So, some days, you’re going to get good news, and you’re going to get bad news.
And some days the good news is a scheduled day off, and the bad news is…well.
Let’s start off with the worst news first.
Sacramento was defeated by Colorado Springs, 7-1
*Sigh*
Tyler Beede faced seven batters in today’s start. He walked two, gave up hits to two, and hit one. He did not make it out of the first. Now…even as bad as he’s been, that’s an awfully quick hook. There is no news that has been said about the reason for his removal, whether it’s for injury or not. So, we’ll see. Beede had a couple of starts without giving up a lot of hits, but the walks have become an epidemic. He has walked just over 25% of the batters he has faced in the last 7 games (31 of 143).
The news on the mound wasn’t so bad. Tyler Rogers stepped up in a tough spot, going a season-high three innings, and topping out his highest pitch count of the season by 10. He also struck out five and didn’t walk anyone. Over the last 8.2 innings, he has struck out 11 and walked just one. Derek Law had a scoreless inning with one strikeout. And the Double-Os also went a scoreless inning each, though each gave up a hit and Okert also gave up a walk.
Okay, need some eye-bleach? Try this:
Don't hit it to @SDugg_9. Just don't. pic.twitter.com/zZLbGfAKQB
— Sacramento River Cats (@RiverCats) June 12, 2018
Duggar didn’t get any hits, breaking his 10-game hit streak, and he even had an error (his 10th), but when you flash leather, you get a highlight video.
Chris Shaw picked up a 2-hit game, and is now 6-for-22 (.273) since returning from injury. Meanwhile, Ryder Jones picked up his fifth home run of the season.
Richmond had a scheduled day off
Richmond is hanging on to a playoff spot, but luckily the Eastern League doesn’t go by First Half-Second Half in their playoffs. Richmond is 31-29, 3.5 games behind first place Akron, but only a half game behind Altoona and Harrisburg.
San Jose was defeated by Stockton, 5-4
San Jose attempted a late rally, but it was too little, too late.
San Jose got runs in each the 8th and 9th to get the score to within a run. Jacob Heyward had the two-out RBI single in the 8th inning, while Bryce Johnson had a bases-loaded single to score a run in the 9th with one out. For those two, they were big hits for two players who have been struggling of late. Heyward’s batting average has dipped to .245 after he had spent much of April around .300. Heyward is also not slugging much at all, with just 11 doubles and four home runs out of 46 hits, giving him a slugging percentage of only .367. Meanwhile, Bryce Johnson is batting 4-for-15 over his last three games, which has helped him a bit. He’s now played in as many games (57) as he played last season in Salem-Keizer. But his line is only .254/.337/.320.
Conner Menez’s strikeouts have dropped lately. He had six games with 6 strikeouts or more, but has only collected three in his last two starts (one of which only went two-thirds of an inning). Out of the bullpen, hard-throwing Rodolfo Martinez struck out two without allowing any base runners.
In the meantime, there were two honors handed out to Giants:
#SJGiants 2B Jalen Miller, 3B Wander Franco, LHP Sandro Cabrera and RHP Logan Webb have been named California League All-Stars.
— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) June 11, 2018
#SJGiants 1B Gio Brusa named California League Offensive Player of the Week. Brusa in six games last week: 8-for-23 (.348 AVG) with four home runs and 10 RBI's. Tied a SJ single-game record with three homers yesterday in Modesto.
— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) June 11, 2018
Augusta was defeated by West Virginia, 5-4
The GreenJackets had a late rally, but it was too little, too late. Augusta’s slide continued, as they lost their 7th straight game as they returned home.
Rob Calabrese hit a three-run home run, his fifth of the season, with nobody out in the 9th. That brought the game to a one-run deficit, but the home run itself was the proverbial rally-killer. The GreenJackets got one single in the rest of the inning as they fell short. Calabrese is reaching essentially the high point of his season in terms of hitting, as the .239/.330/.489 batting line is the highest he’s had since the first couple of days of the season.
https://twitter.com/David11Lee/status/1006355896044261377
On the mound, Jason Bahr had his toughest start of the season. The 23-year old gave up a season-high in runs allowed (5) and tied a season high in hits allowed (6). This game comes as a disturbing trend continues for him. After two consecutive 11 strikeout games, his strikeouts have dropped off by about half since, and three of the four games included with elevated walks. Bahr hasn’t let the hits lead to runs consistently, but he’ll have to turn around those peripherals.
And a quick scouting report on one of the bullpen pitchers.
John Timmons is 24 and just now getting to A-ball with Augusta, but he has a monster frame and quick, deceptive arm path. 91-94 with plane and 80-83 SL that flashes hard bite.
— David Lee (@David11Lee) June 12, 2018
The DSL Giants were defeated by the Mariners 5-3
The Giants attempted a late comeback, but it was…. well, I’m sure you can finish the cliché for yourself.
The kids scored three runs in the 9th inning, highlighted by three straight singles and punctuated by Robinson Batista’s 2-run single. Batista was 1-for-4 with a walk as he continued his now 6-game hitting streak. However, each of his last three games, he’s gone 1-for-4, which has maintained his .250 batting average. The nice thing about Batista’s performance as been the walks, with five against nine strikeouts in 32 at-bats. He now has a .351 on-base percentage over that .250 batting average.
The start went to Lyson Lopez, who gave up three earned runs for the second straight start. The 21-year old is rocking a 5.23 ERA in two starts, but he has 11 strikeouts and just one walk in that time, and nine hits given up. Out of the bullpen, 21-year old Yhonson Rojas made his season debut. Rojas hasn’t appeared in a game since 2015, and he was with the Rangers. He had a 12.86 ERA in eight appearances. He was released by the Rangers on June 10th, and signed by the Giants on June 11th.
Today’s Scheduled Starters
Sacramento: Taylor Hill vs. TBD
Richmond: Garrett Williams vs. Kyle Hart
San Jose: Raffi Vizcaino vs. TBD
Augusta: TBD vs. TBD
DSL: TBD vs. TBD
Not a lot of info coming from the opponents this week. The one that was announced, Kyle Hart, is a former 19th round pick whose ERA has steadily improved from 14.73 down to 2.81 over his ten starts this season.
Okay, let’s wrap with some good news. Fangraphs has ranked its Top 131 Prospects in MLB, and while that’s a crazy weird, not-round number. But there is something rare on a list like this.
That is, there’s a Giant on it. Two Giants. I bet you know which two. But who do you think is higher? (Aw, hell, @giantsprospects is going to spoil the guess...)
Fangraphs has updated their Top Prospects rankings:
— GPT (@giantsprospects) June 11, 2018
C Joey Bart is at 57.
OF Heliot Ramos moves from Honorable Mention to 89.https://t.co/j1wX97VwKS