minor lines, 4/12/10

Good: Brandon Belt
Bad: Tom Joseph
Ugly: Kyle Nicholson

Sir may I request a daily note of the Top Prospects?

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Also JAX

Wow, Matt Kinney is still in the organization?

I thought Sosa was starting. Anyone know if that was a recent conversion due to the injury (and if he’ll be starting again if he performs well or when he fully recovers) or if they’ve decided to move him to RP permanently?

Dominguez is off to a nice start, aside from not drawing a walk yet.

There’s Wendell!

WENDELL!

One small correction, Steve. Fairley’s three hits were all singles (though he did have 4 ribeyez!).

Casilla had his typical 3 ground outs outing. So far this year: 9 batters faced, 5 ground outs, 2 Ks. It’s starting to drive me a little nuts that they won’t try out a 20 year old with his peripherals as a starter.

Is Pablo’s brother still in one of our affiliates? I remember reading a small tidbit over summer and I’ve been anxiously waiting for a Panda infield.

Powey’s backup of the future? or replacement Whiteside in 2010?

I love getting pumped about prospects in San Jose. suddenly I believe in Belt and Fairley.

Light-tower power?

Stick a fork in Posey, he’s done.

Weather was a factor. Outfielders didn’t go for balls as easily as they might have if the field was dry. Juan Carlos Perez got stuck in the grass on a throw from the outfield because of the wet conditions.

Josh Collmenter has a very unorthodox motion; straight over the top, almost like he brings his pitching hand behind his head before throwing. He’s repeating the advanced-A level though, and I don’t recall seeing anything impressive from him.

He got many Giants to chase both high and low. Collmenter doesn’t throw hard but has motion on his pitches.

The home plate umpire was inconsistent. He called a lot of pitches low for Collmenter but not much for Kyle Nicholson.

Nicholson started out okay, ranging from 84-88 on the FB and 78-79 on the offspeed stuff. I saw 92 literally once. After he got rocked in the second inning, Nicholson’s control and velocity started to fall. It didn’t help that he wasn’t getting calls, either.

I was really impressed with Ryan Lormand at third base. He has good range and a good arm.

As for Adrianza, I’m still waiting to be impressed. The reports of his smooth defense are true. The guy makes his plays look effortless. One ground ball ate him alive when it bounced off his chest. He worked a walk in the third inning and later singled. He legged out the hit up the middle. He’s fast like Francisco Peguero.

Peguero on the other hand looks pretty good. He held the runner at third on a long hit to the outfield with a strong throw. He also worked his speed to stretch a solid hit into a triple and he stole a base. He almost beat out an infield hit at first.

Belt had a hitch in his swing at U of Texas that I didn’t like. That hitch has seemed to resolved, but there’s still something about his swing that doesn’t look quite right. He was the hitting star for the Giants with three hits, including a no-doubt-about-it home run. He took four straight balls to walk in his final at-bat. He played pretty well defensively at first, with a nice stretch on a throw from Lormand.

Sadly Juan Carlos Perez didn’t do much. I like him as a prospect so I’ll be watching him closely. He struck out twice and didn’t exhibit patience at the plate.

Johnny Monell had a hit and a walk, and his wasn’t so great behind the plate either. He dropped a ball trying to throw out a runner stealing.

Wendell Fairley had a good game with three singles and four RBIs. Two of those hits came with two outs.

I wasn’t watching Charlie Culberson as closely as the other guys, but he turned in a good game as well. He hit two doubles and turned a very good around the horn double play.

The Giants relievers did well. Ben Wilshire allowed the only run from the bullpen and sat in the low 90s on his FB with lateral movement. Eric Stolp pitched three innings and retired seven of the nine batters he faced. Scott Nestor was throwing pretty hard at 92-93 and he got a lot of swinging strikes low and away. He was effective throwing inside.

Game notes aside, the Visalia mascot Tipper (a cow) was in the house. I’d never seen a visiting team’s mascot before, except for Parker’s birthday party in Fresno last year and for the mascot party in SF at the All-Star Game in 2007. After he disappeared in the seventh inning, I told my boyfriend the Turkey Mike’s guys turned him into carne asada.

If anyone was there last night, they featured our first SF Dugout farm report on the video board. We put together video highlights of guys to watch around the system for every SJ homestand and the Giants play it before the first game. It was the best two minutes of my life. Check it out next time you’re there! We also have ads in the programs.

I’m going again Thursday night to interview Tommy Mendonca of the Bakersfield Blaze and to meet baseball author/journalist Michael Duca.

Richmond: C Jackson Williams: 1 for 3, BB, SO

Atta boy, son. Now would the rest of you get off the schnide before the home opener.