San Francisco Giants Do a Lot of Shuffling to Minor League Teams
As the San Francisco Giants have been forced to make a lot of changes to their 25-man roster recently, the team had to compensate on the Minor League side. With players like Travis Ishikawa and Michael Broadway coming up, the team needed to fill their roles on the farm. The result is a lot of roster shuffling.
The most prominent moves made on Friday were outfielder Mac Williamson, infielder Kelby Tomlinson, and left-handed reliever Josh Osich moving from the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels up to the Triple-A Sacramento RiverCats. For all three players, this is their first trip up to the highest Minor League level.
Williamson, a power-hitting, right-handed corner outfielder has to be considered the Giants’ top hitting prospect by now. After being invited to big league camp last Spring Training, Williamson has had a very good season with the Squirrels after missing most of 2014 following Tommy John surgery. In 69 games, Williamson, who has split time between the outfield and designated hitter, owns a .292/.366/.427 slash-line, along with 16 doubles, two triples, five home runs, and 42 runs batted in.
Mar 16, 2015; Goodyear, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants left fielder Mac Williamson (83) can not handle the ball in the second inning against the Cincinnati Reds during a spring training game at Goodyear Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
With the Giants missing two starting outfielders, Nori Aoki and Hunter Pence, and a third potentially ready to hit the disabled list as well in Angel Pagan, Williamson could get an opportunity to help the Major League club later in the year. As was reported, manager Bruce Bochy wants to “push” Williamson to see how he will respond to the challenge of Triple-A. He went 1-3 with a single and a walk while playing right field in his debut on Friday.
Tomlinson, a second baseman and shortstop, is having a breakout offensive season as a 25-year-old. In 64 games at Richmond, he hit .324 with 18 doubles and three triples. He is a speedy leadoff hitter, and scored 43 runs while stealing 16 bases in Double-A. On Friday, he debuted at second base and hit leadoff, but went hitless in four at-bats.
Osich, Richmond’s closer, owned a 1.59 ERA and 0.971 WHIP with 19 saves in 31 games at the time of his promotion. This is his first Triple-A call-up after spending the last three season with the Squirrels. In Sacramento, Osich will join another highly-thought of left-hander in the bullpen, Steven Okert. With Jeremy Affeldt hitting the disabled list on Friday, one of the two could be called up as the team’s second lefty in the bullpen at some point soon.
To fill the roster in Double-A, two players, both drafted in 2014, were promoted from the High-A San Jose Giants. Hunter Cole, a 26th-round pick, is advancing quickly, with this being his second promotion this year. In 54 games with San Jose, the second baseman/outfielder was hitting .313 with 11 doubles, five triples, six home runs, and 37 RBI.
Along with Cole, Austin Slater was also promoted from San Jose. Similar to Cole in his versatility, Slater was also enjoying a nice offensive season. In 60 games, the eighth-round pick owned a .292 average with 15 doubles and 34 RBI. Slater made his Richmond debut on Friday, going 1-3 with a double and a walk.
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The pair join pitcher Tyler Beede, a first-round selection, in Double-A, making them the first three from the 2014 draft to hit Richmond.
On the other side of things, the Giants also made the decision to demote some players. Braulio Lara, a left-handed pitcher, and Juan Ciriaco, a utility player who can play just about anywhere, were shifted from Sacramento to Richmond. Lara, a former Tampa Bay Rays’ farmhand who was invited to Spring Training by the Giants, had struggled badly with the RiverCats. He was 0-5 with a 9.26 ERA and 2.100 WHIP, and was surrendering more than 15 hits per nine innings. He debuted with Richmond on Monday, and gave up an unearned run in an inning of work.
Ciriaco, a 31-year-old in his 13th minor league season, was hitting just .223 in 37 games with Sacramento. Ciriaco made his minor league debut in the San Diego Padres’ organization in 2003, and started his Giants’ tenure in 2008.
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Also, the team moved outfielder Daniel Carbonell and first baseman Angel Villalona from Richmond down to San Jose earlier this week. Carbonell, a Cuban import that signed with the Giants before last season, has been awful in Double-A this season. In 56 games, he totaled just six extra-base hits to go with a .146/.173/.194 slash line. Questions were already abound regarding Carbonell and his Major League capabilities, and his massive struggles with Richmond will not ease those conversations.
Villalona, now in his seventh Minor League season and ninth as a San Francisco farmhand, has fared much better at Double-A than Carbonell. In 28 games, he has an abysmal .143/.180/.179 slash line. Once thought of as a huge power threat, Villalona has just two doubles and no home runs this year. His legal troubles a few years ago have completely derailed a player who was formerly a top-50 prospect.
In their first few games with San Jose, Carbonell has gone 2-7 with a double and a walk, and Villalona is 0-3 with a walk.
As the Giants continue to shift around their roster as players drop with injuries, the rosters on the farm will change as well. Some of these young men will find themselves in a big league uniform soon, some sooner than others. Some could help the Major League squad this year, but they will all help the team they play for now.