SF Giants Minor Lines 4/14/17: Christian Arroyo nears .500

Two victories on the season for Augusta; two system sweeps! If the Greenjackets could start winning more than once a week we might have something here!

HIGHLIGHTS: Christian Arroyo goes 3 for 3 off the bench; Chris Shaw reaches base 4x including game winning HR.

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Sacramento wins at Salt Lake City Bees (Angels), 12-10
splitting their four game series 2-2

No 40 MPH wind in this game, but still conditions were right for hitting once again in Salt Lake City. This wild back and forth game produced six lead changes as the teams combined for 28 hits, 6 walks, 4 errors, and 6 WP.

Beede had a rough second outing, perhaps getting squeezed a bit on the strike zone, or perhaps just in a tough high altitude environment. But regardless, after a start in which he allowed no walks for just the third time in his career, he walked four in just four innings while also uncorking three WP. He also surrendered five hits including Eric Young, Jr.’s leadoff HR. Beede was chased after 4 innings with Sacramento trailing 6-4, but there was a lot of game left.

Heck, Christian Arroyo wasn’t even in the game yet at that point! He would enter as a PH for Orlando Calixte in the 6th inning and go on to have 3 hits on the night (all singles), raising his average up to .467. At 14 for 30 on the year he’s just one hit away (well, two now) from a .500 BA in his first 10 days of play. That would qualify as a hot start, methinks!

The RiverCats would tie the game in the 6th on a two-run shot from Austin Slater and then put together a two-run rally in the 8th to pull ahead 8-6. That’s when things got a little crazy. Chase Johnson had delivered a near perfect three innings of relief to allow Sacramento’s comeback, but Josh Osich ran into all kinds of trouble trying to protect the lead in the 8th. Osich had been near perfect on the year, allowing just one baserunner (on a walk) in three appearances. He allowed a leadoff triple to ex-Card Shane Robinson and then a Christian Arroyo error brought the first run home. A WP and a safety squeeze brought in the tying run and then with two outs Osich surrendered a double (again to Eric Young Jr) to give up the lead. (For his efforts, Osich would end up the LOLWinning Pitcher of the game.)

But the RiverCats came right back in the top of the 9th to score four of their own, with Kelby Tomlinson’s bases clearing double the big blow. Kyle Crick then picked up the first Save of his pro career with a scoreless 9th. Crick has been hittable this year (5 hits in 5 IP) but he’s sporting a 5 K/0 BB ratio out of the bullpen which definitely is going to put him on the major league radar if he keeps it up.

Anyway, let’s enjoy the big hits of the game from Mssrs Slater and Tomlinson:

The win puts 5-3 Sacramento into an early season 1st place in their division (which is better than being buried in last place as they were for nearly all of April last year). No help for the pitching staff for the weekend as the RiverCats continue on to the hitter friendly climes of Las Vegas.

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Richmond won at Reading Fightin’ Phils, 5-3

Back down here on planet Earth, Sam Coonrod had no problem building on his excellent first start as he mostly silenced the Fightin’ Phils offense. After a 2016 in which Coonrod successfully prevented runs even with ugly peripherals, Sam’s brought sexy back to his game and is posting an eye-popping 15 K/1 BB ratio in his first two starts (12 IP). In last night’s game Coonrod mixed in a highly effective changeup along with his high octane fastball to produce a lot of swing thrus. His one mistake of the game was a big one as he allowed a 3-run HR to #9 Phillies prospect Scott Kingery, but other than that pitch he dominated and got stronger as he went along: striking out six batters in his final three innings. Here he is striking out the side in the 4th:

With Coonrod and relievers Snelten and Moronta keeping Reading off the board after the 3-run HR, Richmond came back thanks to a strong offensive night from Chris Shaw, who’s now 9 for 23 over his last five games with four XBH and three walks. Shaw reached base safely in every PA on the night and was in the middle of every Richmond rally. He followed a Miguel Gomez double in the top of the first with an RBI single. Then in the 6th he doubled home Brandon Bednar and came around to score the tying run himself on a Ryan Lollis single. And then in the 8th he stepped up to provide the game winner.

I agree, Reading announcer! Majestic power. Beautiful swing. Hopefully Shaw’s gearing himself up for a big second year.

And speaking of a big year, let’s fire up the ol’ adding machine here. Reyes Moronta K’d two of the three batters he faced to get the save which means Moronta in his AA career has now faced 14 batters and he’s struck out 10 of them. The rotund fireman is announcing his presence with authority! I think Reyes is going to find himself pitching in the big leagues before 2017 is over.

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San Jose beat Stockton Ports (A’s), 3-2

The 1st place Giants favorite weapon continues to be the HR ball as they bash their way to success. The Giants not only lead the Cal League in HRs, they have double (12 to 6) the total of next best team. They lead the Cal League in Runs scored as well by nearly 20 over second best Lancaster, and they’ve scored nearly 50 more runs than the Stockton Ports in just 9 games, which is fairly astonishing.

On this night, however, the two teams were evenly matched. San Jose didn’t light up the scoreboard, but when they did score it came via the longball. Aramis Garcia got them going in the 1st inning with a two-run shot, his second of the year.

I’m going to go ahead and put the promotion watch on Aramis right now. With his torrid start counter-balanced by Matt Winn’s frigid bat in Richmond, I’m going to guess those two switch places before Mother’s Day.

The ultimate game winner came from power hitting Gio Brusa (3rd) who is off to a real Three True Outcomes start in San Jose. Of his first 40 PA this year, 22 of them have resulted in either a HR, K, or BB. He also has a long triple and double. Only two of his hits have been singles vs. the 5 XBH. Brusa doesn’t hit ‘em often, but he hits ‘em far! And about half the time he doesn’t hit ‘em at all. Brusa’s HR came off A’s #2 prospect AJ Puk, their 1st round pick in 2016 who was at one point considered a candidate to be drafted 1-1. Puk had been dealing, striking out 7 over his 4 inning relief stint and allowing no other hits. So we know Gio can square up velocity.

The recently signed Dylan Rhealt finally got a chance to get his first save of the year, and as my brother noted, it was a full-on Brian Wilson affair, as Rhealt went out to protect a 2-run lead and opened the inning: single, walk, single, WP. With the tying and lead runs in scoring position with nobody out, Rhealt got down to business, striking out the next two hitters and and ending it on a groundout. Leaving Manager Nestor no doubt thinking:

and before we leave San Jose, a congratulations must be observed:

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Augusta beat Columbia Fireflies (Mets), 7-0

Not only a win, a heh heh heh heh heh LAUGHER! Augusta’s 2nd win of the year completes the system sweep for the night. Not surprisingly, their second win coincided with their second decent performance out of a starting pitcher. Matt Solter stepped in for scheduled starter Cameron Avila-Leeper (no cause given) and the veteran Solter gave the team a lift with 5 scoreless innings. Pitch well you have a chance to win! Simple formula.

And as you can see from those early season lines above, this team really needs solid pitching to win because there’s some ugliness going on there. That’s a lot of OBP in the .250s! Sandro Fabian, who’s predictably struggling at the outset, picked up his third double of the year. Of his 8 hits on the year 3 have been doubles so he hits them hard when he hits them. However he also picked up his 9th K of the year. Kevin Rivera, with two more hits and two runs scored in this game, has been one of the steadiest presences in the lineup down in the 9 hold. Might be time to move him up somewhere higher in the order.

Off the field, the Greenjackets had another win yesterday as well, as ground has been broken on their future home.

Can’t wait for the beautiful new park to open in 2018.

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Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento: Joan Gregorio vs. Wilfredo Boscan
Richmond: Cory Taylor vs. Shane Watson
San Jose: Michael Connolly vs. Brett Graves
Augusta: Merandy Gonzalez vs. Melvin Adon

Gonzalez and Adon matched up last weekend as well. Hopefully this tilt goes a little better for Augusta. That’s it for me, enjoy Kevin’s Prospect Round Up tomorrow.

Everybody wins on a Friday night and huge performances from several of the premier prospects? Calls for the fireworks!