SF Giants Minor Lines 6/21/17: Daniel Carbonell returns to AA

Since we’re in a bit of midseason lull just now, with the A ball teams off, perhaps this is a good time to do a check in on how the season’s been going for the system’s top prospects. Using Fangraphs’ data and Baseball America’s rankings, here’s a quick look at the preseason top 20:

The good news is, there’s a lot of holding serve at the top of the system. Promotions caused hiccups (notably with Arroyo and Shaw) and there’s some scuffling going on with the starting pitchers (obviously we discussed Beede’s struggles yesterday). Gregorio’s season is pretty hard to interpret overall. But there aren’t a lot of faceplants (Slania and Rodolfo probably qualify). There is the half lost season of Steven Duggar’s which is a serious bummer. But there have been a couple big leaps as well (Slater, Jones, Gomez). Still a thin system, particularly on the pitching side and in the infield, and lacking much discernible impact. Also, among the bats there’s some decidedly scary BB/K ratios going on. I mean, come on Aramis, what is going on there?

Discussion: Anything here surprising you? Any one stepping forward or regressing in your eyes?

HIGHLIGHTS: Daniel Carbonell homered and doubled in return to AA; Juan Rodriguez picked up three hits; Stetson Woods went 6 innings with 6 strikeouts.

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Sacramento had a scheduled travel day

Unfortunately, they’re not traveling outside the Valley where it’s been brutally hot:

The Cats begin a series in Fresno tonight.

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Richmond lost to Hartford Yard Goats (Rockies), 7-3

For the Richmond offense, the excitement came early. In his first at bat in AA since 2015, Daniel Carbonell went deep to give the Squirrels a quick 2-0 lead. Carbonell had an incredibly rough time in the Eastern League back in 2015, a season which got him dropped off the 40 man roster and the minds of many prospect followers. Since then he’s appeared sporadically with San Jose, but after 150 solid PA in the Cal League this year he’s getting a second chance at AA (whether or not he gets a second chance with the minds of prospect followers is TBD I suppose).

The Squirrels would get an RBI single from Jerry Sands in the 3rd to increase their lead to 3-0, but that was all the scoring they’d manage on the night, despite a couple of leadoff doubles later in the game (one of them also from Carbonell).

Blessed with the lead, Cory Taylor couldn’t hold onto it. He once again struggled with command, running his pitch count up to 92 in 5 innings. Over his last two starts, Taylor has walked 9 batters in 11 IP. In 12 starts this year, Taylor’s walked 5 or more batters four times, and he’s walked a total of 38 batters in his 61.2 innings. Perhaps a little too much nibbling against the advanced AA hitters, Cory?

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San Jose and Augusta both had the last day of their All Star breaks

Speaking of which, presented without comment (but that middle one’s a gem):

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Salem-Keizer won at Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks), 5-3 in 13 inn

The Volcanoes and Hops played some more free baseball last night, going another 13 innings before Juan Rodriguez helped lift Salem-Keizer to victory with a perfectly placed fly ball for his third hit of the night:

Hey and check out Kevin Rivera avoiding the catcher by SLIDING! Which is what was considered the old school method when I played the game. In addition to his three hit night, Rodriguez was also playing a heck of a RF throughout the game. Good OF instincts and range from the 22 year old.

Way back four hours earlier, big gangly tall Stetson Woods took the mound to see if he could replicated his opening night start. And he came fairly close, once again going 6 innings and striking out 6. He did get into some trouble in the 1st, allowing his first two runs of the year on three hits. But he was extremely solid after that.

The stadium gun apparently had him in the high 80s but it looked like it had hop and it generated a good deal of swing and misses, especially when combined with Woods’ breaking ball. With his extreme plane, long arms, and “elbows-and-knees” delivery I’d guess the ball gets on hitters pretty quickly as well. While the Giants have played the 22 year old’s development extremely conservatively, it looks like there’s still projectability in that body that Woods has yet to grow into.

Hard to know what to make of a High School draftee who hasn’t made it out of short season ball in four years, but there is something interesting there.

The Volcanoes also got another solid game from leadoff hitter Malique Ziegler, who reached base three times and stole two bases (6 for the year). His triple was even more perfectly placed than Rodriguez’, a popup down the RF line that somehow avoided 1b, 2b, and RF who ended up about three feet from each other. But boy did motor! A funny hop and he might have had a pop up home run. Ziegler’s two SB came on consecutive pitches and led him to score the team’s third run.

Not sure if I’ve mentioned before that I like speed! Check the leaderboards, the Volcanoes now have 25 SB as a team. The 2nd and 3rd best SB teams in the NWL have a combined total of 29. Runnin’ wild!

1b Ryan Kirby, from San Ramon also continued his fine start. Kirby struggled in his short time in Augusta, hitting just .220/.301/.366 in a little less than 100 PA. But he’s thriving in a repeat of the NWL, with 9 hits in his first 7 games including four doubles.

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DSL Giants beat the DSL Reds, 4-1 (6 inn)

The Giants had just four hits in this rain shortened game, but one of them was Alexander Canario’s team-leading 3rd HR, a two-run shot with two outs in the 1st. To say “team leading” is a bit of an understatement. Canario’s now hit 3; the rest of the team has hit 2 (one apiece from Wascar De Leon and Ghordy Santos). More impressively, Canario’s shot also put him into a five-way tie for first in the 40 team DSL. So that’s pretty good!

Luis Moreno and Jerson Severino combined to allow just 3 hits and 1 run (on a solo HR). Moreno issued his first two walks of the year in this start and hit a batter. While the control challenged Severino blew through a perfect inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced. Severino’s struck out 12 batters in 9.2 IP while walking 8.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento: Andrew Suarez vs. Trent Thorton
Richmond: Matt Gage vs. Luis Niebla
San Jose: Matt Krook vs. Cody Reed
Augusta: Garrett Williams vs. TBD
SK: Jose Marte vs. Mitchell Aker
DSL: Aneudy Acosta

Back to a full slate today with a whole lot of lefties! Andrew Suarez makes his second AAA start, while Krook and Williams each continue their quest for the strike zone. Jose Marte, well, you’ve got nowhere to go but up, kid!