SF Giants prospects rundown 5/20: Bullpens shine throughout system

SF Giants starting pitchers and hitters struggled throughout the farm system, but strong relief pitching kept minor-league affiliates in games.

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 5/20: Triple-A

Reno Aces 3 at Sacramento River Cats 2
Performance of the Game: Jason Vosler (1-3, HR, R, RBI)

Tyler Beede seemed to put some things together towards the end of his last rehab appearance, but his command woes returned once again on Thursday. With Logan Webb on the injured list, Beede seemed primed to rejoin the Giants big-league rotation soon, but the front office probably wanted to see him be more economical with his 53 pitches (28 strikes). Beede allowed no runs to score over 2.2 innings of work but allowed two hits and four walks and was removed with two outs and the bases loaded in the third inning for Kervin Castro (26th-ranked prospect), who struck out former Giants minor-leaguer Matt Lipka to end the inning.

An early solo home run by Jason Vosler, his first of the season, gave the River Cats a slim lead, but the Reno Aces kept Sacramento’s offense quiet until the ninth inning. In the interim, five of the six River Cats relievers allowed no runs to score, but an unlucky fifth inning for Gregory Santos, who allowed three runs on three relatively soft hits and a hit batter, gave the Aces a lead that would not be overcome. Sacramento managed just three hits and three walks on the day.

The most interesting tidbit from the game had little to do with the outcome. Top Giants catching prospect Joey Bart (third-ranked prospect) was removed from the game in the fifth inning and did not appear injured. After big-league backup Curt Casali was hit on the elbow in Thursday’s 19-4 victory against the Reds, there’s reason to speculate that Bart is heading for a callup. Bart has struck out in more than 30% of his plate appearances in the short season but has been undeniably productive, hitting .351/.400/.676.

SF Giants Prospects Rundown 5/20: High-A

Eugene Emeralds 6 at Tri-City Dust Devils 7 (11 innings)
Performance of the Game: Diego Rincones (1-3, HR, BB, R, RBI)

The first Giants minor leaguer to hit four home runs was not a name that would be familiar to most fans but could become a quick riser in the system if he builds off an impressive last six months. Diego Rincones was quietly one of the best players in the Venezuelan Winter League this offseason and has carried over that hot start to Eugene. Rincones finished the game on Thursday 1-for-3 with a walk and his fourth home run of the season. His average on the season dropped to .375, and his OPS remained an impressive 1.145.

Rincones will not turn 22 until June and is roughly the age of a draft-eligible junior in this summer’s upcoming draft class. Since signing with the Giants out of Venezuela in 2015, he steadily made his way through the lower minor leagues. Rincones has consistently shown an ability to hit for average (career .293 hitter) and avoid strikeouts (12.4% strikeout rate) but has never shown more than average power (career .424 slugging percentage). However, this season, the corner outfielder is flashing above-average power and has seen a slight spike in his strikeouts that one would expect to accompany some swing changes. Rincones is flashing the potential to play his way from intriguing depth piece to legitimate big-league prospect.

Aside from Rincones, Eugene managed to scrape five runs across on just four hits and seven walks. However, two of those runs came in the eleventh inning, which started with a runner on second base.

Emeralds’ starting pitcher Nick Morreale struck out six over 3.2 innings but was unable to work around an error by Simon Whiteman, five hits, and three walks. In an early 3-0 hole, Eugene’s bullpen stepped up and gave the offense time to even up the score. Jasier Herrera, Ryan Walker, John Russell, and R.J. Dabovich combined to allow just one run over 5.1 innings of work while striking out ten, walking one, and surrendering three hits. However, the bullpen’s run came to an end in the eleventh, when Nick Avila could not replicate his shutout tenth inning performance, allowing three runs to score.

SF Giants Prospects Rundown 5/20: Low-A

San Jose Giants 3 at Fresno Grizzlies 2
Performance of the Game: Ricardo Genoves (2-4, HR, R, RBI)

Through three starts, 19-year-old Kyle Harrison (fifth-ranked prospect) seems to be showing some small but noteworthy signs of improvement. The De La Salle alum once again showed off a nasty arsenal that left Fresno hitters struggling to put the ball in play and struck out eight hitters across 3.2 innings of work. His wildness returned at some inopportune times, but he easily had his best feel for the strike zone this season on Thursday.

Harrison still walked one and hit two batters but should have got through four innings while allowing just one run. However, a dropped third strike with two outs in the third forced him out of the game, and Ty Weber allowed a run-scoring single, which was ultimately charged to Harrison. The Giants third-round pick in 2020 has quickly shown he belongs in professional baseball but is also far from previous quick-moving prep prospects like Madison Bumgarner. Harrison has struck out an absurd 22 of the 46 batters he has faced this season, but he has also walked nine and hit four. In fact, less than a quarter of the batters he’s faced at San Jose have put the ball in play.

While Weber allowed Harrison’s second run to score, the Giants bullpen made sure that would be all the Grizzlies could manage. Weber completed a 1-2-3 fifth before handing the ball off to Austin Reich and Chris Wright, who each struck out three over two shutout innings.

Catcher Ricardo Genoves (20th-ranked prospect) got San Jose’s scoring started with a solo home run in the second inning. In the fifth, Tyler Flores reached second base after a one-out single and set up Marco Luciano (top-ranked prospect) for a game-tying RBI-single. Flores finished the game 3-for-5 and is off to a strong start (hitting .357 in 14 at-bats).

In the seventh, with the game knotted up at two, Luis Toribio (ninth-ranked prospect) led off the inning with a single and, in a bizarre turn of events, advanced to third on a pair of balks while the next batter, Garrett Frechette, was at the plate. Frechette wasted no time driving in the eventual winning run on a sacrifice fly.

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