San Francisco Giants Get Glimpse of Depth in Exhibition Game Against Sacramento
The San Francisco Giants got a good glimpse at their minor league depth in an exhibition game against their Triple-A affiliate, the Sacramento River Cats.
On Wednesday night, the San Francisco Giants took part in a fun exhibition game before their annual pre-season Bay Bridge Series with the Oakland Athletics begins on Thursday. The Giants matched up with their Triple-A team, the Sacramento River Cats, at Raley Field for the first time since their partnership began in 2014. San Francisco received another tune-up as Spring Training comes to a close, and also got a good look at the depth they will have at the highest level of the minor leagues.
The Giants ran out a lineup with six opening day starters, and enjoyed great performances from some of them. Catcher Buster Posey, first baseman Brandon Belt, and shortstop Brandon Crawford all hit home runs, while bench players Kelby Tomlinson and Ehire Adrianza (playing because Joe Panik and Matt Duffy were in the Giants’ final Cactus League game on Tuesday) each added a pair of hits while Adrianza drove in a run. Starter Johnny Cueto pitched six strong innings, giving up three runs while striking out four and picking off three River Cats’ baserunners.
Bruce Bochy and the Giants’ staff should be excited about what they saw from their big leaguers on Wednesday. They should also be excited about the guys that were in the other dugout Wednesday, other than those baserunning blunders.
It started in the top of the first inning when River Cats’ right fielder Mac Williamson, one of the Giants’ most promising young hitters, smacked a frozen rope single to right field off Cueto. In the bottom half of the inning, shortstop Hak-Ju Lee robbed Giants’ leadoff hitter Denard Span of a hit by snaring a hard-hit grounder with a dive to his left, and gunning down Span at first base.
Lee’s personal showcase continued in the second inning, as he blasted a Cueto pitch to deep right field for a two-run home run to give the youngsters a 2-0 lead. He would make another nice play at shortstop, ranging far to his right to take away a basehit. Center fielder Gorkys Hernandez led off the third inning with a bunt single, showing off his best asset: his speed. Of course, he tried to steal on Posey just a few pitches later, which we all know is a no-no.
Hernandez nearly made one of the best defensive plays possible in the third inning. Belt crushed a ball to deep center field, and Hernandez scaled the wall attempting to bring the home run back, a la Juan Perez. He just barely misjudged the ball, which clanked off his glove and landed over the wall for a home run.
Williamson added another hit in the sixth inning, crushing a ball off the right field wall, but was forced to settle for just one base. Darren Ford, a longtime Giants’ farmhand, picked up two hits, including an RBI single. Ryan Lollis, Ramiro Pena, and Grant Green each tallied a hit. Jarrett Parker added an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Miguel Olivo and George Kottaras, two catchers with a wealth of big league experience (1,437 games between them) made appearances for Sacramento.
That depth in the farm system also includes players who didn’t appear on Wednesday night. Andrew Susac is still dealing with a balky wrist, but will catch regularly in Triple-A when that subsides. Conor Gillaspie and Kyle Blanks should also be River Cats this year, and provide another duo that have been in their fair share of big league games (278 for Blanks, 368 for Gillaspie).
The Giants, as they’re currently constructed, seem to have the deepest roster they’ve boasted in a long time. Eight hitters in the River Cats’ lineup were experienced major leaguers. The only one without time in the major leaguers was Lee, who was the star of the game for Sacramento, but he is a former top prospect that finally seems to be healthy after a devastating knee injury in 2013.
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San Francisco’s major league lineup is as deep as the team has had in recent memory as well, but that depth will come in handy as the season wears on. Players will get hurt, and players will slump hard. With the kind of players the team has behind those starters, those pitfalls won’t be as worrisome as they’ve been in the past.