SF Giants prospects rundown 5/21: Heliot Ramos busts out of slump

SF Giants Prospects Rundown 5/21: Low-A

San Jose Giants 0 at Fresno Grizzlies 10
Performance of the Game: Randy Rodriguez (3 1/3 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K)

When the Grizzlies posted a five-spot in the bottom of the first, I knew that the lil’ Gigantes were going to be in for a long night. In the end, the Grizzlies posted 10 runs while the Giants only mustered 4 hits.

Starter Prelander Berroa allowed five runs in a high-stress outing, although none of them were earned due to an errant throw on a routine groundball by Marco Luciano (top-ranked prospect), a wild pitch by Berroa, and a subsequent throwing error by the catcher Brett Auerbach. The Giants needed someone to douse the burning house and that is what POG Randy Rodriguez did, as he pitched a stellar 3.2 shutout innings to the tune of four hits, no walks, and two strikeouts. The Dominican right-hander flashed a good-looking slider and a fastball that has some running action.

Once Rodriguez was done after 51 pitches, the Grizzlies managed to score 5 more runs in the final four frames, with Luis Moreno earning four and Jorge Labrador earning the final run. Both looked gassed when they pitched their second inning of work.

Even though Berroa has an ERA of 2.79, the stat does not exactly tell the whole story. His walk rate is hovering around 14% and his xFIP (before last night’s game) is an appalling 5.38. On broadcast, he lacks the feel for pitches for most of his outing and was generally missing his spots in his first four starts of the season. Let’s see if he can hone in on his control in the coming months.

The bats were stymied by the Grizzly left-hander Breiling Eusebio, as he pitched six innings of four-hit ball with only 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. Three of those hits were harmless singles by Abdiel Layer, who is dancing to the rhythm of an OPS of 1.245. The 40th round selection in the 2018 draft is certainly off to a hot start.

On the other end of the spectrum is Jimmy Glowenke, who is abysmal in the month of May. Heading to last night’s game, Glowenke has a wRC+ of 27 (league average is 100), and for a guy who is well-known for his strike zone control and ability to make consistent contact, his walk rate is a disastrous 2.4% and a strikeout rate of 28.6%. With another 0-3 game with 3 strikeouts, the second baseman’s batting average is now .182 and an OPS of .427. If there’s a silver lining to his poor start of the season, there’s nowhere to go but up. However, we need to see the signs that he’s finally found his footing in the coming weeks.

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.