SF Giants Minor Lines 5/14/17

Sacramento defeated Colorado Springs (Brewers), 4-2

It was a relatively restrained affair in Colorado Springs, all things considered, in this 4-2 win for the River Cats. Jae-Gyun Hwang got the River Cats offense going early. Now that he’s finally gotten that first home run in America under his belt (on Saturday), Hwang got his second home run in the third inning. That home run would tie the game at 1-1. Hwang would add a sacrifice fly later in the game.

Meanwhile, those outfielders that we talked about yesterday who might be worth calling up kept hitting. Austin Slater wasn’t quite as great as yesterday, going just 1-for-4, but he also added a walk. He’s gotten a walk in each of his last three games, and when added to his hitting, his OBP is up to .376 on top of his .308 batting average. Meanwhile, Mac Williamson extended his hitting streak to six games, with his third straight multi-hit game. Williamson has a respectable .274/.338/.452 line in 18 games back at Sacramento, and although he hasn’t taken advantage of the thin air in Colorado Springs to hit home runs (he does have 3 so far), he has hit 7-for-18 while playing in the thin air.

Michael Roth, the former Rangers pitcher, hasn’t been having the best season now that he’s joined the Giants organization. He’s put up a 4.54 ERA over his first nine games. However, he’s starting to put things together. His six innings were his longest start of the year, and though he gave up a pair of runs, he’s gone five innings and given up two or less earned runs in three of his last four games. However, he wasn’t the winner of today’s game. So let’s look at the relievers.

First off, Tyler Rogers continued to look good. He got the win in an inning of scoreless relief. He didn’t allow a hit for the first time since May 6th, although he did give up a walk. He also got his first strikeout in a week. The funky submariner’s peripherals will never look perfect, but he’s got a .186 average against and a 0.89 WHIP in 24.2 innings this season, numbers that look even better than his dominant first half in Richmond last year. I’ve always been a fan of funky relievers to help keep batters off-balance. Rogers could be a nice addition if this bullpen still needs help.

Alongside Rogers’ performance was 32-year old Matt Reynolds. Reynolds has 8 straight scoreless appearances, and the left-hander has looked strong in Sacramento this season. He’ll provide some more insurance if either of the O’s falter in the big leagues. Meanwhile, Kyle Crick picked up his third save as he continues to convert to relieving. His 3.52 ERA is not as impressive as Reynolds or Rogers, but his 17 strikeouts over 15.1 IP does look nice, and he still has first round potential.

Richmond defeated Bowie (Orioles), 4-1

Jordan Johnson is one of the Giants’ more elusive pitching prospects. Blessed with excellent stuff, but also saddled with inconsistency, it’s been hard to get a grasp on him. But at least so far, he’s having a good year in Richmond and Sunday was another solid start, showing that good stuff.

Johnson’s allowed one earned run or less in five of his seven appearances after today’s game, but he still isn’t quite dominating like he could be. He’s got 29 strikeouts in 34.1 innings this season, a good amount but not great. What’s been different for him this year, however, is that he’s not giving up hits like he did last season, when he had a .277 average against. He’s had a .220 average this year. And that was more of what he did on Sunday, along with two other excellent relievers on Richmond.

D.J. Snelten had another scoreless appearance for Richmond, now have allowed just one earned run over 18 innings. Meanwhile, Carlos Alvarado picked up his first save of the season, filling in for Reyes Moronta and Rodolfo Martinez. The 27-year old Alvarado has just a 0.85 WHIP on the year, and 29 strikeouts in just 15.1 IP, and is having a breakout season after his third year in Richmond over the last four seasons.

On the hitting side, it was more of the same for Richmond. Miguel Gomez collected another two hits in a game, bringing his average up to .328 and his on-base percentage to .368. Slade Heathcott continues to impress back in Double-A, with another two hits and his team-leading .843 OPS. And finally, C.J. Hinojosa came up with another hit and two more walks. Hinojosa has a .370 OBP in six games since coming back. And Roger had a note regarding Hinojosa’s injury time.

San Jose was defeated by Inland Empire (Angels), 5-2

Bryan Reynolds has been very streaky this year, and after a four-game hitless streak, maybe his two hits today are a sign he’s going to start another good streak?

That’s about the only real silver lining to take from a pretty listless game by San Jose. Reynolds was the only Giant with more than one hit, and had two of the team’s three extra-base hits (a double and a triple). Reynolds’ 2016 stats don’t look like much (.252/.317/.354), although having four doubles, three triples and a home run isn’t too bad. But two areas of his game certainly need work. He’s got 32 strikeouts in 31 games, a bit higher than his pace last year (61 in 56 games). Also, he’s only attempted two stolen bases, and has been unsuccessful in both.

The pitching side featured another difficult start by Mark Reyes. Reyes did have his best start of the season last week, his first one without allowing an earned run, but the success did not carry over. The 4.1 IP were the least he’s thrown in a start in almost a month (going back to April 19th), and he matched a season high (for the third time) with five walks. Reyes didn’t help his cause, committing two of the team’s three errors.

The one name that didn’t look bad was for one out. Closer Ryan Halstead got in for a single out, a strikeout. Halstead’s ERA is down to 0.49 (from 0.50, after only collecting one out), and he has 22 strikeouts without a single walk in 18.1 IP.

Augusta was defeated by Lexington (Royals), 7-1

With team offensive leader Kelvin Beltre taking a day off, Augusta fell helplessly to Lexington. The GreenJackets collected 9 hits on the day, not a bad total, but also committed four errors, which led to their undoing.

Kevin Rivera, playing second base, collected two of them, giving him an unsightly 8 on the year. The 20-year old has not been a regular starter for the GreenJackets, but he has collected that total in 24 games played. Rivera has been a bit of a utility man this season, playing mostly at third (12 games), one game at first, and four at second base, where he had only played in his previous three seasons. However, four of his eight errors this season has come in those four games at second.

He was not the only GreenJacket to commit an error. Skyler Ewing, now a catcher, collected his third error. However, Ewing also collected his second home run of the season. Last year, he had a career-high 10 home runs, in just 74 games. With him taking 15 games to get two, that puts him almost perfectly on the same pace.

The errors mostly victimized Stephen Woods, who took the loss despite only allowing one earned run. The 21-year old Woods has been getting strikeouts (33 in 32.1 IP) and has allowed only one earned run or less in four of his six starts, but 7 unearned runs (including four today) have not helped his cause.

Today’s Scheduled Starters:

Sacramento: Chris Stratton vs. Wilmer Font
Richmond: Andrew Suarez vs. D.J. Brown
San Jose: Jake McCasland vs. Jose Rodriguez
Augusta: TBD vs. Garrett Davila (Augusta has Woods listed as the starter for some reason)

A couple of interesting starters today. Both Suarez and Stratton have very good chances to help the big league team, the latter possibly even this year.

And finally, a reminder about an old friend, as our bullpen flickers between hopeful and poor:

Until then, I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day.