Thursday, July 5, 2012

Down on the Farm: 7/4/2012

AAA  Sacramento River Cats crushed the Fresno Grizzlies 18-4:

Nick Noonan(SS)- 2 for 5.  BA= .300.
Francisco Peguero(CF)- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .269.
Brett Pill(1B)- 2 for 5, 2 2B.  BA= .330.
Brock Bond(DH)- 3 for 4.  BA= .328.
Dan Runzler(LHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 5.40.
Heath Hembree(RHP)- 0.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 5.52.

Pegs stays hot.  Free Brock Bond!  Machi allowed all 3 of his inherited runners from Hembree to score, but still....

AA  Richmond Flying Squirrels defeated the Binghampton Mets 9-4:

Gary Brown(CF)- 3 for 5, 2 2B, 3B.  BA= .273.
Tommy Joseph(C)- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(5).  BA= .256.
Ehire Adrianza(SS)- 3 for 4, 2 2B, HR(2).  BA= .211.

Big games for the 3 players who are probably the 3 top prospects in Richmond.

High A  San Jose Giants cracked the Modesto Nuts 8-2:

Joe Panik(SS)- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .267.
Aubrey Huff(DH)- 0 for 1, 2 BB.  BA= .000.
Adam Duvall(3B)- 1 for 4, HR(16).  BA= .263.
Carter Jurica(2B)- 2 for 4, 2 2B.  BA= .277.
Ryan Bradley(LHP)- 6 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 4.74.

Huff starts a rehab assignment.  No need to hurry there, Huffy!

Low A  Asheville Tourists downed the Augusta Greenjackets 8-4:

Shawn Payne(LF)- 1 for 3, HR(4), 2 BB.  BA= .303.
Elliott Blair(CF)- 2 for 3, 2 2B, BB.  BA= .207.

Short Season  Vancouver Canadians topped the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 8-2:

Dashenko Ricardo(C)- 3 for 3, Sac.  BA= .425.
Matthew Graham(RHP)- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 1.13.
Ian Gardeck(RHP)- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 3.68.

Rookie AZL  Giants edged the Padres 3-2 in 10 innings:

Bryce Bandilla(LHP)- 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 10 K's.  ERA= 1.93.
Randall Zeigler(LHP)-  2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's ERA= 2.45.

Bandilla needs to go back to Augusta or some other higher level that this.  Good to see him not walking anyone, though.

DSL  Mets beat the Giants 2-0 in 14 innings:

Keury Mella(RHP, 18 yo)- 5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 2.37.
Diomedes Mateo(RHP, 22 yo)- 7.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K's.  ERA= 1.95.

I know 22 is old for the DSL, but still.....

8 comments:

  1. Chris Heston and the boys take on.... Zack Wheeler. This should get a little attention today. Gary Brown is heating up quite nicely. Good to see Joseph doing the same.

    Speaking of heating up - our boy Alex Burg is 487/500/846 with that SLG fueled by 3 HR and 5 2B down in SJ. Maybe SJ is too much a jump for Bandilla, maybe we find out...

    Marlowe and Arnold got hit around yesterday. Love for those 2 to avoid the BB's. They have excellent BAA and can put up K's, the BBs definitely hurt. Shawn Payne is definitely in my top 5 of favorite Gint prospects, nice to see some power to go with the OBP and speed.

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  2. Henry schulman wrote that Gary Brown made an adjustment to his "timeing mechanism" at the plate. He's beem swinging the bat much better since. I still like him as the Giants #1 or 2 prospect., the other being Chris Stratton. Bochy and Bobby Evans were at the Richmond Game yesterday.

    LG

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    1. Was going to mention the article here, here is the link, lots of good info on Brown's streak and his adjustments: http://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/SF-Giants-prospect-Gary-Brown-is-on-a-tear-3684348.php

      Anyone who saw his prospect video when he was drafted can attest to the funkiness of his stance and mechanics. I thought that he looked like he was dancing in the batter's box, but couldn't argue with the results. Kind of reminded me of Ty Cobb's, where the hands look stretched way back, combined with Mel Ott's leg lift, mixed in with a dance where he got into a comfortable position (and maybe that distracts the pitcher enough to not pitch as well to him, who knows?). Looks like the Giants let him find his way, then interjected whenever Brown ran into an obstacle, kind of like how they handled Lincecum and his unusual mechanics.

      The article noted that the Giants are having a go-slow approach to him, which I think many Giants fans will link with the general impression that the Giants are just slow in promoting prospects, but I've never felt that was nuanced enough to fully represent what is happening. The Giants generally do go slow with the prospects because, frankly, most of them did not have the talent level that gave additional assurance that the production was real and not a seasonal fluke. They had to prove it at every level. Except for Cain, Lincecum, Posey, Bumgarner, Sanchez, Sandoval, Belt, when they showed what they can do was extraordinary for their level, then the Giants jumped the players to higher levels quickly. They also jumped Bowker when he did that as well and I consider him the cautionary tale that not all extraordinary performances in the minors translates to the majors.

      Brown, for as nicely as he hit in Advanced A San Jose last season, was not extraordinarily good for the league, and that despite his relatively advanced age for a top prospects in Advanced A. Top prospects his age should have been hitting what he was hitting in AA, not advanced A, showing that he's probably not going to be on par with our prior #1 ranked prospects like Bumgarner and Posey.

      But that is OK, I don't think anyone was under the illusion that he's going to be a star in the majors, though I still think that is a possibility if he can continue to develop. I think he's making a good show that he'll be at least league average both in hitting and defense, at minimum, and that is still very valuable production out of a pick that far back in the first round, and just very valuable production period, we need the cheap producers on the team to help pay for our now expensive starting pitching. And most thoughts are that he'll be great on defense, so that lowers the bar for his hitting to be in order to be average overall. Add in blazing speed, he could be the top of the lineup contributor we have been waiting for since the days of Brett Butler, good hitting, good OBP, great stealing, great defense.

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    2. I would have loved for him to start off great but his 2011 season didn't project to a fast start in AA for 2012. But his adjustments to each new level is what attracted me to him in the first place, he rarely started out great for his level, but built his way upward, developing along the way, to greatness in college (he was top in OPS, SLG, and ISO for his league for the period, including 7-8 prior seasons) and goodness in Advanced A.

      I personally do not believe the Sabean statement of "AA pitching is better than AAA". If that was true, then the International League would also be a high offense environment, but it is not. However, I think he did it for the masses of Giants fans who don't understand the difference between AAA and AA for the Giants, that the parks are just offensively oriented in AAA. Regular fans don't really understand that, it is easier to say that the pitching is not as good.

      But with less than 2 months left in the minor league season, I have to think that they just keep him in AA for the duration of the season, unless he continues to hit over .400 BA for the rest of this month, in which case they might pull a Pablo/Bowker and promote him in August to a higher league. I would still think the odds favor him staying there though, because he probably won't continuing hitting this hot for the rest of this month.

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  3. Is Adrianza really still a prospect? I don't see how he fits in to the Giants plans with Crawford, Noonan, and possibly Panik if he sticks at SS. I know he has a great glove but no hit, all glove SS are not that hard to find.

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    1. SS's with Adrianza's glove are that hard to find. Yes, he is definitely still a prospect. Doesn't matter who's in front of him, a prospect is a prospect and has value either by being trade bait or making someone else expendable by trade.

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  4. Anyone have any updates on the status of Agosto, Williamson, and Tella, whom I think are our highest draft picks yet unsigned?

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    1. No updates. Gotta think Agosta and Williamson will sign. I'm doubtful about Tella.

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