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SF Giants Minor Lines, 5/18

Last April it appeared the Richmond Flying Squirrels had suffered through a 100 year storm of losing streaks... NOT SO FAST!

By Roger

HIGHLIGHTS: CJ Hinojosa doubled three times and walked; Ty Ross reached base five times.

Sacramento had a scheduled off day
They begin a series in Nashville tonight with an old friend awaiting them

* * *

Richmond lost at Trenton Thunder (Yankees), 2-0

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

SS

Christian Arroyo

4

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

.248

.287

.338

CF

Austin Slater

4

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

.297

.388

.436

RF

Hunter Cole

4

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

.236

.310

.299

3b

Ryder Jones

4

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

.241

.273

.346

LF

Myles Schroder

4

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

.269

.326

.369

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Adalberto Mejia

7.1

6

2

2

1

6

0

1

0

2.65

Jake Smith

0.2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

5.84

The losing streak keeps on going. 12 games long now. And that doesn't even explain how bad the season has gone. In 2015, the Squirrels suffered through a 15 game losing streak that started on the opening weekend. And yet, one year ago on this date, those 15-game losing streak Squirrels sat with a record of 14-21 that was FAR better than the 2016 edition which is now 10-28 and worst in the league by several games.

They haven't been getting blown out. In fact, during this losing streak they've lost by just one run half of the time.They've lost by 1 or 2 runs in 9 of the 12 games. Still, you can't ascribe 10-28 to poor luck with bouncing balls. So what's going wrong with this team?  The big picture has been that they aren't very good on offense and they're mediocre at pitching. But with few exceptions, they aren't horrible at any specific components.

They're worst in the league in scoring runs, that's the biggest thing that jumps out. Despite some obvious holes in the lineup (Hunter Cole's been very bad, 1b has been a black hole, Christian Arroyo is in an extended slump) they're about at the median in terms of BA and interestingly they're close to the middle of the pack in HRs. But they're 3rd worst in the league OBP and 4th worst in SLG. And they've drawn by far the least BBs in the league. Like their big league version they make a lot of contact, and are roughly average at getting hits and even extra base hits, but they have trouble translating that into runs thanks to the lack of secondary baserunners and below average power. Some of that's bad luck with RISP but on the whole it's likely that they're average or below average at nearly everything and terrible at one thing (free base runners) and the whole soup never boils.

On the mound there are some things they're quite good at (though maybe nothing they're really great at). They're among the league leaders in fewest BBs allowed (3rd) and most Ks (also 3rd) and they're exceptional at preventing HRs (2nd), though they're stadium bears some of that success as it's one of the tougher HR parks in the league. But they have the 4th highest ERA in the league, despite being a little below average in hits allowed.  It's entirely possible that the defense factors into that, since it's not a particularly strong defense anywhere around the diamond but a team that's pretty good at BBs, Ks, and HRs, and isn't noticeably bad at allowing hits (they're on the good side of average there too) shouldn't have one of the league's worst ERAs. And, of course, the pitching staff is unbalanced as the rotation has been, on the whole, pretty acceptable while the bullpen has been inclined towards blow ups.

Statistically, it seems that this team is at least average at enough things that they really shouldn't be losing but every single night like this. Without a doubt this group is having their minds tested. Hopefully the worm turns. Last year's Richmond team took their playoff chances down to the final week of the season. Last year's San Jose team (which included many of these same players) nearly won the league championship after being 14 games below .500 at the end of June. Something has to get better though. The sun don't shine on the same dog's ass every day, as the saying goes.

Anyway, another very nice performance from Adalberto Mejia yesterday, who even managed to make the BP "Minor League Update" board today.

Adalberto Mejia, LHP, San Francisco Giants (Double-A Richmond): 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. His ability to add and take away from his offerings is advanced, and he’s getting ahead in the count, something that he hadn’t done consistently in the past.

So let's end on a happy note and watch Mejia take care of Dante Bichette, Jr.

* * *

San Jose won at Stockton Ports (A's), 8-1

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

CF

Ronnie Jebavy

6

1

2

0

1

0

0

0

1

.225

.294

.312

RF

Steven Duggar

4

2

2

3

0

0

1

1

1

.286

.405

.540

SS

CJ Hinojosa

4

1

3

1

3

0

0

1

1

.359

.443

.508

1b

Chris Shaw

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

2

.312

.377

.558

C

Ty Ross

2

1

2

1

0

0

0

3

0

.283

.400

.370

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Sam Coonrod W 3-1

6.0

6

1

1

2

4

0

0

0

1.35

Dusten Knight

2.0

0

0

0

1

2

0

0

0

5.09

Rodolfo Martinez

1.0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

1.10

Sam Coonrod continues to be very impressive from a Runs Prevention point of view, without lighting up the peripherals (as noted by Brute in last week's Prospect Roundup). The 4 Ks were actually the second highest total of the year for Coonrod, who has had K's >= IP in only one start this year. Coonrod's 16K to 12BB peripherals are certainly not that impressive, but the 1.35 ERA looks shiny. One has to wonder if, like Tyler Beede last year, the Giants are tinkering with an approach that removes some of Coonrod's Ks (Jordan Johnson has the same thing going on this year), or if he's just struggling to get swing and misses with his premium stuff vs. Cal league hitters.

After going a month between HRs, Steven Duggar liked the experience so much he homered again for a second straight day. Duggar was just one small part of an offensive explosion that saw the Giants produce 21 base runners in the game. Every member of the lineup reached base at least once and six of the starting nine reached base safely multiple times in the game, led by Catcher Ty Ross who went a perfect 5 for 5 PA with two hits and three walks.

CJ Hinojosa had his second straight three-hit day, and upped the wattage a bit with three extra base hits this time. It was the 6th time this year Hinojosa has had three or more hits in a game. He's recorded multi-hit games 11 times already this year and he's had 9 more games in which he reached base multiple times. That's 20 out of 34 games played this year in which he's reached base at least twice. Quite a full season debut.

Recently back from a DL stint, Catcher Aramis Garcia was Joe Ritzo's pregame guest yesterday, which you can hear here:

* * *

Augusta beat Asheville Tourists (Rockies), 10-2
winning their three game series, 2-1

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

2b

Jalen Miller

3

1

1

3

0

0

0

1

1

.254

.282

.362

RF

Dylan Davis

3

0

1

2

1

0

0

1

1

.300

.399

.515

DH

Miguel Gomez

4

3

3

0

1

0

0

0

1

.362

.405

.536

LF

Gustavo Cabrera

4

3

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

.229

.270

.314

SS

Manuel Geraldo

3

1

1

1

0

0

0

1

1

.183

.224

.213

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Logan Webb W 2-2

7.0

7

1

1

0

6

1

0

0

4.96

Logan Webb had his finest start of the year, going a season high 7 IP (previous best was 6) and matching his season bests of 1 Run Allowed and 6 Ks. It was also the second consecutive start without a walk. The effort brought his ERA down by a full run, into the respectable sub-5.00 region! And always super important at a minor league game, he struck out the , uh, Tea Batter of the game?

Webb was backed by a strong effort up and down the lineup, including another three hits from red-hot Miguel Gomez, and a three RBI night from Jalen Miller, who singled in Gustavo Cabrera with the first run of the game, walked with the bases loaded his next time up, and hit a Sac Fly in his final PA. Speaking of Gustavo, who doubled and scored the game's first run, it's worth noting that he has just 1 strikeout since coming back off the DL over 14 PA.

Good win! Good series win! Best of all, they got to an 8-1 lead and didn't manage to blow it. Let's keep this up Greenjackets!

* * *

Today's Pitching Matchups:
Sacramento: Matt Lujan vs. Eric Surkamp
Richmond: Andrew Suarez vs. Daniel Camarena
San Jose: DJ Snelten vs. Zack Erwin
Augusta: Grant Watson vs. Max Fried

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