SF Giants hitting prospects week in review (6/12-6/18)

Make sure to revisit our weekly 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 Weekly Rundown: Triple-A

Notable Performers

Thairo Estrada: 4 G, 18 AB, .389 AVG, 1.061 OPS, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K
Joey Bart: 5 G, 22 AB, .364 AVG, 1.073 OPS, 1 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 7 K
Joe McCarthy: 5 G, 18 AB, .278 AVG, .965 OPS, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 2 K
Braden Bishop: 5 G, 23 AB, .261 AVG, .596 OPS, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 7 K
Bryce Johnson: 5 G, 21 AB, .238 AVG, .558 OPS, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 10 K, 1 SB

After getting called up to the bigs for three games, Thairo Estrada got sent down to Sacramento a week ago and has continued his hot hitting. It would take an injury or two for Estrada to have another crack at the MLB club, but he continues performing well at Triple-A, showing a good combination of contact ability, power, and defensive versatility.

Another week, another strong Joey Bart performance. He showed off his abilities defensively as well, throwing out two base stealers in two separate games. He’s definitely worthy of a big-league promotion even if he probably will not be getting one anytime soon.

Joe McCarthy had his 18-game hitting streak snapped in last night’s game. In June, the outfielder is hitting .380 with an OPS of 1.183 and has also tied his season-mark in home runs with his eighth bomb a couple of nights ago. He’s more than deserving to have another crack at the big leagues this year. However, without a spot on the 40-man roster, he’ll probably have to wait for a few other moves to shake out.

On the other end of the spectrum, Braden Bishop and Bryce Johnson cooled off this week. For Bishop, he is coming off a really hot first couple of weeks with the Giants organization. For Johnson, he continued to cool off after a scorching May. Johnson is batting .203 with an OPS of .542 in the month of June. The big worry is the spike in strikeouts with 23 already in just 13 games compared to 26 in 23 games in the previous month. There is still plenty of time for Johnson to bounce back as the temperature heats up though.

SF Giants Prospects Weekly Rundown: Double-A

Notable Performers

Frankie Tostado: 6 G, 23 AB, .304 AVG, .838 OPS, 1 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 8 K
David Villar: 5 G, 18 AB, .278 AVG, .825 OPS, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 5 K
Sandro Fabian: 5 G, 19 AB, .211 AVG, .513 OPS, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 6 K
Heliot Ramos: 6 G, 24 AB, .167 AVG, .536 OPS, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 BB, 7 K, 1 SB

It was a good week offensively for Frankie Tostado. The Richmond first baseman is batting .262 on the season. He has big strikeout issues, but he can hit for power on the left side and is an average defender at first base. His triple-slash is relatively unimpressive at .262/.312/.389, but given the pitcher-friendly environment in the Double-A East, Tostado is primarily holding his own. There are many examples of players putting up pedestrian numbers at Richmond before exploding onto the scene at Sacramento (e.g. Bryce Johnson).

With another home run this week, David Villar is currently tied with Vince Fernandez for the team lead in home runs with six. Villar has a bit more extreme profile than Tostado, with more power but greater contact issues. Even with a team-leading six home runs, Villar is hitting just .212/.307/.371.

Sandro Fabian has expectedly cooled off after a hot couple of weeks. With another cold week, Heliot Ramos is now batting .186 in the month of June with an OPS of .633. He has failed to record a multi-hit game so far this month and his two RBIs are the result of his two solo home runs. It is not yet the time to hit the panic button, still posting the best triple-slash on the roster at .262/.352/.434, but there probably is no rush to promote the 2017 first-round pick to Triple-A.

SF Giants Prospects Weekly Rundown: High-A

Notable Performers

Brett Auerbach: 4 G, 14 AB, .571 AVG, 1.744 OPS, 2 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
Ricardo Genoves: 5 G, 17 AB, .353 AVG, 1.300 OPS, 2 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 BB, 3 K
Luis Toribio: 5 G, 20 AB, .350 AVG, 1.085 OPS, 3 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 6 K
Luis Matos: 5 G, 21 AB, .333 AVG, .798 OPS, 1 2B, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, 4 SB
Casey Schmitt: 5 G, 21 AB, .333 AVG, 1.058 OPS, 1 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K
Alexander Canario: 5 G, 19 AB, .316 AVG, .988 OPS, 2 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 6 K, 2 SB
Garrett Frechette: 4 G, 14 AB, .143 AVG, .464 OPS, 1 2B, 0 RBI, 2 BB, 7 K

It was another great week for the San Jose bats, as the recent usual suspects (Ricardo Genoves, Luis Toribio, Alex Canario, and Casey Schmitt) continued their barrage against Low-A pitching. Also, Luis Matos was hot this week, as he is all season long. However, it was his wheels that were the highlight of this week. With four more stolen bags, he’s now swiped 13 bases on 15 attempts this season. Even though Matos does not have elite speed (grading out around 55), he is savvy on the base paths.

It is time to talk about Brett Auerbach. With a strong performance this week, he is batting .326 with a .969 OPS and nine stolen bases for the season while playing all over the field be it behind the plate, in the infield, and even the outfield. Even though he is a year older than average in Low-A, his performance should be more than enough to warrant him a promotion to High-A in the coming weeks.

Jairo Pomares was finally added to the San Jose roster this week. As a result, the three big names of the 2018 international FA class (Pomares, Matos, and Marco Luciano) are now playing for the lil’ Gigantes. Pomares missed the start of the season but now should see consistent playing time with San Jose. He hit his first home run in last night’s game, a towering shot to right field.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Garrett Frechette has swung a cold bat all season long, as he’s batting .211 in 24 games this season. His biggest issue so far is his 30% strikeout rate as he’s overmatched by breaking balls. It’s a lot of growing pains for the first baseman, but there are a couple of silver linings for the 2019 prep selection, who does have some positive batted-ball data, even if it has yet to translate into production.

We’ll have our rundown of SF Giants pitching prospects over the past week tomorrow and another set of rundowns next week.