SF Giants Minor Lines 5/7/19: Johneshwy Fargas breaks loose!

Thank you Mr. Zaidi for responding so quickly to my humble request! This was fun to watch!

Just a little house-keeping from Monday’s 3-homer barrage. As I noted yesterday, Mac followed Adam Duvall (7/11/15 vs. Fresno) and Jarrett Parker (5/1/16 @ Salt Lake) as the only Giants’ players to hit 3 HRs with Sacramento. Current minor league hitting coach Thomas Neal (6/26/10 @ Erie) is the only player to hit a trifecta with Richmond. And Joe Ritzo has the full list from San Jose:

We’ll dig into the record books a little further for some of the other clubs.

HIGHLIGHTS: Johneshwy Fargas had 2 hits with HR and 2 SB.

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Sacramento lost to Fresno Grizzlies (Nationals), 7-3

The RiverCats continued hitting HRs — though not quite at the prolific rate the previous evening — but it wasn’t enough as Houston rolled in the opening of this four-game set. Though Sacramento had 12 hits, including two doubles and two HRs, they managed to score just three times. They got two solo HRs, a now team-leading 8th from Mike Yastrzemski and the first from recently returned INF Levi Michael.

They also got an RBI opposite-field double from Aramis Garcia

Garcia is continuing his low-average and On Base ways so far this year, hitting just .205/.309/.434 over his first 23 games. He’s showing solid power with a .229 Iso, but he’s striking out so far at a ridiculous 37% rate.

Once again, 40-man member Sam Coonrod took a pounding, giving up 3 runs in his 1.1 innings of work. Coonrod did strike out 3 of the 8 batters he faced, but he walked two and surrendered a HR for his second consecutive outing. The RHP has allowed 8 ER in his last three games (3.2 IP).

On the other side of the ledger, Sam Moll was perfect once again. The LHP now has 7 Ks in 6.2 IP with 0 ER. He hasn’t allowed a baserunner in either of his last two appearances covering 3 IP.

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Richmond lost to Trenton Thunder (Yankees), 8-3

The Yankees system has lots of quality arms, so it’s always an excellent test for the AA hitters when Trenton comes to town. And that was definitely the case yesterday, when the Yankees #8 prospect Albert Abreu took the start.

Jacob Heyward, for one, showed he could compete with premium stuff, lacing a hard hit single off an Abreu fastball on an 0-2 count in the 1st.

Heyward would also work a walk off Abreu in a later At Bat, as he reached base three times in all, continuing his hot streak.

The star of the Squirrels’ offense in this one though, was 9th place hitter Johneshwy Fargas. Fargas was all over the stat sheet with 2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, and 2 SB. He scored the team’s first and only run off Abreu when he lined a clean single, stole 2b, moved to 3b on a groundout and sprinted home on Jalen Miller’s medium deep Sac Fly:

In the next inning, he went for the slower paced trip around the bases, when he stunned reliever Domingo Acevedo (Yankees #24 prospect) with this booming, game-tying HR — completing the Combo Meal!

A good week for the speedy CF! Fargas has gone 7 for 21 in the last 7 games with 2 HRs as he pushes the stat line a little northward. A player with his speed, range, and arm doesn’t have to hit too much to find a way to be useful, but he has to hit some.

Sadly, the game was quickly untied thanks to the “relief” work of Chase Johnson and Melvin Adon. It was a true wild child night from Melvin Adon who walked two, hit a batter, and threw a WP. It added up to a 3-run night for Adon, who couldn’t get out of his sole inning of work. It was just the third appearance this year in which Adon has allowed an earned run, but he is posting a sky high 1.72 WHIP so far in AA. That won’t work for long, Melvin!

The transaction wire continues to whirl around the org as injuries and the major league roster churn continue to have ramifications below. As noted above Levi Michael was moved up to Sacramento, which has now lost both Breyvic Valera and Donovan Solano from it’s middle infield. To replace him, the Giants picked up a former Detroit farmhand.

The Squirrels have also received new pitcher Andrew Moore, recently acquired from Tampa Bay, as well as Caleb Baragar, now up from San Jose.

And before we leave Richmond, there’s great news for those of you who want to consume even more minor league content:

Here, let me start you out with a good one, a nearly 10-minute conversation with Farm Director Kyle Haines.

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San Jose won at Modesto Nuts (Mariners), 4-2

San Jose won back-to-back games for the first time since April 11 in taking the first game of the series in Modesto. That April 11 win was the final one in a four-game winning streak that accounts for a third of the team’s victory total through their first month of action. In other words, this has been a tough start for a team which is now buried in last place with the worst record in the Cal League, 10 games back in the Northern Division.

The Giants scored all 4 of their runs last night in the 2nd inning. Much of the rally came from the largess of Modesto mistakes. The inning opened with a fielding error on a Gio Brusa grounder, and following a John Riley single, Modesto starter walked a batter and then hit two more. With two-outs Manuel Geraldo ground a single into RF to bring in the final two runs of the inning — and what proved to be the margin in the game.

Solid San Jose pitching kept the lead safe, with the biggest lift coming from former Astro (and World Series Champion ring-bearer!) Jandel Gustave.

Gustave is another interesting power relief arm the Giants have acquired this year who should move up quickly as long as his rehab goes smoothly.

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Augusta had an off night as they took the long bus ride up to West Virginia.

However, that doesn’t mean they weren’t making any news!

Second honorarium of the week for a Giants’ prospect! Nice going Jake! “Two starts/no hits” will do wonders for your trophy shelf!

Augusta also used the off day to draw attention to what they’re lead-off hitter has been doing of late.

The little sparkplug from Nicaragua keeps getting it done. Hard not to love Ismael, who is still just 20 years old.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento (Andrew Suarez) vs. Fresno (Scott Copeland)
Richmond (Alfred Gutierrez) vs. Trenton (Deivi Garcia)
San Jose (John Gavin) @ Modesto (Austin Hutchinson)
Augusta (Sean Hjelle) @ West Virginia (Josias De Los Santos)

Andrew Suarez comes off the IL for his first action since April 20 and tries to get his ERA headed in the right direction. Meanwhile, it doesn’t get any easier for the Richmond batters as they move up to the Yankees #6 prospect (and #97 prospect in baseball by Baseball America’s latest top 100 ranking) Deivi Garcia. It’s good to face the best! Like Jacob Heyward told Jalen Miller: you’re not really competing against AA players — you’re competing to take major leaguers’ jobs!

And speaking of the best, for those of you who are interested, Richmond management held a presser yesterday to release details of the upcoming Eastern League All Star festivities at The Diamond. I’ll be there!