A round up of the San Francisco Giants Minor League affiliates.
Five seasons are over for the San Francisco Giants affiliates, but the season marches on in AAA and the Dominican Summer League.
Let’s dive in.
Link to the 2021 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)
All listed positions are the positions played in that game.
AAA Sacramento (54-70)
Sacramento River Cats beat the Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies) 3-2
Box score
It was a thoroughly dominant starting pitching performance by RHP Matt Shoemaker, who looked less like the pitcher waived by the Minnesota Twins earlier this year, and more like the slinger who finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2014.
Shoemaker went 8 innings and allowed just 3 hits, 2 walks, and 2 earned runs, while striking out 11 batters. It was the second time in September that Shoemaker retired 11 batters by way of the strikeout, and it gave him 39 punchouts to 6 walks in 32 innings in the month. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him as a Spring Training invite in 2022.
On offense, the Giants did the bulk of their work with the long ball, scoring two-thirds of their runs with solo shots. The first came from first baseman John Nogowski, who was only recently signed to a multi-year Minor League deal.
HOME RUN
That ball is No ski@john_nogowski8 | #ClawsUp pic.twitter.com/O2Q9PfFKBJ
— rivercats (@RiverCats) October 1, 2021
The second came from backup catcher Ronnie Freeman, who replaced Joey Bart (No. 2 CPL) and went 1-1 with a dinger and a walk. Freeman’s OPS (.814) is nearly as high as Bart’s (.834), and you’re welcome to view that as a good thing or a bad thing.
HOME RUN
Nothing better than a Ronnie Freeman big fly #ClawsUp pic.twitter.com/2Osa0Sf1Cl
— rivercats (@RiverCats) October 1, 2021
Another good day for center fielder Heliot Ramos (No. 3 CPL), who is rounding into form, and hit 3-4 with an RBI. In Ramos’ last 11 games, the exciting young outfielder is hitting 18-47 with 1 home run, 1 triple, and 1 double. The power is still lacking since the promotion, as is the place discipline (he has 14 strikeouts to 2 walks in that time), but the contact is starting to show off, and he’s raised his OPS to .731 in the process.
Another rib for Ramos @HeliotRamos | #ClawsUp pic.twitter.com/Pk8yklg6A9
— rivercats (@RiverCats) October 1, 2021
DSL Orange (26-26)
DSL Giants Orange beat the Orioles2 7-3 (7 innings)
Box score
It was a small ball day for the Giants Orange squad, which had 8 hits — all singles and doubles — drew 5 walks to 6 strikeouts, and had both a stolen base and a sacrifice fly.
Right fielder Randy Arrieta (17, 2020 J2) had the best game, hitting 2-3 with a double to bump his OPS up to .602. Designated hitter Samuel Reyes (18, 2019 J2) and third baseman Derwin Laya (18, 2020 J2) both doubled to continue their hot seasons; they’re sporting OPS’ of .917 and .771, respectively, which are excellent for the league.
The setup man and closer were the pitching stars, as RHP Jose Gonzalez (19, 2020 J2) and RHP Brayan Palencia (18, 2020 J2) both struck out 2 in perfect innings. Gonzalez now has a 5.60 ERA, with 21 strikeouts to 16 walks in 17.2 innings, while Palencia has a brilliant 1.96 ERA, with 23 strikeouts to 4 walks in 18.1 innings.
DSL Black (23-27)
DSL Giants Black beat the Rangers2 3-1 (7 innings)
Box score
It was a pretty rough offensive day for the Giants Black team, which had just 3 hits and 2 walks against 9 strikeouts. But it was still enough for the W, thanks to 4 pitchers combining to allow just 4 hits (no extra-base hits), 1 walk, and 1 run.
First baseman Jose Astudillo (17, 2020 J2) had the best offensive performance, hitting 1-1 with a double and a walk to raise his OPS to .573. Catcher Eduardo Montero (17, 2020 J2) also doubled, and had the only 2 RBI of the day for Giants Black, raising his OPS to .608 in the process.
The pitchers only had 5 strikeouts, despite otherwise dominating. Starting RHP Jose Rojas (17, 2020 J2) pitched 4 innings and allowed 2 hits, 1 walk, and 1 earned run, with 2 strikeouts. He has a 3.69 ERA on the year, with 23 strikeouts to 15 walks in 31.2 innings.
Home runs
AAA Ronnie Freeman (4)
AAA John Nogowski (2)
Friday schedule
Sacramento: vs. Albuquerque Isotopes, 7:05 p.m. PT
DSL Orange: vs. Orioles2
DSL Black: vs. Rangers2