clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

SF Giants Minor Lines, 5/29

Joan Gregorio threw his hat in the "Matt Cain Temporary Replacement Pool" with some nasty swing and miss stuff. (OKC hitters immediately swung and missed at his hat).

By Roger

Before we get to Sunday's lines, let's start off with a Saturday night article courtesy of Hunter Cole, because I love me a good OF assist. Hozer!

HIGHLIGHTS: Joan Gregorio Ks 8 in 5IP;  Martin Agosta allowed 2 Runs over 7 IP

Sacramento lost to Oklahoma City Dodgers, 4-1

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

3b

Mitch Delfino

4

1

1

0

1

0

0

0

1

.287

.374

.404

RF

Mac Williamson

4

0

1

1

1

0

0

0

1

.281

.314

.504

C

Miguel Olivo

4

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

.288

.309

.466

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Joan Gregorio L 0-2

5.0

5

4

3

1

8

0

0

0

4.20

Mike Broadway

2.0

2

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

3.18

It won't be Joan Gregorio taking Matt Cain's spot on Tuesday, but he's doing his best to put some thoughts in organizational minds about the slightly longer term view. Going up against a lineup that (like many AAA lineups) was stock full of major league vets Gregorio had a wicked slider and lively fastball going racking up Ks. He struck out two batters in each of the 1st four innings.

Gregorio wasn't overly sharp with his command and did run his pitch count up with some long at bats. This is why he was out of the game after 5. But that's not such a bad thing either as at least it stretched him out. He extended up to 92 pitches which was a season high and only the second time this year he's reached as high as 90. Extra base hits bedeviled him a bit, as he gave up two triples and a double, all of which factored in runs. His biggest mistakes came in the 2nd, when he walked a 7th place hitter and then surrendered a triple to the opposing Pitcher. The ended up being a Little League HR as an error brought OKC Pitcher Jharel Cotton all the way around to score.

But the takeaway from this game is that Gregorio's showing the stuff to miss major league quality bats. He K'd Micah Johnson. He K'd Scott Van Slyke. He K'd Alex Guerrero a couple times. This was a good outing for the big man. He's on the radar.

Offensively... yee-ikes. Mitch Delfino and Mac Williamson hit back to back doubles in the 1st inning to provide the RiverCats only run, and following that inning they had just five base runners the rest of the game.  In six of the last eight innings they sent just three runners to the plate. So, yeah... um... let's talk about Joan Gregorio some more!

Seriously, check out that slider!

* * *

Richmond lost at Erie Sea Wolves (Tigers), 5-2

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

SS

Christian Arroyo

4

1

2

0

1

0

0

0

1

.287

.317

.404

LF

Austin Slater

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

1

.323

.418

.511

3b

Ryder Jones

4

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

3

.238

.269

.369

2b

Ali Castillo

3

0

3

0

1

0

0

0

0

.327

.369

.386

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Kyle Crick L 1-3

5.2

9

5

3

0

2

2

3

1

4.32

Chase Johnson

1.0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

3.49

So there were a couple of pretty interesting aspects of Kyle Crick's performance yesterday. First, for the first time in 41 AA starts, Crick didn't issue a walk. The very first time! Now there was a mitigating aspect to that.  He hit three batters, and one of them he hit badly, catching Connor Harrell in the helmet with an errant fastball in the game's scariest moment (Harrell left the game under his own power, though holding a towel to his face).  Two of those HBP came in the messy two-run 1st inning before he got settled down and into rhythm.

The other notable aspect of this start was that Crick was using off-speed pitches a LOT. And frequently he was throwing off speed pitches to open at bats. This was almost certainly a directive from the org and in general it seemed a pretty successful one, as Crick looked more comfortable throwing his secondaries as the game went along then he's looked in some time. Here he is picking up one of his two Ks on a nifty breaking ball against the Tigers' #5 prospect JaCoby Jones.

Unfortunately, Jones got his revenge the next time up when he launched a Crick fastball into a land far, far away. That was ultimately Crick's biggest problem on this day: when he gave up contact it was often hard as he surrendered two booming doubles and two HRs.

On the offensive side, Richmond got shut down pretty well in this gave, striking out 13 times in all, including hat tricks for both Ryder Jones and Jeff Arnold.  Austin Slater was the only member of the lineup to draw a walk, and they scattered eight hits amongst themselves. Christian Arroyo did continue his nice run with two more hits including a double that missed going out by inches.

Arroyo did, also, make his 7th error of the season in this game, dropping a throw from 1b Ricky Oropesa on a potential DP. He also made an error on Saturday night in Tyler Beede's start. Both came in the game's 1st inning, and in this case, it led directly to two runs scoring.

From a Tigers' perspective the game featured the AA debut of their #7 prospect, hard throwing reliever Joe Jimenez. Jimenez, who was an undrafted FA out of Puerto Rico, struck out the side for the save in his debut, which you can see in its entirety here (that's Ryder Jones, Jeff Arnold, and Eliezer Zambrano batting):

Oh, and hey! Remember how I like Outfield Assists? Let's double up on Hunter Cole (well he's in there somewhere)!

* * *

San Jose beat Modesto Nuts (Rockies), 5-2

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

SS

CJ Hinojosa

3

1

1

0

0

1

0

1

1

.348

.434

.516

1b

Jonah Arenado

4

1

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

.251

.283

.409

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Martin Agosta W 3-0

7.0

5

2

2

1

4

0

1

0

2.22

Reyes Moronta

1.0

1

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

2.45

Rodolfo Martinez S 14

1.0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.84

After the longest road trip anybody can remember the Cal League ever scheduling, San Jose came home to begin their longest homestand of the year: 12 games over 11 straight game days.

On a day when the offense was missing Chris Shaw (rest day) and generally showing some built up fatigue from the past two weeks, San Jose got a big boost from starter Martin Agosta who went a season high 7 IP allowing just six baserunners and two runs. Agosta, now in his third Cal League season, retired 14 straight hitters at one point in the outing, and reduced his ERA to just 2.22.  I've heard some whispers that his velo has ticket up a touch from the high 80s he was throwing at last year, but I haven't seen any confirmation of that anywhere.

The late inning twosome of Moronta and Martinez shut it down again without much incident (though Moronta allowed two baserunners in the 8th). Rodolfo Martinez continues to be nearly perfect this year picking up his 14th save in 14 chances yesterday. In 22 games this year, Martinez has surrendered just 2 ER. He's allowed more than 1 baserunners in just 7 of his 22 appearances. More than a third of his appearances (8 of 22) have been a perfect 3 up-3 down. Five of his 8 walks on the season came in just two appearances (separated by several weeks).  In other words: he's been good!

The offense managed just six hits in the game. But they were gifted a two-run rally in the 2nd on a walk, HB and an error. And in the 3rd they strung together a triple, single, and two doubles for another three run rally, and with the great pitching that was more than enough. The triple starting that off came from CJ Hinojosa who reached base twice more, running his league leading OBP up to .435.

Wait did I say that the late innings were managed without incidence? I totally lied! Hereby, I present, an incident:

* * *

Augusta's game was postponed by rain
They won their four game series, 2-1

So, since we have just a postponement here, how about we take a moment to mention how terrific Michael Santos was on Saturday night.

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Michael Santos W 4-2

8.0

6

1

1

1

7

0

0

0

3.02

The performance started out rocky, as he allowed a single, walk, and double to the first three batters he faced. But then he shut the door on the 2nd & 3rd with nobody out situation with a strikeout, and infield pop-up, and another strike out. And from there on he cruised, allowing just four more baserunners over the next 7 IP, while striking out five more.  He retired 10 straight batters at one point, and gave up just one more hard hit ball (a two-out triple to the opposite field corner).

Santos has now pitched 31 innings over his last four starts, going 8 IP in three of them. He has a 43 to 5 K/BB ratio on the year, and is looking more and more like the guy who wowed the scouts in the AZL (where he was BA's #10 prospect of the league). I wouldn't be too surprised to see a move for Santos in the next few weeks. Good looking kid.

* * *

Very interesting Memorial Day slate of games today. By Baseball America, the Giants will have their #3, 6, 8, and 10 prospects slated to start; that's four of their top five pitching prospects. Also, if Clayton Blackburn takes the mound as scheduled, that eliminates one more possibility for replacing Cain's scheduled Tuesday night start in Atlanta (which looks to be headed to Chris Heston or Albert Suarez).

Today's Pitching Matchups:
Sacramento: Clayton Blackburn vs. Sam LcCure
Richmond: Adalberto Mejia vs. Anthony Fernandez
San Jose: Sam Coonrod vs. Ryan Castellani (Rockies #15 prospect)
Augusta: Phil Bickford vs. Johnathan Frebis (college teammate of Ronnie Jebavy's)

All but the Augusta game are on MiLBtv. Good Memorial Day minor league game viewing while waiting for the Dubs to start!

Go get 'em Dubs! We're all behind you!

More From McCovey Chronicles