MLB prospects & minor leagues

SF Giants Minor Lines, 6/11

If you like runs... we got 'em! Wins? ..... eh not as much.

By Roger Jun 12, 2015, 7:39am PDT

Oh man, I totally fell down on the job the other day! There was Matt Cain video footage and I missed it completely!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Matt Cain warming up in the pen. <a href="http://t.co/2oS6CcbmRf">pic.twitter.com/2oS6CcbmRf</a></p>— Squirrels Baseball (@GoSquirrels) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoSquirrels/status/608399378097819648">June 9, 2015</a></blockquote>

Before we start I'll repeat something from down in the comments yesterday. BA dropped a 2.5 hour podcast covering all 30 team's drafts in detail. Well worth your time if you're a draftnik:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Draft podcast with <a href="https://twitter.com/jjcoop36">@jjcoop36</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcahill">@tedcahill</a> and it's so massive, we provide you a table for when your team is up. <a href="http://t.co/Jld2zrNjYn">http://t.co/Jld2zrNjYn</a></p>— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) <a href="https://twitter.com/BaseballAmerica/status/609100689906622464">June 11, 2015</a></blockquote>

If you just want to jump to the Giants comments they come just before the 2 hour mark. They're into podcast fatigue at that point so it's not a long section (about 3 min), but its a very enthusiastic one! Words like "loved" and "impressed" are tossed around with abandon.

HIGHLIGHTS: Christian Arroyo had four hits. Austin Slater had three hits with a HR. Sandro Cabrera K'd 9 in 5.1 IP. 17 year old Francisco Medina hit his 4th HR in five games.

Sacramento lost at El Paso (Padres), 9-6

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA
RF	Ryan Lollis	5	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.395
2b	Kevin Frandsen	5	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.302
1b	Travis Ishikawa	5	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	.275
LF	Adam Duvall	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	.279
CF	Juan Perez	5	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	.237

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA
Jake Peavy	4.1	7	4	4	1	8	0	0	1	8.10
Braulio Lara	0.2	4	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	9.14
Jack Snodgrass, L, 1-1	2.0	2	3	1	2	1	0	0	1	1.59
Cody Hall	1.0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3.26

Did that look like a HR swing to you? Then welcome to EL Paso, TX, where balls, they do fly. Sacramento and El Paso combined for 7 runs in just the first 1.5 innings of this back and forth affair. The RiverCats took the lead three different times, with three two-run innings, but each time the Chihuahuas came right back. The game featured 26 hits, 15 runs, five walks and four errors.

In his fourth rehab start, Jake Peavy had his season high with 8 Ks, and with only 1 BB it was a good game from a peripherals POV. He struck out four of the final five batters he faced, and left the game in the 5th after throwing 83 pitches. According Alex Pavlovic, we can expect to see him in Sacramento next week.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jake Peavy struck out eight in 4 1/3 in his rehab start tonight, but also gave up 7 hits, 4 runs. He has at least one more rehab start.</p>— Alex Pavlovic (@AlexPavlovic) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexPavlovic/status/609194017381875713">June 12, 2015</a></blockquote>

Richmond lost to Portland (Red Sox), 5-4
winning their three game series, 2-1

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA
LF	Devin Harris	3	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	.268
	Rest of team	26	3	4	0	0	0	0	2	4	0	0

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA
Adalberto Mejia	2.2	3	2	2	2	2	0	1	0	2.70
Pedro Rodriguez	4.1	2	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	3.16
Stephen Johnson	0.0	0	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	4.97
Jose Casilla, BS, 1	0.1	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1.57

Richmond's six game winning streak was snapped, thanks to an uncharacteristic bullpen blowup from Stephen Johnson and Jose Casillla.

The offense struggled to do much in this game. Devin Harris was the only Squirrel to reach base twice or to record an XBH. However, they smartly grouped four of their hits, along with a walk and a HB into one inning, and for most of the game it appeared that that four-run rally in the 2nd would stand up. Angel Villalona, who's only had 37 PA this year, got a rare start and chipped in with an even rarer RBI single, just his 2nd RBI of the year. Got to believe his days with the Giants' org are coming to an end in the not too distant future.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Squirrels give up the lead and fall to Portland, 5-4. <a href="http://t.co/f48wQznIWv">pic.twitter.com/f48wQznIWv</a></p>— Squirrels Baseball (@GoSquirrels) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoSquirrels/status/609175981258088448">June 12, 2015</a></blockquote>

Adalberto Mejia, in his second rehab start, was once again on a 60 pitch limit. He wasn't quite as sharp as his first game, as evidenced by the two walks and HB. In all he threw 34 strikes in his 56 pitches, once again using all his pitches and showing a good tempo.

Going into the 8th it appeared Richmond had their seventh straight victory in hand as they'd been holding on to a 4-2 lead for most of the game. But Stephen Johnson walked the only two batters he faced to open the top of the 8th, and when Jose Casilla relieved Johnson he too walked a batter to load the bases. A couple of singles and a Sac Fly later and the winning streak was gone. Still, they won the series and now welcome the EL's worst team, the Erie SeaWolves to town. Back in April when Richmond was losing 15 straight, Erie also had a double digit losing streak, but unlike the Squirrels, Erie's never really pulled out of their early season duldrums and come to town with a 20-37 record.

San Jose won at High Desert (Rangers), 12-10

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA
SS	Christian Arroyo	6	3	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.325
2b	Austin Slater	5	2	3	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	.291
3b	Ryder Jones	4	1	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.284
C	Ty Ross	5	1	2	2	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	.231
LF	Jesus Galindo	5	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.275

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA
Jose Reyes	3.2	7	5	5	3	3	0	0	0	11.74
Jeff Soptic	1.1	4	3	3	0	1	1	0	0	4.50
Jake Smith	2.0	2	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	3.00
Ian Gardeck	0.2	2	2	2	1	0	2	0	0	4.78
Dan Slania, S, 11	1.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.80

Now HERE would be the Mike Krukow style, HEH HEH HEH, LAUGHER! The Giants got out to a 9-0 lead and then hung on for dear life as the winds of Adelanto, California tried to blow their victory away. The game featured 35 hits, including six HRs. Of the nine pitchers who appeared for both sides only three managed to avoid giving up runs, including Jake Smith's two run scoreless appearance, by far the best pitching line of the day. There were six players in this game who recorded at least 3 hits and 12 who recorded at least 2 hits. It was a High Desert kind of game.

Christian Arroyo, fresh off a rest day, had a big game with four hits. Arroyo has had 8 multi-hit games this year in just 18 played. Austin Slater also had a big game with three hits including his 3rd HR. Both Ty Ross and Ben Turner (playing 1b) hit their 1st HRs of the season in this game. The Mavericks had players hit their 9th and 13th HRs, which combined is about 2/3 SJ's entire HR output for the year (32). It's no surprise, given their home environment that the High Desert pitching staff leads the league in HRs allowed (by a lot!) but it's a bit disconcerting that after the past week SJ is now fourth in the league and right behind the Lancaster pitching staff. They now have five more HRs allowed than the Bakersfield staff, which also pitches in a notorious launching pad (with one of the shortest walls in organized ball).

Jose Reyes has not found the Cal League much to his liking in his two starts since his promotion and is now sporting an ugly 11.74 ERA.

Before the game, it was announced that SJ got the most All Star selections of any team in the league. Six guys named, though one of them, Tyler Beede, obviously won't attend the game. If you don't recognize them all from their pictures the other five are (left to right) Hunter Cole, Austin Slater, Dan Slania, (Beede), Keury Mella, and Chase Johnson:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Six <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SJGiants?src=hash">#SJGiants</a> Selected Cal League All-Stars! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RCASG?src=hash">#RCASG</a> occurs June 23! Details: <a href="http://t.co/e8RsY5SfML">http://t.co/e8RsY5SfML</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RCQuakes">@RCQuakes</a> <a href="http://t.co/ZamKOnMeGt">pic.twitter.com/ZamKOnMeGt</a></p>— San Jose Giants (@SJGiants) <a href="https://twitter.com/SJGiants/status/609080706745139201">June 11, 2015</a></blockquote>

You can hear manager Russ Morman talk about the new All Stars in his weekly pre-game interview with Joe Ritzo here:

Augusta lost at Greenville (Red Sox), 10-0
losing the three game series, 1-2

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA
CF	Johneshwy Fargas	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	PO	.307
1b	Skyler Ewing	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	.215
DH	Matt Pare	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	.243
	Rest of team	23	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	5	0	0

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA
Chris Johnson, L, 0-1	5.0	7	4	4	1	2	0	0	0	5.40
E.J. Encinosa	0.1	5	6	5	2	0	0	0	0	7.54
Rodolfo Martinez	1.2	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	3.44
Dusten Knight	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1.74

This was actually a nice tight 1-0 game entering the 6th inning. And then.... well things happened. Nine runs worth of things happened, in fact, in the space of less than two outs. Chris Johnson allowed the final three batters he faced on the night to reach base, and then Encinosa came into the bases loaded, no out situation and lit the whole mess on fire. He faced eight batters and retired one of them. The 23 year old 7th round draft pick in 2012 out of the University of Miami has been a very slow mover thus far in his career and his first taste of full season ball has gone very poorly.

Given the way the bats performed in this one, it's likely the 1-0 lead would have held up anyway. With two hits and two more SB, Fargas provided most of the offensive sparks (though he was also picked off and committed a throwing error). Only Skyler Ewing and veteran Matt Pare reached base twice of the rest of the team.

DSL Giants beat DSL Rockies, 6-5

	Age	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA
CF	17.6	Jose Patino	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.094
3b	17.2	Francisco Medina	4	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	.333
DH	18.6	Mecky Coronado	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.436
PH	17.4	Beicker Mendoza	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	.250
LF	18.9	Marcos Santana	3	1	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.400

Age	Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA
19.12	Sandro Cabrera	5.2	5	3	3	1	9	0	1	0	4.80
16.10	Luis Amaya, BS, 1	3.0	5	2	1	3	1	0	0	0	1.08

Francisco Medina, who turned 17 on March 20, hit his 4th HR of the season in just his 7th game played. Let's try to put this into context. B-Ref has full team stats for the DSL going back to 2006. Before that it gets pretty scatter shot and difficult to compile comprehensive stats, so let's deal with that timeframe. In two of those nine seasons, Medina would already have matched the team leader for the season and in two other seasons (2013 and 2014) he would be one HR away from the team leader for the season. In those 9 years, there have only been 8 occasions on which players have hit more than 4 HRs for the entire DSL season.

2006: Jose Medina, 19 yrs old, 6
2007: Jose Medina, 20 years old, 8
2007: Ramon Abad , 20 years old, 6
2008 Sundrendy Windster, 19 years old, 10
2009: Rey Duran, 19 years old, 11
2012: Julio Pena, 19 years old, 9
2013: Carlos Valdez, 19 yrs old, 5
2014: Miguel Gomez, 21 yrs old, 5

That's the full list. On every occasion the players are significantly older than Medina and on every occasion the players had had at least one full previous season in the DSL (in a couple of cases more than one). Now it's not exactly a list covered in future glory so I dont want to go overboard, but again, Medina turned 17 in March and he's hit 4 HRs in 7 games. Kelvin Beltre last year hit 3 HRs in 22 games (before missing the rest of the year with minor injuries) and according to Bobby Evans he was in the running to make Augusta's roster this year. I think young Mr. Medina is someone to keep an eye on, though of course, he'll never match Sundrendy Windster in the beloved "best name in the system" category.

On the mound, Sandro Cabrera who turns 20 in another 10 days had his best game with 9 Ks in 5.2 IP. He has 17 Ks and 3 BBs in 15 IP. 16 year old Luis Amaya allowed the first runs of his career.

* * *

Final thoughts: here's one vote of confidence for our next Matt Duffy type draft pick

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Giants?src=hash">#Giants</a> Steven Duggar (Clemson) good shot to play a bench role in bigs. Ran a 6.26 60 (that's 80+ speed). Selective hitter, tablesetter type</p>— Al Skorupa (@alskor) <a href="https://twitter.com/alskor/status/609103803623849984">June 11, 2015</a></blockquote>

Al is one of the BP prospect team.

And finally, on the subject of the DSL this Jason Stark piece on the complications of a world-wide draft is a must read for anybody who's coming to Minor Lines on a daily basis.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is the sort of response I've gotten when asking knowledgeable people about an international draft, as well. <a href="http://t.co/u3PhpTf3Ma">http://t.co/u3PhpTf3Ma</a></p>— David Lee (@David11Lee) <a href="https://twitter.com/David11Lee/status/609035537517715456">June 11, 2015</a></blockquote>

* * *

Happy first rounder day, as Chris Stratton and Tyler Beede get their second starts in their new levels. Second round pick Martin Agosta gets the unenviable High Desert assignment. And Pat Young is scheduled to go for Augusta.

SF Giants Minor Lines, 6/11

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