SF Giants Minor Lines, 6/13

It seems like the Giants' farm has been getting terrific starts from its core group of pitching prospects on a pretty regular basis these days. Following in the wake of Sam Coonrod's best start of the year and another "ho-hum, I just shut you out while you weren't paying attention" performance from Adalberto Mejia on the weekend, two more of the top prospects took the mound last night in Phil Bickford and Jordan Johnson, and they delivered almost identical starts. Does identical mean "good?"

#SFGiants No. 3 prospect Phil Bickford tosses his first career seven-inning SHO for Augusta. https://t.co/VuqoTlaL4J pic.twitter.com/alXFdAivhO

— MiLB.com (@MiLB) June 14, 2016

In this case, YES!

(though, as it happens, that tweet is factually incorrect; Bickford did not through a shutout)

HIGHLIGHTS: Phil Bickford and Jordan Johnson both threw 7 innings of one run ball with 7 Ks.

Sacramento lost to Fresno Grizzlies (Astros), 4-1

With two outs in the 9th, Mike Broadway surrendered a back-breaking 3 run HR to break open a 1-1 pitchers' duel and send Sacramento to defeat. The RiverCats got a strong starting effort from lefty Matt Lujan, but the bats could get but nothing going against Fresno starter Mike Hauschild. The RiverCats managed only 4 scattered hits in the game along with two walks. Their lone run, which came early on, was the result of doubles from Grant Green and Angel Pagan. Pagan is scheduled to be activated before the Giants Wednesday afternoon game, so he's likely done with his rehab stint at this point. You can see him looking pretty fresh legged here, as he doubles down the line and considers trying for third.

That was Pagan's lone hit of the game though he would line out sharply in his final at bat. He came up in the 5th in what would be the final at bat of the night with RISP, following a two out error, but his fly out to RF ended the last scoring hope for the RiverCats.

Steven Okert is having a nice run lately. He's allowed just 2 runs over his last 8 appearances (9.1 IP) while striking out 11 and walking just 3 batters in that time. For the season he's got a 33 to 7 K:BB ratio over 22.2 IP. And he's been death on lefties in the PCL this year, allowing them to hit just .184 off him while striking out 18 of the 40 LHH he's faced and walking just 2. Something to keep in mind as Javier Lopez and Josh Osich continue to struggle to retire lefties on the big club.

If there's a nit to pick with Austin Slater's 2016 season, it's definitely his strike out rate, which has remained over 20% since his promotion to AA last year.  For a player who's largely dependent on his batting average, you'd like to see that lower a bit. His production in AA came on the back of a .388 BABIP (consistently over 2015/16 actually), but that's likely to come down as he rises and if the K% doesn't come back down with it it's going to be hard for him to maintain his level of production.

T.J. Bennett was transferred from Augusta to Richmond today. He signed as a MiLB free agent in May. Played in ABL and Indy ball last season.

— Giants Farm (@SFGiantsOnScout) June 10, 2016

Hey! You might remember T.J. Bennett from that time he played in just one game in Augusta before being transferred up to Richmond. Well guess what? He's now been assigned to Sacramento after playing just one game in Richmond. Folks in San Jose should prepare to see sometime this weekend, I'd guess, at this rate.

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Richmond had a scheduled off day
They start a homestand vs. the Binghamton Mets tonight

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San Jose beat Inland Empire 66ers (Angels), 2-1

Frequently tagged as the sleeper prospect of the system, Jordan Johnson's scuffled a bit out of the gates in 2016. He had middling results early on, and skipped a turn in the rotation with some arm fatigue, which is concerning from a pitcher who's dealt with arm injuries so consistently throughout his career. His velocity's been down from it's 2015 levels as well. In his last start, after skipping a turn, Johnson had posted a season high 7 Ks, while allowing 3 runs in 6 innings of work. Building off that start he took the mound last night and delivered his best turn of the year. Jordan went a season high 7 innings, allowing just 5 hits with 7 Ks against 0 BBs. He fastball velocity was in the 91-93 range and he mixed in his change and breaking balls well. The only damage against him came on a solo HR in the 2nd inning.

While he cruised through most of his innings, retiring 13 of 14 batters at one point, Johnson also showed he could bear down and compete when things got tough. His finest moments of the game came at the end of his night, when two ground ball singles sandwiched around an infield error loaded the bases with no outs in the 7th. The offense had just tied the game up 1-1 in the bottom of the 6th and here Johnson was in danger of letting it get away from him. Instead, Jordan bowed his neck something fierce:

A fly out ended the threat and Johnson's night, and the San Jose offense was able to come back and scratch out the winning run in true "ground attack" style.

It seems pretty clear that the All Star break can't arrive soon enough for this tired group of hitters as most of the lineup is currently in slumping free fall. Steven Duggar is 0 for 19 with 8 Ks. Chris Shaw is 5 for his last 42. Even Cj Hinojosa is 6 for his last 29 with 11 Ks (causing his K:BB ratio to balloon up to 40: 33). This is a tired bunch ground down by the brutal May/June schedule that looks like it needs the break to rejuvenate a bit.

Rodolfo Martinez once again put two men on base in the 9th to provide some last minute dramatics, but he wormed his way out of the jam and remains a perfect 18 for 18 in save opportunities and his ERA dives even lower to 0.68. Martinez hasn't allowed a run in his past 12 appearances stretching back to May 18 (11.1 IP). He's allowed just two runs this year over 28 games and 26.2 IP. His 18 saves, by the by, are literally twice as many as anybody else in the league.

If you're in Northern California tonight with no plans, you should definitely consider heading over to the Muni for #SBStrong night. It's baseball and it's community and it's good.

Tomorrow we #StandTogether w/ @66ersBaseball to auction #SBStrong jerseys & honor lives of those we tragically lost pic.twitter.com/TdusbbCCGB

— San Jose Giants (@SJGiants) June 14, 2016

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Augusta won at Charleston River Dogs (Yankees) 8-1 in 7 inn. Gm 1

Augusta lost at Charleston River Dogs (Yankees) 2-0 in 7 inn Gm 2

Phil Bickford just keeps building on his excellent full season debut. After allowing 3 ER three times in his first five starts, he's now allowed 1 run or less in five of his last six. Over those six starts he's surrendered a total of 7 ER over 34.1 IP while striking out 34 and walking 10. He's now K'd 7 batters in three of his last four starts.

He matched his career high in innings pitched with this 7 inning effort, and since it was part of a double-header he got his first career CG (needing just 95 pitches to get it). His only mistake came leading off the 4th when he allowed a solo HR to Charleston's tiny lead-off CF. Bickford had retired 9 straight before the HR and kept on cruising after it. His line actually looks a little worse than it should as two fairly poor defensive efforts from his infielders led to the two of the hits (both coming in the 6th).

If you wanted to find fault with anything Bickford's doing currently, it's that his mix is extremely fastball heavy right now. But commanding the fastball and pitching off of it isn't a bad place to start from as a pitcher. Here he is last night, cruising through the 5th inning on nothing but fastballs that the Charleston batters were pretty helpless to do anything with.

The game was a tight battle until the late innings. Augusta strung together 5 hits in the 5th to score 3 runs and take the lead. And then in the 6th they went to town on the league's best pitching staff, with a flurry of walks, hits, and errors leading to a 5 run inning. They also ran wild on Charleston, stealing four bases in the two innings. And as usual, Johneshwy Fargas was the major culprit:

But after all that excitement, the Augusta lineup pretty much went to sleep for the nightcap. Poor Jake McCasland. Making the emergency start he threw 5 nearly perfect innings, allowing just one hit, a solo HR, and walked off the mound trailing 1-0. The Greenjackets had just 3 hits and 4 total baserunners in the night-cap which they snoozed through for 2-0 loss and a split of the DH. Still they've won 10 of 14 and have a shot at securing a 1st half playoff spot as their season continues to gain momentum.

SS Lucius Fox is back in the lineup in the leadoff spot for Augusta in game 1 of a doubleheader. Went on the DL 10 days ago.

— GiantsProspectTalk (@giantsprospects) June 13, 2016

Perhaps the best news of the day (after Bickford's performance) was the return of Fox. I suspected his DL stint was just a chance to give him some rest as he extends into his first season of play. With Kelvin Beltre lost to a broken arm, Fox was needed back on the roster.

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The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes have arrived in town a little earlier than normal as they prepare to embark on what they're calling their 20th anniversary season of their relationship with the Giants (though that association pre-dates the existence of the Volcanoes, going back to when the franchise was in Bellingham).  As usual, they'll play an exhibition against local college players on Thursday and then open the season on Friday at home against the defending champion Hillsboro Hops.

The @SKVolcanoes arrive for 2016 season https://t.co/boXNUx4PFZ pic.twitter.com/Wi650UpCKJ

— Statesman Journal (@Salem_Statesman) June 13, 2016

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DSL Giants lost to the DSL Dodgers, 6-5

Well, Jorge Labrador survived the first inning this time out! But he ran into a bit of an iceberg in the 3rd inning when he went walk-walk-HR-double to the first four batters he faced before being replaced. But he's 17 and learning.

Ricardo Genoves is off to a nice start offensively, particularly his contact skills as he has just 4 Ks and 3 BBs on the year so far (25 ABs). Diego Rincones turns 17 today. Happy birthday Diego. The youngster finished off his career as a 16 year old by doubling and singling. Francisco Medina, who started last year out with such a power surge, also connected for a double, his first XBH of the year.

Twins detienen en siete racha de victorias Giants en DSL:https://t.co/RLolOQewn3 pic.twitter.com/teDMnZfcx2

— Ligas Menores Radio (@ligasmenoresRD) June 9, 2016

So far it doesn't appear that the 2016 version is match for the 2015 champs. Being able to run out Victor Concepcion (0.42 ERA), Sandro Cabrera (2.32), Raffi Vizcaino (2.50) and Melvi Adon (2.48) night after night was a pretty huge advantage for that team. It'll be fascinating to see how that group does in the States this year, as well as their teammates Luis Amaya, Sandro Fabian, Beicker Mendoza, Melky Coronado, etc. That was really a talented squad, which will all be showing up (hopefully) in the coming week.