The Prospect Roundup, 8/21

Joe Nathan, and the Parade of Former Giants

This week, the Giants made some waves, bringing back a former face on a minor league deal.  Joe Nathan made his return to the Giants organization after 13 years, on a minor league deal.  With the Giants’ bullpen troubles continuing, giving the 41-year old former All-Star Closer another chance certainly generated some talk.

Nathan signed earlier this season with the Chicago Cubs, and after a brief stint there, spent time with their minor leagues after an injury.  He was released on August 8th and signed with the Giants later in the week.  He ended up in Double-A Richmond, to stay close to his home in New York.  He did say that the Giants had been interested in his services earlier in the offseason, but that the Giants couldn’t guarantee a major league bullpen spot.

The move brings another old friend to the system.  This year, the Giants brought back Conor Gillaspie to some success as a bench player.  Meanwhile, in Triple-A, you can find Travis Ishikawa, in his third stint as a Giant, and Jean Machi, both midseason minor league free agent pickups.  In Double-A is Darren Ford, who bounced around a few organizations since being a Giant in 2011 before returning in 2015.

And if you want to extend things a bit, the Giants drafted the son of Jose Vizcaino, Jose Vizcaino, Jr., currently on the DL after spending the season in San Jose.  And mid-season, they traded for Shawon Dunston Jr., the son of the former Giant and current instant replay coach.

There’s something to be said for the Giants to be a welcoming organization for players, who enjoy coming back.  Sure, not all of them have the major leagues in their future, but a good reputation is a good thing to have.

Top 2016 Giants Pick Reynolds Gets Promoted

Congratulations to Bryan Reynolds and Nick Sabo for getting the call to the @GreenJackets. #GoSKV #GIANTDreams pic.twitter.com/n5upOlrQGR

— Volcanoes Baseball (@SKVolcanoes) August 19, 2016

The Volcanoes outfield had seen some incredible production from their outfield, with three top 6-Round picks from this year’s draft, plus others.  Bryan Reynolds, the Giants’ top pick, was certainly one with the highest expectations.  On Saturday, he took his show on the road to Augusta.

Reynolds had put up a strong .312/.368/.500 line with the Volcanoes over 40 games.  It wasn’t quite league MVP level numbers, but he’d shown a well-rounded approach in hitting and getting extra-bases.  There are still areas to see some improvement, such as a nearly 4:1 K:BB ratio, and a lack of speed on the basepaths.

With the GreenJackets in a playoff position, Reynolds should get a lot of good experience moving forward.  Getting some time in Augusta may also raise some questions about whether the well-regarded prospect might start 2017 with San Jose.

Hitter of the Week - Austin Slater

Austin Slater used Saturday’s hot 4-for-4 day with two home runs to take the lead on this honor.

Slater hit an even .500 on the week, going 12-for-24, with two home runs.  He also walked while striking out just three times.  It was quite a week for Slater, who has been hot all August.

With Sacramento, Slater is now hitting .282/.370/.446 in 57 games at Triple-A.  Overall, between Sacramento and Richmond, he’s batting .297/.388/.464 with 13 home runs, a career high.

Pitcher of the Week - Victor Concepcion

It’s been a rough season for pitchers in Salem-Keizer, but for one game, Victor Concepcion did well.

Concepcion went 7 shutout innings, just allowing four hits and a walk.  It was Concepcion’s longest start of the season, and though he managed only four strikeouts, it was the 19-year old’s most effective game of the year.

On the year, Concepcion has a 5.29 ERA with a 4-5 record, with 35 strikeouts and 21 walks in 47.2 innings.  Concepcion had a 0.42 ERA in 8 starts with the DSL Giants in 2015.

Saturday’s Scores

AAA	Score	AA	Score 11 Inn.	High-A	Score	Low-A Game 1	Score
Sacramento	3	Harrisburg	8	Rancho Cucamonga	3	Augusta	1
Reno	7	Richmond	5	San Jose	6	Columbus	5
Low-A Game 2	Score	Short-A	Score	AZ Rookie	Score	DSL Rookie	Score(10)
Augusta	0	Salem-Keizer	6	Giants	0	Orioles2	8
Everett	2	Tri-City	2	Angels	4	Giants	6

Notable Lines

Team	Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
SAC	Gorkys Hernandez	CF	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.303
SAC	Austin Slater	LF	4	2	4	0	0	2	2	0	0	.282
SAC	Grant Green	2B	4	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.316
RIC	Steven Duggar	CF	4	1	2	0	1	0	2	1	1	.321
RIC	Chris Shaw	1B	3	1	2	1	0	1	2	2	1	.244
RIC	Brandon Bednar	2B	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	.257
SJ	Ronnie Jebavy	CF	4	1	1	0	0	1	3	0	1	.255
SJ	Dylan Davis	RF	4	1	2	0	0	1	1	0	0	.299
SJ	Miguel Gomez	1B	3	2	3	0	1	1	1	1	0	.243
SJ	Mitch Delfino	3B	4	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.172
AUG G1	Johneshwy Fargas	CF	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.280
AUG G1	Seth Harrison	LF	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.263
AUG G1	Skyler Ewing	1B	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.247
AUG G2	Jalen Miller	SS	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.235
AUG G2	Bryan Reynolds	CF	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
S-K	Heath Quinn	RF	4	1	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	.335
S-K	Ryan Howard	SS	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.262
S-K	Chase Compton	3B	3	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	.219
AZL	Mikey Edie	CF	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.218
AZL	Sandro Fabian	RF	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
AZL	Robinson Medrano	1B	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.237
DSL	Ismael Munguia	CF	4	1	2	1	0	0	3	1	0	.284
DSL	Ricardo Genoves	C	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	.259
DSL	Wascar De Leon	DH	3	1	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	.263

Team	Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
SAC	Joan Gregorio (L, 4-8)	5.0	6	4	2	4	4	0	5.48
SAC	Steven Okert	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	4.35
RIC	Kyle Crick	5.0	7	5	4	4	4	0	5.10
RIC	Tyler Mizenko (L, 2-6)	1.0	3	3	3	1	0	0	3.67
RIC	Rodolfo Martinez	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	6.50
SJ	Cory Taylor (W, 1-0)	5.0	3	1	1	2	7	0	1.80
SJ	Pat Young (H, 9)	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	3.57
SJ	Reyes Moronta (S, 13)	1.0	0	0	0	0	3	0	2.36
AUG G1	Heath Slatton	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	3.18
AUG G1	Michael Connolly (L, 11-5)	5.0	5	5	5	2	4	0	2.66
AUG G2	Luis Pino (L, 2-1)	4.0	3	2	2	1	6	1	4.24
S-K	Stephen Woods (W, 1-0)	5.0	2	2	1	2	6	0	1.80
S-K	Raffi Vizcaino (S, 1)	4.0	1	0	0	2	7	0	4.60
AZL	Nick Deeg (L, 1-1)	2.2	3	4	4	2	1	0	4.32
DSL	Miguel Figueroa	1.2	4	2	1	1	2	0	3.02
DSL	Jasier Herrera (BS, 3)	1.0	4	1	0	0	1	0	3.27
DSL	Weilly Yan (L, 0-1)	0.2	1	2	0	3	1	0	1.23

• Austin Slater certainly had the line of the day, with a perfect 4-for-4,with two home runs.  He’s batting .282 on the season in AAA, with 8 home runs, and is batting .386 with 4 home runs in the month of August.

• Chris Shaw has been getting stronger after a prolonged slump.  Shaw hit his first home run since August 7th, and third of August.  He’s hit .296 with a .900 OPS in the month of August.

• Miguel Gomez’s power stroke continued, but it has finally extended to hitting for average.  With the 3-for-3 day, Gomez’s batting average jumped from .223 to .243.  He also now has 6 home runs in 29 games, after 8 home runs in 66 games at Augusta.

• Cory Taylor made his San Jose debut on Saturday.  He collected a win, and now has 117 strikeouts across 114.2 innings on the season.

• Augusta finished their suspended game from Friday.  Michael Connolly came in for the restart, and was pounded, giving up a season-high five runs.  His ERA jumped from 2.39 to 2.66.

• Jalen Miller had the best Game 2 line, with a pair of hits and a walk.  One important stat is that he’s drawn 6 walks in the last nine games.  His on-base percentage has jumped from .268 to .282 during that span.

• Bryan Reynolds made his Augusta debut, with an 0-for-3 with a strikeout, as did Nick Sabo, going an inning without a baserunner and two strikeouts.

• Sandro Fabian continued his strong season with another two-hit game.  He had gone hitless since his four-hit game on Wednesday.

• The DSL Giants used a full 7 relievers in their game, after Miguel Figueroa only lasted 1.2 innings.

Sacramento Litterbox

Going into the final few weeks of the season, Sacramento is buried in last place, and will be eliminated officially from the playoffs with two losses or Tacoma wins…Chris Denorfia’s comeback bid with the Giants organization ended in disappointment, as he was released on Sunday.  The 36-year old hit .255/.308/.382 for the River Cats in 36 games, with just four home runs.  Denorfia last played in the Majors in 2015, with the Cubs, batting 269/.319/.373.

Richmond Nuthouse

Richmond is in 4th place, 15 games back of first place Altoona, and could be eliminated this week from playoff contention.

San Jose Footprints

San Jose has clinched a playoff spot, at least as the wild card team.  They are 4 games behind Bakersfield for the 2nd half title, and has 6 more games against Bakersfield out of 14 games left.

Augusta Putt-putt Course

Despite their recent losing streak, Augusta is still in first place for the 2nd half title, 1.5 games ahead of second place Rome.  Their magic number is 15…At least for Day 1 of the Brian Reynolds move to Augusta, saw a shuffle of positions.  Reynolds took center field, which moved Johneshwy Fargas going to right field, and Junior Arias moving to first base.  Skyler Ewing moved from first to DH, and Dillon Dobson was pinch hitting.  It has yet to be seen what player will lose the lion’s share of the playing time.

Salem-Keizer Crater

The Volcanoes are current in 3rd place, 7 games back of division-leading Eugene.  If Eugene wins the division, Salem-Keizer is 5 games back of Hillsboro for the wild card position.

Arizona Air Conditioner

The Giants squad is 1.5 games back of the Angels, with 8 games left.  The Angels have a Magic Number of 6.

Dominican Beach

The DSL Giants are in 3rd place in their division, but will get eliminated with one more loss or Mariners1 win.

Transaction Log:

Sacramento:

8/14 - RF Mac Williamson and LHP Josh Osich sent to Sacramento on a rehab assignment.

8/15 - OF Chris Denorfia released; OF Ryan Lollis activated from the 7-Day DL.

8/16 - 2B Ramiro Pena placed on the 7-Day DL.

8/17 - 1B Ricky Oropesa activated from the 7-Day DL

Lollis missed about a week and a half.  He’s hitting .252 this season for Sacramento.  Ramiro Pena is hitting .296 for Sacramento, after hitting .299 for 30 games in San Francisco.  Oropesa hasn’t played much in Sacramento, only making 11 games so far.  He’s made two appearances off the bench since being activated, and is batting .063 in Sacramento.

Richmond:

8/16 - RHP Nestor Molina returned to Richmond from Olmecas de Tabasco.  RHP Joe Nathan assigned to Richmond.

The term "returned" is interesting.  Molina has never been a part of the Giants organization, and last played in the US for the White Sox organization in Birmingham, with a 4.55 ERA in the AA Southern League.  He has no stats listed for 2015, but had a 4.94 ERA between two teams in the Mexican League this year.

San Jose:

8/15 - RHP Hengerber Medina assigned to San Jose from Salem-Keizer.  RHP Connor Overton placed on the 7-day DL.

8/16 - RHP Cory Taylor assigned to San Jose from Richmond.

8/20 - LHP D.J. Snelten placed on the 7-Day DL, retroactive to 8/18.

Talk about bad luck.  Overton was a minor league free agent making his season debut last Saturday, He threw 19 pitches to four batters, and was out injured.  That prompted the abrupt promotion of Medina, where he posted a 4.43 ERA in 12 appearances, 7 starts.  Medina has made a bullpen appearance in San Jose.  Starter Cory Taylor was moved down from Richmond, after having a 2.58 ERA with Augusta.  Taylor had a 0.75 ERA in two starts at Richmond.  The Giants bullpen will miss Snelton, who has had a 1.08 ERA since switching to relief.

Augusta:

8/16 - C Adam Sonabend activated from the temporarily inactive list.

8/17 - LHP Caleb Smith placed on the 7-Day DL retroactive to 8/16.

8/19 - OF Bryan Reynolds and LHP Nick Sabo assigned to Augusta from Salem-Keizer.

Sonabend returns after a brief absence.  He has only played 20 games with the GreenJackets, batting .200 this year.  Caleb Smith has been one of the more reliable relievers in the GreenJackets bullpen, with a 2.35 ERA, and he collected 6 saves in 6 opportunities earlier this season.  Nick Sabo had a 4.70 ERA for Salem-Keizer, although it jumped to that level from 2.25 after he allowed 7 runs in 3 innings in his last two appearances.

Salem-Keizer:

8/19 - RHP Stephen Woods and OF Woody Edwards assigned to Salem-Keizer from the AZL.

Woods has a 2.67 ERA mostly starting for the AZL team.  Woody Edwards was batting .294 in 21 games for the AZL.

AZL Giants:

8/15 - RHP Justin Alleman placed on the 7-Day DL; LHP Chris Falwell activated from the 7-Day DL.

8/18 - SS Kelvin Beltre sent to the AZL on a rehab assignment.

Alleman has a 11.81 ERA in five relief appearances, with six of his seven runs allowed coming in his last two appearances.  Falwell missed nearly a month of time.  He has a 3.12 ERA this year.  Kelvin Beltre went on the DL for Augusta in mid-June, and had been hitting .247 for the GreenJackets.

DSL Giants:

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The Wrap-Up:

The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes will be making history in a year exactly, today.

The minor league @SKVolcanoes will play a game on August 21, 2017, that will feature the first ever "eclipse delay" in baseball history!

— National Eclipse (@NationalEclipse) August 19, 2016

With next year's first Total Eclipse in the lower-48 states in over a hundred years, and Keizer, OR in the path of the eclipse, the Volcanoes will be playing a morning game.  They will hand out safety glasses to fans to wear when the eclipse begins.

It should be quite an event.  Hopefully we’ll get some video of the event as it passes.  If you intend to visit, it will also be the end of a Brewfest, which seems like a perfect excuse for morning drinking.