Minor League round up, July 20

Well, quite a bit happened on the San Francisco Giants farm on Tuesday, including some superstar performances from some of the team’s top prospects.

Let’s dive into the action.

Link to the 2021 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List

AAA Sacramento (27-38)

Sacramento River Cats lost to the Round Rock Express (Rangers) 8-4
Box score

The story of the day for Sacramento was right fielder Drew Robinson, who was playing his final baseball game before transitioning into a career with the Giants as a mental health advocate. Robinson went hitless, but that doesn’t matter. Bravo on a courageous and impactful playing career, Drew — and here’s to your continued impact on the sport in your new role.

Catcher Joey Bart (No. 2 CPL) was 1-4, but the hit was a gorgeous home run to raise his OPS to .937.

RHP Matt Frisbee (No. 39 CPL) got the start and gave up 10 hits in 5 innings, but didn’t issue a walk and struck out 9 batters. The Giants will take that. That looks more like the pitcher he was in AA prior to his promotion (32 strikeouts to 1 walk in 29 innings), than the pitcher he’s been in AAA (29 strikeouts to 13 walks in 39 innings prior to Tuesday’s start).

Frisbee gave up 2 earned runs, which had the Giants leading 4-2 entering the sixth inning but, mirroring the MLB club, the bullpen couldn’t hang on.

AA Richmond (38-29)

Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Akron RubberDucks (Cleveland) 9-5
Box score

The Flying Squirrels games have lost a little bit of muster after Tuesday’s news that center fielder Heliot Ramos (No. 3 CPL) had been promoted to AAA. But there’s still plenty of good stuff going on in Richmond, and that was true on Tuesday as they rallied back from a 5-1 deficit with 8 unanswered runs.

Richmond had just 7 hits, but they were timely, with a 3-run home run by right fielder Diego Rincones (No. 37 CPL) leading the way.

Shortstop Will Wilson (No. 10 CPL) went 3-5 with a double, raising his OPS to .633. Wilson is finding his groove after struggling when he first got promoted a few weeks ago. He’s now 6-11 with 2 doubles and a home run in his last 3 games.

LHP Michael Plassmeyer went deep into the game, but was ultimately rather mediocre, with 7 hits, 1 walk, 5 runs, and 4 earned runs in 6 innings, with just 3 strikeouts. The bullpen of RHP Patrick Ruotolo, LHP Joey Marciano, and RHP Jose Marte combined for 3 hitless innings.

High-A Eugene (38-28)

Eugene Emeralds lost to the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks) 3-2
Box score

Just a rough day on offense for the Emeralds, though it was almost enough to get the win after RHP Conner Nurse allowed 7 baserunners and 3 earned runs in 5 innings, with 4 strikeouts, and the bullpen — led by 3 stellar innings from RHP John Russell — didn’t allow a run.

Eugene had just 5 hits on the day, but a bigger indictment was that they managed just 1 walk compared to 12 strikeouts. Second baseman Brett Auerbach provided the lone offensive highlight with a home run, which raised his OPS to .898. I think it’s safe to say that he is quickly becoming every fan’s favorite prospect.

This is a damn fun swing.

Low-A San Jose (44-23)

San Jose Giants beat the Stockton Ports (A’s) 9-3
Box score

If you ask a person invested in the Giants farm who the team’s two most exciting prospects are, there’s a very good chance they’re going to say Marco Luciano and Luis Matos, and for damn good reason. And that reason was on full display on Tuesday, as shortstop Luciano (No. 1 CPL) went 2-5 with yet another home run (he leads Low-A), and center fielder Matos (No. 5 CPL) went 3-5 with a pair of doubles and a home run.

Matos may be behind Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos on almost every prospect list, but he’s the only person in the farm I’ve seen argued as potentially being ahead of Luciano. Those discussions are premature for now, because of how well Luciano is hitting, but I think we should all be preparing for the possibility that these two are unanimously seen as the team’s top two prospects next year. Luciano now has a .938 OPS and Matos an .824 OPS — not bad for a pair of 19 year olds.

But they were far from the only offense the Baby Giants had. San Jose had a whopping 20 hits on the day, with everyone in the lineup registering at least one. Left fielder Alexander Canario (No. 7 CPL) and first baseman Luis Toribio (No. 12 CPL) also had 3-hit days, with the latter adding a pair of walks.

Right fielder Carter Williams, third baseman Casey Schmitt (No. 21 CPL), designated hitter Jairo Pomares (No. 14 CPL), and second baseman Jimmy Glowenke (No. 34 CPL) all had 2-hit games, with the latter two recording a double. Only catcher Patrick Bailey (No. 8 CPL), who went 1-5, failed to have a multi-hit game. Offense!

RHP Carson Ragsdale was strong on the bump, with 8 baserunners, 3 runs, and 1 earned run allowed in 5 innings, with 8 strikeouts. He’s up to 102 strikeouts to 29 walks in 60 innings.

ACL Orange (7-10)

ACL Giants Orange Beat the Cubs 2-1
Box score

Not much offense for Giants Orange, but it came through when it mattered most, with a game-tying run in the seventh, and a walk-off run in the ninth courtesy of a double by left fielder George Bell (23, 2018 13th round). Bell and second baseman Yeiver Torrealba (19, 2018 J2) were the only Giants with multi-hit games. Catcher Adrian Sugastey (19, 2019 J2) also reached base twice, with a single and a walk.

RHP Trevor McDonald (No. 23 CPL, 20, 2019 11th round) had an awesome game, allowing 5 hits, 0 walks, and 1 earned run in 5 innings, with 6 strikeouts. He had really struggled in his last 3 starts, so a nice sight.

ACL Black (9-8)

ACL Giants Black lost to the Rockies 10-1 (7 innings)
Box score

Giving up 10 runs in 7 innings is never a great thing. Neither is scoring just 1 run. A bad day all around for Giants Black.

RHP Freddery Paulino (20, 2017 J2) had a day he’ll want to soon forget, with 13 baserunners in 4 innings, and 9 runs allowed (6 earned). He also committed a pair of errors, so he’s pretty responsible for the 3 unearned runs, as well.

Offensively it was a tale of two lineups, though no one had an extra-base hit. Hitters 1-4 all recorded a hit (as did the one pinch-hitter for them), with center fielder Alexander Suarez (19, 2018 J2) and left fielder Najee Gaskins (23, 2019 20th round) having multi-hit games. But hitters 5-9 combined to go 0-15 with 7 strikeouts.

DSL Black (3-4)

DSL Giants Black lost to Rockies2 18-9
Box score

Giants Black scored in each of the first 6 innings and still lost by 9 runs. What an odd game.

Needless to say it was an awful pitching day, and the Giants sent 8 pitchers to the mound to try and stop the bleeding. I won’t even dig into the rough performances there.

There were some awesome offensive performances though. Center fielder Mauricio Pierre (17, 2020 J2) went 3-5 with a home run and a walk, to raise his OPS to 1.044. Left fielder Oswaldo Ladera (18, 2019 J2) was 1-2 with a home run and 2 walks, raising his OPS to 1.625.

Third baseman Elian Rayo (18, 2019 J2) had a hit and drew 4 walks (the Giants drew 11 on the day), and right fielder Juanel Urena (17, 2020 J2) went 2-3 with a double, 3 walks, and 4 stolen bases. What a game.

Home runs

AAA Joey Bart (9)
AA Diego Rincones (3)
High-A Brett Auerbach (4)
Low-A Marco Luciano (16)
Low-A Luis Matos (7)
DSL Oswaldo Ladera (1)
DSL Mauricio Pierre (1)

Wednesday schedule

Sacramento: Off
Richmond: @ Akron RubberDucks, 9:05 a.m. PT
Eugene: vs. Hillsboro Hops, 7:05 p.m. PT
San Jose: vs. Stockton Ports, 1:00 p.m. PT
ACL Orange: Off
ACL Black: Off
DSL Orange: Off
DSL Black: Off