SF Giants Minor Lines 7/25/18: Canario finds his power stroke

Information technology is rapidly transforming every element of the grand old game. Batting practice has long been ingrained in the game’s culture — and one of its great delights — but does the old tradition need a face lift? Baseball Census recently took up this interesting topic and asked several minor league players to weigh in—including some members of the San Jose Giants:

HIGHLIGHTS: Alexander Canario homered twice among three hits.

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Sacramento lost to Omaha Storm Chasers (Royals), 5-3

A late scratch to scheduled starter Chris Stratton resulted some bullpenning action for the RiverCats. And the experiment went pretty well — Josh Osich got the first call and had a decent two inning stint, though he did allow a 1st inning run and two hits in each of his innings.

Jose Valdez allowed just an unearned run — thanks to an Evan Longoria throwing error — and Tyler Rogers was nearly perfect. The flies in the ointment were twofold: Sacramento’s continuing offensive struggles and Pierce Johnson’s rough 9th inning.

RiverCat batters were on base virtually the entire day — they had 11 hits in all included multi-hit days from five different hitters in the lineup. But 10 of those hits were singles and very few of them advanced much further. They had just 7 ABs with runners in scoring position.

After Johnson allowed 3 runs in the 9th, to turn a 2-1 game into a 5-1 game, Sacramento launched a rally in the bottom of the inning, stringing together three hits, a walk, and a Sac Fly. Longoria concluded a forgettable fourth day in the minors by grounding into a double play to end it.

A much better day was had by Orlando Calixte, who picked up two hits, including the team’s only XBH, and made this dazzling grab:

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Richmond lost at Erie SeaWolves (Tigers), 5-1 in Gm 1 (7 inn)

Richmond won at Erie SeaWolves (Tigers), 7-5

Richmond split an afternoon pair with Erie, in a day that was ruled by the long ball. Tigers #8 prospect, the recently promoted SS Isaac Paredes hit a 1st inning grand slam in the opener that was all the runs needed for the win. While Luigi Rodriguez’ three-run homer in the second game jumped the Squirrels out to a lead that helped them secure the split.

In all, the teams combined for five homers in the twin billing. One of those was Aramis Garcia’s 11th of the season. Over the last month, Garcia has raised his OPS from .546 up to .689 and he’s produced an OPS over .800 since the beginning of June. Overall the season line is still pretty ugly — .232/.281/.407 — but with yesterday’s news that Sacramento has lost yet another Catcher (Ryan Hanigan was granted his release) one wonders if Aramis’ time to move up to the PCL has come at last? In general, you like players to earn their promotions, but with just five weeks to go in the season....

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San Jose beat Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Dodgers), 8-7

There’s some competitiveness! The Giants scored a comeback victory over a Quakes team that has really had their way with San Jose this month. Trailing 7-6 heading to the bottom of the 9th, Wander Franco tied the game up with a lead off home run (his 4th).

But that homer was no rally killer! Sandro Fabian followed with a single and Jacob Heyward worked a full-count walk that got Rancho Cucamonga Manager Drew Saylor ejected. That brought up Heath Quinn with the chance to play hero:

It was the end of a big day for Heath. Earlier he had tied up the game by hitting his 10th HR of the year.

Even Quinn’s outs were impressive in this game!

With a .304/.375/.502 line in a little over 250 PA we might see a late season taste of AA for the 2016 3rd rounder.

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Augusta lost at Charleston RiverDogs (Yankees), 4-1

John Gavin’s normal excellent control completely abandoned him last night, as he walked 5 batters and threw just 38 of his 73 pitches for strikes before ultimately leaving the game in the 3rd inning.

With a very quiet night from the offense, Gavin’s struggles led to a desultory loss for the Greenjackets.

The offense had a tough assignment in the Yankees power-armed 19 year old RHP prospect Deivi Garcia who is striking out an astounding 14.5 per 9 this year in the Sally. It was a combustible combination as the Greenjackets lead the Sally — BY FAR — in team strikeouts. They’re the only team with over 1000 Ks on the year and the next worst team in the league is nearly 100 behind them. And they were whiff-tastic here, striking out 16 more times. Garcia struck out 12 by himself over 6 innings. The totals included a sombrero for Ismael Munguia and a hat trick for Ryan Kirby. Woof.

Heliot Ramos, however, was able to put some decent swings on Garcia’s heat. For much of the game, Heliot Ramos’ two singles were the only hits the team had. They ended up with four singles for the game.

The game did mark the long-waited for return of Malique Ziegler to the lineup, which is a good thing! Ziegler moved into the leadoff position and went 1 for 4 with only 1 K! Yay!

Jacob Gonzalez is going through one of his worst stretches of the year. He’s now 0 for his last 19 ABs with 7 Ks in that time. He also made his 24th error of the season yesterday. That first long season can be a rough one!

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Salem-Keizer lost at Eugene Emeralds (Cubs), 4-1

Another day of rest? How come every time I get a Volcanoes game televised Bart’s sitting on the bench? I smell a conspiracy!

Like their brethren in Sacramento, Salem-Keizer piled up the singles in this game, but had trouble converting them into runs. Despite 10 hits, they took just 5 at bats with runners in scoring position, coming up empty in each of them. Aaron Bond’s two-out RBI triple (misplayed by the CF) produced their lone run of the game.

3rd round pick Jake Wong was nearly perfect over 3 innings. His lone baserunner came via a HB. Otherwise, he showed the stuff that got him from Grand Canyon College to the upper rounds of the draft. Wong has 11 Ks on the year so far in his 9.1 IP, with just 3 BBs. He’s been a little hittable but all in all he’s having a solid debut.

It’s an open question whether that can be said of 5th rounder Keaton Winn though he too is showing solid peripherals with 14 Ks and just 3 BBs. He’s surrendered 3 HRs so far and NWL hitters are touching him up for an incredible .304 batting average, which is how he’s give up 17 runs in 16 IP.

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AZL Giants Black beat AZL Giants Orange, 7-1

Alexander Canario finally busted out his whomping stick, going deep twice against his complex mates as part of a three hit game. He also stole his 8th base of the year — a combo plus meal!

Canario started out the year ice cold, hitting just .143/.268/.143 over the season’s first 10 days with 14 Ks in 35 ABs. But since the calendar turned to July he’s been showing off his full range of tools. In this month he’s hitting .368/.486/.596. He has just 12 Ks — to 11 BBs — now in 57 ABs. He’s starting to show his power with six extra base hits and a .228 Iso. And he’s stolen six bags. Plus, of course, he likes to throw people out on the base paths!

Kids a toolbox. Just a reminder, it’s not only the flashy transactions that matter:

Strong armed Ben Madison kept his swing and miss stuff in the strike zone in a perfect two innings. Prior to last night Madison had 8 BBs on the year and 7 Ks. Nice to see the 4K, 0 BB line, as he faced the minimum six batters in his two innings of work.

Beicker Mendoza has been a hitting machine for the Orange team. He now has hits in 12 of his last 15 games. He has 10 multi-hit games this year in 24 played including four games of three or more. With ten doubles and 3 HRs he’s also slug .559. The 20 year old is in his third AZL campaign.

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DSL Giants beat DSL Tigers2, 3-2

And one more walk off for the day. Jean Peña led off the 9th with a pinch hit double. Pinch runner Jose Hernandez would ultimately come around to score the game winner on an infield hit from Samuel Jorge. Jorge’s had a nice week as this was his first action since a four hit game on Monday that included his first home run of the year.

The win kept the Giants apace in a tight race in the DSL Northeast division as three clubs are separated at the top by just 2.5 games. The Rockies team has raced to the top with a 9-1 streak lately while the Giants have been slumping (4-6 over their last 10).

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento: Shaun Anderson vs. TBD
Richmond: Michael Connolly vs. Connor Seabold
San Jose: Joey Marciano vs. Leo Crawford
Augusta: Aaron Phillips vs. Miguel Yajure
Salem-Keizer: Gregory Santos vs. Paul Richan
AZL: Luis Moreno (Black) vs. Seth Corry (Orange)
DSL: Melvin Martinez vs. TBD

Three of the system’s finest pitching prospects should be in action tonight as Shaun Anderson makes his home debut for Sacramento while Gregory Santos and Seth Corry take their turns in short season ball. Stop by and check them out if you’re in the area!

Another stacked schedule as we make our way to the weekend!