San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball roundup, 5/18/23

There was much to report from an action-packed Thursday for the San Francisco Giants minor league baseball affiliates. Let’s dive into the action!

Link to McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL) 2023

All positions listed are the positions played in that game.

News

Let’s start with the big one, in case you missed it, the Giants make an extremely exciting move, calling catcher Patrick Bailey (No. 10 CPL).

Bailey was one of, if not the, best story on the farm this year. He had a mediocre 2022 in the High-A class, and many fans and potential analysts were starting to get mad at him. There were even reports that the Giants weren’t too happy with him or his work ethic. But when Spring Training began, only rave reviews were heard from the organization, including highly laudatory public comments from Gabe Kapler and Farhan Zaidi, who only distribute them when they mean business.

He started the year in AA, was a champion in 14 games, and was quickly promoted to the AAA. Now, after just 14 games — in which, admittedly, his offense hasn’t worked but his defense has been great — he’s headed to San Francisco.

While Casey Schmitt’s (No. 3 CPL) appeal was clearly made with the intention of staying Schmitt, Bailey may get a cup of coffee. He’s called up because Joey Bart is going to 10-Day IL and the Giants need another catcher. With Austin Wynns and Gary Sánchez gone and Roberto Perez participating in the 60-day IL, the only options left were Bailey, AAA contender Ricardo Genovés, or a trade. So the plan could be to just keep playing Bailey until Bart is healthy and then have him continue to graduate in AAA. But does he play well? The Giants have made no secret that they think Bailey could be an everyday catcher by the end of the season, so…

Bailey will be joined by RHP Ryan Walker, who is also called up to make his MLB debut. Walker was easily the top pitcher for AAA Sacramento with a .89 ERA and a 3.04 FIP.

The sad news here is that outfielder Heliot Ramos (No. 12 CPL) was moved to the 60-day IL with an oblique injury to make room in the 40-man roster. The other related changes were the appointment of outfielder Cal Stevenson and the move of RHP Ross Stripling to the 15-day IL.

Things are really moving!!! Now let’s look at the games.

AAA Sacramento (20-22)

The Sacramento River Cats lost to the Reno Aces (Diamondbacks) 11-3
box score

Midfielder Luis Matos (No. 4 CPL) only needed two games to find his AAA groove. Matos collected his first hits as a river cat, going 2-4 with a double and a walk.

After watching Casey Schmitt (No.3 CPL) reach the majors after just 36 games, and Patrick Bailey (No.10 CPL) — who spent last year with Matos in the High-A and spent the season with Matos in the AA began – will be called up After 14 games, the exciting, all-round outfielder must be feeling pretty optimistic about his chances of making a debut anytime soon, especially with Austin Slater currently on his second IL stint and Heliot Ramos (No. 12 CPL) in the 60-day IL plays .

Speaking of Matos’ tools, look at the defenses!

First baseman Matt Beaty, who is probably relieved to have survived the Giants taking two spots in the 40-man tournament, had a fine day, hitting the team’s only home run in a 2-5 run.

I’m not sure where Beaty fits into the team’s plans, but an OPS of .831 and a WRC+ of 107 at least shows he remains reasonably ready.

And left fielder Michael Gigliotti had another fine play, going 2-3 on a walk and increasing his OPS to .801 and wRC+ to 98.

Bailey’s last AAA game prior to his call did not go well as he went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts. But I think this is smart: get those strikeouts out of your system before you head out to the big show! He was also the designated batsman in that game, so he’ll be well rested when he starts as a catcher in San Francisco tonight.

RHP Keaton Winn (No. 16 CPL) is also trying to get nominated for his MLB debut, and the difficulties of RHP Tristan Beck (No. 24 CPL) and RHP Sean Hjelle (No. 30 CPL) may have opened some doors. However, he didn’t do himself any favors walking through those doors on Thursday because he was shaken, giving up 8 hits, 3 walks, 7 runs and 6 runs earned in just 2.1 innings and 3 strikeouts.

Also tough days for RHP Tanner Andrews and LHP Nick Swiney (No. 26 CPL). Speaking of aggressive promotions, Swiney was just playing his second AAA game after a very brief AA stint. His 1st run went pretty well, but he gave up 4 hits, 1 walk and 2 runs in 2 innings with 0 strikeouts in his 2nd run.

AA Richmond (18-17)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Akron RubberDucks (Guardians) 10-2
box score

There wasn’t much action in that game, but there was some excitement: the debut of batsman-designate Vaun Brown (No. 5 CPL).

It wasn’t technically Brown’s AA debut, as he played a game with the Flying Squirrels after the end of the High-A season last year. But it was his first time as a permanent member of the team after missing April through injury and spending nine rehab games in Low-A and High-A. How exciting to have him back!

He scored 1-4 times that game and struck three times.

The best game came from the team’s top youngster, shortstop Marco Luciano (No. 2 CPL), who made it 1-3 with a double and a walk. It was the team’s only extra base hit, boosting Luciano’s OPS to .677 and his wRC+ to 82 while shaking off the rust after starting the year with extensive spring training.

RHP Ryan Murphy (No. 19 CPL) had an entertaining outing, giving up just 1 hit and 1 walk in 3 innings, with 5 strikeouts…but running 4 batters. Still, the strikeouts were nice to see, as they gave him shine in the first place but largely failed to materialize this year. It increased his strikeouts to 9.1 per 9 innings, although that came with 5.4 walks.

Also a good game for RHP Randy Rodríguez (No.32 CPL), hot and cold in his second season in the 40-man roster. He threw 2.1 no-hit innings with 3 strikeouts and only conceded one walk. It lowered his ERA to 3.05 and his FIP to 3.34. If he can pull off some solid straight performances, I reckon we’ll see him back in AAA.

But very tough (and similar) bets for RHPs Spencer Bivens and Parker Dunshee, both giving up 5 hits and 4 runs with only 1 strikeout. Bivens made it in one inning while Dunshee – who walked and hit a batsman – made it in 1.1 innings.

High-A Eugene (20-15)

The Eugene Emeralds defeated the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks) 2-0
box score

Needless to say, if you eliminated a team, you probably had a good pitch. And it should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following the farm this year that this fine pitch came from LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 8 CPL).

Given the myriad of aggressive promotions in the organization this season, it’s safe to assume that Whisenhunt (who has already been promoted once this year) could be next. And if that’s what he was trying to audition for on Thursday, well…let’s just say my dream of becoming a successful film actor might have come true if I could audition that well.

Whisenhunt threw 4.1 no-hit innings against the Hops, knocking out 8 batters in the process. It wasn’t his best day from a control standpoint as he ran three batters and hit someone, but still…8 strikeouts in 4.1 innings without a hit. In his 12th career game and 4th at this level.

Here’s Whisenhunt’s line in Eugene: 17.1 innings, 3 hits, 5 walks, 2 hit batters, 1 run, 24 strikeouts.

I mean come on Perhaps RHP Kai-Wei Teng will be promoted from AA to AAA and Whisenhunt will take his place?

Everyone else was batting well, most notably RHP Ben Madison, who conceded just 1 hit and 3 strikeouts in 1.2 innings without a score. Madison benefits from throwing the 5th inning often and has a comical 6-1 record despite a 6.19 ERA.

The offensive star was midfielder Grant McCray (No. 6 CPL), who hit a home run to make it 2-4 and also had an outfield assist.

McCray started the season very slowly, with an OPS of .554 in April. But his May was very hot…he’s on a 5-game hitting streak and is batting 18-63 this month with 5 homers, 2 doubles and 5 walks for an OPS of .894. Strikeouts remain a concern – he has 54 of 156 plate appearances this year – but he’s starting to put his season together and now has a .709 OPS and a 90 WRC+.

Low-A San Jose (22-14)

The San Jose Giants lost to the Stockton Ports (A’s) 5-3
box score

Not too many notable appearances by the Baby Giants. It’s been a good day for right fielder Alexander Suarez, who is trying to become the exciting youngster he was thought to be before struggling in Low-A last year.

Suarez only hit 1-3 but his shot went over the fence and he added an outfield assist. The beautiful day increased his OPS to .757 and his wRC+ to 111.

Catcher Onil Perez (No. 44 CPL) doesn’t need a rebound, who continues to impress even if he flies under the radar quite a bit. Perez went 2-4 with a double in that game and now has an OPS of .915 and a wRC+ of 156. Those are phenomenal numbers for a young catcher.

The game was started by RHP Miguel Yajure, who made his season debut. The Giants called Yajure — who spent last year pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates in both the majors and the AAA — off the waivers in December and then sent him straight to AAA Sacramento. But an injury during spring training has kept him from doing so so far. In his first rehab appearance, he had 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run with 2 strikeouts in 1.2 innings. He will be in AAA as soon as he is updated.

RHP Hayden Wynja gave up 3 hits, 1 walk and 1 run in 3 innings but knocked out 5 batters. He now has 28 strikeouts to 8 walks in 19 innings this year despite his 5.21 ERA.

home runs

AAA Matt Beaty (3)
High-A Grant McCray (6)
Low-A Alexander Suarez (1)

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