Minor League round up, June 30

The Dominican Summer League games got postponed early on due to bad weather, but the San Francisco Giants six other affiliates were all in action on Thursday, and hitting a lot of homers.

Here’s what they did.

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

All listed positions are the positions played in that game.

AAA Sacramento (32-43)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Reno Aces (Diamondbacks) 6-1
Box score

First baseman Jason Vosler stated his case, and the Giants listened. The lefty hit 3-5 on Thursday, with 2 home runs.

And on Friday he was called by the Giants to replace RHP Anthony DeSclafani, who returns to the Injured List.

Even with the 2 homers, Vosler hasn’t been having a statistically strong season in Sacramento, but he’s been great in his limited time in the Majors this year. Keep up the good MLB work my dude.

Also a nice game for center fielder Bryce Johnson, who hit 2-5 with a home run and an outfield assist. Johnson started the year hitting well for average, but showing a complete inability to draw walks or hit for power. He’s starting to turn that around, thankfully.

On the other side is third baseman David Villar (No. 19 CPL), who has been hitting brilliantly for power. But he reminded on Thursday than he does a lot more than just hit home runs, as he went 2-3 with a double and a pair of walks drawn. With a 1.019 OPS and a 148 wRC+, Villar is probably going to the ballpark every day anticipating a call up.

Left fielder Willie Calhoun hit 3-5. Since joining the Giants in the Steven Duggar trade, Calhoun is 8-21 with a home run and a double (though he has 0 walks to 5 strikeouts).

Awesome pitching performance. RHP Tristan Beck only recorded 3 strikeouts in 5 innings, but gave up just 5 baserunners and 1 run. After a brutal introduction to AAA earlier in the season, Beck is starting to find his groove.

The bullpen did great work. RHP R.J. Dabovich (No. 16 CPL) made his AAA debut after a promotion, and pitched a scoreless inning, albeit with a walk. RHP Kervin Castro (No. 26 CPL) also pitched a scoreless inning, and he did so without a walk ... just his 8th time in 21 appearances this year that he’s not issued a walk.

RHP Mauricio Llovera struck out 2 in a scoreless innings, and now has 14 appearances and 19 innings in AAA this year without allowing a run.

AA Richmond (40-32)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Bowie Baysox (Orioles) 15-5
Box score

RHP Ryan Murphy (No. 13 CPL) is unquestionably one of the team’s top pitching prospects ... the 3rd-highest rated starting pitcher in the CPL, and the 2nd-best starting prospect in my eyes.

But his introduction to AA was brutal. In his first game since getting promoted, Murphy lasted just 3.2 innings, and gave up 9 hits, 5 walks, and 9 runs, with 4 strikeouts. Let’s look on the bright side: it can only get better from here!

And perhaps he felt better watching RHP John Russell, who came in to relieve Murphy and promptly gave up 3 hits, 3 walks, and 4 runs in 1.2 innings. Just that kind of a day for the Bowie hitters, I guess.

The Flying Squirrels hitters were very top heavy, as the first 3 in the order had 5 of the team’s 9 hits, a home run each, and all of the team’s RBI.

Leading off was third baseman Shane Matheny, who hit 2-5 with a home run. That’s par for the course for him right now (he has a .948 OPS and a 164 wRC+), though also par for the course is the error he committed, which was his 15th.

Next up was second baseman Brett Auerbach (No. 28 CPL), the play-anywhere utility guy who has been mostly playing second lately. Strikeouts have been plaguing him big time lately, and that was the case on Thursday, as he had 2 more. But he also hit 2-5 with a big fly, bumping his OPS to .665 and his wRC+ to 86. He’s still fighting to get back to his early season performance.

And finally it was DH Diego Rincones (No. 15 CPL) who had but 1 hit, but it cleared the fence.

He’s struggling to replicate his 2021 performance (he has a .655 OPS and an 80 wRC+ a year after having an .878 OPS and a 140 wRC+ at the same level), but every home run helps.

High-A Eugene (42-47)

Eugene Emeralds lost to the Everett AquaSox (Mariners) 4-3
Box score

The Emeralds managed 3 runs despite having just 3 hits and striking out a whopping 19 times, thanks in small part to having 7 walks, and in large part to having 2 of those 3 hits leave the yard.

One of them came from center fielder Luis Matos (No. 3 CPL), who hit 1-2 with 2 walks. It’s been an absolutely awful (and injury-plagued) year for Matos (.500 OPS, 51 wRC+), so great to see him have a good game. He also was strong in the outfield.

The other came from DH Jairo Pomares (No. 7 CPL), who struck out in his first 3 at-bats before rectifying the day with an 8th-inning homer. Pomares hasn’t been nearly as bad as Matos (.704 OPS, 101 wRC+), but still not quite the season he was hoping for.

Not much of note on the pitching front. RHP Keaton Winn wasn’t as bad as Murphy, but didn’t do well in his debut either, as he allowed 3 runs in 3.2 innings in his first game since getting promoted. RHP Brett Standlee struck out 2 in a perfect inning, and now has 31 strikeouts to 14 walks in 26.2 innings.

Low-A San Jose (44-28)

San Jose Giants beat the Modesto Nuts (Mariners) 3-1
Box score

Very nice pitching in this one, led by LHP Seth Lonsway, last year’s 6th-round pick. The bad was that Lonsway issued 3 walks and only struck out 3 batters, but it was more than negated by the good, which is that he allowed just 1 hit in 6 shutout innings. He’s now sitting on a 3.21 ERA, a 4.25 FIP, and 67 strikeouts to 32 walks in 56 innings.

Next up was RHP Jose Cruz, who struck out 5 batters in 2 innings, giving up just 1 baserunner, though admittedly that baserunner hit a home run. Cruz has a 2.82 ERA, a 2.50 FIP, and 43 strikeouts to 10 walks in 22.1 innings. Hot dang!

On offense the predictable happened: left fielder Carter Williams had a nice day. He only hit 1-3, but that hit cleared the fences, giving him a 1.478 OPS and a 248 wRC+ in 14 games since getting moves down to Low-A. Methinks he’s too good for this level.

Shortstop Aeverson Arteaga (No. 12 CPL) and third baseman Yorlis Rodriguez both hit 2-4 with a double, raising their respective OPS’s to .790 and .705 and their wRC+’s to 105 and 80. For Arteaga, it was his 21st double of the year (he also stole a base), but was accompanied by his 15th error.

ACL Orange (4-14)

ACL Giants Orange lost to the ACL Reds 8-7 (7 innings)
Box score

The ACL Orange team lost, but it wasn’t without some strong offensive performances. Leading the way was third baseman Derwin Laya (18, 2020 J2), who hit 3-4 with a home run. It’s been a slow start to the season for the youngster — he has a .523 OPS and a 58 wRC+ — but a great game.

Also an awesome game for right fielder Tyler Forner (20, 2020 UDFA), who hit 2-4 with a triple and a double, which raised his OPS to .743 and his wRC+ to 107. Center fielder Kwan Adkins (25, 2018 30th round) hit 2-3 with a triple and a stolen base, giving him a .744 OPS and a 100 wRC+.

On the pitching side of things, it was a rough outing for RHP Mikell Manzano (19, 2019 J2), who gave up 10 hits and 6 runs in just 3.2 innings, though he did strike out 7 batters. That’s his season in a nutshell: he has 32 strikeouts to 5 walks in 21.2 innings, but has also allowed 26 hits and 13 earned runs.

RHP Melvin Adon, a 28-year old who used to be one of the organization’s top relief prospects before suffering an injury, made his 3rd rehab appearance and struck out a batter in a perfect inning.

ACL Black (13-3)

ACL Giants Black beat the ACL Dodgers 8-1
Box score

The ACL Black squad relied on the long ball, and it worked. When half of your hits are home runs, it’s a good way to convert 6 hits into 8 runs.

Right fielder Jared Dupere (23, 2021 13th round) and first baseman Jean Pena (19, 2017 J2) had the big hits, with 3-run shots. Dupere improved his OPS to .714 and his wRC+ to 91, while Pena increased his numbers to .580 and 71, respectively.

DH Harrison Freed (24, 2019 13th round) also got in on the homer action, though his was a solo shot. But he backed it up by also drawing a walk, continuing his fine season (.859 OPS, 124 wRC+).

The pitching was excellent. RHP Rolfi Jimenez (19, 2019 J2) gave up just 5 hits, 0 walks, and 1 run in 5 innings, though he had only 2 strikeouts. And RHP Willian Suarez (24, 2015 J2) was dominant, with 8 strikeouts in 4 perfect innings.

Home runs

AAA Jason Vosler, 2 (7)
AAA Bryce Johnson (4)
AA Shane Matheny (9)
AA Brett Auerbach (8)
AA Diego Rincones (6)
High-A Jairo Pomares (9)
High-A Luis Matos (2)
Low-A Carter Williams (5)
ACL Jared Dupere (2)
ACL Derwin Laya (1)
ACL Jean Pena (1)
ACL Harrison Freed (1)