I will only attempt to predict the regulars at each full season affiliate, so here goes nothing:
Augusta Low A:
C- Dan Burkhart
1B- Sundrendy Windster
2B- Carlos Willoughby
3B- Kyle Mach ?? no real clue
SS- Ydwin Villegas
LF- Chuckie Jones
CF- Jarrett Parker
RF- Raphael Rodriguez
DH- Julio Izturis
Synopsis:
This lineup is the hardest for me to fill out because I don’t know who will play 3B or if they are still toying with putting Windster at 1B. This outfield would be really exciting to follow with Parker, RaphRod and Chuckie out there everyday. On the Infield, Carlos Willoughby really excites me as a 2B prospect with his blend of speed and OBP. Like Willoughsby, I am also intrigued by Julio Izturis with his high OBP and hope that they give him another look at shortstop. At the catcher position I expect Dan Burkhart to get most of the starts, but also like how Mike Murray from Wake Forest fared in his first year in the minors. This team has lots of high ceiling prospects and that outfield just oozes with potential.
San Jose A+:
C- Tommy Joseph
1B- Luke Anders
2B- Ryan Cavan
3B- Chris Dominguez
SS- Carter Juirca
LF- Nick Liles
CF- Gary Brown
RF- Ryan Lollis
DH- Hector Sanchez
Synopsis:
San Jose should be a good team next year with two top flight catchers in Joseph and Sanchez, however I expect this is the year where Light Tower Power will finally move over to 1B and get settled. Up the middle I think the double play combo of Cavan and Jurica will provide good pop and great defense. I had a hard time choosing between San Jose and Richmond for where Dominguez should start the year. I expect a monster year out of Dominguez if he is at San Jose, but think he would be better served getting challenged by facing better pitching in AA. This will be a slaphappy hitting outfield and will rarely strike out, but Brown should have a good year and steal a ton of bases. This team has a lot more polished players than in Augusta, but should be exciting.
Richmond AA:
1B- Josh Mazzola ?? no real clue if he's healthy now
2B- Charlie Culberson
3B- Jose Flores
SS- Ehire Adrianza
LF- Wendell Fairley
CF- Juan Perez
DH- Nick Noonan
Synopsis:
Richmond is where prospects sink or swim. I feel that Sabean won’t let just any hitter skip AA (unless you are Posey) and that is why both Culberson and Noonan will be here to prove their worth. At catcher, Monell has become one of the more consistent players in the system at putting up impressive power numbers no matter where he goes. The infield will anchored by Culberson after his nice AFL season and no one picks it like Ehire so seeing if he can maintain a respectable BA will be key for him. 3B is a big question mark now that Drew Biery has made the switch to catcher, but Flores has played there in the past and is coming off a great season in San Jose so I would give the first crack at it or maybe even Noonan or Culberson could slide over there. Who plays 1B Mazzola was pretty good a year ago, but I think he got hurt. The outfield has lots of potential with Peguero but it will be interesting to see if his swing happy approach will succeed at the AA level. Wendell and Perez will both be here trying to see if last year was a fluke or if it something they can build from. Like every year, Richmond will be where prospects learn how their career should play out.
Fresno AAA:
C- Jackson Williams
1B- Brandon Belt
2B- Emmanuel Burriss
3B- Connor Gillaspie
SS- Brandon Crawford
LF- Thomas Neal
CF- Darren Ford
RF- Roger Kieschnick
DH- Brett Pill
Synopsis:
This was the easiest lineup to fill out because the players that deserved a promotion got one and the fringe Giants filled out the rest of the spots. I like Belt and fully expect his ascent to the majors to be delayed until May or June just like Posey’s was to save his prospect clock. Burriss will be the starting 2B and will be the first to get called up when Freddy Sanchez tweaks something. Williams has been a very underwhelming, yet a consistent catcher since being taken in the supplemental round and really has backup catcher written all over him. Gillaspie and Crawford round out the infield and finally get a taste of AAA after surviving AA. I expect big things out of both of these guys. The outfield is pretty set with Neal and Ford, but Kieschnick could be here or in AA depending on how his spring goes. This is the first Fresno team that I can say that I am excited to check the entire box score for in quite a while and expect ounce back years from most of these players.
I tried to place the pitchers for each level but that got really tricky really fast so maybe someone else could do one of those lists.
Thanks for reading and please feel free to reply if you think something is missing or if you can help me better fill out these lineups.