Minor League round up, April 19

Just three of the San Francisco Giants Minor League affiliates were in action on Tuesday, as AA Richmond got rained out, while the ACL and DSL teams have yet to have their season start.

Let’s dive right in.

Link to the 2022 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

All listed positions are the positions played in that game.

AAA Sacramento (7-6)

Sacramento River Cats lost to the Oklahoma City Dodgers (Dodgers) 10-4
Box score

For a little while on Tuesday, eyes were turned towards RHP Sean Hjelle (No. 30 CPL). With the Giants needing a spare starter on Saturday, due to the doubleheader compressing the rotation, some wondered if Hjelle — who is on the 40-man roster — would get the nod. So his scheduled start for Sacramento was worth keeping an eye on, because if he got pulled, it would set him up for a Saturday date with the Giants.

But his MLB debut will have to wait. It looks like Sammy Long will get that start, and Hjelle instead got a start in AAA where he struggled, allowing 8 hits and 1 walk, without a strikeout. He limited the damage, allowing just 2 earned runs in 3.2 innings, but still a pretty poor showing. The lack of strikeouts have been a big thing with Hjelle for a while, and it’s part of why his ERA (2.19) is so much shinier than his FIP (4.47). In 3 starts now he’s had just 6 strikeouts in 12.1 innings.

The real pitching struggles, however, came from RHP Luis Ortiz, who gave up 6 earned runs in 1.2 innings. That’s a good way to ruin your ERA in one day, and that’s exactly what happened, as Ortiz’s ballooned up to 14.09. Also a rough day for RHP Kervin Castro (No. 26 CPL), who allowed 2 hits, 1 walk, 2 runs, and 1 earned run in an inning of work. It was the first hits and runs that Castro has allowed this season, but he’s now walked 5 batters in 5 innings.

It was an offensively so-so day for the River Cats, but a great day for right fielder Jaylin Davis, who hit 2-4 with a home run, a double, and a walk.

Davis is on the 40-man roster, but has quite an uphill road to climb to make the active roster. But after a slow start to the season, he’s starting to state his case. He’s currently working on a 5-game hitting streak, during which time he’s 9-22 with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, and 2 walks. His OPS on the year is .840, good for a 108 wRC+.

Also having notable offensive days were shortstop Arquímedes Gamboa, who had 2 singles and a walk to raise his OPS to .805, center fielder Luis González, who homered, moving his OPS to .900, and first baseman Jason Krizan, who homered to bump his slumping OPS to .613.

Second baseman Alex Blandino continued his tough start to the season, hitting 0-4 with 3 strikeouts and his 4th error of the season.

High-A Eugene (5-4)

Eugene Emeralds beat the Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays) 6-5
Box score

It’s always a good sign when your top prospect has a good day, and shortstop Marco Luciano (No. 1 CPL) did exactly that, hitting 2-4 with a home run and a double, and bumping his OPS to 1.030. If he keeps this up, he’ll be hitting balls in Richmond in no time at all.

But while Luciano had a great game to continue a great season, a few other top prospects had very rough games to continue very rough seasons. Three Emeralds had 0-4 games: center fielder Luis Matos (No. 3 CPL), whose OPS is now .338; catcher Patrick Bailey (No. 9 CPL), whose OPS is now .472, and right fielder Hunter Bishop (No. 10 CPL), whose OPS is now .408. Time to turn it around, fellas!

Speaking of turning it around, first baseman Luis Toribio (No. 39 CPL) had a very rough start to the year, but has turned it around in a hurry. He hit 2-4 with a home run and a triple in this one, raising his OPS to .936. Toribio has played 6 games this year. In the first 3, he hit 0-9 with 4 strikeouts and 1 walk. In the 3 games since, he’s 5-11 with 2 home runs, 1 triple, and just 2 strikeouts.

The bad news of the day came on the pitching front, as LHP Seth Corry (No. 33 CPL), who is desperately trying to recover from a brutal 2021, left the game after just 2 pitches.

If MiLB’s play-by-play is accurate, Corry had a hilariously cruel/ironic exit, as the walk-ridden pitcher left the game after two pitches but was still on the hook for the batter when they were, you guessed it, walked.

RHP Nick Avila had a great outing from the bullpen, setting down all 5 batters he faced, 4 by way of the strikeout, for his first save of the year.

Low-A San Jose (6-4)

San Jose Giants beat the Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks) 10-5 (10 innings)
Box score

Kind of a funny offensive day for the Baby Giants. They had 9 hits, with 7 of them being singles, and the other 2 doubles, and they struck out 15 times. You wouldn’t expect that outing to result in 10 runs, but between the Manfred Man in the 10th inning (when the Giants scored 5 runs) and 5 errors by the Rawhide, San Jose put up a big number.

It was a great day (one of the first for him this year) for right fielder/first baseman Victor Bericoto, who hit 3-5 with a double and a walk to raise his OPS to .666. Also nice days for shortstop Dilan Rosario, who reached base 3 times to raise his OPS to .875, and right fielder Alexander Suarez (No. 37 CPL) who entered the game late and was a perfect 2-2 to bump his OPS to .681.

The Baby Giants started the game with 3 of their most intriguing pitchers, and had mixed results. RHP Eric Silva (No. 38 CPL) got the start, and allowed 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 earned run in 2.2 innings, with 4 strikeouts, giving him a 1.93 ERA but a 4.66 FIP. He was followed up by LHP Esmerlin Vinicio (No. 40 CPL), who shook of an awful last outing to allow just 1 hit and no runs in 1.1 innings, with 2 strikeouts. He now has a 10.80 ERA, but a 4.02 FIP. And then it was RHP Manuel Mercedes (No. 23 CPL), who got rocked, allowing 4 hits, 4 walks, and 4 runs (3 earned) in 2 innings, with just 1 strikeout. His 2nd pro season is off to a rough start, as he has a 7.71 ERA and 10.02 FIP.

Home runs

AAA Luis González (3)
AAA Jaylin Davis (2)
AAA Jason Krizan (1)
High-A Marco Luciano (2)
High-A Luis Toribio (2)