SF Giants Minor Lines 8/17/17: Chris Shaw hits #21

I’ve been thinking about this for a little while now, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Chris Shaw’s doubles are the best doubles in the world.

HIGHLIGHTS: Chris Shaw and Tim Federowicz doubled, HR’d; Dom Mazza threw 6 shutout innings; Rob Calabrese had 4 hits; Mikey Edie had 5 hits.

Sacramento won at Reno Aces (Diamondbacks), 7-4

Chris Shaw and Tim Federowicz powered the RiverCats to the victory at Reno. Both drove in three runs on a double and a HR. For Federowicz it was his 9th HR and continued a torrid month of August in which he’s hit .371 and SLGd .800. The veteran has been a very nice depth pickup for the Giants this year. As has been pointed out to me, the Giants always bring up a 3rd Catcher when September comes. The 3rd Catcher on the 40 man is Trevor Brown, who’s suffered through a miserable 2017, while Fed-X has thrived as Sacramento’s primary receiver.

Chris Shaw is settling into being probably something very like a version of the major leaguer he’s going to become (with probably a bit higher BA). His walk rate has dipped lower than the EL version and it would be nice to see that come back up, and the strikeouts are up. But he’s a consistent source of power in the Sacramento lineup, with an Iso in the PCL above .250 and a swing that can generate some serious getouttahere:

That’s 53 extra base hits on the year for Shaw across two levels, including 21 HRs, 31 doubles, and even a triple. He leads Sacramento in both HRs (15) and doubles (21). A couple of other encouraging notes about Shaw: he’s handled lefties decently well this year, posting an .818 OPS against same-siders albeit with just 1 HR. And he knows what to do with count leverage as he’s put up a 1.001 when ahead in the count:.306/.432/.569

Andrew Suarez broke his streak of consecutive quality starts, as he was pulled after just 5 innings of work. He wasn’t quite as sharp as typical, throwing just 46 of his 74 pitches for strikes. Still, he went into a tough pitching environment and held the league’s most potent offense to just 2 runs, only 1 of which was earned (on a solo HR).

DJ Snelten and Tyler Rogers took it the rest of the way, each allowing 1 run. Snelten allowed a triple to his first batter and RBI single to his second, but then retired his final 7 batters. Rogers took over the PCL lead in appearances with 49. Both relievers owed a thanks to 2b Ali Castillo in the 8th inning. First he helped Snelten with his final out:

And an out later he did the same for Rogers:

And hey, as long as we’re highlighting defensive stylings, check out this throw from Williamson:

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Richmond lost at Harrisburg Senators (Nationals), 5-4
getting swept in their three game series, 0-3

Oh goodness, there’s just not much left to say about these Squirrels. Yes, Caleb Gindl homered again. Yes, Cory Taylor was incredibly hittable again and owns the dubious distinctions of having the second most walks in the EL and being in the bottom 10 in WHIP. And Aramis Garcia nabbed his third extra base hit as he works to adjust to this difficult level. CJ Hinojosa is putting the finishing touches on what is surely the end of his AA career with another two hit day. But by and large this roster is a collection of guys who mostly won’t be around the org all that much longer, playing out the string.

So let’s break from tradition a bit. Though you certainly wouldn’t have known it from my posts, there HAS been an incredibly exciting prospect on the field these last three days, who will almost certainly be turning into a very exciting major leaguer some day in the not too distant future. And that player, of course, was Harrisburg’s 20 year old CF Victor Robles, who will be on everybody’s short list this winter for potential #1 prospect in baseball. Robles, who made his AA debut in Richmond just three weeks ago, has been slowly adjusting to the challenges of the new level, hitting .276/.337/.414. He’s starting to warm up to things now as he has a modest six game hitting streak going. Against Richmond, Robles went 5 for 13 with 3 SB.

His lone extra base hit came yesterday as he doubled off the wall. And the thing to notice about this clip is the reaction of LF KC Hobson. After he flawlessly plays the carom off the wall Hobson turns to make the throw in to 2b and double clutches when he sees that Robles is already coasting into the bag. Kid can fly. Man I wish we had one these guys! (Hurry up Heliot!)

Anyway, that’s about all the excitement to report from Harrisburg. Unless you’re a LEGOs fan

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San Jose lost to Lancaster JetHawks (Rockies), 8-2
splitting their four game series, 2-2

Shaun Anderson was hoping to keep his stellar streak going with his new org and help his new teammates push for the postseason. But it wasn’t to be that kind of day for the right hander. Lancaster, which owns the league’s best record, punished the Giants with a “Death by 1,000 paper cuts” approach. They weren’t scalding anything, but they consistently found a way to put almost everything in play. A dump here, a bloop there. A ball pulled just hard enough to sneak past Arenado for a double. It just wouldn’t stop.

The JetHawks piled up 11 hits in just three innings — the 3rd through 5th. And in between all those hits they did a whole lot of what the JetHawks do — run! They stole 4 bases on the night, including Wes Rogers’ new franchise record 62nd of the season, breaking Emilio Bonifacio’s previous high. Possibly the threat on the bases led to Matt Winn’s jittery night, as the Catcher had three PB on the night, including back to back crucial ones that helped the big 4th inning rally get going and end Anderson’s day early. That’s 21 PB on the year for Winn. That’s just way too many mistakes for a player whose glove is supposed to be his ticket upwards.

The lone bright spot on the day came from Heath Quinn who had half the team’s four hits. Quinn has struggled mightily since going on the DL around the All Star break with a sore shoulder. Prior to Wednesday night’s game, the power hitter had just one extra base hit in the second half — a double back on July 20 — and hadn’t hit a HR since June 15. But Wednesday night he drove a booming double high off the wall. And yesterday, he ended the HR schneid as well.

Hopefully this means Heath is starting to feel like his old self, and we’ll see some solid swings from him the last two weeks.

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Augusta lost to the Columbia Fireflies (Mets), 5-0

Oh boy, these guys aren’t much more interesting than the Squirrels at this point, especially on days when Sandro Fabian’s not playing.

But I’d be remiss not to note yet another fine performance from Perfect Game pitcher Dom Mazza, who went 6 strong shutout innings yesterday. Mazza has had quality starts in 11 of his past 13 outings (and one that wasn’t he fell just one out away from a QS) and in four of those he’s not given up a run at all. The LHP is 6th in the Sally in ERA, 7th in WHIP, and of course he leads the Sally in CG and Shutouts. He should take over the Mark Reyes role in San Jose last year. Very nicely done, Dom!

Sadly, Mazza’s work went for naught. When he left the game it was a 0-0 nail biter. But three outs later the Greenjackets were down 5-0 after Jose Morel finished pouring kerosene and tossing matches all over the 7th inning.

One run would have been enough against the Greenjackets last night. Though Columbia pitched dished out six free passes, Augusta had just five hits and went 1 for 9 with RISP. But Kelvin Beltre had a game worth noting. The 20 year old infielder who’s had such a miserable second half came up with his first multi-hit game since July 22nd. He added a walk and a double. That’s now three doubles for Beltre this week. So maybe there’s hope that Kelvin, like Quinn, might have a little stretch drive magic in him to leave the year on an up note.

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Salem-Keizer beat the Boise Hawks (Rockies), 14-5

Well, if the Volcanoes want to insert themselves into an improbable playoff chase, slapping the bejeezus out of the 1st place team isn’t a bad way to do it. Salem-Keizer has scored 26 runs in the first two games of their series vs. Boise. Yesterday, they laid in wait for awhile with just 1 run through the first 4 innings. But then they pounced in a big way with an 8-run 5th.

The bottom of the order did most of the damage. 7th place hitter MIchael Sexton hit his first career HR (a 3-run tater). 8th place hitter Rob Calabrese collected four hits. And 9th place hitter Kevin Rivera went 3 for 4 with two doubles, two runs scored, and two RBIs.

Malique Ziegler stole his 23rd base of the year in the first inning, though moments later he was caught stealing home. They do need to work on that double steal play a bit.

It’s not clear why starter Jason Bahr went just three innings. Bahr was mostly a long reliever in college this year, though, so it’s quite likely that they’re watching his innings load.

4th rounder Garrett Cave is finding pro ball tough sledding. He’s now allowed six runs in his past two outings and his ERA is hovering dangerously near 6.00.

The Volcanoes go for the sweep tonight. They’ve already helped to throw the division into total confusion as they’re now a three way tie for first and Salem-Keizer sits just a game back of the scrum in last place.

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AZL Giants beat the AZL Padres, 10-9

Sometimes, Heliot Ramos likes to rest and let his teammates share the glory. And last night, the teammate he stepped up was Mikey Edie. The speedy 20 year old who has had a devil of a time escaping rookie league (he was Kelvin Beltre’s big $$ signing teammate in the DSL way back in 2014) had a big five hit night, helping the Giants to a walk off victory over the Padres. Edie’s fifth hit the night loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th, leading to Nick Hill’s walk off walk in a crazy 10-9 game. Hill also had two doubles and three RBIs on the night.

Things started off quiet enough, as Seth Corry breezed through 3 pretty quiet innings, allowing 1 run on 1 hit and 1 walk. No Ks for Corry, who had struck out 14 over his previous 9 innings (over 4 games) but still an effective outing. For the year, Corry’s ERA sits at 1.69 as he’s allowed just 4 ER over 21.1 IP. He’s allowed more than 1 ER in a game only once and never more than 2. Nice debut for the 3rd rounder.

And after Corry we had a Ray Black sighting! The big RHP who started the year on the 40 man finally made his first appearance in a game in the closing weeks of the season, continuing an unfortunate trend that has defined his pro career. Continuing other trends as well, he struck out the side in his one inning of work while walking two.

After that things got wild and woolly. Weilly Yan entered in the 5th with the Giants holding a 5-1 lead, but Yan and Frank Rubio disposed of that with back to back three-run innings.

Camilo Doval had another impressive outing as he struck out 5 of the 7 batters he faced. He did fatigue in his third inning though, and allowed hits to two of the last three batters he faced. Franklin Van Gurp allowed them to score to tie the game and set the scene for the walk off.

Both Ramos and Gonzalez entered the game as PH. Ironically, Gonzalez made hard contact twice, lining out to OF, while Ramos legged out an infield single during the Giants four run rally in the 7th. Ricardo Genoves also had a fine game with three hits, including a double, while going 1 for 2 in catching SB attempts.

Before we go, if Bill Mitchell says you’re a sleeper, you’re a sleeper! Nobody knows the AZL like Bill:

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DSL Giants beat DSL Padres, 2-1 in Gm 1 (7 inn)

DSL Giants lost to DSL Padres, 3-2 in Gm 2 (10 inn)

The problem with relying so heavily on just two or three players for your offense is when the studs have a quiet day the O can go dark. The Giants scored two runs on two hits in the opener with the first run coming on a WP (after Martin Doria was picked off but successfully made it to 2b anyway when the SS dropped the throw) and the second run coming via a walk to Jose Patino, back to back stolen bases and a Sac Fly.

Thanks to the stout pitching of Marco Gonzalez and friends that was enough to push their win streak out to 9 games.

The second game of the double header, which went 10 innings, featured just nine hits from both clubs combined and went to the 9th inning tied 0-0, despite the fact that they were playing the international extra innings rules (start the inning with a runner on 2b) from the 8th inning on. Neither team managed to drive in their free RISP in the 8th, while both did in the 9th. In the top of the 10th the Giants chose to bunt their free runner over to 3b with their first batter. But Ghordy Santos, who had doubled earlier, popped up to 1b for the 2nd out and Robinson Batista struck out to end the inning. The Padres scored the winning run in the bottom of the inning without benefit of a hit, when Jorge Labrador and Abel Adames teamed up to walk three straight batters.

The loss dropped the Giants tragic number down to 6 despite their outstanding efforts over the past two weeks.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento: Matt Gage vs. Jake Buchanan
Richmond: TBD vs. Luis Lugo
San Jose: Conner Menez vs. Joe Duplantier
Augusta: Caleb Baragar vs. Nick Green
Salem-Keizer: TBD vs. Nick Kennedy
AZL: OFF
DSL: Norwith Gudino

San Jose needs victories and they have themselves a challenge tonight, going up probably the finest SP prospect in the Diamondbacks’ system. Down in the Dominican Norwith Gudino is hoping that he’s coming to close of his DSL career, and looks to keep the fading hopes of the Giants alive. Otherwise, it’s a pretty lack-luster pitching slate for the org tonight.

In conclusion: generally speaking you need to read anything Sam Miller writes about baseball. But you REALLY need to write this Sam Miller piece about baseball. DSL baseball is fun, but High School baseball is REALLY the best! (have I ever mentioned the high school game where a triple play happened without any defensive player touching the ball? I love this stuff)