SF Giants Minor Lines 7/30/18: Thunder & Thunder?

Today, any speculation on the farm system began coming from different places than on the field.

Well, the penultimate day before the deadline came and went with no additions or subtractions to the farm system, even with an early removal of rehabbing Joe Panik from a Sacramento game…turns out he was headed to a Major League stadium, and would be back in action. Meanwhile, tomorrow, it will certainly be a day for the #HugWatch.

Highlights: Chris Shaw hits his 22nd home run. The Volcanoes hit three home runs.

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Sacramento was defeated by Iowa (Cubs), 8-1

This game is slightly more notable for how a player left in the middle of it than anything that happened in it. But let’s start with performances in the game.

The big hit was Chris Shaw, whose 2-for-4 day included his 22nd home run of the season, and the only Sacramento run of the game. It’s Shaw’s second home run in four games, and fourth in nine. Shaw had hit five home runs in each prior month (in limited games in May), but now has seven in July. Trevor Brown also had a pair of hits, his second game in a row with two hits, raising his average from .239 to .263. (He’s only been in 30 games this season.)

Daniel Camarena was on the mound, and had another rough start. After giving up nine hits in 3.0 innings, he now has a .309 batting average allowed in 11 games at Sacramento, with a 1.71 WHIP. In relief, the most notable outing was Tyler Beede facing one batter, walking him on five pitches, and getting replaced by Josh Osich, who let the runner score. Beede’s nightmare of a season continues, as his ERA ticked up to 6.95 in Sacramento, and his WHIP to 1.88.

Finally, there’s Joe Panik. Panik was 1-for-2 in four innings of play, getting lifted as part of a double-switch that removed Camarena. But Panik did not stick around. He was soon on a plane down to San Diego, where he was activated for the night’s Giants’ game. Panik ended up pinch hitting in the 9th inning for SF, so he played for two different levels in one day. He popped out to shortstop, making him 1-for-3 on the day.

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Richmond had a scheduled day off

Richmond had a 4-game winning streak snapped on Sunday with a loss. Didn’t make up for the 7-game losing streak that immediately preceded it. The depeleted Flying Squirrels are now 50-55 on the season, in 4th place and 13 games back of division leading Akron.

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San Jose had a scheduled day off

San Jose has struggled in the second half, sitting in last place at 13-25, but only five games back of division-leading Stockton (who is 18-20). In the Southern division, the last place team is Lake Elsinore at 19-19, (Rancho Cucamonga is 29-9 to lead the division), so we know who the North Division has been losing to.

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Augusta was defeated by Kannapolis (White Sox), 2-1

It was a tough outing for John Gavin, who got the loss while giving up just two runs. Gavin only went four innings, the fourth inning being the long one. Each of the first four batters got on base, with three singles and a walk. It took 76 pitches for Gavin to get through those four innings, which probably led to him coming out relatively early. Gavin has only gone more than 80 pitches once since the end of June, after he had gone over 80 in six straight starts. The bullpen did well, with Camilo Doval standing out with a ninth inning striking out the side, giving him 59 strikeouts in 39.2 IP, with 19 walks.

Unfortunately, the offense was a bit quiet, with six hits and none for extra bases. Manuel Geraldo was 2-for-3, which helps a little bit as he continues to be mired in a 2-month long slump. He’s batting .233 in July and hit .229 in June, with a combined four doubles and one home run. He had 7 doubles, 7 home runs and a triple in the season’s first two months. Trevor Abrams also had a pair of hits, and he’s coming out of a mini-slump where he was 0-for-13 in four games. He’s 4-for-11 since, and his batting average has fluctuated back up to .241. Abrams hasn’t had an extra-base hit since July 14th.

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Salem-Keizer defeated Everett (Mariners), 8-6

#DidJoeyBartHomer? Wait, he didn’t even play? Nope, the top prospect got a deserved day off, but his teammates kept right on hitting with a 3-home run performance.

David Villar had his 7th home run of the season, only taking 29 games to do that in Salem-Keizer. The 11th-round pick is only batting .276, but otherwise has shown a well-rounded offensive game for the Volcanoes (.276/.328/.543), forming a big part of the middle of their order. Nico Giarratano had his fourth home run, and second in three games, and has been hot over his last nine games. He’s 12-for-29 (.414) with all four of his home runs in those nine game, raising his average from .279 to .322.

Meanwhile, Jose Layer also had his second home run in three games, and his fifth overall. Layer has responded well in his first season at Salem-Keizer, after hitting .375 in 15 games in the AZL last year. Layer is batting .291/.363/.475 in 35 games for the Volcanoes this season.

On the mound, Jake Wong had the short start as the Giants work him in. Wong gave up no runs in three innings, his second time doing so, and striking out three and no walks for the second straight game. Wong has 14 strikeouts and three walks in 12.1 IP. Keaton Winn got the win, despite giving up four runs in the fourth inning. Only one was earned, as a David Villar error (his 8th this year) with the bases loaded let two runs score on that play alone. For the save, Jesus Tona continues to post strong numbers, with a 0.45 ERA in 20 innings of work, with 29 strikeouts and five walks, and just 12 hits allowed.

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AZL Black Suspended for Lightning

AZL Orange Suspended for Rain

Wait, both of these games were being played at Indian School Park, how can they be suspended for different things? If we’re going to be suspended for two different things, shouldn’t it be thunder and lightning?

Anyways, no AZL action to report today. I hope at least it was a cold rain. Everyone I know in Phoenix probably would’ve wanted to go enjoy it outside…except for that lightning stuff.

There’s one thing we missed because of it, though…

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The DSL Giants lost to the Pirates2, 4-3

It was a quiet day for the Giants, who only collected two hits, two of them coming from Martin Doria. Doria was 2-for-2 with a walk, and also a stolen base (his eighth of the year). They are Doria’s first hits in his last four games, and it raises his average slightly back to .259 on the season. There wasn’t much noise from the team otherwise.

The mound belonged to Freddery Paulino, who let a lot of balls get into play. He only ended up with two earned runs, which isn’t bad, but with the one strikeout and one walk, he has 27 K’s and 14 walks in 45 innings. His WHIP is still 1.36 from the hits allowed. Both relievers gave up runs, with Samuel Quintana giving up his first blown save, and has a .317 batting average against this season. Yoniel Ramirez went an inning without giving up a walk or strikeouts, but has nine walks against six strikeouts in 11 innings overall this season.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento: Shaun Anderson vs. Chris Ellis

Richmond: Taylor Hill vs. Tayler Saucedo

San Jose: Domenic Mazza vs. Riley Smith

Augusta: TBD vs. TBD

Salem-Keizer: TBD vs. Michael Plassmeyer

Shaun Anderson gets a chance to bounce back from a 6-run start his last game out in Triple-A. Arguably the Giants’ top pitching prospect, Anderson’s struggled a bit in his first two games at the level. The other real prospect is Domenic Mazza, who’s also looking to bounce back from a season-worst five runs allowed in four innings in his last start. Mazza’s run in San Jose has been mixed, though it’s still a small sample size.