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SF Giants Minor Lines, 8/5/15

There's something happening here, but I don't know what it is.

By Roger

The Giants suddenly, seemingly inexhaustible supply of hit-crazy middle infielders was on center stage display last night, but it didn't stop at the major league level. Oh no..

Let's just recap some of the recent history here:

In 2012:
Kelby Tomlinson hit .224/.309/.269 as a 22 year old in A ball
Ehire Adrianza hit .220/.289/.310 in AA
Joe Panik hit a solid but not eye popping .297/.368/.407 in the Cal league
Matt Duffy hit .244/.336/.289 at Long Beach State! and .247/.361/.286 in the NWL

In 2013:
Joe Panik hit .257/.333/.347 in AA
Ehire Adrianza hit .240/.331/.312 in 250 PA repeating AA
Kelby Tomlinson hit .276/.338/.328 in 134 AB in the Cal and .198/.313/.250 in 100 AB in AA

In 2014:
Rando Moreno hit .197/.260/.227 in the Sally as a 22 year old and .218/.274/.218 in ~100 PA in the Cal.
Kelby Tomlinson hit .268/.340/.323 as 24 year old in partial repeat of AA

In 2015:

Development happens!

HIGHLIGHTS: Hunter Cole had a double and HR. Dylan Davis reached base 5 times, including his third HR in three games. Sandro Cabrera K'd 11 in 5.2 innings.

Sacramento lost at Fresno Grizzlies, um, Tacos! (Astros), 5-2

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

SS

Everth Cabrera

5

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

.313

.389

.344

1b

Ryan Lollis

4

0

2

0

0

0

0

1

0

.344

.404

.482

LF

Mac Williamson

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

3

.244

.366

.385

3b

Kevin Frandsen

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

.298

.356

.374

C

Ben Turner

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

1

.288

.321

.308

CF

Darren Ford

3

1

1

2

0

0

1

1

1

.260

.328

.397

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Nik Turley, L 5-6

6.0

5

5

3

5

5

0

0

0

4.86

109

60

Cory Gearrin

2.0

1

0

0

0

3

0

0

0

3.26

37

24

Well, let's not mess around here any, let's just get to the most exciting play in baseball:

Hey! the dulcet tones of Doug Greenwald on that highlight! I like Doug. That was, btw, Ford's second inside the park HR of the year (out of his 8 HRs on the season).

Aside from that, this was a game of missed opportunities.  Sacramento put 15 men aboard including 8 free passes from Grizzlies pitching but they couldn't cash them into runs, going 0 for 6 with RISP. An Everth Cabrera error also led to two unearned runs. Put the two things together and you have a pretty good recipe for a loss.

And speaking of recipes, it was Taco Truck Throwdown night at Chukchansi Park last night, which is what led to this particular bit of brilliance:

To make it up to Cabrera for pointing out his error, I'll also note that he did this:

* * *

Richmond beat the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays), 3-2

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

CF

Engel Beltre

4

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

.289

.317

.421

SS

Rando Moreno

5

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

2

.283

.329

.355

2b

Austin Slater

4

0

1

0

1

0

0

0

1

.304

.360

.376

RF

Hunter Cole

4

2

2

1

1

0

1

0

2

.323

.364

.540

3b

Mitch Delfino

3

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

.261

.314

.325

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Matt Gage

5.2

4

2

2

1

2

0

0

0

1.96

89

54

Jose Casilla

1.2

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

1.46

21

16

Hunter Cole had the big night on offense once again. His long HR in the 2nd tied the game at 1-1, and down 2-1 in the 6th he helped even the score again when he doubled and came around on Ricky Oropesa's single.  Both XBH came off Fisher Cat starter Austin Bibens-Dirkx, which I like pointing out because... hello! Austin Bibens-Dirkx!! Awesome name alert!

The HR was Cole's 2nd in four games. During that four game stretch he's 7 for 15 with two HRs, three doubles, and a walk (four Ks). Over three levels in his first full season, Cole has posted an .871 OPS, hitting everywhere he's been. It's starting to get easier and easier to think that Hunter Cole is going to be a Giant in 2016 at some point.

In my MI's recent history chart above, perhaps I should add that in 2013, Austin Slater hit .269/.361/.411 as a sophomore corner OF with Stanford (he also hit 3 HRs, which was no doubt highly frowned upon by his coaching staff). Which is a perfect segue to this Josh Matthews Q&A with Slater where you can learn horrible, awful things you didn't want to know about him like that Chipper Jones was his favorite player growing up (well, pretty much just that I guess):

* * *

San Jose lost to the Modesto Nuts (Rockies), 6-1

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

SS

Christian Arroyo

4

0

2

0

1

0

0

0

0

.326

.369

.491

1b

Angel Villalona

4

1

2

0

1

0

0

0

1

.261

.340

.479

3b

Ryder Jones

4

0

1

1

1

0

0

0

1

.270

.302

.401

RF

Tyler Horan

4

0

2

0

2

0

0

0

1

.216

.318

.415

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Jason Forjet, L, 4-4

5.0

5

4

4

3

4

0

2

0

3.48

Jeff Soptic

1.1

3

2

1

2

2

0

0

1

3.60

Tyler Rogers

1.2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1.47

Hey look! Christian Arroyo got two hits including a double. How unusual. A recent history for Arroyo (MI alert!) doesn't have quite the Hollywood dramatic plot twist of the guys at the top. To recap:

last year: hit the [redacted] out of the NWL, named NWL league's #2 prospect by BA

year before: hit the [redacted] out of the AZL, named league MVP, #2 prospect in league by BA

year before: hit the [redacted] out of the world 18U Championship, named tournament MVP

Alas, a road sweep wasn't to be, as SJ fell back into 2nd place, a game back of Modesto. But then road sweep over first place teams are a pretty tall order, so being satisfied with two out of three isn't a terrible result. In addition, to Arroyo, Tyler Horan had an excellent game here with two doubles and an OF assist. One thing to keep an eye on: Ryder Jones, after doubling in the Giants' only run in the top of the 9th was removed for a PR. Ryder just came off a DL stint for a finger injury, so hopefully the move didn't signal any other tweaking for Jones. At 6-1 game score in the 9th, it didn't seem to be a tactical issue though. The double was Jones' team leading 25th, with Arroyo right behind him at 22.

Ryder was Joe Ritzo's guest on Tuesday night's pregame show, btw, and has quite a few interesting things to say:

and as I'm catching up on pre-game show guests, last night's was the newest SJ starting pitcher, Jordan Johnson:

Speaking of pitching, you'll notice I haven't had much to say about the pitching thus far on the night. Nik Turley, Matt Gage, Jason Forjet... not really the shiniest prospect night on the mound for the system. But that's going to change a little later on... (that's known as a tease in the biz!)

* * *

Augusta lost at Lexington (Royals), 13-12
losing their three game series, 1-2

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

CF

Johneshwy Fargas

6

1

2

2

1

0

0

0

2

.289

.356

.362

C

Aramis Garcia

5

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

2

.273

.350

.467

1b

Skyler Ewing

6

1

2

1

0

0

0

0

2

.240

.328

.328

RF

Dylan Davis

3

3

3

2

0

0

1

2

0

.261

.316

.478

LF

Chuckie Jones

5

2

2

3

0

0

1

0

1

.232

.321

.420

DH

Andrew Cain

4

1

2

2

1

0

0

0

1

.229

.320

.434

SS

Travious Relaford

2

1

1

1

0

0

0

3

0

.245

.329

.298

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Chris Johnson

3.0

9

9

8

2

4

1

0

1

6.41

Tyler Cyr

0.2

3

3

3

1

1

0

0

1

4.09

Connor Kaden

3.1

0

0

0

1

3

0

0

0

4.46

As the Augusta bus pulled out of Lexington to head back home, I can only imagine all the hitters were thinking: "I WANNA GO THERE AGAIN!" For the second time in three games, both teams put up double digit runs in another slug fest. Augusta trailed in this one consistently throughout the game (Lexington took a 4-0 lead in the 1st and never trailed), but they kept coming back, tying the game at 12-12 in the 8th before losing on a walkoff Sac Fly in the 9th.

Dylan Davis is smoking hot right now, as he went 5 for 10 with three HRs and three BBs in the series. And was I talking about the virtues of opposite field power?

Johneshwy Fargas came to the plate in the 6th inning sitting on an 0 for 3 night. But it got better!

In the 7th, after flying down the line on an infield hit, Fargas stole his 56th bag of the year, and a fairly unusual steal it was:

Fargas slumped a bit through mid-July, but since July 22nd he's had 7 multi-hit games, and 9 in which he's been on base multiple times out of 12 games played.  In those games, Fargas is hitting .388/.474/.469 with 6 BBs, 7 Ks, and an 11 to 2 SB:CS rate.

Chris Johnson, by the way, not the shiny pitching prospect I'm going to get excited about today.

* * *

Salem-Keizer had the final night of its All Star break

* * *

AZL Giants beat the AZL Mariners, 7-6

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

SS

Jalen Miller

5

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

.226

.314

.283

2b

Kelvin Beltre

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

.239

.375

.348

1b

Dillon Dobson

4

1

3

1

0

1

0

1

0

.300

.356

.517

LF

Byron Murray

4

0

2

2

0

0

0

1

1

.283

.325

.472

DH

Kevin Rivera

4

1

1

2

1

0

0

0

2

.311

.346

.432

3b

Nathanael Javier

3

1

1

0

1

0

0

1

0

.189

.212

.253

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Grant Watson

3.0

1

0

0

0

3

0

0

0

1.08

Matthew Pope

1.0

1

0

0

1

0

0

1

0

1.50

Heath Slatton, BS, 1, W,2-0

1.1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.69

Another "bears watching" incident. Kelvin Beltre, who just returned to the lineup the previous game after a two week absence, was hit by a pitch in the third inning of this game. Midway through the next half inning, he was removed from the game. It looks like there could have been a play at 2b on the play immediately preceding the substitution so it's unclear what exactly the cause was, or what he hurt. But clearly, some medical issue did once again remove Beltre from the field, where he has had a very difficult time sticking.

The AZL Giants knocked out 11 hits and had five walks (plus a HB) in this game. They also had their running shoes on, as they got SB from Miller (10th), Javier (1st), and Murray (6th).

Dillon Dobson is having an excellent pro debut for the AZL squad, though as a college player (Appalachian St, Ryder Jones' dad's team) he's too advanced for this league, and he's a 1b so the bat has to carry the weight of the development. Like Chris Shaw above him, he's a natural right-hander who hits LH.

Grant Watson, the 16th rounder out of UCLA had his first pro start here and continued his fine debut. Watson was a  reliever in college and this AZL team doesn't appear to be stretching guys out more than a few innings, so it's hard to say if this is a starter conversion experiment or he was just the guy standing on the mound for the 1st inning. Regardless, Watson has shown good stuff with a 20:3 K:BB ratio in 16.2 IP.

* * *

DSL Giants beat the DSL Dodgers, 4-2

Age

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

CF-LF

20.11

Juan Rodriguez

5

1

2

0

0

0

0

0

1

.356

.390

.521

SS

18.10

Manuel Geraldo

5

0

2

0

1

0

0

0

0

.304

.360

.406

DH

18.7

Mecky Coronado

5

1

3

1

1

0

0

0

0

.379

.442

.500

LF

17.5

Beicker Mendoza

5

0

4

1

1

0

0

0

0

.320

.370

.413

Age

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

20.1

Sandro Cabrera, W, 5-2

5.2

3

2

2

1

11

0

0

1

2.70

Now here we have a pitching prospect to excite! The Giants have adopted a strategy in the IFA market the last few years of looking for slightly older, more developed pitchers to sign, rather than projecting the 16 year olds. And its definitely paid off, both in reduced signing bonuses and in tangible results. Keury Mella and Adalberto Mejia both signed with the Giants at 18, as did Raffi Vizcaino (technically Mejia was a couple months shy of 18 at signing, but played his first year as an 18 year old). Luis Ysla signed at 20. Strong-armed Rodolfo Martinez was 19 at signing, and so too was Sandro Cabrera when the Giants signed him for $125k last October.

Cabrera was described by BA's Ben Badler as having a projectable body at 6'2", 175 lbs, and a solid three pitch mix with an 89-93 mph fb. As always with the DSL, it's hard to read into DSL stats, so we don't really know if some of that projectability has kicked in and upped the wattage on his stuff or not, but Cabrera is clearly having great results in his pro debut. He now leads the DSL in K's with 73 in 60 IP (20 BBs). And he's turned in back to back spectacular efforts in the last week. In his last two starts he's gone 12 innings with 20 Ks, 1 BB, and 5 hits allowed. According to the game recap all 11 Ks were swinging. At one point, from the 4th through the 6th innings, Cabrera struck out six consecutive batters. This deserves a WOWZA!

And speaking of wowzas, Beicker Mendoza is really kicking his season into high gear, with his second four-hit game in a week.  He's 13 for his last 28 ABs.  Now he has struck out in 9 of those 15 at bats where he wasn't getting a hit (vs 3 BBs in the stretch), but the 17 year old Valentine's Day baby is having himself a very nice pro debut. For the season he has 31 Ks to 10 BBs in 150 ABs.

One guy who is having no such problem with his K:BB rate is Mecky Coronado, whose .942 OPS comes complete with 16 walks and 16 Ks. Control of the strike zone was evident for Mecky as a 17 year old as well, as he had 21 Ks and 15 BBs last year, along with a .289/.393/.413 line.

* * *

The marquis pitching matchup of the day takes place in Fresno, as Ty Blach goes up against the Astros Mark Appel (who, yes, was the answer to yesterday's little quiz). With just a few weeks left to play, nearly all the teams are fighting for a playoff berth (not looking at you, last place Sacramento).

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