minor lines, 6/18/11
by steve S on Jun 19, 2011 9:30 AM PDT
in They Might Be Giants
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PrintSaturday highlight from the Giants' farm: Andrew Kown 6.0 no-hit, shutout IP. Also notable, Joe Panik reached base four times.
AAA: Fresno defeated Sacramento 3-0
Fresno: 2B Edgar Gonzalez: 2 for 3, 2B, BB
Fresno: LF Thomas Neal: 2 for 4
Fresno: C Hector Sanchez: 1 for 3, 2B, BB
Fresno: SP Andrew Kown: 6.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
Gonzalez led the Grizzlies' offense with a double, single, and a walk. The 33-year-old, whose younger brother is the Red Sox' Adrian Gonzalez, is now hitting .298/.357/.422 through 218 AB. Also reaching base twice were Neal and Sanchez.
Kown had his most notable start of the season with 6.0 no-hit IP. He combined with three relievers for the shutout. He threw 102 pitches (55 strikes). The stats suggest that he tends to allow fewer hits but more walks than your average PCL starting pitcher. He has just 67 H but 34 BB in 82.1 IP this year.
AA: Richmond lost to Bowie 3-1
Richmond: DH Johnny Monell: 1 for 3, HR, SO
Richmond: SS Nick Noonan: 2 for 3
Richmond: SP Clayton Tanner: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K--1 WP
Richmond: RP Alex Hinshaw: 1.0 IP, 2 K
Monell had his 7th HR with two outs in the 8th inning, enabling the Flying Squirrels to avoid the shutout. Noonan had the Squirrels' other two hits, getting his AVG back above .230.
Tanner had a season-high 8 K while delivering another quality start. His ERA remains above 4.50, though. Hinshaw had 2 K in a perfect 9th inning.
A+: San Jose lost to Modesto 2-1
San Jose: CF Gary Brown: 0 for 2, BB, SH, SO
San Jose: SS Robert Haney: 1 for 3
San Jose: SP Chris Heston: 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K
Haney's single, just his second hit among 21 AB since being promoted to the Cal League, was one of just two hits for the Giants. Brown had unremarkable line.
Heston had a strong start, including a season-high 9 K and an 8/2 GO/FO line. His ERA is now just below 3.50 after a dozen starts. In his last two starts he has 17 K and 0 BB in 14.0 IP, raising his K/BB towards 4.00.
A-: Augusta hosting Asheville suspended by rain
(with Augusta leading 6-0 after four innings)
Augusta: 2B Carlos Willoughby: 1 for 3, HR
Augusta: LF Devin Harris: 2 for 2, 2B
Augusta: SP Taylor Rogers: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K--1 E
Willoughby, who has had 1 HR in each of his previous two seasons, had his 1st HR of this season. Harris had hit safely in both plate appearances.
Despite no strikeouts, Rogers delivered another strong start. He had a 7/1 GO/FO line as he further lowered his ERA to 2.27.
ssA: Salem-Keizer lost to Spokane 7-2
(allowing six runs in the 4th inning)
Salem-Keizer: SS Joe Panik: 3 for 4, BB, SB
Salem-Keizer: DH Kaohi Downing: 2 for 3, BB, SO
Salem-Keizer: SP Brandon Allen: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K--1 HB
After reaching base three times in his first pro game, Panik reached base four times in his second pro game. He also his 1st pro SB. Downing, the Giants' 50th rounder two years ago, reached base three times. This was his second pro game.
Allen, the Giants' 18th rounder a year ago who made just five appearances in the AZL last summer, began with three scoreless frames but then allowed three baserunners in the 4th inning before being removed from the game.
DSL: Giants defeated Mets 6-4
Dominican: 2B Shurendell Mujica: 2 for 4, HR, 3B, BB, SO
Dominican: SP Renzo Freite: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 K--1 WP
Mujica (20.2 y.o.), who is playing in his second DSL campaign, had his 1st pro HR. Freite (18.5 y.o.) made his first start after two relief appearances earlier this year. He allowed just one run despite allowing nearly two baserunners per inning.
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Why isn’t Panik starting at SS today for the big team?
Buster Posey: Let's enjoy him before he goes to the Yankees because he wants to win the World Series. Wait, what???
Only a singles hitter in low-A ball – that doesn’t translate to much in the majors. Besides, if Boch wants to bring him up, it should be as a 2B – he’d be more successful there.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.
I saw him!
His bat looked really good. Even his sole out was a slicing fly ball the other way that the left fielder had to run down. Solid contact every time, and he worked the count nicely, too. It was bit hard to tell from where I was sitting for most of the game, but it looked like he took some pretty close pitches.
Unfortunately, the 6 run fourth came about because of his throwing error. I don’t think it actually reflects poorly on him, as it was raining and I’m pretty sure he just lost the grip on a wet ball. But he didn’t get the runner with two outs, and the Indians dinked and dunked for several more runs until Brett Krill misplayed a single into a double for the last two runs on the only hard hit ball of the inning. Without that weird inning, it would have been a very close game.
The most interesting pitcher there was on the Indians – Matt West. After a lot of pitchers just sitting in the mid-80’s most of the night, West came in throwing 95-97. He blew away Joe Staley on high fastballs, and got Jones to pop out weakly for the last out. I have no idea if West is a real prospect or not, but he’s definitely a live arm.
I'm as tall as Mel. Why can't I hit 500 home runs?
My boy can’t handle the high heat.
My boy Joe Staley plays lineman on Sundays.
"I will never apologize for watching Bonds dominate" – Duane Kuiper
by Soulbrother16 on Jun 19, 2011 11:38 AM PDT up reply actions
Chuckie seemed to hit the ball hard 3 times, but only had the 1 single to right to show for it. Is that how it looked to you?
Also, I’m not sure what throwing error by Panik that you are referring to. According to the game recap the only throwing error in the 4th inning was by Chuckie Jones on a throw to the plate from LF. According to the recap, Panik didn’t even have a ball hit or thrown to him in the 4th inning. They do appear to show that John Eshelman misplayed a groundball at 3B with 2 outs that allowed the 2nd run of the inning to score and opened the floodgates to the final 4 runs of the inning. What did you see happen in the inninng? Here’s how they described it:
Braxton Lane singles on a ground ball to third baseman John Eshleman. Guillermo Pimentel scores. Carson Vitale to 3rd.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.
Yeah, Jones was hitting the ball pretty hard. Other than the one pop out at the end, every hit looked pretty solid.
I don’t know what to say about the recap, other than either I or the stadium crew was mistaken. The error calls look like hometown scoring advantage. Jones’s throwing error only allowed the hitter to advance to second, which he likely would have done anyway. The runner would have scored regardless. The groundball and missed throw (which was the real error of the inning) I thought was to Panik, not Eshleman. What I remember is Panik ranging to his right and in, and throwing on the run. It went wide, pulling the first baseman off the bag. It’s possible I missed who actually fielded the ball and Eshleman crossed in front of Panik to make the play. Had I kept score, I’d have a record of it, but it was too wet so didn’t I bother this time.
I'm as tall as Mel. Why can't I hit 500 home runs?
Since it was in the hole between 3rd and SS, maybe Eshleman deflected the ball to Panik, who picked it up and tried to get the runner at 1B? Do you remember it being a long and difficult throw, or was the fielder moving toward 1B when he threw it? If Panik had caught the ball in the hole he would have been moving away from 1B, whle Eshleman would have been moving toward 2B and had a much shorter and easier throw.
Another possiblility is that the Giants had a bit of a shift on against the hitter, Braxton Lane. I just checked and saw that Lane is a switch hitter who would have been batting LH against Matt Graham at the time. Maybe Panik was shifted over by 2B and Eshelman was closer to SS during the AB, so what you thought was Panik fielding the ball turned out to be Eshleman.
Of course, maybe the recap guy just screwed up the call.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.
Your second possibility, the shift, may have been the case. They moved Panik pretty agressively over toward second a number of times, and I may have just missed that detail. I’m almost positive the fielder was moving away from first as he threw, and that it was part of the reason for the offline throw.
Almost forgot, but Panik looked decent on the bases, too. He got a great jump on his steal of third. Between how they were running in this game and the way the Grizzlies have been running, I’m wondering if there’s an organizational emphasis on running that is getting passed down the ranks. They may have just been picking on the starting pitcher, too. Despite being a lefty they had no trouble getting good jumps on him.
I'm as tall as Mel. Why can't I hit 500 home runs?
Downing - fixed
Downing, the Giants’ 50th rounder two years ago, reached base three times. This was hissecondfirst pro game as purely a hitter.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.
how did our system get so bare?
I keep hearing about how the Giants have done such a good job in drafting, and no doubt the homegrown staff along with Sandoval and Posey have proven that point to some extent (also Nate, to some extent—definitely a solid but not spectacular player).
That said, we have perhaps two decent prospects at AAA (Belt and Neal), nobody really at AA, perhaps a few at San Jose (Brown, Wheller, Hembree, maybe Pegs, not sure on any others), and maybe a few others sprinkled here and there (Sanchez, etc).
I admit to not following minor league ball for other teams/organizations, so perhaps this is normal. I am just surprised that we have almost nobody at the higher levels of the organization ready to step in. How can the front office even entertain trading (for example) Sanchez? What if someone else in the rotation gets hurt? Whom would you call up then?
Not too many systems can handle the graduation of 4 high-impact guys like Romo, Sandoval, Buster and MadBum, and 1 lower-impact guy like Runzler over a 2-year time-frame (mid-2008 to mid-2010) without having to take a breather. Even with that, the system was still able to produce Belt and Crawford for the major league team this year. Something like that will thin out every system.
The main issue is that they’re very thin in AAA and AA, but there is a larger pool of good potenial prospects in the lower minors that will take a few more years to develop. You just don’t hear about them if you don’t follow the system closely. Hector Sanchez is a good example, it looks like Bobby Evans & Co. feel like he’s finally put things together and made the big leap all the way to AAA. He could be an impact player in the majors as soon as the end of next season.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.
ah I thought about Runzler but forgot to include him.
by North Side Chicago Expatriate Giants Fan on Jun 19, 2011 11:59 AM PDT up reply actions
I guess you guys are all right
perhaps I should have pointed to the lack of any hitters (aside from Posey).
The development of the pitching staff has been excellent, but we only have two hitters (Sandoval and Posey) that could be considered above average in the past 15 or so years. Nate is an average big league player, which is nice and you need guys like that, but even there we are woefully thin. Now that the upper minors is a little thin on pitching prospects, it appears that we would struggle to even trade our worst starter (Sanchez—granted, Zito is worse but he is pretty untradeable) for a bat (and likely even a middle of the road one at that).
It seems like we have a good plan for developing pitching but our approach to hitting has left a little to be desired.
+1
The lack of position players developed in the system is a long-standing sore point that can be laid directly at the feet of Sabean. He finally hired John Barr to take over the draft in 2008, and got the owners to put more money into scouting and the minor league system so we are seeing some positive signs all of a sudden. It will take several more years to see if the Giants have gotten that monkey off their backs.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.
2009: Sandoval had the highest WAR of any position player with <200 PA in previous seasons. He barely missed qualifying for Rookie of the Year
2010: Posey won R.O.Y.
2011: Belt was widely viewed as a favorite for R.O.Y., before his injury.
I’d say the recent history shows that position players are developing fairly well. Certainly pre-Panda, the Giants were lost, but I’d say the Barr experiment is coming along well.
Crawford shows promise. Matt Downs shows promise with the Astros.
Of course, Barr had nothing to do with Panda’s signing or success. That was an IFA deal and his development in the minors didn’t have anything to do with Barr or his department. We do have to give some credit to the player development side of the Giant front office. They’ve added guys and turned things up a notch over the past several years once Sabes started focusing his attention outside of developing pitchers again.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.
Graduation
Lincecum, Posey, Wilson, Sanchez, MadBum, Romo, Crawford (one of these things is not like the other) are all in the majors, all having been drafted since 2003.
Belt was in the majors, and I wouldn’t call him a “decent” prospect; he was a consensus top-50 prospect in baseball or higher. Neal had a hiccup in AA, but is hitting .328/.386/.453 in AAA – that’s decent – and has a career minor league OPS of .850.
Zack Wheeler is also very highly regarded, but he was drafted in 2009 as an 18-year-old, has been BA’s #49 and #55 prospect the last two years, just turned 21, and has 10.1 K/9 in high A this year. There’s also no reason to hurry him. Eric Surkamp is 23 and in AA with a 10.05 K/9 against a 2.9 BB/9 and a 1.88 ERA. There are a bunch of other interesting arms in the system such as Hembree (16.2 K/9 between high A and AA as a 22-year-old), Verdugo, Rosin, and more.
Gary Brown is tearing up high-A and vroooming all over the place, and he was not universally regarded as someone who had the bat for the pros.
So sure, it’s not the same as when Posey and Bumgarner were rocketing to the majors, but then again the team hasn’t picked in the top 10 the last two years either. Despite the Augusta and Richmond rosters looking fairly weak – and worse, old – there’s a good mix of talent in the system. And that’s with me disregarding any international FA signings like Peguero, Marte, Hector Sanchez, and another graduate to the bigs, Panda.
I also would love to have a more stacked system, but let’s be realistic; most teams aren’t going to have the KC Royals system, and would you like to trade their history for ours?
by North Side Chicago Expatriate Giants Fan on Jun 19, 2011 11:58 AM PDT up reply actions
Vogelsong has been a godsend for the team, as we now have 6 quality big-league starters (remember the Jeff Suppan plan? Yikes!).
Who’s next after that? It may have been Doug Mathis before he opted out and went to the A’s – not that he was an inspiring option. Next in line is probably one of Shane Loux or Andrew Kown, journeyman AAA guys posting 3.91 and 3.61 ERAs, respectively, for Fresno.
Next good pitcher in line would be Eric Surkamp, who is pretty well dominating AA.
by North Side Chicago Expatriate Giants Fan on Jun 19, 2011 12:03 PM PDT up reply actions
I think that Verdugo would be ahead of Surkamp at this point.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.
that’s probably true
by North Side Chicago Expatriate Giants Fan on Jun 19, 2011 12:18 PM PDT up reply actions
Verdugo’s had an ugly couple of starts lately. What’s with that. He is however, on the active roster, which would give him a leg up (pun intended) on Surkamp.
MY DAD WAS WRONG!
MY BOY NEEDS TO THROW HARDER!
What are the odds??
Both Shurendell Mujica and Carlos Willoughby hit HRs yesterday! The odds against that happening on the same day have to be astronomical
It was Mujica’s first HR of his pro career – encompassing 1.2 seasons, 76 games and 248 ABs.
It was Willoughby’s 3rd HR of his pro career – encompassing 4.4 seasons, 283 games and 868 ABs.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.
Duane Kiper probably took BP yesterday and hit one over the fence, too.
I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby.
by Tay on Jun 19, 2011 4:41 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
Burriss
this was discussed yesterday but I will re open it. There’s a chance Burris is improving. He is swinging harder this year—keeping his back foot dug in on the ground. Last year he usually was moving to first while swinging.
His hits and outs are actually propelled to the outfield. He’s not hitting for power, for sure.
Marvin Barrios, come on I'll show you your bedroom. Don't stay on the phone too long to Panama, please.
Ichiro moves to first while swinging
And it’s worked out pretty well for him. Burriss shouldn’t be trying to get power out of his stride, because he’s not going to hit homers. I’d prefer it if he tried to get the most out of his speed by getting out of the box ASAP and stopped trying to hit the ball far, just make solid contact and hit liners or grounders.
Seth Rosin can hit the side of a barn with a baseball. From space.
Giants baseball: We're stupid enough to WIN that (TM)
I wish he would be more patient at the plate, work more counts
and learn how to bunt.
Pulling the first and third baseman in would be a big help for him.
gah, my son
Adoptive father of 18th round draft pick and future ace, BRANDON ALLEN
by Nnamdi Asomugha on Jun 19, 2011 2:41 PM PDT reply actions
I was at Friday and Saturday’s games.
Brief thoughts:
- Monell’s HR was a pretty decent shot to LF-CF. He DH’ed both games that I saw, if that gives you any idea of his defensive troubles this year (14 passed balls, 51 SB vs. 11 CS). He’s listed at 5’11" but he looks much smaller. I thought he was Denker-ish in size. He was one of the few Squirrels to make hard contact.
- Tanner pitched decently. FB that ran 87-88 for the first 4-5 innings. He was in the mid-80’s near the end. Slurvy breaking pitch around 79 mph. It seemed like all of his K’s were fastballs up in the zone. Not sure how that approach will work out in the majors.
- Hinshaw looked pretty good. Fastball at 94-95 on the stadium gun. Mostly threw strikes.
- Physically, Chris Dominguez really looks like a MLB player. He was pretty big / solid looking. Most of the guys in AA looked undersized, not Dominguez.
- I had no idea Wes Hodges (starting 1B for the Squirrels in both games I saw) was even around in baseball.
- I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see Hembree pitch. Hector Correa looked pretty good. Correa was throwing 92-93 and he was changing speeds really well. It looked like he was throwing a slider around 80 mph. He threw a bunch of strikes.
- The Squirels wore these AWFUL Jimmy Buffet themed jerseys on Saturday since it was ‘Jimmy Buffet Night’ at The Diamond. Think hawain shirts, but in baseball uniform format. Gross. I snapped several pics of them that I will post later.
- I forgot how hot Richmond gets. I must have lost 4-5lbs by sweating alone. Also, you’ve got to love minor league ballpark prices. A 32oz beer ran me $8.75. I’ll take three.
Ask me about my blog.
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