Weekend Minor League roundup, April 27-28

The weekend action on the farm.

The San Francisco Giants aren’t playing today. I don’t know why a lack of game made me think that you wanted to read 4,500 words about the team’s Minor League Baseball affiliates, but here we are. Let’s dive into it.

Link to the 2024 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

All listed positions are the positions played in that game.

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News

The Giants made a pair of Minor League moves on Sunday. Low-A San Jose shortstop Maui Ahuna (No. 27 CPL), who is struggling a little bit in his debut season, was placed on the 7-Day Injured List. Taking his spot in San Jose is RHP Austin Strickland, the player acquired in the Joey Bart trade. Strickland, an 8th-round pick in 2023, has yet to make his professional debut.

AA Richmond LHP John Michael Bertrand was named the Pitcher of the Week in the Eastern League. You’ll see why in a second.

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AAA Sacramento (17-10)

Saturday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Las Vegas Aviators (A’s) 5-4 [box score]
Sunday: Sacramento River Cats lost to the Las Vegas Aviators 7-0 [box score]

A tale of two opposite games for the River Cats, as Saturday saw a tough outing from a pitching prospect named “Carson” that was covered up by a strong offensive game, while Sunday saw a great outing from a pitching prospect named “Carson” that was wasted by a non-existent offensive game. Symmetry!

Let’s start with the Carsons. On Saturday it was RHP Carson Seymour (No. 22 CPL) taking the mound and getting knocked around a bit. Despite not throwing too many strikes, Seymour did a good job limiting free runners, as he issued just 1 walk in 4 innings, while striking out 4 batters. But part of why he avoided walks was because he was throwing a lot of hittable pitches.

Las Vegas knocked 8 hits against the 25 year old, who is in his first season of AAA. A pair of those hits cleared the fence, including one by Armando Alvarez, one of the better hitters on last year’s Sacramento squad. In total, Seymour got 4 runs to his name, raising his ERA to 4.63 and his FIP to 5.49. It’s been a tough last 2 starts for Seymour, after a really strong start to the year:

Carson Seymour, first 4 starts: 16.2 innings, 16 hits, 5 walks, 4 runs, 15 strikeouts
Carson Seymour, last 2 starts: 6.2 innings, 12 hits, 5 walks, 9 runs, 8 earned runs, 7 strikeouts

The Pacific Coast League will do that to you, and as evidence we can present Sunday’s starter, LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 4 CPL).

After a strong AAA debut, Whisenhunt got knocked up one side and down the other in his next 3 starts, giving up 15 hits, 9 walks, and 14 earned runs in just 7.2 innings. He settled down and showed his fantastic potential last week, and built on that Sunday with a brilliant start: 5 innings, 1 hit, 2 walks, 0 runs, and 5 strikeouts. That’s the kind of outing that has made him the consensus top pitching prospect in the organization now that LHP Kyle Harrison (No. 1 CPL) and RHP Keaton Winn (No. 6 CPL) have graduated.

Whisenhunt also needed just 56 pitches to cruise through those 5 innings, which is a glorious sight to see.

Things were less glorious for RHP Kai-Wei Teng (No. 23 CPL), who made his second AAA appearance of the year on Sunday after spending a good chunk of time on the MLB roster. Teng gave up 7 baserunners and 6 runs in just 2.2 innings which, unfortunately, represented a pretty dramatic improvement over his first game of the year with the River Cats. The Giants are surely looking more at what Teng did in San Francisco when evaluating his role on the team, but it would help his case if this weren’t his Sacramento line thus far: 4 innings, 10 hits, 4 walks, 2 hit batters, 13 runs, 11 earned runs, and 3 strikeouts.

Also a tough outing on Sunday for RHP Randy Rodríguez (No. 33 CPL), who gave up 2 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run in an inning of work, while recording 2 strikeouts. Rodríguez had done a better job avoiding walks to start the year, so a bummer to see him give in to the free pass issue that has plagued him thus far in his career.

Elsewhere among 40-man pitchers, RHP Nick Avila (No. 43 CPL) had a clean outing on Saturday, giving up just a walk in 1.2 scoreless innings, while striking out 2. And while he’s not on the 40-man, RHP Spencer Bivens made a good impression in that game as well, dealing 3 scoreless innings, allowing just 3 hits and no walks, while striking out 4.

On the offensive front, we saw third baseman/shortstop Casey Schmitt have his remarkable hitting streak come to an end. He hit 1-3 on Saturday with 2 walks, a strikeout, and a stolen base (his 5th in 6 attempts), but went 0-4 on Sunday. And so, with that, we put a bow on his 15-game hitting streak by admiring it in its entirety: 26-62, 4 home runs, 1 triple, 4 doubles, 24 RBI, 3 walks, and 12 strikeouts. My word!

There weren’t many standout offensive performances over the weekend, with the best performance belonging to second baseman Brett Wisely, who hit 5-8 with a home run, a double, and 2 strikeouts.

Wisely’s numbers this year have been quite fantastic, as he’s sporting a .918 OPS and a 134 wRC+, with matching 15.8% walk and strikeout rates. He hasn’t been hitting the ball as hard as the numbers might suggest, however, and so it’s fair to wonder if the Giants are approaching those numbers with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Outfielder Heliot Ramos (No. 13 CPL) had a Jekyll and Hyde weekend, showing why so many fans have clamored for him to be called up and then also showing why the Giants have been so hesitant to do so. He was dominant on Saturday, hitting 3-4 with a walk, a stolen base (his first of the year), and a booming, 108.6-mph home run to increase his organizational lead in that category to 7.

And on Sunday he struck out in all 4 of his plate appearances. So it goes sometimes. He’s now sitting on an OPS of exactly 1.000, and a wRC+ of 140, with a strikeout rate that has unfortunately climbed up to 27.5%.

Saturday brought about another nice day for shortstop Marco Luciano (No. 2 CPL), who hit 2-3 with a double and 2 walks, bringing his OPS to .827 and his wRC+ to 117. Luciano didn’t play Sunday, which I’m guessing was just rest, but perhaps he was on standby due to Nick Ahmed getting hurt on Saturday — Ahmed appears to be fine, though he didn’t play on Sunday.

Right fielder Yusniel Díaz continued his quietly strong year on Saturday as well, hitting 1-2 with a double and 2 walks, pushing his OPS to .912 and his wRC+ to 119. But first baseman/third baseman David Villar unfortunately had a dud of a weekend, going 0-9 with 3 strikeouts, dropping his season numbers to a .764 OPS and a 90 wRC+. Not exactly what he or the team was hoping for in his final option season.

AA Richmond (11-10)

Saturday: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Bowie Baysox (Orioles) 4-0 [box score]
Sunday: Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Bowie Baysox 4-2 [box score]

Saturday was an all-time memorable day in the Bertrand household. The day started off with JD Bertrand, a linebacker from Notre Dame, getting selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the 5th round of the NFL Draft. And it ended with his older brother, LHP John Michael Bertrand, dealing the most impressive start of the season in the Giants Minor League system.

The elder Bertrand, surely riding the high of his brother’s dream coming to fruition, did something very rare for Giants Minor Leaguers: he pitched 7 innings. And there was a pretty good reason he kept going out inning after inning: he was perfect.

Yes, Bertrand cruised through 7 innings without allowing a single baserunner, striking out 4 batters, inducing 9 groundouts, and needing a Madduxian 68 pitches. An absolutely phenomenal game that lowered his ERA to 2.03 and his FIP to 3.78. And a day his family will surely never forget.

The Squirrels couldn’t finish off the perfect game, or even the no-hitter, but RHP Wil Jensen kept it a shutout by pitching 2 scoreless frames, allowing 3 baserunners but striking out 5. Jensen is in his third pass through Richmond, but so far it’s easily his most successful, as he has a 1.20 ERA, a 2.53 FIP, and 20 strikeouts to 5 walks in 15 innings.

Sunday brought the third appearance of the weekend by a pitching prospect named “Carson,” and this one nestled snuggly between the performances by Seymour and Whisenhunt, as RHP Carson Ragsdale (No. 32 CPL) was fantastic if not quite as dominant as Whiz.

Ragsdale’s line was excellent enough as is, giving up just 3 hits in 5 scoreless innings, while striking out 5. But the way he did it was what made it extra noteworthy. Ragsdale had struggled with command to start the year — an understandable situation for someone who likely has rust after just 33.1 innings combined over the last 2 seasons. He had often struggled to find the strike zone, and had walked at least 3 batters in each of his 4 starts this year, totaling 13 in just 17.1 innings.

So Sunday’s performance was an absolute delight. Ragsdale pounded the zone, throwing 49 of 65 pitches for strikes, and didn’t walk a single batter. With good health and good command, Ragsdale could quickly become one of the top pitching prospects in the system.

LHP Reggie Crawford (No. 8 CPL) made his 4th appearance of the year, and it sure is great to see him pitching regularly after missing the start of the year. This wasn’t his best outing, as he ceded 2 hits and a walk in 1 inning, while getting tagged for 3 runs — though just 1 of those runs was earned, thanks to an error. He did strike out 2 batters, though just 3 of his 29 pitchers generated whiffs, and he found the strike zone less than half the time.

So he clearly wasn’t at his sharpest, but a reminder that the Giants Major League roster has 4 pitchers who have thrown more innings in the Majors this year than Crawford has thrown in the entirety of his Minor League and college careers, combined. His pitching development is still in its infancy.

An uneventful offensive weekend, as the most notable bats in Richmond had pretty mediocre outings, save for catcher Adrián Sugastey (No. 25 CPL), who hit 1-3 on Saturday with his first AA home run, before getting Sunday off.

Sugastey is holding his own in AA — he has a .711 OPS and a 101 wRC+ — which, if not opening eyes, is still notable for a catcher who generates praise from the organization for his defense and leadership. Perhaps most encouragingly, Sugastey’s sensational ability to limit strikeouts seems to be playing even against higher competition: his 14.0% strikeout rate, which is 5th among 39 Giants prospects with at least 50 plate appearances this year, matches his mark in High-A Eugene last season.

The closest thing to another good weekend from a notable bat came courtesy of left fielder Vaun Brown (No. 17 CPL), who hit 1-3 with a double and a walk on Saturday, and didn’t play Sunday. It’s good to see a little power from Brown, as that, along with his speed, is what can help him negate the strikeout issue. Unfortunately, we’ve seen the latter a lot more than the former this year, as the double was just the 4th extra-base hit for Brown in 55 plate appearances, and he has only 1 stolen base. Meanwhile he struck out 2 more times on Saturday, bringing his total to 26 … his 47.3% strikeout rate is dead last among those 39 aforementioned Giants prospects, and ranks 5th-worst out of 1,103 Minor Leaguers with at least 50 plate appearances this year. On the one hand, it’s early days and he’s still rounding into form after numerous injuries, so some grace should be afforded for rust and variance. On the other hand, those are extremely worrisome numbers from someone who turns 26 in less than 2 months.

The weekends from the other notable prospect bats: center fielder Grant McCray (No. 12 CPL) hit 1-9 with 3 strikeouts, giving him a .557 OPS and a 67 wRC+; designated hitter/first baseman Victor Bericoto (No. 19 CPL) hit 0-8 with 4 strikeouts, lowering his OPS to .511 and his wRC+ to 42; and right fielder Hunter Bishop hit 2-7 with a double, his 3rd stolen base, and 3 strikeouts, putting his OPS at .603 and his wRC+ at 79.

But shortstop Dilan Rosario, recently activated and playing in just his 2nd ever game in AA, homered on Saturday while also drawing a walk. Welcome to the Squirrels, Dilan!

High-A Eugene (15-6)

Saturday: Eugene Emeralds beat the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks) 9-1 [box score]
Sunday: Eugene Emeralds lost to the Hillsboro Hops 7-5 (10 innings) [box score]

The numbers for RHP Dylan Cumming keep piling up, and they keep on being fairly absurd. He’s admittedly old for the level — he turns 25 next month — but Cumming has been dominating for Eugene, and Saturday was just another example.

An undrafted free agent from before last year’s draft, Cumming is in his first year of High-A ball after spending his debut season with Low-A San Jose. And right now he looks way too good for the level. Cumming gave up just 4 baserunners in as many innings (2 hits, 1 walk, 1 hit batter), while striking out 6 and not allowing a run. Through 5 games, his numbers are slightly comical: 18 innings, 7 hits, 4 walks, 1 run, and 24 strikeouts, good for a 0.50 ERA and a 1.54 FIP, all while sporting a 60.4% groundball rate that ranks 3rd among 41 Giants prospects with at least 10 innings thrown this year. Cumming attended college at Liberty University in Virginia, and he’s probably headed back to the state sometime soon to see how Richmond is.

Finishing off the Saturday win was another player having an exceptional start to the season: RHP Nick Sinacola. It was 5 innings of piggybacking work for Sinacola on Saturday, who gave up just 3 hits and 1 run while striking out 3. So far Sinacola, the team’s 7th-round pick in 2021, is rewarding the organization for letting him continue as a starter after a tough 2023 in Eugene. He has a 1.06 ERA and a 3.09 FIP, with a 47.5% groundball rate (the best of his career), and 17 strikeouts to just 2 walks in 17 innings. He’s also been remarkably consistent, as all 5 of his outings have been great work.

Sunday’s pitching was less dominant, but still exciting, with LHP Jack Choate (No. 31 CPL) getting the start. Choate only gave up 3 baserunners in 5 innings, with 5 strikeouts, though one of the hits was a home run, with tattooed him for 2 runs to his record. Still and all, that’s a darn good start. A 9th-round pick in 2022, Choate had a divine first full season last year, with solid numbers in both San Jose and Eugene, before impressing at the Arizona Fall League. Given how quickly he fit into High-A at the end of last year, and how good he’s been this year, he probably isn’t long for the west coast. After this outing, Choate now has a 2.57 ERA, a 2.68 FIP, and 21 strikeouts to 4 walks in 21 innings. We know the Giants love their pitchers who can suppress walks, and Choate has done that his entire career thus far. The slider and the changeup are Choate’s best pitches, so it will be interesting to see how he does at a higher level where his fastball will be challenged a bit more.

A few other notable mound performances on Sunday. RHP Hunter Dula, the team’s 18th-round pick in 2021, made his season debut and pitched a perfect frame in relief. Dula, whose official headshot looks like a mash-up between Casey Schmitt and Macklemore, was solid in High-A last year, and even earned a late promotion to AA. So don’t be surprised if he’s sent to Richmond once he’s up to speed.

Another strong outing for RHP Nick Morreale, who struck out 3 batters while hurling 2 perfect frames. Morreale is in Eugene for the 4th consecutive season, so it’s definitely put up or shut up time, and so far he’s firmly doing the former, with a 3.00 ERA and a 3.12 FIP. And a nice bounceback outing from LHP Matt Mikulski, who retired both batters he faced on just 5 pitches, with a strikeout. Mikulski, trying to bounce back from some very tough years and injuries, had his first real hiccup of the season his last time out, so good to see this outing.

The offense was fairly nondescript, but still provided some highlights. Eugene’s exciting duo of middle infielders only played once each, but both played well. Second baseman Quinn McDaniel continues to turn heads, and on Saturday hit 2-4 with a walk and a strikeout, while stealing his 13th base of the year, good for co-lead in the organization (he was also caught stealing for the 3rd time). The last in a string of 4 middle infielders selected in consecutive rounds in July’s draft, McDaniel is so far outperforming his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-round counterparts, despite drawing the most aggressive assignment of the group. He now has a .928 OPS and a 182 wRC+, with a borderline-comical 21.3% walk rate. Hell of a full season debut for the 21-year old righty.

And on Sunday it was shortstop Diego Velasquez (No. 21 CPL) who replicated McDaniel’s performance, hitting 2-4 with a walk, a strikeout, and a stolen base, his 5th in 6 attempts. The 20-year old switch-hitter’s impressive contact skills have not slowed down, as he’s sporting a career-best .302 batting average, en route to an .819 OPS and a 149 wRC+. He also has a career-best 12.2% walk rate, though the Giants are surely hoping for more on the power front: he has just 6 extra-base hits, and no home runs, in 82 plate appearances. He’s never going to be a big power guy, and his position doesn’t demand it, but a little extra juice there will probably be necessary somewhere down the line.

One interesting note for Velasquez: while he plays middle infield, prospect analysts have long pegged him exclusively for second base, primarily citing a range that doesn’t quite match the first step and good hands that placed him in the middle of the dirt to begin with. Last year in Low-A, the Giants almost perfectly split Velasquez’s time across the bag, with 52 games at shortstop to 51 games at second base. It was fair to expect that this year we might see the playing time skew more towards second.

Instead, the opposite has occurred. Velasquez has played 16 games and 145 innings at shortstop in Eugene … which is 16 games and 145 innings more than he’s played at second base (his only other playing time has been a game at DH). This is almost surely in part due to the lack of options, as McDaniel (who, it’s worth noting, has played second base and center field, but no shortstop) is the only other highish-profile middle infield prospect on the Emeralds. But the Giants certainly don’t make a habit of playing notable prospects at positions unless they believe that player has a chance to play that position in the big leagues … and they certainly buck industry think with regularity when it comes to players being able to stay at shortstop. Needless to say, if Velasquez can hold it down in the 6-spot long-term, the pressure for his bat to find extra power will lessen significantly.

I’ve talked way too much! I need to move on! But I should mention that first baseman Zach Morgan had a nice weekend, hitting 4-9 with 2 doubles and a walk, moving his OPS to .717 and his wRC+ to 119. He ended 2023 in Eugene, and is showing marked improvements to begin this year, which is what you always want to see.

Also, third baseman/second baseman Thomas Gavello was hit by 2 pitches this weekend, which we’ve come to expect from him. But apparently he’s teaching his secrets to shortstop/third baseman Justin Wishkoski, who was hit 3 times.

Low-A San Jose (9-11)

Saturday: San Jose Giants beat the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies) 8-2 [box score]
Sunday: San Jose Giants beat the Fresno Grizzlies 5-3 [box score]

Bertrand wasn’t the only starting pitcher in the system to be perfect over the weekend. On Sunday it was San Jose LHP Dylan Carmouche who did the same, albeit in a much shorter outing. Carmouche pitched 4 innings for the Baby Giants and retired all 12 batters he faced, 5 by way of the strikeout. What an outing!

It’s the debut season for Carmouche, the team’s 15th-round pick last year, and so far it’s going swimmingly, as he has a 2.12 ERA and a 3.12 FIP. He got knocked around a bit in his professional debut, and in 4 starts since then has been lights out: 15 innings, 6 hits, 5 walks, 2 unearned runs, 0 earned runs, and 17 strikeouts. It’s early, but his debut season is certainly a success thus far!

Most of the rest of the weekend was filled with decent, but not particularly noteworthy pitching performances. The best work was a pair of 23-year old, 2023 undrafted RHP relievers, Shane Rademacher and Cole Hillier. Rademacher gave up just a hit and a walk in 3 scoreless innings, striking out 3 and lowering his ERA to 4.85 and his FIP to 3.60. Hillier struck out 2 in a perfect inning, dropping his ERA to 2.18 and his FIP to 4.08.

The best hitting performance came courtesy of shortstop Cole Foster (No. 30 CPL), who didn’t play on Saturday, but on Sunday hit 3-5, finishing a home run shy of the cycle. I mentioned that part of the reason Velasquez is playing exclusively at shortstop in Eugene is probably because of a lack of other options, and the Giants are surely hoping that Foster becomes another option sooner rather than later.

Given that Foster is a high-profile draft pick (he was a 3rd-round pick last year), is not super young (he’s 22 years and 6 months), and got a decent taste of A-Ball last year (he played 25 games with San Jose), the Giants are likely wanting to see him put on a show and boogie on up the coast to Eugene. I’m not sure I’d classify the switch-hitter’s performance as putting on a show just yet, but it’s very encouraging: he has an .832 OPS, a 123 wRC+, and just a 15.0% strikeout rate. The strikeout rate and the .300 batting average are likely delighting the Giants, though they’ll want more of the power stuff that Foster showed on Sunday, as his double and triple gave him 8 extra-base hits (just 1 home run) in 80 plate appearances this year.

Speaking of shortstops having good days, Jean Carlos Sio did exactly that on Saturday, hitting 3-5 with a triple and a strikeout. But on Sunday, playing third base, he hit 0-4 with a strikeout, only reaching base on a hit by pitch. Still, Sio has been playing very well in his debut A-Ball season — the 20-year old left-handed hitter has very similar numbers to Foster, with an .836 OPS and a 123 wRC+.

Designated hitter Guillermo Williamson didn’t play Saturday, but looked the part of a slugger on Sunday, for better and for worse: he struck out 3 times, but also bashed a home run. A left-handed hitter who only just turned 20, Williamson has lived that good and bad for his whole career, sporting a .191 isolated slugging percentage in the DSL, and a .226 mark in the ACL … but with 28.6% and 29.3% strikeout rates, respectively. So far this year the bad has been worse and the good has also been worse, as Williamson has just a .159 ISO and a 44.0% strikeout rate.

Remember when I said that McDaniel was the co-leader in stolen bases in the organization? That’s because center fielder Jonah Cox, the player who came over in the Ross Stripling trade, hit 4-6 on Saturday and stole 3 bases, matching McDaniel with 13. McDaniel’s share of the lead was saved, in part, because Cox didn’t play on Sunday, though perhaps it’s unfair to Cox to call it a co-lead, since he has yet to be thrown out stealing. He has a .744 OPS, a 116 wRC+, and two thumbs up for that trade.

Top prospect update: first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 3 CPL) struggled over the weekend, hitting 0-8 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. It’s worth noting that he homered on Friday though, and that he’s still getting in a rhythm after missing a chunk of time with injury.

I’ll leave you with this: On Saturday, Fresno kicked off the 1st inning against San Jose with a home run by their leadoff hitter. His name? Glenallen Hill Jr.

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Home run tracker

AAA Heliot Ramos (7)
AAA Brett Wisely (2)
AA Adrián Sugastey (1)
AA Dilan Rosario (1)
Low-A Guillermo Williamson (2)

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Upcoming schedule

Sacramento: Off on Monday, 6:45 p.m. PT first pitch on Tuesday
Richmond: Off on Monday, 3:35 p.m. PT first pitch on Tuesday
Eugene: Off on Monday, 11:05 a.m. PT first pitch on Tuesday
San Jose: Off on Monday, 11:30 a.m. PT first pitch on Tuesday

Reminder that Minor League games can be watched on MLB TV.

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Injury report

Here are all the prospects currently on various unable-to-play lists.

Sacramento

INF Dariel Lopez — 60-Day IL
LHP Thomas Szapucki — 60-Day IL
RHP Cole Waites (No. 34 CPL) — 60-Day IL
LHP Chris Wright — 60-Day IL
RHP R.J. Dabovich (No. 40 CPL) — 7-Day IL
RHP Blayne Enlow — 7-Day IL
OF Wade Meckler (No. 11 CPL) — 7-Day IL

Richmond

LHP Nick Zwack — Full-Season IL
RHP Michael Stryffeler — 60-Day IL
INF Jimmy Glowenke (No. 39 CPL) — 7-Day IL
RHP William Kempner — 7-Day IL
INF Christian Koss — 7-Day IL
C Brandon Martorano — 7-Day IL
RHP Trevor McDonald (No. 20 CPL) — 7-Day IL
RHP Blake Rivera — 7-Day IL

Eugene

RHP Brett Standlee — Full-Season IL
SS Aeverson Arteaga (No. 14 CPL) — 60-Day IL
RHP Will Bednar — 7-Day IL
OF Jared Dupere — 7-Day IL
OF Jairo Pomares (No. 29 CPL) — 7-Day IL

San Jose

RHP Gerelmi Maldonado (No. 26 CPL) — Full-Season IL
RHP Marques Johnson — 60-Day IL
RHP Spencer Miles — 60-Day IL
RHP Liam Simon — 60-Day IL
INF Maui Ahuna (No. 27 CPL) — 7-Day IL
RHP Sam Bower — 7-Day IL
RHP Wilkelma Castillo — 7-Day IL
RHP Mauricio Estrella — 7-Day IL
RHP Mikell Manzano — 7-Day IL
RHP Kanoa Pagan — 7-Day IL
RHP Ian Villers — 7-Day IL

ACL Giants

RHP Luis Bermudez — Full-Season IL
RHP Melvin Pineda — Full-Season IL
OF Samuel Reyes — Full-Season IL
RHP Nicolas Herald — 60-Day IL
RHP Chen-Hsun Lee — 60-Day IL