Minor League roundup, April 23: Depth on display (2024)

All four of the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates were in action on Tuesday, with a whole bunch of notable performances to track. Here’s the action down on the farm.

Link to the 2024 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

All listed positions are the positions played in that game.

News

This was where I was supposed to write that RHP Landen Roupp (No. 18 CPL) had been optioned to make room for RHP Mitch White. But before I finished writing this article, Roupp had been recalled to replaced LHP Blake Snell, who landed on the 15-Day IL. Welcome back, Landen!

In injury news, AA infielder Jimmy Glowenke (No. 39 CPL) was placed on the 7-Day IL, though I’m not sure what the injury is.

AAA Sacramento (15-7)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Las Vegas Aviators (A’s) 14-1
Box score

Needless to say, when you win a game 14-1, you probably had a whole lot of standout performances. And when the team securing that 14-1 beatdown is the AAA affiliate, it’s safe to say that there were a lot of good days from important depth pieces.

And that’s exactly what happened with the River Cats, who continued their early-season tear with a dominant performance featuring star showings from a whole lot of critical prospects, including many players on the 40-man roster. Two players shined brightest, and if you’ve been following Sacramento this year, it’s probably not surprising who those two players are.

One of them has been the River Cats best hitter this year. The other has been one of the hottest hitters on the planet over the last two weeks. I am, of course, talking about right fielder Heliot Ramos (No. 13 CPL) and third baseman Casey Schmitt, respectively.

Let’s start with Schmitt, whose recent performance has been other-worldly. If you’re a daily reader of these roundups, you’re perhaps tired of me repeating the splits between Schmitt’s start of the season and his games since, but as long as he keeps this up — it’s now an 11-game hitting streak and a 9-game RBI streak (the longest for the River Cats since one Mac Williamson) — I’m going to keep spitting out these numbers, which get ridiculouser and ridiculouser every day.

But first, let’s mention what he did on Tuesday: it was just a casual 3-5 day, with all of his hits going for extra bases: a pair of doubles and a triple. While Ramos and Marco Luciano get the bulk of the press for hitting the ball exceptionally hard, it’s worth remembering that one of Schmitt’s best traits — probably his single best offensive trait — is smacking the baseball very, very hard. And indeed, his hits on Tuesday left the bat at 98.7, 100.0, and 104.4 mph.

OK, now let’s roll the splits:

Casey Schmitt, first 9 games: 4-37, 0 home runs, 0 triples, 1 double, 3 RBI, 3 walks, 11 strikeouts
Casey Schmitt, next 11 games: 22-46, 4 home runs, 1 triple, 3 doubles, 21 RBI, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

That’s a solid two-week stretch of averaging a pair of hits and RBI per game. I’m not sure what Schmitt’s path to returning to the MLB roster is, since Tyler Fitzgerald is primarily being used as a pinch-runner who can emergency fill-in at 8 positions, and Schmitt is neither of those things, but .... there’s only so long that a prospect the team likes, who is already on the 40-man roster, can force the issue that dramatically before getting an opportunity.

As for Ramos, you likely know the drill by now. He’s hitting the ball hard, he’s putting up gaudy numbers, and most of us have all but abandoned hope that it will mean anything in terms of getting a call up.

It was just another day at the office for Heliot on Tuesday, as he hit 2-4 with a home run and a walk, boosting his OPS to 1.083 and his wRC+ to 164, marks that both rank 3rd in the Pacific Coast League among hitters with at least 50 plate appearances.

The dinger, as we’ve come to expect with Ramos, was LOUD, leaving the bat at 112.9 mph ... a mark that only one player on the Major League roster (Matt Chapman) has hit this season.

And I remain impressed by Ramos’ improvement on the swing-and-miss side of things, even if it will always be a weakness of his. He did strike out twice in this game, and his 24.2% K rate is only a very modest improvement over last year, but he only had one or two swing-and-misses, depending on how you count foul tips. It does feel like more of his strikeouts are coming in the Luciano mold of working the count, rather than in the old Ramos mold of wildly swinging at everything.

Speaking of Luciano (No. 2 CPL), he also had a fine day, hitting 2-5 with a double, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. In continuing the theme, his contact was loud — his double was scorched at 105.1 mph. And, in continuing the theme, he is also on the 40-man roster, so the Giants have to feel pretty good looking at their depth in this game, in which Luciano raised his OPS to .801 and his wRC+ to 114.

And on that note, a trio of other 40-man position players reached base at least three times: second baseman Brett Wisely hit 2-4 with 2 walks to raise his OPS to .970 and his wRC+ to 153 (what a season he’s having!); center fielder Luis Matos hit 2-5 with a walk and a strikeout, bumping his OPS to .719 and his wRC+ to 79 (he’s starting to bounce back from his cold start); and designated hitter David Villar hit 2-5 with a walk and a strikeout, bringing his OPS up to .803 and his wRC+ to 104 (he’s quietly heating up). Left fielder Chase Pinder also reached base thrice, batting 1-3 with a pair of walks.

The 40-man depth was also on display on the pitching front, with a pair of perfect relief outings courtesy of RHPs Nick Avila (No. 43 CPL) and Randy Rodríguez (No. 33 CPL). The former, making his return to Sacramento after an MLB debut, struck out 2 in as many innings, while the latter K’d 1 batter in 1 clean inning of work. The Giants have to be thrilled with the start to the season for Rodríguez who, after showing command issues last year and in Spring Training, has walked just 2 batters in 8.2 innings, en route to a 1.04 ERA and a 3.29 FIP.

But the star on the mound was LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 4 CPL), who bounced back from three consecutive rough outings to show why he’s the top southpaw prospect in the system now that Kyle Harrison (No. 1 CPL) has graduated. Whisenhunt wasn’t perfect — he gave up 3 hits and 2 walks, while needing 74 pitches to get through 3.2 innings — but he certainly was dynamic, as he didn’t allow a run and struck out 7 of the 16 batters that he faced.

Whisenhunt’s performance this year has fluctuated between making us all incredibly excited about his future, and reminding us why the Giants were smart to fill out a Major League rotation that wouldn’t rely on unproven prospects. This game was much more the former than the latter for Whiz.

AA Richmond (8-8)

Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Bowie Baysox (Orioles) 6-2
Box score

A fairly nondescript day for the Squirrels, though they cruised to a win nonetheless. The batters combined for 9 hits, 7 walks, and 3 stolen bases, but didn’t have an extra-base hit on the day.

The best outing for a hitter belonged to shortstop Will Wilson, who is desperately trying to get his career back on track after a very difficult 2023 and a fairly dreadful start to the season. Days like Tuesday help, as the former 1st-round draft pick went 2-3 on the day with 2 walks and a stolen base. After starting the season hitting 2-28 in his first 8 games, with 3 walks to 9 strikeouts, Wilson has strung together a 5-game hitting streak, going 7-21 with 3 walks and just 3 strikeouts. Slow progress is still progress, and Wilson now has a .561 OPS and a 66 wRC+.

A trio of hitters reached base twice: center fielder Grant McCray (No. 12 CPL) hit 0-3 with 2 walks, a strikeout, his 2nd stolen base of the year, and an outfield assist, bringing his OPS to .664 and his wRC+ to 95; right fielder Victor Bericoto (No. 19 CPL) hit 2-4 with an outfield assist, rising his OPS to .561 and his wRC+ to 54; and third baseman Luis Toribio also hit 2-4, pushing his OPS up to .609 and his wRC+ to 80.

On the mound, RHP Carson Ragsdale (No. 32 CPL) once again flexed his strikeout stuff, but struggled with his command. The tall righty threw just 46 of 81 pitches for strikes, and walked 4 batters in 4.1 innings, while also giving up 5 hits, 3 of which went for extra bases. But he limited the damage to 2 runs, and struck out 5 batters.

That performance was pretty in line with his season thus far, as Ragsdale is doing an excellent job striking out hitters (11.4 Ks per 9 innings), getting groundballs (48.6% rate), and limiting damage (3.12 ERA), but is giving up a whole bunch of free passes (6.8 per 9 innings). Given how much time Ragsdale has missed the last few seasons with injury, that amount of rust not only feels understandable, but impressive!

Excellent scoreless relief outings from RHPs Wil Jensen, Tanner Kiest, and Tyler Myrick, with the latter pair having perfect appearances (in 1.2 innings for Kiest, and 1 for Myrick). Kiest, who has a tidy 1.00 ERA, has allowed just 4 hits and 4 walks in 9 innings this year, with 10 strikeouts.

High-A Eugene (13-3)

Eugene Emeralds beat the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks) 6-2
Box score

As has been the case for the bulk of Eugene’s surprisingly-awesome season, the game was won largely on the back of the pitching. A trio of intriguing arms took the mound for the Emeralds, and each player shined.

LHP Jack Choate (No. 31 CPL), a tall southpaw taken in the 9th round of the 2022 draft, continues to impress, and in this game allowed just 1 run in 4 innings of work, ceding 4 hits, 1 walk, and 1 hit batter, while striking out 5. Choate attacked the strike zone, with 43 of 63 pitches being strikes, and that’s been the case for him all year. Through 16 innings, Choate has 16 strikeouts ... and just 3 walks. That’s led to him being one of the few Minor Leaguers whose strong ERA (2.25) is actually lagging behind his FIP (2.10). Given that he was excellent in Eugene last year, following a midseason promotion, I’d guess that Choate won’t spend too much more time in A-Ball before getting a chance to tackle AA hitters.

Next up was RHP Nick Morreale, whose 4th year in Eugene is leading to things starting to click. The 26 year old struck out 4 batters in 3 innings, giving up just 2 hits and 1 unearned run, while pounding the strike zone on 26 of 36 pitches. And finishing it off was RHP Ben Madison, who was nothing short of dominant, striking out 4 batters in 2 perfect innings, with 18 of 25 pitches being strikes.

Madison is back in High-A, where he had strong numbers last year before struggling in AA after a promotion. It seems like he’ll be headed back to Richmond soon, as he’s sporting a 2.00 ERA and a 0.72 FIP. Madison was one of the best strikeout artists in the system last year, with 14.6 Ks per 9 in Eugene and 12.2 in Richmond. It’s early (he’s only pitched 9 innings), but he’s taken that to a new level so far this year, with 17 strikeouts per 9 innings. But what the Giants are really looking for is improved command, and thankfully that’s on display, too: after walking 4.7 batters per 9 in High-A last year, and 8.5 in AA, he’s down to 3.0 in Eugene. Again: it’s early. But, as always, you’d rather see a small sample yield great results than poor ones. It’s always better to slap the “small sample size warning” label on someone’s excitement than on someone’s worry.

An odd day for the Emeralds offense, as they scored 6 runs despite notching just 3 hits ... all of which were singles. But they manufactured runs in other ways, with 8 walks, a hit by pitch, 2 stolen bases, and a Hillsboro error.

The best day belonged to designated hitter Onil Perez (No. 24 CPL), who is more than fitting in at the level. He hit 2-3 with a walk, and also stole a base. Perez certainly doesn’t fit the traditional catcher mold, and that’s fine: he has a .382 batting average and 5 stolen bases in as many attempts. Small sample size applies extra to him, as he has just 41 plate appearances on the year, but of the 34 Giants Minor Leaguers with at least 40 plate appearances this year, Perez is 2nd in batting average, 3rd in on-base percentage (.488), 13th in walk rate (14.6%), and 1st — by a mile — in strikeout rate (7.3%). Add in the rave reviews he gets leading the pitching staff (and the fact that he won’t turn 22 until September), and you can make the claim that Perez is not only the top catcher prospect in the system, but one of the most underrated prospects in the system, too.

Also a nice day for center fielder Scott Bandura, who hit 1-3 with a walk and a stolen base. Bandura, a 7th-round pick last July, is off to a slow start after an aggressive assignment to start the year, as he has a .526 OPS and a 65 wRC+. More days like this ahead!

Low-A San Jose (5-10)

San Jose Giants lost to the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies) 6-0
Box score

A very uninteresting game for the Baby Giants. If we’re being honest, most of their games have been this year.

Designated hitter Cesar Quintas was the only player to reach base multiple times, hitting 1-3 with a walk, while catcher Luke Shliger and first baseman Javier Francisco each doubled for the team’s only extra-base hits. All of those players are still trying to find their groove as they play in their first full season of professional ball.

On the mound, LHP Dylan Carmouche, who has been having a strong debut season after being a 15th-round pick last year, wasn’t quit at his sharpest, but limited damage, giving up 4 hits, 2 walks, and 2 unearned runs in 3 innings of action, while striking out 4. The Giants will want to see Carmouche cut back on the free passes, but a 2.77 ERA and a 3.53 FIP are impressive nonetheless, and it’s fun seeing a late draft pick get a chance to start.

RHP Cole Hillier had a nice game, with 2 scoreless innings, and it was great to see RHP Alix Hernandez have a strong outing: he pitched the 9th and a hit batter was the only baserunner he allowed, with 1 strikeout. I’m very high on Hernandez, who is only 19 years old, but he’s been getting roughed up quite a bit in the early goings of his first full season. Nice to see him settle down into a good outing.

Home run tracker

AAA Heliot Ramos (6)

Wednesday schedule

Sacramento: vs. the Las Vegas Aviators, 6:45 p.m. PT
Richmond: vs. the Bowie Baysox, 3:35 p.m. PT
Eugene: vs. the Hillsboro Hops, 7:05 p.m. PT
San Jose: @ the Fresno Grizzlies, 6:50 p.m. PT