SF Giants Minor Lines 6/20/17: Chris Stratton Ks 9

Keep checking out Only Defense’s great Fanpost for signings as they come in but yesterday’s big news was the official announcement of 1st round pick Heliot Ramos (as with second round pick Jacob Gonzalez they had been rumored to have had a deal for awhile now) as well as 3rd round pick Seth Corry at an above slot deal:

HIGHLIGHTS: Chris Stratton struck out 9 over 8+ brilliant innings; Miguel Gomez went 3 for 4 with HR; Malique Ziegler went 3 for 6 with HR, SB.

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Sacramento beat Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies), 4-1
splitting their four game series, 2-2

Chris Stratton had one of the best starts of his pro career, as he allowed just 3 hits and struck out 9 batters in going 8+ innings of work. Following a leadoff single in the 3rd, Stratton went into a long stretch of domination, retiring the next 18 batters he faced.

In the 6th inning, Chris came tantalizingly close to an immaculate inning, a 9-pitch three strikeout inning. Stratton took 11 pitches to do it, but it was seriously impressive nonetheless.

That was Rockies #9 prospect Ryan McMahon that Stratton finished off the inning with, and it was the second time on the night that McMahon went down on that sharp curveball. When he was drafted, Stratton’s signature pitch was a slider that had a sharp lateral cut, but he’s gone more to this curve of late and it’s a beauty when it works.

And, hey, on the rare occasions that Stratton needed some help, there was help to be had! Check out Mac Williamson with the great play in LF.

Though right at the 100 pitch mark as he completed the 8th, Sacramento sent Stratton out for the 9th to try to complete the shutout, but after allowing a solo HR to the leadoff hitter he was lifted for Steven Okert to finish off the game.

Now if only Chris Stratton could be this guy all the time. He flashes it, but consistency is what he’s going to need to keep him at the next level, even if only as a reliever (which seems like a good route for him). This game lowered Stratton’s ERA this year to 5.37.

The offense in this game all came from the 5-7 spots in the order, where Justin Ruggiano, Jae-Gyun Hwang (playing 3b) and Tim Federowicz collected all five of the team’s hits, including consecutive hits in the team’s decisive 3-run fourth.

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Richmond beat the Hartford Yard Goats (Rockies), 5-4

Apparently Miguel Gomez is a Minor Lines’ reader! One game after I noted that Miguel Gomez’ power this year had been exclusively from the left hand batters box he went out and hit his first RH HR of the year (RH HR is a palindrome).

DUDE. CAN. HIT. Now in his sixth professional season Gomez has a .316/.353/.471 career line. The only times he’s failed to hit .300 in his career were his 43 game stint in the Cal league last year and his DSL debut at 19. He’s been as consistent as a metronome, and though he doesn’t walk much he has solid power. Can Miguel Gomez hit in the majors. It sure seems increasingly likely. What role will fit him is a question that could use some answering. I wish he wasn’t already 24 years old, but he continues to be one of the most interesting kids in the system.

That HR completed a comeback from a 4-1 deficit and was immediately followed by a Jerry Sands triple that would lead to the go ahead run. The comeback started with another HR, this time from a player who’s struggled with the adjustment to AA, Dylan Davis. It’s been a rough year for Davis, with the stay in XST for an aborted 3b conversion attempt and then a complete inability to deal with AA pitching thus far. He’s spent most of his season below the Mendoza line, and has been mostly unable to get to his exceptional power in-games. He can show off the power when he connects though:

The offense made a winner out of Sam Coonrod, who overcame a rocky first couple of innings to pitch brilliantly. Coonrod allowed 7 hits through the first three innings. And he also contributed to a three error inning in the 2nd with (sigh, yet again) an errant pickoff throw. But when he bore down, he bore down hard.

Following a bunt single in the 3rd, Coonrod finished off his night by retiring the next 13 batters he faced, including 6 of his 7 strikeouts on the night. There wasn’t much fancy about most of it, just throwing the high heater and seeing what happens. I’ll grant you, not always a successful approach! But it worked well here

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San Jose is on it’s All Star Break

Bryan Reynolds and Aramis Garcia both went 1 for 3 for the victorious Northern Division, with Reynolds hitting an RBI single and striking out. Ryan Howard went 0 for 2.

Conner Menez had a rough outing, giving up 2 of the Southern Division’s 3 runs in a single inning of work, while Michael Connolly allowed two hits in his inning but no runs.

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Augusta is on it’s All Star break

The rain-shortened Sally league All Star break ended in a 3-3 tie. Kelvin Beltre struck out in his lone at bat, while Domenic Mazza struck out two in a perfect inning of work.

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Salem-Keizer Volcanoes lost at Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks), 7-6 in 12 inn

Malique Ziegler continued his hot start to the year, sparking the offense with his team leading three hits. He didn’t take long to get things started either, hitting his 2nd leadoff HR of the season:

Jet stream or no, that was well hit (and of note: only two HRs were hit in this game). Next time up, Malique showed off the core of his game, getting on and using his speed with his 4th SB of the year:

The Volcanoes jumped on the Hops quickly, scoring six runs in the first four innings of play, including run scoring doubles from both Ryan Kirby and Byron Murray.

Alex Bostic continued to struggle with his control, walking 5 batters in his 5 innings of work. But he mostly avoided damage. Just one of those walks scored, coming around on one of just two hits Bostic allowed, a two-run HR.

But Hengerber Medina, given a 6-2 lead, blew up in the 7th inning allowing four runs to tie the game and ultimately send it extras. The tying run came in on a PB from Catcher Rene Melendez (who also struck out 3 times in a rough day at work). The game was won on a pop up that really both SS Manual Geraldo and LF Mikey Edie should have caught, but somehow neither did.

Before that happened, Logan Webb continued his comeback with a clean inning with 2 Ks. He didn’t look terribly sharp, and mostly only threw fastballs, but he showed good hop on the ball.

This was, coincidentally, the longest game the Hops had played since the dramatic elimination game of the NWL semi-finals in 2015, a game in which Logan Webb had the best start of his career, and in which Miguel Gomez and Chris Shaw hit tying and go ahead HRs in the 9th that brought the Volcanoes tantalizingly close to the NWL finals.

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DSL Giants beat DSL Reds, 3-2

The Giants put together a two-run rally in the 1st inning based on three, two-out walks and an infield hit. Andrew Caraballo led the team with two hits and a walk, scoring one run and knocking in their last. The 17 year old Venezuelan was signed for $170,000 as a SS, though he’s played mostly 3b for the DSL team.

Venezuelan Catcher Luis Alvarado also had two hits. Alvarado’s off to a nice start in his career with a seven hits in his first 19 ABs including two doubles and a triple.

In all, the Giants had six hits, all singles, as offense continues to be a real struggle for them.

That was enough though as Francis Pena along with relievers Jorge Labradour and Abel Adames allowed just 2 runs (1 earned).

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento: Off day
Richmond: Cory Taylor vs. Parker French
San Jose: All Star break, they start 2nd half tomorrow
Augusta: All Star break, they start 2nd half tomorrow
Salem-Keizer: Stetson Woods vs. TBD
DSL: Luis Moreno

Really short slate tonight with just one full season team in play. In Hillsboro, Stetson Woods tries to keep his roll going after a terrific opening game start. As you can tell from above, that Hillsboro series is one of only two places in the NWL that has a video feed, so it’s a great time to get your MiLB.tv connection and watch the young Volcanoes play.

And lastly, it’s almost time for the final club who’s already getting out there on the field for preseason ball:

120 degrees!