Monday, September 2, 2013

Down on the Farm: 9/2/2013

Final day of the regular minor league season:

AAA  Fresno Grizzlies edged out the Colorado Springs Skysox 4-3:

Mitch Lively(RHP)- 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 4.72.
Brett Bochy(RHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 3.99.

Gary Brown did not start this game. He came in as a defensive replacement late.  Not sure what, if anything, that means.  The Grizzlies finish the season with a 68-75 record and last place in the PCL Pacific Southern Division, 12.5 games behind the division winning Las Vegas 51's.  I would chalk up the poor W-L record to too many callups and players shuttled in and out along with an unexpectedly very poor season from Gary Brown, who should have been the top prospect on the team.

AA  Harrisburg Senators whitewashed the Richmond Flying Squirrels 1-0:

Ryan Bradley(LHP)- 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 6.37.
Josh Osich(LHP)- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 4.85.

The Squirrels managed just 2 hits in the game.  The Squirrels finished with a 70-72 record in 4'th place in the EL Western Division, 7 games behind division winning Harrisburg.  As usual, the Giants AA position prospects struggled to hit consistently, but the real problem with this team is until Edwin Escobar arrived on the scene, the pitching was substandard.

High A  Inland Empire 66'ers defeated the San Jose Giants 6-3:

Myles Schroder(3B)- 2 for 4, 2 2B.  BA= .296.
Devin Harris(LF)- 2 for 4, HR(23).  BA= .258.
Eric Sim(C)- 1 for 2, 2B, BB.  BA= .276.

Mac went 0 for 4 to finish with a .292 BA.  Myles Schroder came up just short of .300 but had another outstanding game at the plate.  The Giants finish the second half of the season with a 40-30 record 3 games behind the Modesto Nuts in the North Division.  The Giants were the first half winners in the North with a record of 43-27.  The Lancaster Jethawks won both halves of the South Division.  The Giants finished with the best overall record in the league at 83-57 1 game ahead of the Jethawks.  As first half champion of the North, the Giants get a first round bye in the playoffs.  Then they will play a Division Final best of 5 series against the winner of the first round mini-series(3 games).  The league championship series is a best of 5.  Great season by the SJ Giants mainly due to tremendous pitching.  Mac Williamson had an outstanding season at the plate and in the field and Myles Schroder emerged as a possible sleeper prospect.

Low A  Augusts Greenjackets completed their suspended game from yesterday with a win over the Ashevulle Tourists 6-2:

MItch Delfino(3B)- 3 for 4.  BA= .270.
Shayne Houck(LF)- 2 for 4, HR(5).  BA= .235.
Travious Relaford(SS)- 2 for 4, HR(2).  BA= .221.
Joan Gregorio(RHP)- 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 4.00.
Stephen Johnson(RHP)- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 3.61.

For those of you wondering what happened to Joan Gregorio, he's back!!  Stephen Johnson seems to have made great strides this season.  The regularly scheduled game was cancelled. The Greenjackets won the second half of the Southern Division of the SAL with a record of 44-24.  The now face the first half winning Savannah Sand Gnats in a best of 3 game playoff.  The winner then moves on to the league championship series which is best of 5.  The Greenjackets were led by tremendous pitching with Kendry Flores emerging as the ace of the staff.  Matt Duffy had a great first half at the plate and earned a mid-season promotion to San Jose.  Chuckie Jones emerged as an offensive force in the second half.  3B Mitch Delfino also had a strong second half as did 1B Joey Rapp.  Jesus Galindo stole 48 bases and had a .342 OBP, but was in and out of the lineup in the second half due to injuries.

Short Season  Salem-Keizer Volcanoes topped the Eugene Emeralds 6-4:

Tyler Hollick(CF)- 0 for 2, 2 BB, SB(20).  BA= .262.
Leonardo Rojas(DH)- 2 for 3, HBP.  BA= .306.
Brandon Bednar(SS)- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(6).  BA= .272.
Shilo McCall(LF)- 1 for 4, 3B.  BA= .235.
Jake Smith(RHP)- 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K's.  ERA= 3.61.

Smith started 4 games out of 19 appearances.  He ended up with 54 K's in 43.1 IP, but walked 21 batters in the same span.  The Volcanoes won both halves of their season.  They will now face the Boise Hawks who had the second best overall record in the South division in a best of 3 series.  The winner will then face the North division winner in a best of 3 championship series.  The Volcanoes got great performances from multiple members of the 2013 draft class and they didn't even have the first and second rounders who were HS draftees and made their pro debuts in Arizona.

14 comments:

  1. giants affiliates once again had tremendous fan support

    fresno finished 6th in the pcl, with 481k

    richmond finished 2nd in the eastern, with 428k...despite really needing a new park

    sj finished in 3rd with 198k

    augusta finished in 7th with 176k...despire really, really, really needing a new bp in a much better area

    salk finished in 5th with 95k...which is a bit down from last season and somewhat surprising, given their good play this season

    once again, the giants really need to look into investing in the teams other than the baby gs.....especially richmond, who cant get bumps from players doing rehabs

    bacci

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    1. Thanks for the added info, Bacci. IMO, G's need to take a look at what impact playing conditions on the east coast may have on the mental health of players who have live their whole life and played their whole career on the west coast too.

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    2. I rather liked watching games in Richmond and Augusta last year - from a fan's perspective the stadiums, non-baseball on-field entertainment and parking were a-ok. Obviously Richmond can hold a bunch more than Augusta, but I thought Richmond's park was in a sketchier neighborhood relative to the rest of the city compared to Augusta, which just seemed spotty and not-so-populated in general.

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    3. Thanks, kennv. It always helps to have someone comment who has been there. San Bernardino is one of the most blighted cities in the USA. It's bankrupt, for Heaven's sake! Yet, the minor league ballpark is very nice and I have never felt uncomfortable attending games there.

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  2. It's looking like serious crunch time for the 40 man roster this offseason. The college draftees from the class of 2010 will be Rule 5 eligible. Here's a partial list of players who are not currently on the 40 man who might be of interest to other teams:

    Gary Brown
    Jarrett Parker
    Adam Duvall
    Austin Fleet
    Brett Bochy

    In addition, I'm pretty sure that Kendry Flores, with 5 years of service time, will need to be protected and that seems like a no-brainer.

    Not a lot of room on the 40 man. It looks like Runzler and Tanaka may be released to make room for Hembree and Johnny Monell. The fact that Gary Brown is not being called up despite the fact that he will be Rule 5 Eligible this offseason would seem to be an ominous sign for him as to how far his stock has dropped within the organization.

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    1. The major league portion of the rule 5 does not worry me too much as the drafting team has to keep that player on their 25 man the entire year to keep him. I don't see Parker or Duvall being kept for a year. I actually don't think Brown will either, but there's a chance. The minor league portion could be a problem next year or the year after if all the guys at A or below continue to do well. I don't know the rule about how many a team can protect, but I do know that the drafting team get to keep the player irregardless of where he is assigned in the new organization.

      As for Tanaka, although I can't see him on the Giants next year, the right thing to do is to bring him up in September and let him play. He has handled himself with a lot of class, and it would be a good public relations move with the Far East. Take him off the 40 man after the season is over.

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    2. Other than poor performance, does anyone know what happened to Brown this year? In other words, were there spats between he and coaches, resistance to accepting advice, bad attitude, or personal issues? Anything? Or is he just another prospect with lost value and decreasing chances of "making it?"

      Lucky

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    3. I have no information on Brown. I just know that it is somewhat unusual for a hitting prospect to do worse in Fresno than Richmond. It also seems odd that his basestealing ability has regressed so dramatically. I have noticed a clear pattern that whenever a teammate gets a significant promotion, Brown goes into an extended slump. I can't say it's a cause and effect thing, or just a coincidence, but it's been a definite pattern.

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    4. I bet they protect Brown, because he is actually a pretty easy roster stash, 5th OF and defensive replacement. Even with the bad sb ratio he is at least plus with his speed. What a miserable faceplant of a season though.

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    5. Giants say that Brown is not far away, but shy away from committing to protecting him on 40-man: http://blog.sfgate.com/giants/2013/09/03/sf-giants-gary-brown-not-far-away-plus-notes-on-hembree-runzler/

      I think that they will protect Brown. He had a poor season but that's partly because 1) he refused to change his stance last season and start the learning process, 2) he played half the season before agreeing to change, and 3) once he started having great success with it, the league adjusted and he started going bad again. And to DrB's point, it seemed like every time an OF was brought up, it caused him to press and do poorly.

      Now, he'll have the off-season to work on his new stance and mechanics, and be ready with it by spring training. I'm hoping some of his basestealing issues have been related to him thinking too much about his poor hitting, plus hopefully Winn will talk with him in spring training and give him some tips. In any case, I would put him in the same category as Adrianza - great defense, questionable bat but with good pedigre early in his career - and thus I think he would be protected.

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    6. ogc,

      Take a look at the current 40 man roster and tell me who you would take off to make room for Brown. Perez? Pegs? Roger K? The Giants just don't have that many FA's this year and are rapidly running out of guys who are obvious drops. Andres Torres is probably gone, but he's on the 60 day DL precisely so he won't count against a roster spot! Zito is gone and maybe won't be replaced. That leaves Timmy and Hunter Pence, both of whom will presumably get QO's. I look at that roster and think the Giants are going to be hard pressed to squeeze one opening out of it and if it came down to protecting Brown vs Kendry Flores, I'd choose Flores in a second!

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  3. Is that typical for us that the lower minor teams do much better than higher minor teams?

    It has seemed that way for the past few years or maybe I don't recall correctly.

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    1. That is a fairly typical pattern. When you look at the homegrown MLB players on the Giants active roster, most of them did not spend much time at either AA or AAA. It seems once a top prospect gets to those levels he's ready. The shorter amount of time spent at those levels by the very best prospects thins out the talent there.

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  4. One of the best years ever for watching the Giants minors. A whole lot of pitching talent is going to move up a level, and there is a lot of depth being built. The much maligned draft looked good in AZL and SK. Lower five affiliates played to success and Richmond missed by a bit. Bet the flying squirrel owners are pretty excited about the talent headed their way.

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