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SF Giants Minor Lines, 8/21/15

Despite a lot of losing, there was some impressive power on display last night, both on the mound and in the batter's box. Power we may see at AT&T sooner and later.

By Roger

Chase Johnson's AA debut last night had its rough elements and definitely pointed to lessons that need learning. But in his first four innings of AA, Johnson set the Squirrels season high in strikeouts. So he has that going for him, which is nice.

HIGHLIGHTS: Mac Williamson went 4 for 4 with double, HR. Chase Johnson struck out 9 in 4 innings. Ryder Jones had a double and a triple.

Sacramento beat New Orleans (Marlins), 14-3

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

1b

Kevin Frandsen

3

4

2

1

0

0

0

2

0

.292

.356

.367

RF

Jarrett Parker

4

3

2

3

0

1

1

1

1

.287

.388

.513

LF

Mac Williamson

4

3

4

4

1

0

1

1

0

.274

.389

.467

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Nik Turley W 6-6

6.2

6

3

3

2

6

0

1

2

4.64

101

63

Steven Okert, S 2

2.1

2

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

3.60

40

27

The RiverCats are putting a severe whomping on the terribad Zephyrs this weekend, which I feel I should mention for Grant's benefit starts Reid Brignac at SS (he's still just 29, you know)! And a lot of the thump in that whomp has come from the bats of Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson, as he continues his quest to hit a ball over the clubhouse:

Williamson reached base in all five PA, including taking a bases loaded walk in his penultimate AB as New Orleans pitched him carefully. Over the last 10 days Williamson is hitting a robust .415/.519/.780. Mac's K rate has spiked up a bit in the PCL, which tends to have a lot of big league breaking ball type pitchers. His BB rate has gone up as well however, and the power is definitely there to play. After missing nearly all of 2014 his two level success this year clearly has him on a path to arrive in SF at some point in 2016.

Jarrett Parker had his third multi-hit game in the last four, including his 19th HR of the year, pushing his OPS over the .900 mark.

Steven Okert's mid-season woes seem to be behind him as his velocity sits more comfortably up in the mid-90s where it oughta be. He's unscored upon in August, covering 11 IP, with 7 hits, 2 walks, and 14 Ks in that time. Also this happened:

Sadly, no hit.

Sacramento also made this announcement yesterday, as they continue to lock in their Giants fanbase. I would guess they've been quite happy with the new arrangements this year.

* * *

Richmond lost at Trenton (Yankees), 6-0

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

SS

Rando Moreno

3

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

1

.277

.325

.342

2b

Austin Slater

4

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

.303

.358

.376

DH

Hunter Cole

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

.309

.351

.511

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Chase Johnson L 0-1

4.0

7

5

5

2

9

0

0

2

11.25

89

55

Kyle Crick

1.0

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

3.02

24

16

The first two innings of Chase Johnson's AA debut were a long slog, as he neared 30 pitches in each of them (ending the second with 58 by the Trenton announcer's count). He surrendered five singles in those two innings while also striking out five. His defense didn't help him much. Jackson Williams allowed a WP on the first K which immediately put Johnson in trouble. Jax also hit the pitcher's mound trying to throw out a base stealer, and later allowed another runner to successfully complete a delayed steal. That play turned into a total circus when Rando Moreno took the late throw and, attempting to get a runner late getting back into 3b, threw the ball into the dugout bringing in two runs.

The Trenton batters who did reach base on Chase, ran on him with abandon, stealing five bases in the first two innings. It was clear that he has yet to begin learning the subtleties of holding runners on, varying looks, and certainly didn't have a slide step in his repertoire. With Johnson's long legs and big leg kick, Trenton's runners had no problem taking off for second. The contact he gave up (5 singles) was all solid, though not loud. In each of the first two innings a LHH led off with an off-field line drive. Basically when Johnson wasn't fine enough with his command and got balls over the plate, the AA hitters were good enough to get solid wood on it.

That said, Johnson's stuff clearly played against these advanced hitters. He got swing thrus on fastballs up and down, and very effectively used his slider down and out of the strike zone to miss bats as well. Despite piling up pitches in the first two innings, he maintained his velocity throughout, and in his last two innings he was much more efficient, while still maintaining the quality of his stuff. On his final two batters, he K'd his 8th and 9th batters of the day, matching and then exceeding the team high for the year in his first 22 batters at the level.

All in all, he has things to learn and he has tools to learn with. All in all, an encouraging outing from a guy who's had a very encouraging year. Let's watch one more. This is his 8th K vs. Tyler Austin, a one time member of Baseball America's Top 100 and a current member of the Yankees 40 man.

The bats managed just 4 hits in this game, all singles, while piling up 15 Ks. With the loss, the Squirrels fell to 61-62, at least temporarily ending the era of the entire system being .500. They're also 4 games behind both Akron and Altoona, as they move closer to elimination.

* * *

San Jose lost to Bakersfield (Mariners), 5-3

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

DH

Christian Arroyo

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

.318

.362

.483

3b

Ryder Jones

4

2

2

1

1

1

0

0

1

.270

.301

.406

C

Aramis Garcia

4

0

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

.220

.304

.244

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Jose Reyes, L 3-6

5.0

8

5

5

2

7

2

0

1

6.93

81

57

Tyler Rogers

2.0

1

0

0

1

1

0

0

0

1.49

26

18

On yesterday's Inside the Giants podcast, Joe Ritzo and Ben Taylor mentioned that Jose Reyes has really struggled the second time through a lineup. Sure enough, after three quick and efficient innings yesterday, Reyes gave up 5 runs in the 4th and 5th innings, with a 2-run HR being the big blow in both of them. In the 4th, Bakersfield got on the board when Brian Ragira's more highly touted college teammate Austin Wilson went deep. Wilson was drafted by Seattle in the 2nd round, but has been a disappointment thus far as a pro (coughStanfordSwingcough). With two outs in the 5th, Reyes made his second mistake, when the Cal league HR leader, Tyler O'Neill went deep for the 29th time. This I believe ties O'Neill with the Astros A.J. Reed for the second highest HR total in the minors behind our dear friend Adam Duvall who has 30.

The San Jose bats were mostly quiet. Oddly, the team had 8 hits, all of which were divided among four players with two-hit games while the other five members of the lineup failed to reach base.  In the 5th and 6th spots in the lineup, Ryder Jones and Aramis Garcia had half the team's hits as well as all three of the team's XBH, with Jones collecting both a double and a run scoring triple.

SJ fell a game behind Stockton in the Wild Card race (tied with Modesto) and 2 games behind Visalia in the second half division race. Also, the Cal League announced its season honors yesterday, which included the Cal League post-season All Star team (strictly honorary). Christian Arroyo was the Cal League's All Star SS and Chase Johnson was an All Star P. The aforementioned A.J. Reed was named league MVP.

* * *

Augusta lost at Charleston (Yankees), 9-3

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

RF

Dylan Davis

5

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

1

.268

.330

.434

LF

Andrew Cain

3

2

1

0

1

0

0

1

0

.216

.309

.399

C

Matt Pare

3

0

2

2

1

0

0

0

0

.194

.281

.321

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

D.J. Snelten, L 5-4

2.0

2

3

3

3

2

0

0

0

2.68

46

25

Eury Sanchez

1.1

3

3

2

2

3

0

0

0

3.46

41

23

Rodolfo Martinez

2.0

1

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

3.05

22

16

Carlos Diaz

1.0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

1.90

10

7

Augusta's offense is also struggling these days. In their case it makes sense, having lost three of their top hitters in the past week, with Garcia being promoted and both Fargas and Relaford out with tough injuries. Despite 7 walks in this game, the Greenjackets struggled to get much going, though they did score two late runs well after the game was decided.

D.J. Snelten really labored through the second inning and was removed from the game at that point due to an elevated pitch count. He walked the first three batters of the inning setting up the RiverDogs rally and then he surrendered his only two hits, both of which can be seen in the Charleston game highlight reel below (the double was really tagged). The inning might have been worse but Matt Pare caught the first batter stealing second.

Also in this video, you can see a whole lot of bad play including a botched pitch out, some less than graceful 1b play from Chase Compton and (for gianator) Eury Sanchez giving up a two run single on a billion hopper up the middle.

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Augusta, too, is drifting out of the playoff picture, now falling 2.5 games behind the Wild Card leader, with Greenville having passed them as well. they've now lost four straight games.

* * *

Salem-Keizer lost to Eugene (Cubs), 7-6

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

1b

John Riley

3

2

1

2

0

0

1

1

0

.244

.364

.359

DH

Mark Nelson

3

1

2

0

0

0

0

1

1

.185

.348

.241

CF

Ronnie Jebavy

4

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

2

.269

.313

.425

3b

Miguel Gomez

4

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

1

.345

.357

.471

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Logan Webb

5.0

10

4

3

0

5

0

1

1

4.61

David Owen L 1-2

2.0

3

3

1

2

1

0

0

0

3.18

Cory Taylor

2.0

0

0

0

2

5

0

0

0

2.32

Stop me if I sound like a broken record, but the Volcanoes' playoff hopes are really slipping away on them. A week ago they were sitting pretty, but since then they've lost 7 of 8 including 4 of 5 on their current homestand against their two preliminary rivals. Not so good.

With the win Eugene took over 1st place, with the Volcanoes sitting three games behind. The two are currently tied in the Wild Card race (a race that SK was 6 games up just last week). The lineup for this game was a bit odd, with none of C.J. Hinojosa, Jose Vizcaino, or Christopher Shaw taking the field. Still they did manage six runs on just 7 hits and three walks, and John Riley's two-run HR gave them a 4-3 lead at one point. But David Owen allowed three runs in middle relief that decided the game.

Logan Webb looks to be a long, slow development process, as the strong-armed 18 year old learns to pitch. For now he offers size, youth, and arm strength.  And speaking of arm strength, Cory Taylor K'd 5 of the 8 batters he faced, bumping his K rate up to 35%. He's struck out 46 batters in 31 IP (vs. 10 walks).

Ronnie Jebavy stole his 19th base in this game, which is fifth best in the NWL.

* * *

AZL Giants beat AZL Angels, 7-6

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

SS

Jalen Miller

4

2

2

0

0

0

0

1

0

.231

.315

.279

RF

Mikey Edie

4

2

2

0

1

0

0

0

2

.272

.363

.307

1b

Dillon Dobson

4

0

3

3

1

0

0

0

1

.313

.359

.511

LF

Jean Angomas

4

0

3

2

0

1

0

0

0

.281

.333

.371

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Phil Bickford

3.0

1

0

0

0

5

0

0

0

2.33

David Graybill

0.2

1

1

1

2

1

0

0

0

22.50

Kendry Melo

1.0

4

4

2

1

2

0

0

2

4.78

Phil Bickford had his best outing yet, facing just 10 batters over three innings, and K'ing 5 of them.  This was the third straight game Bickford made it to the 3rd, and in those three games he's had 15 Ks, 2 BBs, 6 hits, and 2 Runs (8.1 IP).

The middle relief, however, blew leads of 3-0 and 6-2. Of particular note was Kendry Melo's poor performance as he continues to struggle even with premium velocity against very basic hitters.

The offense however came to the rescue. Miller, Edie, and Dobson, the top three hitters in the order reached base nine times. Miller (11) and Edie (9) both stole a base and scored two runs, with Dobson driving in three of them.  In a 6-6 game in the bottom of the 9th, the trio combined for a walk off victory as Miller singled, Edie was HBP, and Dobson singled for the game winner.

The Giants now have a half game lead over the Cubs and 1.5 game lead over the Diamondbacks in the second half standings.  They will play both of those teams this weekend with a chance to build some cushion going into the final week of the season.

* * *

DSL Giants beat the DSL Red Sox1, 4-1

Age

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

SB

CS

BA

DH

19.5

Robert Antunez

4

1

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

3

0

.319

3b

21.0

Marco Guzman

4

1

3

1

0

1

0

0

0

1

0

.287

Age

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

19.10

Prebito Reyes, W 5-3

6.0

3

1

0

1

6

0

0

0

3.22

16.11

Luis Amaya S 6

3.0

2

0

0

1

2

0

0

1

1.77

What was once the best offense in the league has really been grinding to a halt this final month (as the Yankees1 team has now scored almost 100 more runs than the Giants on the year, and has taken over the league HR title as well). But the pitching staff (which is 4th best in the league) has been picking them up, which continued here.  Prebito Reyes allowed just 1 unearned run in six innings and Luis Amaya, still four days short of his 17th birthday, went the rest of the way of the way for the victory.

Veteran Marco Guzman had almost half of the team's 7 hits, and his 8th inning triple (the team's only XBH) keyed a two-run rally that gave Amaya some breathing room.

The Yankees1, however, just won't lose, and so the season goes down to its final day with the same situation as it's been all week. The Giants maintain a 1 game lead, and if they win the division they get a bye through the first series of the playoffs.  I actually don't know what the DSL's tiebreaker is so I'm not sure what will happen if the Giants let the Yankees catch them on the final day. It will behoove them to win out as they face the 28-43 Red Sox in their last game.

* * *

Excellent day on the mound today as Ty Blach, Tylder Beede, Martin Agosta, Michael Santos, and Luis Pino are all scheduled to start. Good prospect watching as we head into the final days of the season.

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