San Francisco Giants Minor League Update: What’s Happening on the Farm?

With the current play of the San Francisco Giants being so reliant on pieces that have come up from the farm, we’re going to take a look at each level of the farm that’s active right now, and what they’re doing, including the top prospects at each level.

Recently, the San Francisco Giants have had plenty of success at the big league level, thanks in large part to some quality young players that have made their transition from Sacramento to the Big leagues. Alen Hanson, Austin Slater, Mac Williamson Andrew Suarez, and Reyes Moronta are just a few of the names. They may not be big names, but they’ve played their role quite well.

We decided it would be good to look at what else the farm system has to offer, for both now and the future. We provided detailed statistics from any prospect that is active at that level, that appears on the Giants Top 30 Prospects list according to MLBPipeline.com. The numbers of their ranks are in accordance with their MLBPipeline ranking.

So first up, is the lowest active level of the Giants’ farm, the Augusta GreenJackets.

Augusta GreenJackets

Record: 23-14; 1st place in the SAL Southern Division

The GreenJackets have been propelled to first in their division, in a brand new ballpark thanks in large part to their pitching staff. The Augusta pitching staff ranks in the following in the Southern Atlantic League (SAL): ERA (1st), Hits (2nd), Runs (3rd), Strikeouts (1st), WHIP (2nd).

Four of their starters have ERA’s under 2.75, and three of those four are under 2.00. John Gavin has a 1.38 ERA, Jason Bahr has a 1.77 ERA, and Joey Marciano has a 1.86 ERA. Together, those three have struck out 134 over 107 innings. Thrown in a few relievers in Franklin VanGurp, C.J. Gettman, and John Russell, who all are under 2.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and have a combined K/BB ratio of 4.00, the staff has been incredible so far.

As for the hitting, it’s definitely improved as well. What’s intriguing is that the Giants top prospects aren’t exactly the top performers for the GreenJacket’s offense. Manuel Geraldo, Ryan Kirby, and Logan Baldwin each have accumulated more total bases the Giants top two prospects at the level. Albeit, Heliot Ramos and Jacob Gonzalez aren’t that far off. But it is intriguing. Kirby and Malique Ziegler are tied for the lead in homers for the GreenJackets, both at four a piece.

As for the Top 30 prospects, here are the lines for them so far:

• #1, Heliot Ramos: .215/.297/.354/.650; 5 2B, 2, 3B, 3 HR, 10RBI, SB; 0 Errors
• #11, Jacob Gonzalez: .252/.317/.374/.691; 7 2B, 3 HR, 20 RBI; 8 Errors
• #20, Garrett Cave: 1-1, 4.50 ERA, 26.2 IP, 28K, 23BB, 1.69 WHIP
• #29, Malique Ziegler: .275/.405/.522/.927; 3 2B, 3B, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 5 SB

Ziegler is really intriguing as a late round draft pick in 2016. But he has appeared within the top 30 prospects now for the Giants, and was tearing up the SAL until he went on the DL. Ziegler’s numbers are in only 69 official at bats.

As for those who are performing well despite not being in the Top-30, you can just take a look at the entire Augusta pitching staff as mentioned above. All are not on the top 30, and are performing incredibly through the first part of the season.

Now let’s check on how things are also going good down in San Jose!