clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

SF Giants Minor Lines 7/12/18: Ramos and Bart both homer

By Roger
minor lines

Are you excited about the Joey Bart pick yet?

Meanwhile, Heliot Ramos’ Futures Game push continues! Last night he proved me wrong by jumping up to .250 in a single night with three hits in his first four at bats. And one of them really left the customers impressed!

HIGHLIGHTS: Joey Bart homered for fourth consecutive game; Heliot Ramos went 3 for 5 with HR; Patrick Hilson doubled and homered; Jesus Gomez struck out 5 in 2.2 IP

Sacramento lost to Salt Lake Bees, 9-4

The most important statistic that relates to Sacramento is 33%. That’s the current amount of the Giants roster that have come from (or in one case, were originally ticketed to go to) the RiverCats roster: Alen Hanson, Chase D’Arnaud, Austin Slater, Steven Duggar, Andy Suarez, Dereck Rodriguez, Ray Black, Reyes Moronta. If you toss in Ty Blach you can bump it up a notch. In other words, Sacramento is having a VERY successful season!

They do not, however, have a very successful W-L record and that continued last night. Jerry Sands, not (so far) Luigi Rodriguez, got the bump up to Sacramento to help ease the thinning roster. Sands picked up two hits including a double in his first AAA action since 2016, playing for the Charlotte Knights in the International League.

1st round draft picks really took it on the chin in this game. Chris Shaw went home wearing a golden sombrero after a 4K night. Meanwhile, Tyler Beede walked two and surrendered a three-run jack in his 1.2 innings of relief. Beede’s more than halfway to his HRs allowed total of last year (14). Since moving to the bullpen he’s walked 8 batters in 11.1 IP. These are two big backwards steps from guys who were expected to be major near-ready contributors. Not so good.

Richmond lost at Trenton Thunder (Yankees), 2-1 in 10 inn

It was another night of struggling to get the bats going for Richmond (made no easier with Sands gone). But down to their last out in the top of the 9th ... we had DRAMA!

Garcia’s bat did some slow thawing in June after a glacially cold April and May. But in 8 games so far in July it’s back to cold, as he’s hitting just .172 for the month. But he reached twice yesterday including his dramatic home run—his 9th of the year.

The Squirrels collected just 5 hits overall however, and went down to defeat an inning later on a walk off Wild Pitch from Ryan Halstead.

This gives us the perfect lead-in to share a report that Sacramento’s front office distributed yesterday, checking in on the effect of the new extra-innings rules:

It’s not really baseball, but there’s no doubt that this new rule has had the intended effect. And given the player development context of minor league ball, that effect is certainly beneficial for the players (and perhaps the fans as well!)

Before we leave, here’s a little Squirrel trivia, courtesy of Jay Burnham:

Prior to Luigi Rodriguez, had any Richmond player won the Eastern League All Star Game MVP?

Answer at the bottom!

San Jose lost at Stockton Ports (A’s), 8-5
splitting their series, 2-2

Unlike with Sacramento, there’s no context to assuage the ugliness of San Jose’s 41-51 record this year. They’ve had injuries, especially in the pitching staff, which have exposed the roster thinness. But honestly, there’s no real way to sugar coat it: what’s been happening in San Jose the last two year’s is more than a little embarrassing and it’s an issue for an organization that is trying to find a path to the future. There’s just not enough talent here.

The Giants scored 4 runs in the top of the 1st inning, punctuated by Stockton native son Gio Brusa’s 3-run homer. Brusa was born in nearby Lodi and went to college in Stockton’s own University of Pacific. Energized by the reunion, Brusa’s had a nice series, going 4 for 15 with a double and a HR.

From the fifth batter of the game on, however, San Jose was outscored 8-1, as starter DJ Myers and Peter Lannoo gave up runs and hard contact in bunches. Myers, who started the year as Mac Marshall’s piggy back starter has had a rough go of it with the Cal League this year. His ERA is now up to 5.54 despite his 57 Ks in 52 IP.

Augusta beat Lexington Legends (Royals), 7-4

They were having fun in Augusta on Thursday night! I have visual evidence!

The night opened up with the pro debut of the 33rd overall pick from this year’s draft—University of Florida RHP Jackson Kowar. Heliot Ramos greeted the 1st rounder with a clean single up the middle, starting a 3-run rally which Kowar wasn’t around to finish (he exited after just 0.1 IP).

That was just a teaser for the fun of the big 5th inning though. Ramos led of the bottom of the 5th with his 7th HR of the season—as described above, a monster blast off the building over LF (which really needs a cool nickname). That opened up what would be a 4-run rally that put the game away. That rally included a second long ball when Ryan Kirby went deep for the 12th time this year:

It’s fun to have a laugher now and again!

Ramos ended up with three hits (against 2 Ks) and for a moment in the 7th inning had leapt up to the .250 mark — something I just said yesterday he might have trouble doing before the Futures Game. A K in his final At Bat dropped him back to .249. Not sure when he’ll head to DC. If he plays tonight he’ll get a chance to pad the numbers one more time.

Starter Jose Marte had his best strikeout game in more than a month, picking up 6 Ks in 4 innings of work. Hopefully Marte will find a second wind for the long second half in front of him.

And speaking of Augusta starters, we have a nice piece on another serious Greenjacket arm:

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes beat Everett AquaSox (Mariners), 3-1

Joey Bart’s last three hits have been HRs. His last five hits have been four HRs and a double. He is officially ridiculous!

The Volcanoes also got fine work from 2nd rounder Sean Hjelle, who went 6 up/6 down in 2 perfect innings of work. He pounded the strike zone and picked up a couple of Ks. Hjelle has allowed just four hits and one run in his four innings of pro ball. He’ll be kept on short innings limits for 2018 I’d guess.

Former Catcher Jesus Tona is having an excellent conversion to the mound this year. He’s given up just 1 unearned run in 13 IP while striking out 17. He’s maintaining a dandy 0.83 WHIP as the fireplug is being very stingy on baserunners.

After those two paragraphs I’m enjoying the mental image of batters going from looking for the release point from 6’11” Hjelle to 5’10” Tona. Comedy potential!

AZL Giants Black lost to AZL Padres1, 5-0

AZL Giants Orange beat AZL Padres2, 8-2 in Gm 1 (7 inn)

AZL Giants Orange lost to AZL Padres2, 8-0 in Gm 2 (7 inn)

Raw and toolsy 6th round Arkansas High School OF Patrick Hilson went deep for the third time last night as part of a two extra-base hit night. He’s struck out 25 times in 58 pro ABs, but he’s very fast, his arm is so strong that he has a strong fallback option on the pitcher’s mound, and he can smack the ball a ways. So there are things to work with here.

Hilson’s was one of two HRs from the 2018 draft class. University of Manhattan’s Fabian Pena picked up his 1st pro HR.

SP Jasier Herrera kept piling up Ks though he was a bit more hittable than normal last night. The RHP has 21 Ks and 8 BB in 26.2 IP this year.

Frankie Tostado picked up his first professional 0fer, breaking his hitting streak after 15 games.

DSL Giants lost to DSL Tigers2, 2-0 in Gm 1 (7 inn)

DSL Giants lost to DSL Tigers2, 2-1 in Gm 2 (7 inn)

The Giants offense apparently hit the All Star break a day early as the bats snoozed their way through a double header yesterday. The double header was actually a way to give the teams an extra day of rest, as the scheduled Friday game against the Tigers was moved up a day. So they’ll be off until Monday when they begin the second half of the season.

All Star Luis Toribio was the only member of the team to collect a hit in the first game, going 2 for 3, and he added two walks in the second game. Toribio leads the 44-team DSL in OPS (1.059), is second in OBP and HRs, and fifth in SLG. Not a bad start to a career! Way to mash, dude!

The Tigers2 team, by the way, includes one Eliezer Alfonzo. I’m not sure if he’s the son of former Giants Catcher Eliezer Alfonzo or not. Needs more investigation.

Left-hander Jesus Gomez was en fuego yesterday, striking out 5 of the 9 batters he faced in the game. The 17 year old southpaw from Venezuela has 25 Ks in 19.2 IP to go with a 1.83 ERA. He’s worth keeping an eye on!

Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento: Casey Kelly vs. TBD
Richmond: Taylor Hill vs. Ryan Bollinger
San Jose: Logan Webb vs. Matt Peacock
Augusta: Garrett Cave vs. TBD
Salem-Keizer: TBD vs. Carlos Hernandez
AZL: OFF
DSL: OFF

Logan Webb comes back from a brief respite to continue his march to the top of the organization’s potential pitching prospects. Garrett Cave keeps searching for control. And the rookie league teams take the night off.

Time for the weekend. Enjoy yourself a night at the park — seriously have fun!

Trivia Answer time (no I absolutely didn’t get this)!

More From McCovey Chronicles