SF Giants pitching prospects week in review (8/22-8/28)

SF Giants Prospects Weekly Rundown: High-A

Notable Performers

Ryan Murphy: 1 G, 1 GS, 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 8 K, 3.60 ERA
Jasiel Herrera: 1 G, 4.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 0.00 ERA
Aaron Phillips: 1 G, 1 GS, 1 W, 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R (3 ER), 1 BB, 6 K, 3.86 ERA
Blake Rivera: 1 G, 1 GS, 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 1 K, 9.00 ERA

Ryan Murphy did not pitch his best game this week for the Emeralds, but if he is this effective when he is not at his absolute best then it’s a good sign of things to come. With 13 induced swings and misses against the Dust Devils, Murphy extended his active streak of inducing double-digit whiffs per start to 10 and he continues to lead the minors in strikeouts this season with 153. Murphy has a fantastic 1.65 ERA for Eugene.

Jasier Herrera was at his best last night with a dominant relief appearance following a short start from Kai-Wei Teng. After stopping the bleeding by inducing two crucial outs to stop the bleeding. He then pitched four dominant innings with only two harmless singles and a season-high eight strikeouts. Herrera is on a roll this month with a 1.46 ERA in 12.1 innings of work with a 17:2 strikeout to walk ratio.

In a rather surprising decision, the Giants brass decided to release Aaron Phillips a day after pitching a season-high matching seven innings of three-run baseball. Phillips has not had a good 2021 for the Emeralds with a 7.06 ERA and only 48 strikeouts in 72.2 innings pitched across 16 starts which is a sharp decline compared to his previous two full seasons where he logged triple-digit strikeout totals. It was surprising that they released him after a solid start. I am wishing the best for Phillips in his future endeavors.

A couple of pitchers got added to the Emeralds pitching staff following the release of Phillips. The first is Nick Morreale who pitched well at the start of the season before going down with an injury. The second is Blake Rivera where he is three months behind schedule after suffering a shoulder injury. The first start in High-A for Rivera was not pretty but it was nice to see him back. Reports from Arizona are that his swing-and-miss stuff is still there. He would be an interesting follow towards the end of the season.