Minor League round up, April 6

Wednesday was just the second day of the Minor League season, and the AAA Sacramento River Cats remain the only one of the San Francisco Giants affiliates that are playing games yet.

That will change on Friday, but for now let’s recap the limited action.

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

All listed positions are the positions played in that game.

AAA Sacramento (2-0)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros) 4-3
Box score

Have a start to your AAA career, Ricardo Genovés (No. 20 CPL). The catcher, who started last season in Low-A, got promoted midseason to High-A, and skipped AA, was impressive in his Tuesday debut with Sacramento, but one-upped himself on Wednesday.

With the River Cats trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the 22-year old righty stepped to the plate and smashed a three-run home run on an 0-2 pitch, which not only gave Sacramento the lead, but made him their only player to have a multi-hit game.

Small sample size is as advertised, but Genovés is 3-6 with a home run and 2 walks to start his AAA campaign. The Giants are clearly high on him, and the reason isn’t hard to figure out.

The River Cats didn’t do a lot with their bats, but they worked a lot of counts and drew a lot of walks, finishing with 8 free passes on the day, good for one per inning. Designated hitter Luis González and third baseman Wyatt Mathisen both drew a pair of walks, with the latter adding a single to get on base three times.

Unlike in Sacramento’s opener, the pitching was solid in this game, with only RHP Cody Carroll getting roughed up. LHP Michael Plassmeyer — the incoming piece in the Matt Wisler trade — got the start and was solid in his AAA debut, allowing 3 hits, 3 walks, and 1 earned run in 5 innings, while striking out 3.

RHP relievers Gregory Santos (No. 32 CPL) and Yunior Marte, who are both on the 40-man roster and likely to wind up in San Francisco’s bullpen at some point this year, each threw hitless innings with 2 strikeouts (Santos, however, issued a walk).

It was a rough all-around day for Major League hopeful Alex Blandino, who hit 0-3 (though he drew a walk) while committing a pair of errors at shortstop.

Schedule

Sacramento: vs. Sugar Land Space Cowboys, 6:45 p.m. PT

All other affiliates have yet to begin their season.