Minor League round up, July 10

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

Saturday was an interesting day on the San Francisco Giants farm, but not if you’re looking for top prospects. Two of the Giants top three prospects (Marco Luciano and Heliot Ramos) had travel days as they prepared for Sunday’s Futures Game. And the third, Joey Bart, was enjoying his promotion in San Francisco, where he had a multi-hit game.

Let’s dive into the action.

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

AAA Sacramento (23-33)

Sacramento River Cats lost to the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 4-2
Box score

It was a rehab game at the top of the order for the River Cats, as Tommy La Stella and Mike Tauchman both made their first rehab starts (and the second attempt for La Stella, who was injured after being hit by a pitch during his first attempt at a rehab start). La Stella went 0-2 and Tauchman 1-3 with a double, but at this point it’s not really about the results. Just get healthy, folks.

But if you’re looking for players where it is about the results … hopefully you’ve had your eye on shortstop Arismendy Alcántara lately. It seems like he’s been putting on a show every day lately, and reached base 3 times on Saturday with another home run.

If Thairo Estrada weren’t hitting so well we might be hearing whispers about a call-up for the 29 year old, who hasn’t played at the MLB level since 2017. He’s now hitting 13-33 with 5 home runs in July.

The River Cats didn’t have a strong offensive game, but they struck out just 5 times which is impressive.

RHP Jay Jackson pitched a scoreless inning of relief, but gave up a hit and a walk. In a vacuum that doesn’t seem bad, but Jackson has been so dominant this year that that inning doubled the baserunners he’s allowed, even though it gave him 10 innings on the year. 3 hits, 1 walk, 0 runs, and 16 strikeouts in 10 innings sure is pretty.

AA Richmond (32-27)

Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Bowie Baysox (Orioles) 7-5
Box score

The Flying Squirrels won despite issuing 9 walks on the day. Despite the generosity of free passes, there were good pitching performances to be found, with RHP Sean Hjelle (No. 11 CPL) making his second start since his injury, and allowing 3 hits, 2 walks, and 1 eared run in 4.1 innings, while striking out 5.

RHP R.J. Dabovich (No. 36 CPL) got the save but gave up a run, raising his ERA to 8.22 in 8 games since getting promoted. But he recorded yet another pair of strikeouts, bringing him up to 45 in 20.1 innings across two levels. I think the organization will be happy to take those K numbers in Dabovich’s first professional season, and figure out the run suppression later.

The big hit came from third baseman David Villar, who had a tie-breaking 3-run blast in the 8th inning.

First baseman Frankie Tostado and left fielder Vince Fernandez both reached base 3 times and hit homers. Second baseman Simon Whiteman stole his 8th base since getting promoted, giving him 25 in 50 games across two levels.

High-A Eugene (34-24)

Eugene Emeralds lost to the Everett AquaSox (Mariners) 13-1
Box score

Not much good to find in a 13-1 loss. The Emeralds were outhit 19-4, and struck out 13 times while drawing just 1 walk. The lone bright spot is that their pitchers also issued just 1 walk, and struck out 11 batters.

But it was a very rough pitching day, as starter Solomon Bates lasted just 1 inning and gave up 6 earned runs. His replacement, Nick Avila, lasted 5 innings, but gave up 7 earned runs. Bryce Tucker kindly stopped the bleeding, as he pitched 3 scoreless innings with 5 strikeouts to close the game and make it just a 12-run loss.

None of the Eugene hitters reached base more than once, though second baseman Carter Aldrete hit a home run.

Low-A San Jose (37-22)

San Jose Giants lost to the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies) 5-0
Box score

It was also a rough offensive day for the Baby Giants, who mustered just 4 hits. 3 of those 4 hits (including a double, the team’s only extra-base hit) came off the bat of second baseman Jimmy Glowenke (No. 34 CPL), who is starting to find his groove after a slow start to his first pro season. Glowenke had a .545 OPS in May, and just a .470 OPS in June. But so far in July he’s 11-30 with 5 extra-base hits, good for a 1.108 OPS. Keep it up, pal.

MLB RHP Aaron Sanchez made a rehab start and stretched it out to 4.1 innings and 55 pitches. He allowed 4 hits, 0 walks, and 3 earned runs.

ACL Orange and Black

ACL Giants Black (6-4) beat ACL Giants Orange (4-6) 3-1 (7 innings)
Box score

The Giants pair of Arizona Complex League teams squared off, guaranteeing a win for the organization. Hooray, wins. Also a loss. Boo, losses.

Giants Black grabbed the W despite having just 2 hits all day, which included a double by rehabbing right fielder Luis Alexander Basabe (No. 33 CPL). They also had 0 runs batted in, but a trio of errors by Giants Orange helped Giants Black get on the board.

The best offensive performance of the day came from Giants Orange left fielder Edison Mora (20 years old, 2017 8th round), who hit 1-1 with a pair of walks.

It was a more interesting day on the pitching side of things, where two of the Giants intriguing young starting pitchers faced off: LHP Esmerlin Vinicio (18 years old, 2019 J2) for Giants Black and RHP Manuel Mercedes (18 years old, 2019 J2) for Giants Orange.

Vinicio pitched 4.1 innings and allowed 5 hits, 3 walks, and 1 earned run, while striking out 4 and moving his ERA to 0.68. Mercedes pitched 4 innings and allowed 2 hits, 2 walks, and 1 earned run, while striking out 7 and moving his ERA to 4.85.

Home runs

All of Saturday’s big flies:

AAA Arismendy Alcántara (11)
AA David Villar (11)
AA Vince Fernandez (10)
AA Frankie Tostado (8)
High-A Carter Aldrete (2)

Sunday schedule

Sacramento: @ Salt Lake Bees, 12:05 p.m. PT
Richmond: @ Bowie Baysox, 10:35 a.m. PT
Eugene: vs. Everett AquaSox, 5:05 p.m. PT
San Jose: vs. Fresno Grizzlies, 5:00 p.m. PT
ACL Orange: Off
ACL Black: Off