San Francisco Giants: Two Giants Play as AFL Season Opens
The Arizona Fall League opened on Tuesday, and a pair of San Francisco Giants prospects were on the field for the opener.
Tuesday marked opening day for the Arizona Fall League, where young players can get extra playing time after the minor league season ends. Six San Francisco Giants’ prospects are in the league, on the Scottsdale Scorpions roster.
Two of the six Giants’ hopefuls were in Scottsdale’s opening night roster. C.J. Hinojosa played second base and hit leadoff, while Matt Winn played catcher and hit eighth. As a team, the Scorpions managed just five hits, but three came off the bats of the Giants’ farmhands.
Winn reached base three times on Tuesday, working a pair of walks to go with an opposite field single with two outs in the fourth. He scored two of Scottsdale’s three runs. Hinojosa had a pair of single in his five at-bats, but struck out swinging with the bases loaded and no one out in the third inning.
The two also combined for a double play in the sixth inning. With runners on the corners and one out, pitcher Matt Blackham (Mets) struck out batter Nico Hoerner (Cubs) with runners on the move. Winn threw out Bobby Dalbec (Red Sox) trying to take second base with Hinojosa laying down the tag to end the frame.
More from Golden Gate Sports
- Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 3 performance
- 49ers sign new long snapper amidst a flurry of roster moves
- Oakland Athletics win Game 2 of Wild Card round with late-inning drama
- 49ers: George Kittle and Deebo Samuel cleared to return to practice
- 49ers expected to place DE Dee Ford on injured reserve
Winn wasn’t initially among Giants’ farmhands on the Scottsdale roster. On the roster’s first iteration was Aramis Garcia, but the Giants pulled him out of the AFL after he received fairly extensive big league playing time in September. The 26-year-old Winn, who just finished his fourth professional season after being drafted in the 14th round in 2015, is playing in the Arizona Fall League for the first time.
Hinojosa is also in the league for the first time, making up for lost time after missing time first because of an achilles injury, and then because of a drug of abuse suspension. Upon returning, he spent most of his season in Double-A with the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
Though they didn’t play in game one, four other Giants figure to get on the field soon. That includes three pitchers and an outfielder. Right-handed pitchers Melvin Adon and Sam Wolff, left-hander Garrett Williams, and left fielder Heath Quinn will get their chances.
Wolff, Adon, and Quinn all missed time during the season because of injuries. Wolff, acquired in the Matt Moore trade last offseason, didn’t take the field until late June because of surgery to repair of a torn flexor tendon. Adon missed the last two months due to an oblique strain, and Quinn missed about month in the middle of the season with a bad hamstring. Quinn’s bat wasn’t hurt by the injury, though, as he finished the season hitting .300/.376/.485 with 24 doubles and 14 home runs in 96 games.
dark. Next. Notable Stats from 2018 Season
Williams didn’t miss any time, but he struggled badly while spending the entire season in Richmond. The lefty had something of a breakout season in 2017 between Augusta and San Jose, but took a big step back in his first year at Double-A. He walked 61 batters in 81.2 innings, so the Giants want him to work on some things with the extra time on the field.