Triple-A West in strikeouts (530), it also leads the league in walks (286), a deadly category in which to lead such an offense-friendly league.
Sacramento started with what they thought was a ton of starting pitching depth, but one by one most of those candidates have been winnowed away — Nick Tropeano, Shun Yamaguchi, Scott Kazmir was gone and back again. This week came the trade of Anthony Banda, who struggled to a 6.86 ERA this year, allowing four or more earned runs in five of his 10 appearances. This week, Banda, who still throws fairly hard if not effectively, was shunted off to the Mets in return for 3b Will Toffey. Toffey is an above average defensive 3b with a strong arm and some raw power. The Vanderbilt alum has, naturally, excellent plate discipline and a strong control of the strike zone, but he’s struggled to hit as a pro, managing just a career .235 batting average over five seasons. He was hitting just .178 with Double-A Binghamton this year (in case you were interested, he went 1 for 7 with 5 K against the Flying Squirrels this week).
What You Should Remember About the Week that Was:
Decision points on various rehab assignments came to their pressure points. Jaylin Davis finished his rehab with a vengeance, blasting 7 HR in 12 games and more or less forcing the issue. Sadly, it appears that Davis’ stint back on the Active Roster might have been terribly short-lived, but he certainly earned his way back with a powerful rehab stint.
RHP Tyler Beede, on the other hand, is making decisions tougher and tougher for the Giants. With probably just one more start to make before his rehab must come to its final end, he still shows no ability to command his fastball. Beede has walked 32 batters in his 35 innings of work this year, and his misses within the strike zone have done nearly as much damage to his line as he’s also allowed 36 hits — that’s basically two baserunners per inning! No wonder his ERA is pushing 7.00. I know the Giants were counting on him being part of the mix this year, but this version of the pitcher is not looking like an asset at the major league level. Still, the stuff is still there and strong. A full year of rehab at Sacramento could be the ticket to getting a productive pitcher for 2022 out of him.
Finally, let’s remember the lots and lots and LOTS of home runs the Cats hit this week — 14 in all! Jason Vosler and Arismendy Alcántara led the charge with three each, while seemingly half the team added at least one more. Even Braden Bishop got in on the act, slamming two home runs and two doubles high off the wall. Bishop is slugging .573 with Sacramento this year — his previous career high slugging percentage was .486 in Tacoma in 2019. Apparently, Hunter’s big bro likes being a member of the Giants’ organization!
But you probably want to see a little Joey Bart action before we go as well. Bart was hit on the foot by a painful Jesus Luzardo fastball earlier in the week, but he was back in the lineup last night, so that’s a disaster avoided! Here ya go, have a homer:
Richmond Flying Squirrels: 29-25
(3-3 Week)
Transactions:
Delete C Bruce Maxwell (placed on 7-day IL)
Delete INF Shane Matheny (placed on 7-day IL)
Add C Brandon Martorano (re-assigned from Eugene)
Add RHP Sean Hjelle (returned from 7-day IL)
Delete RHP Norwith Gudino (re-assigned to Sacramento)
Richmond also managed to sneak into a positive run differential by week’s end — which means all four full season clubs are scoring more than they allow on the year. The Squirrels apparently didn’t get my memo about how they should get healthy against one of the worst pitching staffs in the Double-A Northeast. They dropped their first two games of the series by a discouraging 11-4 mark overall. After a rainout on Thursday, however, they began turning the series around. They pushed the first game of a Friday double-header to extra-innings thanks to Simon Whiteman’s dramatic game tying run in the bottom of the 7th (the final scheduled inning). They lost that game, but Whiteman would loom large over the rest of the weekend, as Richmond stormed back to win the final three games. The speedy Yalie would go 6 for 14 over the final three days of the series, including three RBI doubles and his first Double-A home run to help the squad rescue a split of the series. Whiteman is leading the Giants system in stolen bases (by a lot!) with 23 swipes this year against just 2 times caught stealing. Don’t sleep on speed and defense as a carrying tool! Whiteman might just have the right stuff in him in a Kelby-sort of way.
While Whiteman and teammates were providing the big hits, what really drove the team’s split was strong starting pitching over the final three frames. Caleb Kilian continues to grow and dominate Double-A hitters. After struggling to put batters away in his first two or three starts at this level, he’s been collecting strikeouts by the bushel lately — 33 strikeouts (against just 2 walks) over his last four starts, during which time he’s averaged more than 6 innings per game. Quite a year the former Red Raider is having. Richmond also got their best start from former Ray Michael Plassmeyer, and a very welcome return to the hill from Sean Hjelle on Sunday helping lead them to three straight wins over Binghamton.
What You Should Remember About the Week that Was:
The Big Crunch went OFF! After providing back to back dramatic home runs to win games in Hartford, Frankie Tostado continued pounding the ball this week against Binghamton — he read the memo! The fan-favorite 1b went 8 for 23 in the series with two doubles, a triple, and a home run, often providing the only really impactful swings of the bat for a listless looking offense at the beginning of the season. I talked with Richmond hitting coach Doug Clark about Tostado in last week’s podcast, and one thing Doug had to say about Frankie was “he doesn’t shrink from any challenge.” Tostado was given one of the most challenging assignments in the organization this year, jumping over High-A straight to Double-A. He kept his head above water through the first couple of months of the season and now he’s starting to thrive. You can also see in the following clip how much energy he provides for both his teammates and the fans.
Heliot Ramos got to celebrate his third trip to the Futures Game this week, but on the field it continued to be a slog for the talented 21-year-old. He finished the month of June with just a .529 OPS, and started July similarly. Finally on the 4th of July, Ramos collected his first two-hit game since May 30, whacking his 6th home run of the year out to right field and adding a single. Ramos still seems to be sitting on outside breaking balls that he can hammer to the opposite field while teams continue to pound him with fastballs up and in that he is not catching up to. Bat speed isn’t the issue, but as Clark said, he’ll have to problem-solve his way out of this puzzle. Right now he’s just not on time for most anything. Maybe a trip to Denver and some time talking with his most talented contemporaries will clear his mind and help him work his way out of the mire.
Eugene Emeralds: 33-20
(3-3 week)
Transactions:
Add OF Diego Rincones (from temporary inactive list/Olympic qualifying)
Add C/INF/OF Brett Auerbach (re-assigned from San Jose)
Delete C Brandon Martorano (re-assigned to Richmond)
Delete RHP Preston White (retired)
Add 2b Nolan Dempsey (re-assigned from ACL Black)
Eugene’s week was diametrically opposed to Richmond’s. They picked up three exciting victories at the start of the week — stretching a streak of domination over the Hillsboro Hops to 10 straight wins. But Hillsboro was finally able to put a stop to torture, and once they got that Wins spigot opened, they just kept on pouring them out, taking the final three games of the series. Not surprisingly, some of Eugene’s issue was again the opposite of Richmond’s, as starters Conner Nurse and Kai-Wei Teng (as well as Sunday’s bulk innings pitcher Nick Avila) all faltered in their starts over the weekend.
What You Should Remember About the Week that Was:
I believe my June 30 post, headlined: “I Declare the Armani Smith breakout is ON!” speaks for itself. The athletic outfielder, who was considered something of a “Hunter Bishop light” when the Giants took him in the 7th round of the 2019 draft, has been a heavy hitter in his first full season. Though scouts wondered how well his hit tool would play in the pros, Smith has been proving doubters wrong so far with a career .306 average. He’s hit .319 this year with San Jose and Eugene and keeps getting better as he rises. I’m sure the Giants would like to see the K rate stop rising (it’s gotten up to 29% in High-A) and the BB rate rise a little more (7.7% in High-A), but the power and impact hitting has certainly been a joy to see. And Smith is an excellent defensive player and base-runner as well. Smith enjoyed a two-homer day on Wednesday and came right back with another deep shot on Thursday, giving him eight for the season so far.
This is definitely a guy to follow:
The Emeralds got another of San Jose’s key spark plugs mid-week when multi-purpose Brett Auerbach was promoted to High-A (in the wake of Brandon Martorano’s promotion to Richmond). Auerbach brought a near-.500 OBP from San Jose, as well as an infectious, high-energy style of play wherever he is on the field.
San Jose Giants: 36-18
(3-3 week)
Transactions:
Delete Brett Auerbach (re-assigned to Eugene)
Add Rodolfo Bone (re-assigned from Arizona complex)
Add RHP Abel Adames (re-assigned from ACL Black)
Add 3b Tyler Wyatt (re-assigned from ACL Orange)
Delete 1b Garrett Frechette (re-assigned to ACL Orange)
What a surprise: once again San Jose is dominating the Player of the Week honors in the Low-A West. That’s now four straight weeks that the Giants have had at least one of the league’s honors and the second time over the last month that they’ve swept them. It’s quite a run of dominance for a team that went a white-hot 19-7 in the month of June. And, of course, this week’s honor is perhaps just a little bit more delicious given that it’s the prized possession of the farm system taking center stage.
Marco Luciano homered five times in a six game stretch this week and the 19-year-old now leads all of the Low-A leagues with 14 long balls. There are only eight hitters in all of minor league baseball with more home runs than Luciano (the Angels Jo Adell and Miami’s Griffin Conine lead the minors with 17) and only one other teenager has gotten to double digits — Seattle’s Noelvi Marte has 10. Luciano is looking, in other words, very VERY much like the most powerful young hitter in baseball, exactly like the kid we were expecting him to be. For the year, he’s hitting .274/.373/.581 and hitting monstrous, towering blasts everywhere he goes. The prodigy is hitting more like a 27 year old fully formed power hitter than a teenager, and it’s very exciting to watch!
What You Should Remember About the Week that Was:
Please re-read the introductory paragraph again! That was it! Remember that!
Oh, but if you insist, let’s take a moment to note that the powerful Giants lineup added an intriguing new bat this week when OF Carter Williams joined in on the fun. I have to be honest, the undrafted free agent out of North Carolina Central was entirely off my radar until Eric Longenhagen noted how impressive he looked in XST on the podcast last month. Since that first mention, Williams has introduced himself loudly to pro ball, going 15 for his 45 professional at bats. Williams had a big week in Stockton over the past four days, bashing his first four professional homers, including his first multi-dong day.
Sadly, not all the stories are happy ones. I was very excited to see what Garrett Frechette would do at this level this year — but Low-A proved too much for the young 1b, and with the complex leagues started up, he has now returned to Scottsdale to play for the ACL Giants Orange. Biggest bummer of San Jose’s highly successful season for me.
Arizona Complex League
Giants Black: 3-2
Giants Orange: 3-2
Transactions:
Add OF Luis Alexander Basabe (B) (re-assigned from Sacramento on rehab)
Delete RHP Abel Adames (B) (re-assigned to San Jose)
Delete 3b Tyler Wyatt (O) re-assigned to San Jose)
Add 1b Garrett Frechette (OR) (re-assigned from San Jose)
Transfer C Omar Medina (from Black to Orange)
Add RHP Lisander De La Cruz (B) assigned from no roster
Two new teams started action this week down in the desert and we got our very first look (well, box scores anyway) of a new class of international prospects. We’ll talk about this a little more just below, but Aeverson Arteaga, Anthony Rodriguez, Adrian Sugastey, Manuel Mercedes, and Esmerlin Vinicio all made their professional debuts this week in the Complex Leagues — and most of them have had good success off the bat. But let’s get to that when we discuss…
About Last Night
Sacramento lost @ Las Vegas Aviators (A’s), 4-3
Notable Lines:
Joey Bart C: 1 for 3, 2b, (9), RBI, BB
Jason Krizan 3b-1b: 1 for 3, 2b (14), RBI, BB
Kervin Castro: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Jay Jackson: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Trevor Gott: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 K, 1 HR BS (1)
Sacramento’s offense had a quiet night — their first without a home run in more than a week — but it would have been enough to secure the win had Trevor Gott not noticed that he was facing an A’s affiliate and immediately coughed up a walk-off home run to A’s OF prospect Cody Thomas. Yep, must have caused Gott some PTSD. It’s a cheap joke because Gott has been quite good for the River Cats this year — this was just his second longball that he’s allowed on the year.
Prior to Gott’s rough ending, Sacramento had gotten more than four tremendous innings of work from Kervin Castro and Jay Jackson. Castro has really turned his season around after a rough start, and is now looking very much like a guy who could provide valuable big league innings in the not-too-distant future — just as the Giants envisioned when they added him to the 40-man. Jackson has a history of being a below average strike thrower in previous organizations, but he’s been nearly perfect for Sacramento since coming off the IL, striking out 15 and walking none in 9 innings of work. He’s allowed just two of the 29 batters he’s faced to reach base.
ACL Giants Orange defeated ACL Cubs 9-8
Notable Lines:
Aeverson Arteaga SS: 2 for 4, 2b (3), HR (1), 2 Runs, 2 RBI, BB, K
Kwan Adkins LF: 2 for 4, HR (1), 2 Run, 2 RBI, BB, K, SB (1), Assist
Adrian Sugastey C: 1 for 4, 2b (1), 3 RBI, BB, 2 K
Anthony Rodriguez 3b: 2 for 3, 2b (2), Run, BB, K, HBP
Manuel Mercedes: 4.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, HR
Willian Suarez: 3.0 IP, 4 H 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 3 WP
ACL Giants Black defeated ACL Rockies, 5-0
Notable Lines:
Alexander Suarez CF: 1 for 4, HR (1), Run, RBI, 2 K
Najee Gaskins LF: 2 for 3, 2 HR (2), 2 Runs, 2 RBI
Esmerlin Vinicio: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 4 K, W (1-0)
Aeverson Arteaga got the Giants highest signing bonus of the 2019 J2 class largely thanks to his sterling defensive reputation, but he’s gotten off to quite a powerful offensive start in his first week of pro ball, going 9 for 21. That includes three doubles, so far, and last night the young shortstop went deep for his first professional home run! The athletic Arteaga (whose father is a professional basketball player) has the defensive actions to stick at shortstop, but the questions surrounding him as he prepared to start his career have concerned the bat, so it’s great to see him getting off to such a start.
Arteaga’s long ball was part of an offensive explosion for the complex teams which powered five home runs and three doubles last night. Alexander Suarez, who had four hits in his first two games of the year, went deep for the first time this season (he also had one home run in his short debut in the DSL in 2019). Najee Gaskins, whom I wrote about several times last year as having one of the more intriguing statistical years of 2019, went deep twice last night, the first two homers of his pro career. At 23, Gaskins is too old for this level, but he went to a very small school (St. Cloud University, Minnesota) and doesn’t have the experience of a normal college player. Another small school athlete, the former two-sport star Kwan Adkins provided a genuine “Toolsy Trio” last night, going deep for his first home run, stealing his first base of the year, and throwing a batter out at home. He, too, is way too old for rookie ball (24), but his all-fields power makes him an intriguing player to watch.
On the mound last night, both of the 2019 J2 prized pitching prospects started for the second time and both had inconsistent but impressive efforts. LHP Esmerlin Vinicio has an inconsistent relationship with the strike zone so far as he’s both walked and struck out 7 batters in his 9 innings. But he’s also proved incredibly difficult to hit, as he’s given up just one hit in each of his two starts. Vinicio went five strong last night, which got him his first professional win, and he’s still sitting on a perfect 0.00 ERA. Vinicio has a lot of maturing to do physically, but his loose, quick arm action make him a very exciting kid to follow.
The same is true of RHP Manuel Mercedes. Though he’s been touched up more than Vinicio, allowing six earned runs so far in his 9 innings of work, the electric arm is one to salivate over. As Longenhagen said, you just don’t see a delivery this loose all that often. This is from his first start of the year on Tuesday:
What’s On Tap?
Sacramento (Scott Kazmir) @ Las Vegas (TBD), 7:05 pm, MiLBTV
Richmond (Trenton Toplikar) @ Bowie (TBD), 3:35 pm, MiLBTV
Eugene (Seth Corry) vs. Everett (Juan Then), 7:05 pm, MiLBTV
San Jose (Kyle Harrison) vs. Fresno (Andrew DiPiazza), 6:30 pm, MiLBTV
ACL Giants Black (Jorge Garcia) vs. ACL D’backs, 6:00 pm, No Video
ACL Giants Orange (Luis Moreno) @ ACL Athletics (TBD), 6:00 pm, No Video
Vinicio may have gone to the bump last night, but there are still plenty of talented lefties to keep an eye on tonight when Scott Kazmir, Seth Corry, and Kyle Harrison all get the starts. Corry and Harrison will both continue their quests to temper their wandering fastballs in crucial series openers against their teams’ biggest competition. Eugene goes up against first place Everett, while San Jose tries to hold off 2nd place Fresno. These are likely the four most talented teams in their respective leagues, so this is a big week for the A ball folks. Hopefully, we’ll see Corry do more of this, and less of that other thing:
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Great work, Roger! I’ll save the bulk of my questions or comments about the draft for your post about it, but I’d certainly be disappointed if Montgomery or Cowser were the Giants’ pick. Ford or Watson would fantastic but likely unavailable. I’m warming to to McGreevy; if both he and Hoglund were available, who would you choose?