SF Giants Minor Lines 6/27/17: Dillon Dobson bashes two HRs

Monday night San Jose bashed a beleaguered Stockton staff, hitting four HRs for the runaway win. And they didn’t take long Tuesday to pick things right back up again. What a night for Will Clark’s favorite prospect (you may recall the Thrill gave a shout out to Dobson on a Giants’ broadcast in 2016, and earlier this year was in the dugout with San Jose when Dobson unleashed a three-homer game in April):

HIGHLIGHTS: Dillon Dobson homered twice and doubled; Stephen Woods, Jr. K’d 8 in 6 shutout innings; Malique Ziegler had three hits with a triple; Franklin Labour HR’d twice.

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Sacramento lost at El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres), 5-2

Chris Stratton hoped to springboard off his best start of the year and get a roll going but it was not to be last night. Instead, the RHP allowed a season high 11 hits and failed to pitch his way through 5 innings. Stratton virtually lived out of the stretch on the night, and given all the traffic was fortunate that the two HRs he allowed didn’t cause more damage than they did. Allowing half of the 24 batters he faced to reach base, and laboring through 104 pitches in just 4.1 innings, it’s a minor miracle that he held the Tiny Dogs to just 5 runs.

Still with the RiverCats offense managing just 5 hits of their own on the night that was enough to sink them. Though Sacramento would muster some mini-rallies in the late innings, single runs in the 7th and 9th on a Juan Ciriaco single and a deep Mac Williamson Sac Fly was all they managed.

The big news of the day for Sacramento of course was announcement of the imminent call-up of Jae-Gyun Hwang, who was going to opt out at the end of the week. Hwang’s AAA season has been decidedly mixed on both sides of the ball, and he’s the same age as the guy he’ll be replacing on the roster (Conor Gillaspie, still bothered by back pains), but we’ve reached full-on experiment time with the 2017 season so no reason to let a free tire roll away un-kicked.

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Richmond lost at Trenton Thunder (Yankees), 10-4

Cory Taylor came into this game second in the Eastern League in walks allowed (not the good kind of second, the bad kind of second). But he stayed int he strike zone in this game and for five innings gave the Squirrels the kind of outing they hope for from the big right hander. But taking the mound with a shutout in hand in the bottom of the 6th, the night fell apart for Taylor. The first batter of the inning greeted Taylor with a solo HR, and then followed four more consecutive hits, a WP, a PB, and a fielding error from 1b Brandon Bednar. The result was a cataclysmic 6-run inning and a rough shower for Taylor after such a promising night.

Ryan Halstead and Yordy Cabrera didn’t do much to staunch the bleeding and it was 10-0 by the end of the 7th. The Squirrels did manage to rouse themselves a bit with a four-run rally in the 8th, including doubles from CJ Hinojosa (yet another XBH!) and Bednar, but it was far too little too late.

Get this team some hitters!*

Seems like I’m saying this a lot lately, but this game saw the AA debut of the Yankees #4 prospect (and former #1 prospect) speedy Jorge Mateo, a guy who could definitely be on the trade block next month given the Yanks MI depth.

*I have thoughts (see below).

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San Jose beat Stockton Ports (A’s) 11-5

For the second consecutive night, San Jose pounded out 13 hits. On Monday they had four doubles and four HRs; Tuesday they downgraded ever so slightly to four doubles and three HRs. And most of that damage was coming from the heart of the order. Dillon Dobson and Aramis Garcia each hit three HRs over the two night massacre, with Garcia going deep twice Monday and once last night and Dobson doing the reverse. Both players are now tied with Gio Brusa for the team lead with 11 and all three are tied for 5th in the Cal League. Watch Garcia tie into this one:

“Richmond calling for Aramis Garcia! Mr. Garcia, we have Richmond on the line for you!”

Yeah, Garcia’s first West Coast sojourn has extended far beyond its original term limit due to a series of unfortunate mishaps and injuries and being cautious with this valuable young man is fully understandable. But the time has come for the Floridian to head back East. He’s back to catching every day and his bat has entorched itself once again. After a very slow May coming back from the concussion (.723 OPS with .291 OBP), Aramis has really picked it back up the second half of June. Over his last two weeks he’s hitting .342/.405/.684. The time has come to move on.

And what of Mr. Dobson, who had a huge night with two HRs, a booming double to the opposite field power alley, and 5 RBIs? I gave Dobson short shrift last night amid all the firepower, but you know the Minor Lines rule (more of a guideline): hit two HRs, get two highlights! Not quite the high-impact whallop of his 1st inning job, home run #2 was the classic high arching, graceful kind.

Despite playing in the most HR suppressing park in the league, the Giants are 2nd in the Cal League in HRs with 73. There’s honestly not much else that this year’s version excels at. Their OBP is five points from the league cellar, their average is right around league average, they’re last in the league in SB, and lord knows they’re not doing much pitching. But they can mash it.

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Augusta beat the West Virginia Power (Pirates), 9-0

Oh hey, it’s time for our favorite new game here at Minor Lines: which Woods is which?

Let’s start with Stephen, 6’2” RHP out of SUNY Albany selected in last year’s 8th round. Woods, who chose not to sign with the Rays out of HS just finished off quite a month of June. After having a couple hiccups near the end of May the strong armed Woods, Jr. ran off a streak of four excellent starts this month, punctuated with possibly his best start of the year last night. It was his second longest start of the year and the first in which he’s not allowed a single run. The 8 strikeouts was also second best of the year. And of course for Woods, Jr. the most important part was that he was pumping strikes pretty effectively with 57 strikes in 94 pitches (a very good ratio for Woods, Jr.).

In the month of June Woods had a 1.46 ERA over 24.2IP with 25 Ks to 9 BBs. His WHIP was a tidy 1.18. Looked at a little more closely, Woods, Jr. was probably BABIP’d over-harshly in May as his peripherals were very similar with 27 Ks and 9 BBs in 19.1 IP but he allowed 21 hits, including the disastrous 6 hit, 1.1 IP start on May 30.

All in the all, Woods, Jr. continues to deliver one of the most encouraging seasons that the Giants are getting from their power arm/¯\_(ツ)_/¯ control group of pitchers from the 2016 draft.

Woods got more than enough support from an offense that converted 9 hits into 9 runs, along with a few gifts (four walks and two HB). Sandro Fabian kept up his nice June as well, picking up two more hits including his 17th double of the year. And Brandon Van Horn had a huge game with three hits and a walk, a double, two RBIs and a run scored. The smooth fielding SS from The Masters College has also turned it on of late, hitting .397/.443/.466 in June after a disastrous May that saw him post an almost unbelievable .398 OPS.

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Salem-Keizer won at Boise Hawks (Rockies), 9-1

And now to the tall gangly Woods with the Randy Johnson hair and the cowboy name. Stetson continued his run of fine NWL pitching. It wasn’t an eye-popping night for the skyscraper RHP, but he’s putting up some pretty impressive cumulative numbers. After three starts Woods is putting less than a runner on base per inning (0.94) and holding the opposition to a .206 batting average. Apparently he’s using that leverage to his advantage with a lot of natural deception in the elbow and kneecaps delivery. He’s got a 1.59 ERA in 19 IP with 15 Ks against just 3 walks (though oddly he also has 2 HB). Terrific opening act for the big righty.

And last night, this Woods, too got all the support he could handle. It started in the second with a big three-run homer (don’t you just love three-run homers? they’re such happy events!) from an unexpected source. Gustavo Cabrera, playing in just his 4th game of the year collected his first hit — and it was a big one! The dream that Gustavo will ever be able to recover enough from his traumatic injury to develop his considerable gifts is fading to black, but I can’t just pass by a Gustavo blast unmarked. No video in Boise, so Artist’s Rendition!

Once again up at the top of the order, Malique Ziegler was making things happen, leading the team with three hits, including a triple. He even found time to pick up an OF assist, throwing out a runner at 1b!

So, of course, the question we’re all asking by now is: is this just you’re standard issue short-season ball hijinx or is there something worth paying attention to with the speedy 20 year old. Fortunately, friend of the program @Giantsprospecttalk actually asked an expert, so we have answers!

“Kind of interesting!” Let me put that through my ScoutSpeak2000 and yes, I thought so! For a 22nd rounder out of Northern Iowa Area CC “kind of interesting” does indeed qualify as a full-throated whoop! Excellent. Kind of interesting guy here.

Richard Amion also continued a nice year with two more hits and an RBI. The speedy MI did manage to get CS for a 5th time this year though. Quite a feat at that level. The Volcanoes as a team stole four more bases included 1st of the year from Catchers Dylan Manwaring and Jeffrey Parra and fireplug build 3b Byron Murray. I mean, c’mon Richard, if the Catchers can do it...

And before I go, man I hate that this is turning into the week of making fun of opposing OF exploits, but when free media is tossed in my lap what’s a poor boy to do? Sorry man, I really hate to do this, but, uh...

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AZL Giants beat the AZL Dodgers, 6-3

Hey there you go! It only took me three tries but I finally nailed the Deiyerbert Bolivar start! The little lefty, coming back from TJ surgery in 2016 made his first appearance in nearly two years with three shutout innings. Welcome back, Deiyerbert! He dominated the DSL in 2014 and had a nice encouraging 2015 in the AZL before being waylaid by injury. The 5’11” LHP is now 21.

Also very nice to see that the short-season teams took my suggestion seriously and put up lots of Runs and a bunch of Wins! Led by 2016 26th rounder Nick Hill’s three hits, the Giants knocked out 14 hits, including doubles from Diego Rincones, Nathaniel Javier and SS Jose Rivero. Rincones, the youngest player on the team (until Heliot Ramos shows up on Friday) upped his average to .300 with the two hit day and doesn’t have a strikeout in 11 PA (which is always encouraging from an 18 year old OF. Even Catcher Ricardo Genoves joined in the fun with his first two hits of the year.

Good fun under the desert sun!

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DSL Giants beat the DSL Padres, 8-4

Oh my! Multi-HR games in the DSL. That sends us scurrying to the record books a bit. Francisco Medina and Robinson Medrano each had one of those in 2015. Before that, woo boy? Not sure I have a very good idea. Possibly Angel Villalona the year he couldn’t get back into the country but that doesn’t really count. Maybe Julio Pena? /checks. Yes! The year Pena led the team with 9 HRs he too had a two-HR game. That was 2012, so I’ll say this is the fourth multi-HR effort in the last six seasons for the Giants DSL squad.

Well, point is this doesn’t happen very often at all. Franklin Labour has been having the best year for the offense this far and obviously this effort didn’t hurt that at all. Two HRs and a walk for the 19 year old OF. The homer output tripled his career total, which leapt from 1 to 3. Labour’s Iso for the season also took a very nice leap with the day to .203.

Labour and Wascar de Leon, who’s putting nice repeat season together himself, combined for half the team’s hits, all of its extra base hits, and all seven of the team’s RBIs! Nice day out of the 3 and 4 holes.

Alexander Canario took an 0fer with two Ks on the day, but he still found time to steal two bases to tie for the team lead (with 8) and also pick up two OF assists. That’s how you make stuff happen without the bat.

And finally — landmark event — Ghordy Santos hit his first single of the year. He also had another walk, that’s 14 walks and 12 Ks on the year. The Ks are a bit more concerning than the walks are uplifting, but the talented MI has crept his slash line up to .128/.328/.298 in his debut.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento: Andrew Suarez vs. Trevor Cahill
Richmond: Matt Gage vs. Josh Rogers
San Jose: Matt Krook vs. TBD
Augusta: Raffi Vizcaino vs. TBD
Salem Keizer: TBD vs. Breiling Eusebio
AZL: Off day
DSL: Aneudy Acosta

Well I asked for more wins and I got a bunch of wins and you can’t say fairer than that!. Good job, guys! Do more of that! See how it’s more fun than losing, as Nuke LaLoosh so aptly noted?

Pretty interesting slate of pitchers today with Andrew Suarez, Matt Krook and Raffi Vizcaino providing the interest. Chris Shaw, Mac Williamson and gang get to try themselves against the wiles of long-time major league starter Trevor Cahill. And speaking of challenges, the Volcanoes get a huge one against a real under the radar monster in the Padres system, Breiling Eusebio.

So there you have your task, Malique. Go forth and be kind of interesting!