San Francisco Giants Minor League Major Performers: A Pair of Fives
The San Francisco Giants had their first off-day for the All-Star break on Monday, but the minor leaguers were in action and turning heads.
Monday was the first day of the All-Star break, and though there were no big league games, the minor leaguers were still in action. In the San Francisco Giants’ farm system, there were six games that were split with three wins and three losses. AAA Sacramento, AZL Black (in extra innings), and AZL Orange were the winners, while AA Richmond, high-A San Jose, and short-season A Salem-Keizer (in extra innings) were unsuccessful.
Rain washed the Augusta GreenJackets game out on Monday, and they’ll play a doubleheader against the Rome Braves on Tuesday. The Dominican Summer League team also had to battle the elements, and their game against the Mariners was suspended after four innings. When that game resumes, the Giants will hold a 4-3 lead.
Congratulations are in order for Jalen Miller and Joey Bart, who were named Players of the Week for their performances in their respective leagues last week. Miller, the San Jose Giants’ second baseman, took home the award for the California League after hitting .344/.382/719 with three doubles, three home runs, and eight RBI. He’s the third Giant prospect to win a weekly award in the Cal League, joining right-handed pitcher D.J. Myers (May 7-May 13) and first baseman Gio Brusa (June 4-June 10).
Catcher Joey Bart continued the hot start to his pro career, winning the Player of the Week in the Northwest League. During the week, he hit .304/.360/.870 with a double, four home runs, and nine RBI. He’s also Salem-Keizer’s third weekly winner, along with left fielder Diego Rincones (June 18-June 24) and righty Norwith Gudino (June 25-July 1). Bart has only played 10 games in the NWL, but is already tied for second in the league with seven home runs (the leader, Curtis Terry, has eight in 26 games).
Top pitching prospect Tyler Beede has had a rough go of things this season, but Monday was one of his better outings of the year for the River Cats. He came out of the bullpen and entered a 3-3 game, and gave Sacramento two much-needed scoreless innings.
The right-hander came in for the seventh inning, and threw a clean inning that he punctuated with his first strikeout. Beede stayed on the mount after Sacramento took a one-run lead in the top of the eighth, and was able to work through a leadoff single. A groundball and two strikeouts later, Beede was back in the dugout having finished off a successful relief outing. He was the winning pitcher when Sacramento closed out the victory.
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Beede made his major league debut earlier this season, but drastic problems with his command have dropped him down on the depth chart behind other rookies Dereck Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez. He’s moved to the bullpen in recent weeks with Sacramento, and the results have been slightly better. After posting a 6.71 ERA and .907 opponent OPS to go with 7.6 BB/9 as a starter, Beede is at 6.07 ERA, .768 OPS, and 6.0 BB/9 out of the bullpen. Obviously that is not enough to get him back to the big leagues, but hopefully this outing can be the start of something positive.
For the second straight outing with the Flying Squirrels, Conner Menez was tremendous. The crafty left-hander pitched seven innings for Richmond, allowing just one run on four hits and a walk while striking out nine.
Against the Erie SeaWolves, Menez took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, allowing a walk in the second while an error in the fourth allowed a runner to reach. In the middle of all that, Menez struck out the side in order in the third. Erie’s first hit came with one out in the fifth, but it was two singles in the sixth, combined with a stolen base, that brought in the lone run Menez allowed. He finished his night with a pair of strikeouts in the seventh. But alas, Menez was Cain’d on Monday as the one run he allowed was simply too much for his offense to overcome. Richmond would lose 2-0.
Menez went seven innings for the second time in as many starts for Richmond, matching the 21 outs he recorded on July 7th. His nine strikeouts on Monday were his most in six starts with the Flying Squirrels, and the third time overall this season that he recorded at least nine strikeouts. His Richmond ERA has dropped from 6.05 after four starts to 4.32 after Monday’s outing.
Anyesber Sivira and Andres Angulo
The Giants’ AZL Black team had a pair of huge performances as they overcame a 7-0 deficit after four innings to walk it off in the ninth. Both Anyesber Sivira and Andres Angulo recorded five hits as the AZL Black squad stormed back. Sivira reached base six times, also getting hit by a pitch, drove in a run and scored three runs. Angulo brought home two runs and scored two more to help the comeback along.
Sivira and Angulo, who hit first and ninth, respectively, both did an excellent job of setting the table in the early innings. In the first four frames, they combined to reach five times, but no one could bring them home. They finally broke through in the sixth, with Angulo snapping the shutout. His double to left field brought home the first run of the day, then he came around to score after Sivira’s single moved him to third.
The comeback continued in the seventh, with Angulo again doubling in a run and then scoring on Sivira’s single to get the Giants within one run. Of course, both played their part in the ninth as well. Angulo led off with his fifth hit, then was removed for a pinch-runner before Sivira followed with his own fifth hit. Later in the inning when Indians’ shortstop Connor Smith committed an error, both runners scored to walk it off for the Giants.
Sivira was signed out of Venezuela in 2016, and is playing in his second year in the organization and first year in Arizona. He’s played all over the infield in his short career, and was at second base on Monday night. He entered the game hitting just .173/.306/.231, but his first career five-hit game will certainly help those numbers.
Angulo, signed back in 2014 out of Colombia, is a 20-year-old catcher in his fourth year in the system. In his second year in the AZL, Angulo collected his first extra-base hits and RBI of the season on Monday. He had just three hits in his first nine games of this campaign, but upped his stats with his first career five-hit game as well.
Next: Minor League Major Performers 7-15-18
Others of Note:
Gregor Blanco (SAC): 2-5, 2B (3), RBI (6) – game-winning RBI 2B in 8th
Ryder Jones (SAC): 2-5, 2B (13), 2 RBI (45)
Brandon Van Horn (SJ): 2-3, HR (7), RBI (35), R
Dalton Combs (SK): 2-4, HR (1), RBI (5) – first professional HR
Blake Rivera (SK): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K
Alexander Canario (AZL B): 1-3, BB, 2 HBP, R, 3 SB (7)
Frankie Tostado (AZL B): 1-4, HR (2), 2 RBI (22), R, 2 BB, SB (2)