Minor League round up, September 27

Recapping Tuesday’s action from the Giants Minor Leauge affiliates.

The San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball season is nearly over, but one team is still chugging on with a few final games. Let’s get into the action.

Link to the 2022 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

All listed positions are the positions played in that game.

AAA Sacramento (64-83)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Las Vegas Aviators (A’s) 6-3
Box score

It was the penultimate game of the year for the River Cats, the lone Giants Minor League team still playing.

And for the 2nd day in a row, it was the two youngsters who have all the eyes turned to them who provided the offense, and both of the team’s extra-base hits: left fielder Heliot Ramos (No. 4 CPL) and third baseman Casey Schmitt (No. 24 CPL).

This time it was Schmitt hitting the long ball, as he smashed a 2-run home run, his first in AAA.

Schmitt’s placement to start 2023 will be interesting. He only played 31 AA games this year — including the postseason — after starting the year in High-A. But the Giants gave him the opportunity to keep playing in Sacramento after the AA season ended, which isn’t something they did for fellow Richmond infielders Sean Roby or Tyler Fitzgerald (No. 35 CPL). And Schmitt has responded by hitting 5-12 with a homer and a double for Sacramento.

Is that enough to get him a ticket to Sacramento to start 2023? Or will he had back to Richmond where the Giants will see how sustainable his 2022 performance was (it’s worth noting that he had a .432 BABIP in AA).

As for Ramos, he hit 2-4 with a 2-run double that gave the River Cats some insurance runs.

Ramos is coming on strong to end the year. He has just a .656 OPS and a 65 wRC+, but has a .731 OPS in September, and in his last 4 games is hitting 6-16 with 2 home runs and 2 doubles.

Shortstop Will Wilson (No. 18 CPL), playing in his 2nd game since returning to Sacramento, struck out in all 3 of his plate appearances. Right fielder Bryce Johnson and catcher Andrew Knapp both reached base twice and stole a bag, with it being Johnson’s 31st theft of the year.

RHP Ronnie Williams, making his 10th appearance for the River Cats, had one of his better games, giving up 4 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run in 4 innings, with 6 strikeouts. It’s been a rough year (7.64 ERA, 5.61 FIP) for the former 2nd-round pick (by the St. Louis Cardinals).

Nice work from LHPs Andrew Vasquez and Joey Marciano, as they try to prove that they deserve spots in next year’s bullpen rotation.

And we end with one helluva catch by center fielder Lewis Brinson, who was recently outrighted.