SF Giants prospects position preview chat: Relief pitchers

Around the Foghorn contributor, Wrenzie Regodon and co-site expert Marc Delucchi are beginning the season with some discussions about the SF Giants’ minor-league depth at each position. They’ve discussed the organizations catching, middle infield, corner infield, and outfield already and now are looking at the team’s relief-pitching prospects.

SF Giants prospects position preview chat: Relievers (Part 1)

Marc Delucchi: SF Giants fans have gotten to see two of the best relievers in the system over the past week at the big-league level after Camilo Doval and Gregory Santos were promoted. I know you have a piece coming out later this week on what we saw in their debuts, but can you give a little sneak peek to readers about what you like about each of them?

Wrenzie Regodon: Yeah, I am going to write about the two that will be out in the middle of the week. It doesn’t take too much detail though, fans can see their stuff. Doval seemed destined to be a high-leverage reliever ever since popping up in the prospect ranks a couple of years ago. You can probably say the same thing about Santos in terms of stuff. Both have high-90s velocity with potential plus sliders.

MD: Yeah both are control more than command guys with premium stuff, and Giants fans saw that bite Santos in last night’s loss when Jesus Aguilar turned on a 97 mph fastball down the middle. Who else would you put in that top-tier reliever prospect with Santos and Doval?

WR: Definitely. Both never really showed fine command in the minors, especially Doval, but it takes a special pitcher to combine strong command with that kind of arsenal.

Another one that looks promising is Kervin Castro. He’s shown flashes of command when he was a starter in Salem-Keizer, the velocity ticked up when he moved to the bullpen, and is now also flashing a plus curveball while retaining that command. Like Doval and Santos, he does not have a lot of minor-league experience but he’s potentially a late-inning guy. I do wonder though why the Giants start to turn these guys to bullpen pieces so early in their careers.

M: Completely agree. Frankly, it’s a lot of service time manipulation prompted by Rule 5 draft eligibility. With fewer years before minor-league free agency, teams are incentivized to move international prospects to the bullpen before domestic players, which obviously has really negative consequences.

W: It really sucks to see that happen to be honest. I really wanted to see Castro continue as a starter because he is built for it. Even though Santos has a starter’s repertoire, I really did envision him as a power closer eventually. However, it’s a killer for them to not rack up the innings and experience.

M: To be honest, I thought we were going to see Castro get a big-league call before Santos because of his better feel for location. We’re pretty much in the same place on this it looks like since Santos, Castro, and Doval were in a tier of their own before the Melvin Adon, Tyler Cyr, and Patrick Ruotolo-type tier for me.

I was REALLY high on Santos’ prospects as a starter. Before I heard he was moved to the bullpen, he was going to rank in my top ten prospects in the organization (Castro would have ranked in the top 15). Instead, they ranked towards the back of the top 31.

SF Giants prospects position preview chat: Relievers (Part 3)

M: I’ve been high on Sam Wolff and Cyr for a long time and expected them to get a shot this season before Santos and Castro emerged as high-leverage options. They are obviously on the older side, but I think a ton of really good relievers who don’t necessarily have elite-type stuff get buried in the upper minors even though they’re effective because teams don’t believe the numbers (kind of like what happened with Tyler Rogers).

W: It’s really sad to see them not get their big league debuts yet, especially for Wolff who is already 30 years old. I was high on both Wolff and Cyr as well, and Patrick Ruotolo too. I really hope there’s a shot that Wolff and Cyr will make their big league debuts this season given how much Kapler has used the bullpen already this season.

M: Lower in the system, Solomon Bates seemed to suffer from a lot of bad batted-ball luck in 2019, and quietly struck out 60 batters and walked just 10 across 43.1 innings between AZL, Class-A, and High-A. His stuff has always looked quite pedestrian (not big velocity or a clear putaway pitch), but it’s hard to deny those results. Tyler Schimpf and Ben Madison were another pair of relievers from the 2018 draft class that racked up punchouts in 2019 but have shown some issues with walks. Israel Cruz, acquired from the Rangers alongside Wolff in the Matt Moore trade, seemed to make some progress as a reliever in 2019, he’d always been a two-pitch player from most reports, so I’m curious to see if he has some momentum this year.

W: It’s definitely hard to deny the results from Bates, who I think can take the next step out of the bullpen in 2021. I think he hides the ball well in his body that can result in strikeouts even with fringy stuff and control. There are a lot of guys in the system aside from Schimpf and Madison who have good to great strikeout numbers but suffer from the high walk rates. Guys like Nick Morreale, Matt Seelinger, Raffi Vizcaino, Jose Marte, Prelander Berroa, etc. are all in the same boat. Hopefully, there will be a couple who will break out of the pack and post a strong walk rate in 2021. If I’m betting my money on one, I think it’s Seelinger.

M: I think this is a pretty good rundown of the lower-caliber arms. Back to the top, if you had to put your money on one pitcher in the organization becoming an All-Star closer, who would it be?

W: I do agree it’s a pretty good rundown and there are still a lot of relievers that we forgot to talk about! I’m giving a nod to Aaron Phillips, Jesus Tona, and Kanoa Pagan!

If I’m going to put my money on who has the best shot of becoming an All-Star closer for the Giants, I’m going all-in on Castro. I mean Doval and Santos have great stuff, but just like a starting pitcher, you have to have consistent control night in and night out and that’s what Castro has that Doval and Santos are a good step behind.

M: That’s a great call. Heck! I forgot to mention Joey Marciano who is coming back to minor-league camp with a new and improved offspeed pitch alongside new mid-90s velocity. He had some lower-minors success as a starter and he’s someone else fans should know about.

I normally lean towards command with starters, but I thought Santos had a good shot to stick in the rotation, so it’s hard for me to not see him as a premium reliever. If I’m picking one reliever to be my closer in five years, it’s Santos. Granted, there could be a case for Blake Rivera, but he is still being developed as a starter for now.

W: I was psyched to see him post those juicy videos on Twitter during the quarantine. Mid-90s from the left side is certainly a big deal for teams and he will hopefully surprise us with a strong 2021 season.

M: Alright, once again, great talk. I can’t wait to wrap these previews up next weekend talking about the quietly improving starting pitching depth.

W: Yep. It’s a great talk and I had a lot of fun. I can’t wait for next week!

Stay tuned to Around the Foghorn for plenty more SF Giants prospects coverage. Next week, Wrenzie and Marc will be back with another discussion, this time diving into the Giants outfielders.