SF Giants prospects rundown 5/19: Marco Luciano’s 2-HR day

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SF Giants prospect Heliot Ramos is one of the many exciting young prospects in the organization. (Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports) /

The SF Giants top prospect, Marco Luciano, may have finally had a breakout performance at San Jose.

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 prospects 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 5/19: Triple-A

The Sacramento River Cats had the day off.

SF Giants Prospects Rundown 5/19: Double-A

Bowie Baysox 2 at Richmond Flying Squirrels 1
Performance of the Game: Heliot Ramos (2-4, 2B, 1 BB, 2 K)

Matt Frisbee (22nd-ranked prospect) took the mound for the first time since he threw six perfect innings in a nine-inning no-hitter last Thursday. After walking the leadoff hitter on Wednesday, though, Frisbee knew he would not match his last outing. Then, Adley Rutschman single to right field, and a chaotic first inning began to come off the rails.

Right fielder Sandro Fabian’s above-average arm got away from him, heaving a wild throw into the infield that allowed Rutschman to advance to second and a run to score on the error. Then Patrick Dorian blooped a 3-2 pitch into left field, and Frisbee hit a batter to load the bases with nobody out. At that point, Frisbee seemed destined for a massive letdown after two fantastic starts. Instead, he struck out the next two hitters and induced a groundball to Shane Matheny that should have ended the inning. However, Matheny committed the second Flying Squirrels error of the inning, allowing a second run to score.

The next hitter grounded out on one pitch to end the inning, but not before Frisbee had thrown 33 pitches and allowed two runs. At that point, he seemed to lock-in. Over the next four innings, only one Baysox hitter reached base against the righty, who needed just 40 additional pitches. Given how many things went wrong early, Frisbee showed a fantastic ability to overcome adversity, finishing his outing, striking out five with just one walk, three hits, and two runs (one earned) over five innings.

Sadly for Richmond, their offense was unable to ever make up for their first-inning deficit. Heliot Ramos (fourth-ranked prospect) was the only Flying Squirrel to record a pair of hits, finishing 2-for-4 with a double and walk. Matheny scored the only run after working a walk in the fifth on a Kyle Mottice single.

Eugene Emeralds pitcher Seth Corry, right, throws against Hillsboro with a player in third during the second inning at PK Park in Eugene. /

SF Giants Prospects Rundown 5/19: High-A

Eugene Emeralds 3 at Tri-City Dust Devils 6
Performance of the Game: Simon Whiteman (1-2, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 SB)

Seth Corry (eighth-ranked prospect) struck out nine across his longest start of the season (4.1 innings pitched). In what has become a fairly standard pattern for the Giants’ third-round pick in 2017, Corry threw 39 of his 76 pitches for strikes and issued three walks. He still has not matched the dominance he showed at the end of 2019 at Augusta, but Corry struggled mightily in the first half with control even in that breakout season. He’ll need to become more economical with his pitches, but it remains a positive sign how effectively he limits opposing contact (the Dust Devils managed just one hit).

The game remained scoreless through the first four and a half innings. Then, Corry allowed a single and hit a batter with one out in the fifth and was replaced by Tyler Schimpf. Schimpf quickly recorded the second out in the inning, but a double, walk, and home run later put the Emeralds down 5-0 in a flash.

Will Wilson (15th-ranked prospect) drove in Ismael Munguia on a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth to put a run on the board. Another Tri-City home run in the bottom half kept the lead at five before second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald brought the game to its final score with a two-run blast in the seventh.

Eugene finished the game with just three hits but did work seven walks. Third baseman Simon Whiteman, an under-slot senior-sign in the 2019 draft out of Yale, had another well-rounded performance, finishing 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and a stolen base. While he’s far from the biggest name at Eugene, he’s had a quietly productive start to the season.

Whiteman was considered a contact-first hitter with the chance to impact the game with 70 or 80-grade speed. He stole 65 bases in 110 games between Yale, Salem-Keizer, and Augusta in 2019. Thus far in 2021, he has stolen seven bases without being caught across nine games while hitting .333/.467/.417. He’s primarily played second base, and that’s likely where he profiles best in the future, but he has also spelled at shortstop and third base.

(5/11/21) SF Giants prospect Marco Luciano chases Stockton Ports’ Tyler Soderstrom after Soderstrom overran first while trying to stretch a single into a double during a California League baseball game. (CLIFFORD OTO/THE STOCKTON RECORD) /

SF Giants Prospects Rundown 5/19: Low-A

San Jose Giants 4 at Fresno Grizzlies 5
Performance of the Game: Marco Luciano (2-4, 2 HR, 1 K, 2 R, 3 RBI, E)

I mentioned in yesterday’s rundown that shortstop Marco Luciano (top-ranked prospect) had been heating up after a slow start to the season at San Jose. Then he came out on Wednesday and easily had his best performance of the year. In the top of the first, Luciano drove a fastball by Rockies 2020 third-round pick Sam Weatherly over the right-field wall for his second homer of the season.

Weatherly was an impressive collegiate arm during his three seasons at Clemson, striking out 106 batters in 72.1 innings. His ability to generate strikeouts has carried over to the professional ranks, and it was indeed a problem for San Jose. Weatherly struck out ten across five innings of work, but two of the Giants’ young hitters still tagged him for the long ball.

Abdiel Layer has come out of nowhere early in the season. Layer homered off Weatherly in the top of the fifth and now has four home runs in just six games. Given Layer’s experience, having never played above Rookie Ball before this year, it would be a surprise if he’s already prepared for a promotion. However, it’s hard to argue with his .304/.333/.870 triple-slash. Assuming Layer falls back to earth, he probably will not be playing his way onto the top of the organization’s prospect list but has quickly made himself another young infielder worth keeping an eye on.

A few batters after Layer’s homer, Luciano returned to the plate with a runner on base. He fell behind in a pitcher’s count but then drove a home run over the center-field wall for his first multi-homer game of the season. It’s easy to forget that the young shortstop is still 19. Weatherly will turn 22 in a couple of weeks, and Luciano still took him deep twice.

Wil Jensen has been an effective starter over three short outings at San Jose to start the season, but in his longest outing of the season on Tuesday (3.2 innings), the Grizzlies tagged him for four hits and a walk in his final inning of work. After walking one and surrendering just one hit through three shutout innings, things unraveled in the fourth and put the Giants behind. San Jose regained the lead in the fifth, but relievers Jorge Labrador and Justin Crump each allowed a run in the bottom of the fifth and sixth that proved to be the difference.

SF Giants Prospects Rundown 5/18: Clean MiLB Sweep. Next

We’ll be back with looks at the SF Giants farm system throughout the minor-league season with daily rundowns on the entire organization’s minor-league affiliates.

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