SF Giants Minor Lines 5/21/18: Oh Tyler Beede :(

Not too many games today, but that makes it a good day for player movement, and we had a bunch of that, starting with a Minor Lines favorite, moving on up!

Patrick is still looking for a level he can’t dominate — let’s see if his competitiveness, command, and Invisi-ball can carry him to the ultimate heights.

But there were a lot more players on the move.

and one more very excited player getting an assignment after a long rehab:

Some of these are just getting coverage around the org. Polonius’ move is interesting because it suggests something is happening to the depth of Sacramento’s MI that needs coverage (perhaps another injury we haven’t heard about yet?) Halstead is an interesting relief arm who flies under the radar a bit — he relies on a low 90s fastball that he can spot and a slider than can have some bite. Aaron Bond had a fine AZL campaign last year. Scouts often note his odd swing path, but he has a lot of different skills — some power, some speed, some up the middle defense. And Rayan Hernandez had some premium velocity before TJ, so we’ll se where he’s at post-surgery.

Congratulations to all the promotees!

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Sacramento lost to Las Vegas 51s (Mets), 9-1

There’s no real way around it: Tyler Beede needs to do something to turn his season around before it escapes him entirely, because right now it is running downhill the wrong direction. How was his night last night?

Yep. About like that. He finished the night with 101 pitches in 4.1 innings, only 51 of which were strikes. Surrendering a season high 8 runs (no this game wasn’t played in Las Vegas) pushed his season ERA up to 6.94. His career AAA ERA is now 5.31. In 144 IP in the PCL over two seasons, he has a BB9 of 4.1 and a K9 of 7.3, which goes a long way to explaining his troubles at this level (well there’s the 1.2 HRs per 9 as well). This was the third straight start in which he’s given up at least 4 walks. In those three games he’s walked 15 to just 10 strikeouts in 12.2 IP.

One day away from celebrating his 25th birthday (Happy Birthday, Tyler!), in his 5th year of pro ball and his second of AAA, it’s pretty hard to parse out the positives in what Beede’s doing right now.

Ryan Halstead was plugged right into the fire, surrendering a solo HR to former Phillie Cody Ashe in 1.2 IP. But the real intrigue on the mound (after Beede) came from this guy:

Mark Melancon started his major league rehab with a VERY quick 3 up/3 down in 6 pitches. Velocity maybe down, but that figures under the circumstances. We’ll track it to see how he progresses:

Even as another 7th inning guy Melancon would be welcome right now if he can get the arm where it needs to be.

Otherwise, not too much good to note about this stinker. Hunter Pence picked up another hit. Mac Williamson astonishingly failed to homer in his 5 innings of work. All told it was quite a white washing. John Magnus Polonius picked up two hits for his Promotion Day ceremony — he’s not 4 for 8 in AAA for his career.

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Richmond had an off day

Which makes this the perfect day for some light reading! Good piece here on one of the best arms in the system (who also needs to develop a closer relationship with the strike zone).

And apparently, the Squirrels social media folks were feeling sassy on the offday!

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San Jose had an off day

More light reading! (but only if you subscribe to The Athletic, which I don’t so tell me what it says after the first paragraph!)

Also of note: we have a tremendous honor coming up for a former San Jose Giant skipper. Congratulations Lenn!

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Augusta beat Charleston RiverDogs (Yankees), 2-0

The Greenjackets continue to surge on the strength of their pitching staff. For the third consecutive game they scored just two runs — and came away victorious.

Orlando Garcia homered off of rehabbing NY Yankee Tommy Kahnle in the 2nd inning, and that was pretty much the offense for the night! You can see the HR if you click into the link below.

But that was all starter Jose Marte and crew would need as they collectively stifled the RiverDogs with a three-hit shutout. Marte was a little loose with his control as well, and got his pitch count up to 86 in his 5 innings of work, walking 3 and striking out 5. He’s had his control problems this year, but Marte has allowed 1 or 0 earned runs in 5 of his last 6 starts. After allowing 5 runs in 3.2 IP in his season debut, Marte has gotten much stingier — he’s allowed just 5 more earned runs in the 36 innings since. For the year Marte has struck out 38 in 39.2 IP, while walking 17. Augusta’s staff has put up a lot of tremendous numbers this year, but Marte really has the octane to give his stats some extra shine.

Camilo Doval made another scoreless appearance — that’s his third in a row and ninth out of his last 11 games. His ERA is close to tipping down into the 6s!

And before we go -- here’s a VERY welcome sight in the Augusta dugout. A very happy welcome back to Jean Angomas, who was injured in a brutal collision with Heliot Ramos earlier in the month

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento: Matt Gage vs. P.J. Conlon
Richmond: Cory Taylor vs. Nabil Crismatt
San Jose: Raffi Vizcaino vs. Darren McCaughan
Augusta: Joey Marciano vs. Janson Junk

Quite the Battle of the Names going on today between Nabil Crismatt and Janson Junk. Junk, being near perfectly named for a Pitcher, would seem to have the advantage, and yet I can see myself saying “Nabil Crismatt” under my breath quite a lot today. My own private language curse at work meetings!

Should we end today where we began? Yes, of course! Get to know Patrick Ruotolo a little better with his final interview with Joe Ritzo before heading East.