SF Giants prospects rundown 5/15: Tyler Beede’s rehab continues

Big leaguers Tyler Beede and Donovan Solano added a couple of extra-base hits to his already impressive total this season. Who else stood out?

Make sure to revisit our daily SF Giants prospect rundowns to keep up with each of their minor-league affiliates. If you do not feel well acclimated to the prospects throughout the farm system, you might want to revisit our prospect week articles that detailed the system from the top prospect to lower-level fringes. If you’re just interested in the biggest names, then the preseason SF Giants top 31 prospects list is the one-stop-shop for you.

SF Giants Prospects Rundown 5/15: Triple-A

Sacramento River Cats 13 at Oklahoma City Dodgers 1
Performance of the Game: Thairo Estrada (3-4, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 1 K, 2 R, 4 RBI)

The River Cats had a pair of big-league players in their starting lineup on Saturday. Second baseman Donovan Solano took the field for the first time since the Giants placed him on the injured list and played the first five innings for Sacramento. Donnie Barrels looked just like his old self, lining an RBI-double that scored Bryce Johnson in the top of the first inning. He finished the day 3-for-3.

Solano was far from the only player to generate offense for the River Cats in Oklahoma City. Johnson and Thairo Estrada joined Solano with three hits, and while Johnson’s recent power surge was absent (recording three singles), Estrada had a couple of extra-base hits of his own. Like Johnson, the former Yankees prospect was considered a glove-first prospect without pop. However, Estrada began showing a bit more power in 2019. Given his versatility around the diamond defensively, Estrada could be a valuable bench piece.

Every starting position player recorded a hit, but Chadwick Tromp added the only other home run. In fact, while the River Cats scored 13 runs, they relied primarily on a consistent array of singles and walks to generate their offense.

Tyler Beede made his third and easily best rehab appearance on the mound since returning from Tommy John surgery. Beede threw 43 pitches across three innings while surrendering just one hit, walking none, and striking out four. Beede’s stuff matched the best arsenal he’s shown Giants fans over his career. Even though the big-league rotation has been stellar, Beede could be a precious addition to the rotation if it enables a player like Logan Webb to add another valuable piece to the pen.

Scott Kazmir followed Beede’s strong outing with a solid 3.1 innings of work. He allowed one run on a solo homer alongside a walk and two strikeouts. Following Kazmir, Yunior Marte, Gregory Santos (25th-ranked prospect), and Luis Gonzalez retired all eight batters they faced.

SF Giants Prospects Rundown 5/15: Double-A

Richmond Flying Squirrels 3 at Harrisburg Senators 6
Performance of the Game: David Villar (3-5, R, 2 K)

The Flying Squirrels have had a bit of a letdown since their no-hitter, losing their second consecutive game in an unexceptional performance. Richmond scored first in the top of the second inning on a Kyle Mottice double that scored Frankie Tostado. However, within the next half inning, they would fall behind for good.

Tristan Beck (16th-ranked prospect) struck out five in 4.1 innings of work while allowing just one walk but was far from his best self on the mound. The Senators had Beck’s pitches well-timed and tagged him for six hits (including a homer) and four runs. Matt Seelinger did allow one of Beck’s runs to score on a wild pitch, but otherwise was the Flying Squirrels’ most effective reliever, striking out four of the five batters he faced in 1.2 innings.

At the plate, Richmond consistently put runners on base, recording twelve hits, but went just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position. David Villar continued his hot start to the season, raising his average on the season to .300 with a 3-for-5 performance. Mottice and Shane Matheny were the only other hitters to have multi-hit games. Vince Fernandez added a pinch-hit solo home run in the ninth inning.

Villar has far from eliminated the swing-and-miss that has plagued him throughout his career but given the circumstances of his first appearance at Double-A and lost 2020 season, he’s quietly making progress. Villar is hitting .300/.391/.575 with a career-best 22.0% strikeout and 14.6% walk rate. He’s starting to play his way beyond the peripheries of prospect depth charts and in conversations for the back of prospect lists.

SF Giants Prospects Rundown 5/15: High-A

Hillsboro Hops 11 at Eugene Emeralds 5
Performance of the Game: Will Wilson (1-4, HR, K, R, RBI)

While Richmond was putting plenty of players on the bases without much power or timely hits, Eugene split their six hits among six starters and scored five runs. Granted, the Emeralds’ offense was suffocated for nearly the entire contest, trailing 11-0 entering the bottom of the ninth inning.

The game would eventually get out of hand, but it looked like a pitcher’s duel through four innings. Eugene’s starting pitcher Conner Nurse struck out eight through four shutout innings and allowed just one hit. Then, in the fifth, Nurse walked the lead-off hitter, struck out a batter, gave up a pair of singles before a Tra Holmes home run brought Nurse’s outing to an end.

Then, Jasier Herrera entered and could do nothing to contain the damage. While Herrera finished 1.2 innings of work, he allowed five runs before getting out of the fifth, giving the Hops a nine-run fifth inning.

On the other side of the diamond, the 33rd overall pick in last year’s draft, Slade Cecconi, looked fantastic in his professional debut, allowing one hit in four innings of work.

Longtime teammates at NC State and first-round selections Patrick Bailey (seventh-ranked prospect) and Will Wilson (fifteenth-ranked prospect) led off the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back home runs, which set the tone for a five-run, four-hit, and two-walk inning. While the game’s result had already been decided, the Emeralds did the bulk of their damage against Matt Tabor, the Diamondbacks third-round pick in 2017, and had shut down their offense for nearly half of the game.