Minor League round up, Aug. 24

A round up of the San Francisco Giants Minor League affiliates.

All eight San Francisco Giants affiliates were in action on Tuesday, so we’ve got a whole bunch of prospects to talk about. Let’s jump in.

Link to the 2021 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

All listed positions are the positions played in that game.

AAA Sacramento (41-54)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Tacoma Rainers (Mariners) 2-1
Box score

Walk offs are a lot of fun. Walk off home runs are even more fun.

And so we turn our attention to left fielder Braden Bishop, who, with 1 out in the 9th inning, ended the game on a solo blast in his only at-bat of the day.

Now that’s some fun stuff, and raised his OPS to .893.

Bishop’s heroics rescued the River Cats from an otherwise bland offensive showing, as the team had just 5 hits on the day, and didn’t draw a single walk while striking out 11 times.

It was a bullpen game, with LHP Conner Menez getting the start and going 3 strong innings, allowing 3 hits, 0 walks, 0 runs, and striking out 5.

RHP Camilo Doval (No. 16 CPL) allowed 2 hits but pitched a scoreless inning, giving him 8 straight appearances — 7 with Sacramento and 1 with San Francisco — without allowing a run.

AA Richmond (49-48)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Altoona Curve (Pirates) 16-5
Box score

Richmond gave up 16 runs, so it’s safe to say the pitching was very bad and we shouldn’t talk about it. But alas, that’s not much of an option, so let’s talk about it anyway. The Flying Squirrels gave up 9 runs in the first 2 innings.

LHP Michael Plassmeyer started and failed to get out of the 1st inning, giving up 7 baserunners and 4 earned runs while recording just 2 outs, both by way of strikeout. It knocked his ERA to 4.73.

RHP Ronnie Williams replaced him and wasn’t any better, allowing 7 baserunners and 5 earned runs in 0.2 innings, raising his still nice ERA to 2.62.

It stayed bad in the pitching department until LHP Luis Amaya took over for the final 3 innings, and was perfect while striking out 5 to lower his ERA to 5.32.

Offensively the star was catcher Andres Angulo, who hit 3-4 and finished a triple shy of the cycle. Angulo’s OPS is just .636, but he sure has had some nice moments this year.

Meanwhile, designated hitter Diego Rincones (No. 37 CPL) continues to mash, as he hit 2-5 with yet another home run.

Rincones’ OPS is now .907 which, as I mentioned the other day, is comfortably above what Heliot Ramos (No. 3 CPL) was sporting in AA this year, and Rincones is less than three months older.

Second baseman Simon Whiteman also had a nice day, with 2 doubles to raise his OPS to .733.

High-A Eugene (57-41)

Eugene Emeralds lost to the Tri-City Dust Devils (Angels) 3-2
Box score

The Emeralds hopped out to a lead, but couldn’t hold it, and gave up a 3-run 7th inning that proved to be the difference. Still, it was a nice outing for RHP Conner Nurse, who allowed 4 hits, 1 walk, and 2 earned runs in 6.2 innings, while striking out 6. He hasn’t had a great season (5.61 ERA, 88 strikeouts to 44 walks in 93 innings), but has been much better in 4 August starts (3.38 ERA, 24 strikeouts to 8 walks in 21.1 innings).

Eugene didn’t draw a walk, struck out 12 times, and scored just 2 runs, so there aren’t too many compliments to hand out to the offense. Two players had nice days though. Third baseman Sean Roby (No. 32 CPL) hit 2-4 with a home run, as he continues to find his groove. After a .607 OPS in June and a .638 OPS in July, Roby has a 1.141 OPS so far in August.

Catcher Brett Auerbach, in line to win the “raised his stock the most this year” award that I just made up, hit 2-4 with a double to bump his OPS to .990.

Top prospect watch: shortstop Marco Luciano (No. 1 CPL) hit 1-4 and left fielder Jairo Pomares (No. 14 CPL) hit 0-4, with both players striking out twice.

Low-A San Jose (61-36)

San Jose Giants beat the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres) 8-5
Box score

A nice day all around for San Jose, highlighted by a few very strong offensive performances. Right fielder Harrison Freed, who hasn’t had the best season (.674 OPS) had a nearly perfect day, hitting 4-4 with a home run. Also hitting a home run was third baseman Yorlis Rodriguez — it was his first dinger since a promotion in early August, and he now has a .772 OPS in his first pass at non short season ball.

It was also a great game for catcher Patrick Bailey (No. 8 CPL) who hit 3-5 with 2 doubles to raise his OPS to .790. Bailey had an awful start to his debut season, struggling with both injuries and performance, but is starting to show why the Giants drafted him in the first round in 2020: in his last 5 games he’s hitting 7-19 with 2 home runs, 3 doubles, and 3 walks to 5 strikeouts.

First baseman/second baseman Edison Mora had a 3-hit day that included a double to raise his OPS to .534.

LHP Carson Ragsdale was hot and cold, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) in 6 innings, but striking out 7. He now has 143 strikeouts to 37 walks in 93.1 innings, which is excellent.

Three relievers pitched perfect innings to end the game, including 2-strikeout performances from RHP Brooks Crawford, who has 46 strikeouts to 7 walks in 37 innings, and RHP Cole Waites, who has 13 strikeouts to 3 walks in 6 innings this year, and has yet to give up a hit.

ACL Orange (21-20)

ACL Giants Orange lost to the Royals Gold 7-4
Box score

The Giants Orange team lost, but there were some fun performances. Center fielder Vaun Brown (23, 2021 10th round) had the big hit of the day: a 3-run home run for his first big fly in the pros. His OPS is .863, as his first pro season is going well. Catcher Cesar Gonzalez (20, 2017 J2) had a 2-hit day, which featured a home run as well, bumping his OPS to .772.

RHP Luis Moreno (23, 2016 J2) had a very nice relief appearance, pitching 3 innings and allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, and 0 runs, while striking out 5. After struggling to start the season in San Jose, Moreno has found his footing in the Arizona Complex League, with a 3.15 ERA and 40 strikeouts to 9 walks in 34.1 innings.

ACL Black (20-21)

ACL Black lost to the White Sox 7-3
Box score

The Giants Black team had only 6 hits on the day, but half of them came courtesy of shortstop Diego Velasquez (17, 2020 J2), who also had a double and a stolen base, and moved his OPS to .668. The team did draw 7 walks on the day though, with 3 of them issued to designated hitter Rayner Santana (No. 41 CPL, 19, 2018 J2), who now has a .638 OPS.

RHP Rafael Martinez (21, 2016 J2) had a rough start, with 6 earned runs in 4 innings moving his ERA to 8.55, but two recent draftees were very strong in relief. RHP Hunter Dula (22, 2021 18th round) pitched a perfect inning with 2 strikeouts, keeping his ERA at 0.00 and giving him 6 strikeouts to 1 walk in 4 innings. RHP Ian Villers (20, 2021 8th round) allowed 2 hits, but kept them from scoring and struck out the side. He also has a 0.00 ERA, and now has 8 strikeouts to 1 walk in 4 innings.

DSL Orange (10-12)

DSL Giants Orange tied Colorado 5-5 (suspended)
Box score

Even in the Dominican Summer League baseball has yet to adopt ties, so instead this game is technically listed as “suspended,” despite being 5-5 in the middle of the 9th when rain caused the game to be stopped.

The Giants Orange team had 7 hits, but no player had multiple hits. The closest we can get to a good offensive day comes from designated hitter Samuel Rodriguez (17, 2020 J2), who hit 1-3 with a double and a walk to raise his OPS to … uhh … .385. Baby steps.

There were three standout relief appearances: LHP Carlos Lopez (18, 2019 J2) pitched 2 innings, allowing 2 hits, 1 walk, 0 runs, and striking out 3. He has a 0.84 ERA and 17 strikeouts to 4 walks in 10.2 innings.

RHP Junior Flores (19, 2020 J2) gave up 1 hit, 1 walk, and 0 runs in 2 innings, with 2 strikeouts. He has a 0.90 ERA and 13 strikeouts to 7 walks in 10 innings.

And RHP Brayan Palencia (18, 2020 J2) pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout, lowering his ERA to 1.74 and giving him 13 strikeouts to 2 walks in 10.1 innings.

DSL Black (10-11)

DSL Giants Black lost to the Cubs Red 5-2
Box score

A fairly blah game for the Giants Black team, though they drew 5 walks to just 5 strikeouts, so that’s worth celebrating. Well, maybe “celebrating” is doing a bit much here.

Designated hitter Oswaldo Ladera (18, 2019 J2) was the offensive standout, with half of the team’s 4 hits, and the only extra-base hit, a triple. He has a .751 OPS in his debut season.

The pitching and defense wasn’t any better than the offense, as the team had more errors (4) than strikeouts (3).

Home runs

AAA Braden Bishop (9)
AA Diego Rincones (9)
AA Andres Angulo (4)
High-A Sean Roby (17)
Low-A Harrison Freed (7)
Low-A Yorlis Rodriguez (1)
ACL Vaun Brown (1)
ACL Cesar Gonzalez (1)

Wednesday schedule

Sacramento: Off
Richmond: @ Altoona Curve, 3:00 p.m. PT
Eugene: @ Tri-City Dust Devils, 7:05 p.m. PT
San Jose: @ Lake Elsinore Storm, 6:35 p.m. PT
ACL Orange: Off
ACL Black: Off
DSL Orange: Off
DSL Black: Off