Minor League round up, May 17

Still no ACL and DSL seasons yet, but the other four San Francisco Giants affiliates were in action on Tuesday.

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

All listed positions are the positions played in that game.

AAA Sacramento (18-19)

Sacramento River Cats lost to the Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners) 8-3
Box score

Well, not all days are good days, and Sacramento’s game on Tuesday is a reminder of that. So chin up if you had a not good day.

The River Cats only had 4 hits on the day, though on the bright side, 3 of them were extra-base hits. That included yet another dinger from first baseman Kevin Padlo, who now has 6 home runs in 53 plate appearances since the Giants traded for him. He certainly looks like a find.

Also recently-acquired second baseman Donovan Walton and right fielder Heliot Ramos (No. 4 CPL) both doubled and stole a base, with Walton adding a walk.

And while we’re speaking of recent acquisitions, 2 of them made their Sacramento debut: catcher Michael Papierski (whom the Giants traded Mauricio Dubón for) and center fielder Stuart Fairchild (whom the Giants traded Alex Blandino and cash for). Papierski went 0-4, and Fairchild went 0-1 with 2 walks and a stolen base.

All 9 River Cats batters struck out.

The pitching wasn’t good, and yet another run-driven start by RHP Sean Hjelle (No. 30 CPL), who allowed 6 runs in 5.1 innings, though he did strike out 6. That raised his ERA to 6.97, which still gave him a better ERA than the other 3 pitchers Sacramento used.

AA Richmond (20-14)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Altoona Curve (Pirates) 12-2
Box score

Also a rough game for Richmond, though another nice game for catcher Brandon Martorano, who hit 2-3 with a double and a walk, raising his OPS to .765 and his wRC+ to 112. It’s been a nice season for someone who doesn’t get mentioned much when we talk about the Giants impressive prospect depth at the catcher position.

And a so-so day for arguably the team’s top hitter this year, third baseman Shane Matheny, who doubled but also committed his 10th error of the season.

Left fielder Armani Smith (No. 41 CPL), playing in his 2nd game since getting promoted, had a single for his first AA hit.

The pitching was rather bad. RHPs Gray Fenter, Solomon Bates, and Tyler Schimpf all got rocked. But RHP Trenton Toplikar, in his 3rd game of the season since returning from injury, had a scoreless inning with 1 walk and 1 strikeout.

High-A Eugene (16-13)

Eugene Emeralds lost to Spokane (Rockies) 1-0 (10 innings)
Box score

An awful day on offense was a tremendous day on defense for Eugene, as theytook a scoreless tie into the 10th inning before losing.

Eugene has too many hot prospect starting pitchers, so they’ve been piggybacking a lot of them. For this game it was the pairing of LHP Nick Swiney (No. 17 CPL) and RHP Ty Weber. Swiney gave up just 3 hits and 0 walks in 4 innings, with 6 strikeouts. He’s followed up a strong debut season with 25 strikeouts in 21.1 innings, a 3.80 ERA, and a 2.97 FIP.

Weber only had 2 strikeouts in his 5 scoreless innings, but he also only allowed 2 baserunners, lowering his ERA to 3.33 and his FIP to 3.48.

The offense only had 3 hits — all singles — though they had 6 walks. Third baseman Casey Schmitt (No. 24 CPL) continued his spectacular season, hitting 1-2 with 2 walks, while first baseman Luis Toribio (No. 39 CPL) drew 3 walks.

Low-A San Jose (21-13)

San Jose Giants lost to the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels) 11-8
Box score

Eugene’s piggyback pitching tandem may have worked wonders, but San Jose’s did not. LHP Matt Mikulski (No. 14 CPL) gave up 6 runs in 3 innings of work, striking out just 4 of 17 batters. And RHP Trevor McDonald allowed 5 runs (4 earned) in 4 innings, albeit with 9 strikeouts, giving him 38 strikeouts to 5 walks in 23.1 innings.

But the offense was quite nice, and was highlighted by a 2-homer game from third baseman Yorlis Rodriguez, who is finding his groove after a slow start.

Speaking of finding their groove, there were homers from shortstop Aeverson Arteaga (No. 12 CPL), who hit 2-5, and catcher Adrian Sugastey (No. 27 CPL), who hit 2-3.

Meanwhile, the 2 San Jose batters who have been filling up the box score all season continued to play well, as center fielder Grant McCray (No. 34 CPL) hit 2-5 with a triple, and designated hitter Vaun Brown hit 2-4 with a walk and 2 stolen bases. With their OPS’ hanging comfortably in the 1s, there’s only so long the team can go without promoting them.

Home runs

AAA Kevin Padlo (8)
Low-A Aeverson Arteaga (5)
Low-A Yorlis Rodriguez, 2 (3)
Low-A Adrian Sugastey (2)