San Francisco Giants Minor League Major Performers: Rough Day in System
As the San Francisco Giants continued their All-Star break, their farm system continued their season but lost in four of five games.
Tuesday night saw the All-Star Game taking place, but while the biggest stars in the major leagues took the field, minor leaguers who hope to one day make it to the MLB All-Star Game were on the field. In the San Francisco Giants farm system, there were five games taking place.
AAA Sacramento lost, single-A Augusta was swept in a doubleheader, and the DSL Giants fell in a rain-shortened affair. Short-season A Salem-Keizer were the only winners on the day. AA Richmond was impacted by the rain that moved through the area, and their game was washed out. They’ll make it up as part of a doubleheader on Wednesday. High-A San Jose and both AZL teams were scheduled to have the day off.
For the third straight day, a AAA Sacramento pitcher is featured here for a strong performance coming out of the bullpen. Jose Valdez entered after a rough start from Daniel Camarena, and he was spectacular in his 2.1-inning stint. He struck out five of the seven batters he faced, not allowing a hitter to reach against him.
Valdez entered with a runner on second and one out in the fifth inning, but stranded that inherited runner with a pair of swinging strikeouts. He struck out the side in the sixth, getting three straight Fresno Grizzlies to swing through strike three. After two groundouts in the seventh inning, Valdez’s day was finished after one of his best outings of the year. He threw 37 pitches, and recorded 10 swing-and-misses.
The veteran right-hander briefly made it to the big leagues this year, and despite a hard fastball and, at times, good slider, didn’t have the command to make it work. It hasn’t quite worked in Sacramento either, with Valdez posting a 6.75 ERA in 23 appearances. Monday’s outing was his longest of the season, and the five strikeouts he totaled matched a season-high.
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In the first game of Augusta’s doubleheader, they welcomed outfielder Ismael Munguia to the single-A level for the first time in his career. The 19-year-old started game one as the left fielder, and picked up his first hits and RBI at the level.
Munguia wasted no time getting on the board. In his first at-bat, the ninth-place hitter pulled a triple into right field, scoring a pair of his new teammates to give Augusta the early 3-2 lead. Rome took the lead back in the fourth, but Munguia came through again. His second hit brought another run home, tying the game at four. The GreenJackets would end up losing, and Munguia went 0-2 in his second game, but this was quite the debut.
Munguia started the season in the AZL, and he was excellent there. In 15 games, he slashed .345/.397/.552 with six doubles and three triples, scoring 11 times. The Nicaragua-native has hit well every season since signing in 2015, but Tuesday marked his first games above rookie ball.
Coming out of the Salem-Keizer bullpen, left-hander Doug Still was stellar as he kept the game tied to give the Volcanoes time to score. He threw three shutout innings, allowing just a hit while he struck out five.
Still entered the game in the fifth to a 1-1 tie, and set down the side in order that inning, recording a pair of strikeouts. A one-out single in the sixth represented the only runner he allowed to reach, but he worked through it with his third strikeout. He picked up two more strikeouts in a clean seventh inning, and when Salem-Keizer took the lead in the eighth, Still became the pitcher of record.
The 22-year-old southpaw was the Giants 11th-round pick in 2017 out of Missouri State, but didn’t pitch in a league last year. This year, he’s made 12 appearances, all out of the bullpen, between San Jose, Augusta, and Salem-Keizer, pitching to a 3.51 ERA and 1.403 WHIP, with 29 strikeouts in 25.2 innings. The five strikeouts he recorded on Tuesday represent a career-high.
Next: Minor League Major Performers 7-16-18
Others of Note:
Ryder Jones (SAC): 2-4, 2B (14), 2 RBI (47)
Jacob Gonzalez (AUG): 3-7, 3B (2), R
Joey Bart (SK): 2-4, 2B (3), 2 RBI (18), 2 R
Wander Franco (SK): 3-4, 2 2B (7), RBI (10)
Sean Hjelle (SK): 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Juan Sanchez (DSL): 5.1 IP 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K