Minor League round up, August 10

No ACL or DSL games on Wednesday, but a whole bunch of fun A-ball action from the San Francisco Giants affiliates.

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

All listed positions are the positions played in that game.

AAA Sacramento (46-61)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 4-3
Box score

A rather uneventful game for the River Cats, despite the win. There were a few nice offensive days though, including yet another home run from second baseman David Villar (No. 19 CPL), who hit 1-4 with a walk and stole his first base of the year.

After a so-so first stint in the Majors, Villar is back to AAA and back to crushing baseballs and showing good plate discipline. He’s drawn a walk in all 4 games since getting optioned, and hit 2 big flies.

Also homering was right fielder Austin Dean, who hit 2-4 to raise his OPS to .810 and his wRC+ to 98. He’s not exactly lighting things up, but good depth to have in the Minors.

And on that note, center fielder Bryce Johnson hit 1-4 with a double, a walk, and his 25th stolen base of the year. Johnson was just optioned after his debut MLB stint, before he got his first MLB hit. He’s fighting to stay on the 40-man roster now, as he has just a .751 OPS and a 91 wRC+.

Another tough day at the office for designated hitter Heliot Ramos (No. 4 CPL), who hit 0-4 with a strikeout. Ramos is having a brutal August, hitting just 3-22 with a double, a walk, and 8 strikeouts.

Not much going on on the pitching front, though RHP Zack Littell struck out 2 in a scoreless inning of relief as he tries to stay on the MLB team’s radar. LHP Joey Marciano had a rough outing, giving up 3 baserunners and 2 runs in 0.2 innings, and his ERA, so pretty most of the year, is now starting to catch up to his FIP, as they sit at 3.80 and 4.85, respectively.

AA Richmond (51-52)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Portland Sea Dogs (Red Sox) 1-0 (10 innings)
Box score

The Flying Squirrels may have lost, but it doesn’t matter, because we have a pitching performance to admire. Take a freaking bow, RHP Matt Frisbee. The 2018 15th-round pick set a franchise record with 13 strikeouts in the game, allowing just 3 baserunners and 0 runs in 6 innings of work. He struck out 13 of the 22 batters that he faced, which is obscene.

It’s been a tough year for Frisbee, who’s been worse in AA than he was last year, when he pitched well enough to earn a midseason promotion to AAA. But days like this remind us of the fire that is in his arm. Here’s to many more of them.

RHP Cole Waites was also strikeout happy, striking out the side in his scoreless inning of relief, albeit with 3 baserunners allowed. He has 31 strikeouts in 18 innings in AA, but has walked 13.

Taking the opposite approach was LHP Chris Wright (No. 29 CPL). Normally a strikeout artist, Wright had just 1 K in 2 innings of work, but was perfect in those 2 innings.

The offense had just 4 hits, but a very nice day from left fielder Tristan Peters, the player the Giants traded Trevor Rosenthal for. Peters hit 2-3 with a walk and a stolen base in his 6th game with the team.

Third baseman Casey Schmitt (No. 24 CPL) made his AA debut and hit 0-3 with a walk and an error.

High-A Eugene (62-39)

Eugene Emeralds beat the Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays) 10-3
Box score

Hello Simon Whiteman! How good to see you. After a lovely 2021 that saw him get promoted to AA, Whiteman has been awful in 2022, starting the season in AA, getting demoted, and struggling like all heck in High-A.

But Wednesday was a very good day for him, as the second baseman hit 2-2 with his 1st home run of the year, a double, 2 walks, and a stolen base. That won’t fix his .525 OPS or his 66 wRC+, but it’s still great to see.

Whiteman was the 9th-place batter in this game, which brought up the tail of an outstanding back-of-the-order day, as hitters 6 through 9 all homered: third baseman Luis Toribio (No. 39 CPL, .769 OPS, 116 wRC+), shortstop Jimmy Glowenke (No. 43 CPL, .710 OPS, 101 wRC+), and first baseman Max Wright (.713 OPS, 97 wRC+).

Glowenke gets extra points for the bat flip.

Also a fantastic day from left fielder Jairo Pomares (No. 7 CPL), who hit 3-5 with a home run of his own. It hasn’t been the season we were hoping for with Pomares, but with a .765 OPS and a 115 wRC+, things are turning around for someone who only turned 22 last week.

He’s hitting 15-33 this month, with 3 home runs, 3 doubles, 3 walks, and 9 strikeouts. That is red hot.

Nice days for center fielder Vaun Brown, who singled, walked twice, and stole 2 bases, and catcher Patrick Bailey (No. 9 CPL), who tripled and walked. In short, the offense had a very lovely day.

RHP Keaton Winn had a so-so day, allowing 4 hits, 2 walks, a hit batter, and 3 runs in 5 innings of work, but striking out 7. Still, a 3.16 ERA, a 2.87 FIP, and 46 strikeouts to 10 walks in 37 innings is a great season for someone who entered the year having not pitched since 2019.

And speaking of people who hadn’t pitched since 2019, RHP Jake Wong allowed just 3 baserunners in 4 scoreless innings, with 4 strikeouts. It lowered his ERA to 5.17, his FIP to 3.74, and gave him 86 strikeouts to 33 walks in 76.2 innings this season.

Low-A San Jose (59-45)

San Jose Giants lost to the Stockton Ports (A’s) 9-2
Box score

Yeah, it might be time to promote left fielder Jared Dupere. He was back to his old tricks on Wednesday, hitting 1-3 with a home run and a walk.

He’s only played 20 games in San Jose this year due to starting the year injured, but a 1.045 OPS and a 163 wRC+ paint the picture of someone who just might be too good for the league.

Also a great game for right fielder Victor Bericoto, who has had an up and down season. He bopped 1-2 with a home run and 2 walks in this one, bringing his OPS up to .731 and his wRC+ to 92.

There’s no promotion in his near future, but still plenty of bright signs given that he’s a 20-year old.

The other nice day came from third baseman Yorlis Rodriguez, who hit 2-4 with a double. His season numbers aren’t very good, as he has a .720 OPS and an 84 wRC+. But he had a .793 OPS in July, and is starting to find his August footing.

RHP Manuel Mercedes (No. 23 CPL) had another awful outing, making it through just 4 innings while allowing 7 hits, 3 walks, 1 hit batter, 6 runs, and 5 earned runs, with just 1 strikeout. He’s still an exciting prospect given that he’s only 19, but a 6.27 ERA, a 6.34 FIP, and more walks than strikeouts certainly qualifies as a bummer of a year.

A pair of pitchers made their Low-A debuts after recent promotions, and there were mixed results. It didn’t go well for RHP Willian Suarez, who gave up 4 hits, 1 walk, 2 hit batters, and 3 runs in just 1.2 innings. But it went swimmingly for RHP Yoniel Ramirez, who allowed no baserunners in 2.1 innings, while striking out 4.

Home runs

AAA David Villar (23)
AAA Austin Dean (13)
High-A Luis Toribio (18)
High-A Jairo Pomares (13)
High-A Jimmy Glowenke (9)
High-A Max Wright (3)
High-A Simon Whiteman (1)
Low-A Victor Bericoto (10)
Low-A Jared Dupere (7)

Thursday schedule

Sacramento: @ the Salt Lake Bees (Angels)
Richmond: @ the Portland Sea Dogs (Red Sox)
Eugene: vs. the Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays)
San Jose: vs. the Stockton Ports (A’s)
ACL Orange: vs. the ACL D-backs Red
ACL Black: vs. the ACL Rockies
DSL Orange: vs. the DSL Cardinals
DSL Black: vs. DSL Colorado