Minor League round up, July 11

Another day on the Minors without any of the San Francisco Giants top three prospects, as Marco Luciano and Heliot Ramos were playing in the Futures Game, and Joey Bart was enjoying time with the Major League squad.

Let’s dive into the action.

Link to the 2021 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

AAA Sacramento (24-33)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 14-5
Box score

I use this space fairly often to talk about strikeout to walk ratios, and it definitely needs to be brought up now. Yes, the River Cats scored 15 runs on 16 hits, which is magnificent, but if Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris take a break from deliberating on a few thousands amateur players to scan the box scores, they’ll probably notice that Sacramento drew a whopping 11 walks ... the same number of times that they struck out. Impressive.

First baseman Joe McCarthy was the star of the day, as he hit 4-6 with a pair of big flies, including a tone-setting dinger in the first inning. His OPS is now .945 — perhaps at some point soon he’ll get more than 10 MLB at-bats to prove he belongs.

Third baseman Mitchell Tolman was 3-6 with a double and a triple, and has quietly raised his OPS to .821. Not elite in the PCL, but still nice. The Giants depth is a bit ludicrous.

Shortstop Mauricio Dubón was 2-5 with a double, and continues to find his rhythm since the Giants optioned him. Designated hitter Mike Tauchman was 1-3 with 2 walks in his second rehab assignment.

It was a bullpen day for Sacramento’s pitchers, highlighted by RHP Kervin Castro (No. 25 CPL), who gave up 2 earned runs in 2.2 innings, but struck out 6 batters.

AA Richmond (33-27)

Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Bowie Baysox (Orioles) 12-5
Box score

Well would you look at that, more strikeout to walk brilliance, as the Flying Squirrels drew 8 free passes against just 10 strikeouts, with left fielder Vince Fernandez drawing 3 of those walks and moving his OPS to .843.

But the star of the day was center fielder Andy Sugilio. Sugilio hasn’t been having a great season (his OPS sits at just .662), but he can turn that around quickly with a few more days like Sunday, where he hit 4-5 with a double and a home run.

It was also a bullpen game for Richmond, and LHP Mac Marshall — who had only pitched three times since May — got some good run, giving up no baserunners in 2 innings while striking out 3.

High-A Eugene (34-25)

Eugene Emeralds lost to the Everett AquaSox (Mariners) 10-5
Box score

The Emeralds have been excellent this year, but couldn’t keep the AquaSox off the board on Sunday, despite sending one of the organization’s top pitching prospects to the mound. LHP Seth Corry (No. 6 CPL) got torched, giving up 6 hits, 5 walks, and 6 earned runs in 3.2 innings, while striking out 6. His ERA is now sitting at 5.40.

Things got better for the first arm to replace him. RHP Austin Reich, making just his second appearance since getting promoted from Low-A, allowed 0 hits and 1 walk in 2.1 innings, while striking out 3. Small sample size is small, but Reich’s line since moving to Eugene is 5 innings, 0 hits, 1 walk, 0 runs, and 8 strikeouts.

Offensively, designated hitter Robert Emery — perhaps you remember him from being the lifelong Giants fan who was an undrafted free agent in 2020 — had his first home run since his promotion. He has an OPS of .857 in 8 High-A games, after an OPS of 1.074 in 7 Low-A games.

Low-A San Jose (37-23)

San Jose Giants lost to the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies) 5-3 (10 innings)
Box score

The Baby Giants may have lost in extra innings, but it always feels like a win when one of your most exciting prospects has a good game. And that was the case for LHP Kyle Harrison (No. 9 CPL), who gave up just 6 hits, 0 walks, and 2 earned runs in 7 innings, while striking out 7 hitters. Harrison now has a 3.52 ERA in his debut season, with 83 strikeouts in 53.2 innings. Not bad at all for a 19 year old.

The Giants had just 6 hits, but a pair of top prospects — first baseman Luis Toribio (No. 12 CPL), and center fielder Alexander Canario (No. 7 CPL) — had 2-hit games while drawing a walk. Toribio also had a double, while Canario threw out a runner at home.

News

The Dominican Summer League is about to get underway. Here are the Giants rosters.

Home runs

Sunday’s dingers:

AAA Joe McCarthy, 2 (11, 12)
AAA Ronnie Freeman (1)
AA Sandro Fabian (7)
AA Andy Sugilio (1)
High-A Carter Aldrete (3)
High-A Robert Emery (1)
Low-A Jimmy Glowenke (3)

Monday schedule

Sacramento: @ Salt Lake Bees, 5:35 p.m. PT
Richmond: Off
Eugene: Off
San Jose: Off
ACL Orange: vs. White Sox, 6:00 p.m. PT
ACL Black: vs. Mariners, 6:00 p.m. PT