San Francisco Giants Minor League Major Performers: July 3rd, 2018

The San Francisco Giants had a tough day on Tuesday, and many of their minor league affiliates suffered the same fate. However, there were some notable performances.

Yesterday was a bad day for almost the entire San Francisco Giants organization, especially offensively. The big league club scored one run on six hits, and the AAA River Cats were shut out on four hits. High-A San Jose also didn’t score, and picked up just three hits. Single-A Augusta managed one run on five hits. Double-A Richmond was able to put up six runs, but it still wasn’t enough for a victory.

Only two affiliates won their games. The short-season A Volcanoes scratched across a game-winning run in the ninth inning, and the Dominican Summer team enjoyed a nice day, beating the Mariners club 8-3. They scored six runs in the fifth inning alone, outscoring every other Giants’ affiliate save for Richmond. Both Arizona League teams Black and Orange were off on Tuesday.

With that said, let’s go around the system and try to find the positives.

Jerry Sands

The AA Flying Squirrels were one of the few Giants’ affiliates that actually scored on Tuesday, putting up six runs to overcome a six-run first inning by the Harrisburg Senators, although they would ultimately come up short in extra innings. At the heart of the offense was veteran first baseman Jerry Sands.

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Sands picked up three hits on the day, including a double for his first hit in the fourth inning. He and Richmond caught a bit of a bad break, as it was a ground-rule double that maybe prevented a runner scoring from first. His biggest hit on the day came in the next inning, when he launched a two-run home run that capped off a five-run inning. That cut what was once a 6-0 Harrisburg lead down to 6-5. Sands finished his day with a single in the 10th inning, moving the potential go-ahead run to third base with one out. Richmond, unfortunately, couldn’t take advantage.

Sands is another guy who’s been around the block. The now 30-year-old played in parts of five big league seasons with four separate clubs between 2011 and 2016. He was signed out of independent ball last year, and has spent most of the last two seasons at Double-A with the Flying Squirrels. If you remember back to Spring Training, Sands became a fan favorite in Scottsdale when fans would shower him with chants of “Jerry, Jerry”. His walk-off hit against the Cubs on March 22nd was one of the best moments of the spring.

After a terrible start in Richmond this year, Sands has really turned his season around. He posted a .178/.296/.346 slash-line in his first 35 games, but is all the way up to .313/.385/.588 in 39 games since May 20th. He’s tied for second in the Eastern League with 21 doubles, and also ranks in the top-10 in home runs and slugging percentage.

Andrew Caraballo

That Dominican Summer League team did have a great day, and a number of youngsters contributed to the action. Chief among them was second baseman Andrew Caraballo, who picked up two extra-base hits and drove in three runs while scoring another.

Tuesday ended up being one of the best days of the 18-year-old Venezuelan’s young career, but it didn’t start out that way. He committed a throwing error in the first inning that helped give the Mariners a 1-0 lead, then struck out in his first two at-bats. He made up for it in the fifth inning, hitting a two-out, two-run double that put the finishing touches on a six-run inning. He experienced a special moment in the eighth inning when he led off the frame with a solo home run, the first home run of his professional career.

The Giants signed Caraballo as an international free agent back in 2016, and he began his pro journey last year in the DSL. On Tuesday, he picked up two extra-base hit for the second time in his career (he had two doubles in a game last season), and drove in at least three runs for the third time (he had a four-RBI game last season). He didn’t get off to a great start, with a .196 average in his first 16 games this year, but did post a more-than-respectable .422 OBP. Tuesday’s game is certainly the kind of game that can be a confidence-builder.

Juan Sanchez

Handed a big lead thanks to his offense, young southpaw Juan Sanchez made it stand with another fine performance in the first season of his burgeoning career. He pitched six innings and allowed just one unearned run, giving up six hits and no walks to go with eight strikeouts.

The Mariners were able to get on the scoreboard in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, scoring an unearned run on two hits and an error. They weren’t able to crack Sanchez after that. They picked up single hits in the second, third, fifth, and sixth, but couldn’t string anything together. He struck out the side in the third inning, and after the offense scored six runs in the top of the fifth, Sanchez threw two more scoreless innings, ending his day with a groundball double play.

Sanchez was part of the Giants’ July 2nd international signings last year, out of Venezuela as a 16 year old. Now still just 17, Sanchez has become one of the early stars for the Giants DSL squad. He threw seven innings of two-hit ball on June 14th, then threw five no-hit innings (with just a walk allowed) in his last outing on June 27th. In six starts this year, Sanchez owns a team-best 1.19 ERA and 0.890 WHIP, and ranks second in the DSL with 30.1 innings pitched and 34 strikeouts.

Next: Minor League Major Performers 7-2-18

Others of Note:

Josh Osich (SAC): 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Dylan Davis (RICH): 2-5, 2B (18), HR (8), 2 RBI (35), 2 R
Carlos Diaz (RICH): 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Jalen Miller (SJ): 2-4, 2B (22)
John Gavin (AUG): 5 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 3 K
Greg Jacknewitz (SK): 5.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R (2 ER), 0 BB, 3 K
Martin Doria (DSL): 3-3, 2 2B (4), RBI (5), R

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