San Francisco Giants Minor League Major Performers: June 30th, 2018
The San Francisco Giants won again on Saturday, and four of their eight minor league affiliates won as well (the DSL Giants swept a doubleheader). Some of the big performances from around the system:
The Richmond Flying Squirrels were in a nail-biter on Saturday night, heading to the ninth inning tied at three with the Harrisburg Senators. They needed some late-inning heroics, and got it from their utility player in left field, Ali Castillo. The 29-year-old who is naturally a shortstop had two hits and drove in a run in the victory.
Starting as the leadoff hitter, Castillo picked up his first hit in the fifth inning, lashing a one-out double to center field. When C.J. Hinojosa followed with a double of his own two batters later, Castillo scored to tie the game at three. Castillo broke that tie in the ninth inning, coming through with a two-out single up the middle to score Matt Lipka, putting Richmond ahead for good.
Castillo is a true veteran of the sport, despite not having yet made it to the major leagues. He’s now in his 11th season as a pro, having made his debut back in 2008 for the New York Yankees Dominican Summer team. The Venezuela native has now appeared in over 900 minor league games, and has played every position on the diamond, save for pitcher and catcher. He’s in his third season with the Giants’ organization, and has played extensively for both AA Richmond and AAA Sacramento with a quick stop in San Jose.
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While Castillo has taken the long road through the baseball world, one player who looks poised for a rather quick journey is right-handed pitcher Jason Bahr. On Saturday, he made his second start with the San Jose Giants and was again phenomenal, throwing six shutout innings and allowing just three hits. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.
Bahr opened the game by striking out the side in the first, working around a single, then followed with clean innings in the second and third. He erased an error with a groundball double play in the fourth, then did the same with a leadoff single in the fifth. He gave up a two-out double in the sixth, the only time the Visalia Rawhide got a runner into scoring position against him, but ended the threat, and his outing, with another strikeout. He needed just 74 pitches to get through six innings, and threw 51 of them for strikes.
Bahr has dominated this year, his first full professional season. The Giants’ fifth-round pick out of Central Florida in 2017 owns a 2.34 ERA and 1.004 WHIP across 15 starts between Augusta and San Jose, and his 98 strikeouts (in 80.2 innings) are the most in the Giants’ organization. Since his promotion to San Jose, Bahr has tossed 12 scoreless innings.
The pitching for San Jose was fantastic on Saturday night, and it wasn’t just because of Bahr. Nolan Riggs followed with two spectacular innings of his own, retiring all six batters he faced while striking out each of the final five.
After Bahr departed, Riggs was tasked with holding a slim lead and did so with authority. After getting his first batter to fly out to right field, Riggs went on a run of five consecutive strikeouts. The last four of those strikeouts were of the swing-and-miss variety. The Giants scored single runs in the third, fifth, and seventh innings, and it was more than enough thanks to the combined efforts of Bahr and Riggs.
Riggs was signed as an undrafted free agent out of San Jacinto College in 2014, and has slowly made progress through the system since. He made two appearances for the AAA River Cats earlier this year as part of the constant flurry of pitching moves between San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Jose, but has found a home in the San Jose bullpen this year. He has pitched to a 3.54 ERA and 1.254 WHIP with the Giants, and his five strikeouts on Saturday represent a season-high.
Next: Minor League Major Performers 6-29-18
Others of Note:
Josh Osich (Sacramento): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Aramis Garcia (Richmond): 2-4, HR (7), RBI (23), R – fourth HR in past five games
Shaun Anderson (Richmond): 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R (3 HR), 0 BB, 5 K
Stetson Woods (Salem-Keizer): 6 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 5 K
Tyler Flores (AZL Orange): 2-3, HR (1), 3 RBI (11), BB, R – first professional HR
Conner Nurse (AZL Black): 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R (1 ER), 9 K
Jesus Gomez (DSL): 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K