MLB prospects & minor leagues

SF Giants Minor Lines, 5/5

Wins so nice, they did it twice.

By Roger May 6, 2015, 6:49am PDT

Is it odd that in a game with 17 runs and 20 hits I'm going to feature a defensive moment to highlight? Nah... it's the beauty of baseball. I've been bragging on how dynamic Williamson's defensive play in RF has been this year, and yesterday's game provides a perfect example. In a game that would go to the 8th inning tied 7-7, a pivotal moment web gem courtesy of Mac.

HIGHLIGHTS: Juan Perez drives in 4 runs, hits 2 doubles and steals a base. Mac Williamson, RIcky Oropesa, and Daniel Carbonell all reached base 3x.

Sacramento wins at Reno (which has LOOONG been a part of the Diamondbacks system), 6-5

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	CS	Other
CF	Ryan Lollis	4	2	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
3b	Adam Duvall	5	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	GIDP
RF	Jarrett Parker	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	SF
LF	Juan Perez	4	1	3	4	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	GIDP, E
1b	John Bowker	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA
Robert Coello, W, 4-1	6.0	8	4	3	3	2	0	0	0	3.97
Cody Hall	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1.13
Hunter Strickland, S, 3	2.0	2	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	2.45

Sacramento has had a season of streaks so far this year and this makes it three wins in a row and seven wins in their last nine games (they currently are in 1st place in their division). Juan Perez, who has gotten off to a painfully slow start this year, had the big offensive night, hitting a bases clearing double in the top of the first inning and coming back with another RBI double in the 3rd. His SB was his 7th of the season. The two doubles were only his 5th and 6th XBH hits of the year (all doubles) and the game left his slash line at just .240/.284/.302. Still a good night beats a bad one, so good for JCP! In all the RiverCats banged out 13 hits, nine of them singles, and added 3 baserunners via the BB and HBP. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first and then held on through the game, adding single runs in 3rd, 5th, and 8th, and then holding off a 9th inning rally from Reno.

Robert Coello turned in another effective start, and has so far been, along with Ty Blach, probably the most consistent of the Sacramento rotation. The bullpen again nailed it down with three innings of strong relief from Cody Hall and Hunter Strickland. Strickland on the season has a fantastic 17:2 K/BB ratio, the best of the pen though all of the late inning guys feature strong K/BB: Cody Hall (15:5), Michael Broadway (19:4), Steven Okert (17:6), and even Curtis Partch (21:3). The main exception is Clay Rapada, who has only 2 Ks (to 3 BBs) in his 9 appearances (8.1 IP) this year).

Anyway, let's enjoy watching JCP whack the ball and bring back fond memories of some recent enjoyable fall events:

Richmond won at Altoona (Pirates), 10-7

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	CS	Other
SS-2b	Kelby Tomlinson	5	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
RF	Mac Williamson	4	3	2	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	Assist
3b	Mitch Delfino	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	E, GIDP
1b	Ricky Oeopesa	5	0	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
LF	Daniel Carbonell	3	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA
Chris Stratton	5.0	6	4	4	2	2	0	0	0	5.68
Tyler Mizenko	1.0	1	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	7.11
Josh Osich, S, 2	2.0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0	0	3.18

A Richmond team that had struggled so badly to provide offense for much of April has exploded for 15 runs in the first two games of this series vs. the premier pitching staff in the EL. Altoona's staff leads the league by a solid margin, allowing only 3.26 runs per game. Squirrels bats did some serious damage against Chad Kuhl, BA's #28 prospect in the Pirates system (and the 2010 Delaware State HS player of the Year!) tagging him for 6 runs in 6 innings.

Williamson had a huge night. I noted above that he reached base safely three times, which is true, but beyond that he was on base all five times he came to bat, twice reaching via error. I know there's some debate in sabr communities as to whether or to what degree to which reaching via error is a skill. The first of the two was an extremely hard hit ball that skipped past the 2b. The second was a throwing error but I didn't see it to comment. His double came in the 8th inning and knocked in their 9th and 10th runs of the night and put the scoring to bed. I should also note that the Altoona TV folks were of course wrong in the highlight at the top, that 4th run did of course score because it had crossed home plate before the runner at 2b was doubled off to end the inning. Had the ball gone over Mac's head the game would have stood 6-5 with a runner at 2b (or 3b).

For Carbonell, this was the first time he had reached base 3x in a game, and only the fourth time this year he had reached base more than once. His BB was only the second of the year. He is now slashing .165/.214/.177. Ricky Oropesa had one of the better games of his AA career, even though some of the contact wasnt the hardest in the world, and he had a big key hit for the team early on:

On the mound, Chris Stratton was gifted a 6-0 lead and barely managed to escape his 5 innings pitched. He once again struggled a bit with command, throwing 41 strikes in 87 pitches and only K'd two batters. The 2012 1st rounder has now completed 10 starts in AA and so far his cumulative stats are:

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA
Chris Stratton	48.1	51	27	25	26	36	2	1	3	4.66

That's a 6.7 K/9 and a 4.8 BB/9 in the EL for Stratton.

San Jose lost to Lake Elsinore (Padres), 5-4

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	CS	Other
CF	Jesus Galindo	5	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
2b	Hunter Cole	5	1	1	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	E
RF	Austin Slater	5	0	2	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	E
LF	Dylan Davis	4	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	Assist
C	Ty Ross	4	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA
Chase Johnson	5.2	7	4	2	2	6	0	0	0	2.45
Ian Gardeck	1.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3.86
Jake Smith, L, 0-1	2.0	2	1	1	0	3	1	0	0	1.42

As Quincy keeps noting, the SJ lineup has a bunch of guys who can smack the ball around the ol' ballyard. Look: visual evidence! (well at least the possibility for visual evidence might have existed here with a better job by the TD. Lyle, you're probably going to want to avoid this highlight clip due to TV incompetence).

The top of the order with Galindo, Cole, and Slater were a dynamic presence as they collectively got on base 5 times, scored 3 and knocked in 3, stole a base and had two XBH. Slater is now slashing a fantastic .338/.358/.519 and continues to look like the steal of the Giants 2014 draft. You can get to know Austin Slater a little in this pre-game show interview with Joe Ritzo, where he discusses among other things the challenges of getting back to play in the infield.

Cole and Slater flipped positions in this game with Cole returning to 2b and Slater to RF, continuing their explorations with defensive flexibility. Unfortunately, the changes didn't help their gloves any as both Cole and Slater committed errors which played a big part in the team's loss and continues to haunt this team's fortunes. Interestingly, Slater in RF moved Dylan Davis and his notable right arm over to LF, but he still showed it off, gunning down a runner at 2b which helped prevent Lake Elsinore's two run rally in the 6th from getting worse. Davis also had his second straight two-hit game with a double and appears to be getting into the swing of things. Ty Ross had his first two-hit game of the year and threw out a runner attempting to steal, but is still hitting just .167/.242/.200 on the year.

Chase Johnson, with 6 Ks vs 2 BB in 5.2 IP continued his Cal league renaissance with another solid outing. He was betrayed a bit by defense, including his own (throwing a pickoff attempt away) he gave up 2 unearned runs. His line was saved further damage however in his final inning, first by Dylan Davis assist at 2b, and then by Ian Gardeck coming in and striking out a batter to end the inning and strand two runners. However, the inning's game tying rally was set up by Cole first booting and then throwing away a tailor made double play. 24 of the Giants 118 runs allowed on the year have been unearned.

Ian Gardeck and Jake Smith were strong out of the bullpen, but one pitch betrayed Smith as he surrendered a solo HR in the 8th for the losing margin.

Lastly, Travis Ishikawa: still sweet!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SJGiants?src=hash">#SJGiants</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HomegrownChampion?src=hash">#HomegrownChampion</a> Travis Ishikawa taking a moment to meet a few fans before tonight's game! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GiantTogether?src=hash">#GiantTogether</a> <a href="http://t.co/8b1c2a4slO">pic.twitter.com/8b1c2a4slO</a></p>— San Jose Giants (@SJGiants) <a href="https://twitter.com/SJGiants/status/595399409011044353">May 5, 2015</a></blockquote>

All four teams back in action today, as Augusta begins a road trip in Lakewood. Scheduled starters are Kevin Correia, Jack Snodgrass, Keury Mella, and Matthew Gage. Richmond tries to stretch their win streak to three games in a tough assignment vs. Tyler Glasnow, the #16 overall prospect in baseball this year on BA's list.

SF Giants Minor Lines, 5/5

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