SF Giants hitting prospects rundown (4/18-4/23)

Make sure to revisit our weekly SF Giants prospect rundowns to keep up with each of the organization’s minor-league affiliates.

SF Giants hitting prospects rundown (4/18-4/23)

If you do not feel well acclimated to the prospects throughout the farm system, you might want to revisit this year's Prospect Week articles (specifically the SF Giants 2022 prospects depth chart) or purchase the 2022 SF Giants Prospects Primer filled with scouting reports of 150 San Francisco Giants prospects from the best of the best to the unheard-of prospects. If you’re just interested in the biggest names, then the four-part2022 pre-season top 30 prospects ranking and the thought process behind the ranking is the one-stop-shop for you.

River Cats Hitting Prospects

Heliot Ramos: 6 G, 28 PA, .286 AVG, .893 OPS, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 5 BB, 3 K, 1 SB
David Villar: 5 G, 23 PA, .263 AVG, .707 OPS, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 4 BB, 4 K
Ricardo Genoves: 4 G, 16 PA, .133 AVG, .588 OPS, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 8 K

This is your weekly Heliot Ramos update. Ramos has been trending up this week especially with the walk total. Ramos now has a 16.1% walk rate against a 17.9% strikeout rate which is a positive considering his struggles with the strikeouts last season. He's been better against lefties against righties like in seasons past, where his home run that he hit this week was against Dodgers lefty Robbie Erlin. Ramos indeed needs more seasoning but he's certainly trending in the right direction.

After this week, it has been understood that David Villar is indeed human as he did not hit a homer this week compared to his torrential output on the first week and a half of the season. The encouraging thing for him is his that he's kept his strikeout in check this week while keeping a steady walk rate. His pitches per plate appearance is similar compared to last season so it was only a matter of time until his walk rate surges up once again. Villar might have cooled down but as long as he is making positive progress at the batter's box week after week, he will definitely be in the conversation as the next prospect up.

It is another trying week for Ricardo Genoves at the plate but the encouraging thing is that his only hits this week were for extra bases (double and a homer). Genoves has been splitting time with Jhonny Pereda this week behind the dish that should help Geno stay fresh as the season rolls along. It should be understood though that the full jump from Eugene to Sacramento is definitely a big one as Genoves struggled to produce with a .671 OPS, the second-lowest output of his career. The silver lining though is that he's been working the opposing pitcher better this season (career-high 4.12 pitches per plate appearance), he's showing platoon preference (higher batting average against lefties compared to righties), and the defense has been respectable

SF Giants hitting prospects rundown (4/18-4/23)

Flying Squirrels Hitting Prospects

Shane Matheny: 4 G, 12 PA, .429 AVG, 1.207 OPS, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 2 K
Tyler Fitzgerald: 5 G, 19 PA, .188 AVG, .941 OPS, 1 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 10 K
Franklin Labour: 4 G, 13 PA, .308 AVG, .923 OPS, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 0 BB, 5 K

The best performer this week for the Flying Squirrels is Shane Matheny. The 23rd-round selection from the 2017 draft is off to the best start of his professional career with a 1.143 OPS through his first nine games of the season. He's shown a much more mature plate approach this season (more walks than Ks and 4.55 pitches per plate appearance) while also playing a stout infield defense (except at short where his two errors of the season happened). Matheny has a fringe chance to make it to the big leagues as a defensive replacement but this hot start should certainly help his case.

Even though Tyler Fitzgerald only has three hits this week, all of it are for extra bases and two of which are round-trippers. The first month of the 2022 season has been rough for Fitzgerald as the strikeouts kept piling on for the middle infielder, now with a 54% strikeout rate. He's still not seeing the ball well and has not looked confident at the plate for the most part. He's done plenty of damage last season with Eugene so there is optimism that he will get over this slump.

Rounding out the Flying Squirrels rundown is Franklin Labour. There is an old saying that when it rains, it pours. That saying has been pretty much the definition of Labour's professional career. When he's swinging the bat well, he's flashing his power with his bat that has the swing path and bat speed to produce home runs as well as wreak havoc on the bases with his wheels. Let us see if Labour continues this positive trend towards the end of the month. If he can find some sort of consistency with the bat, he has fringe big-league potential with his raw tools.

Will Wilson, Diego Rincones, Brett Auerbach, and Sean Roby all had a rough second week of the season swinging the bat but there are still plenty of good stuff coming from them as the calendar flips to May.

SF Giants hitting prospects rundown (4/18-4/23)

Emeralds Hitting Prospects

Marco Luciano: 5 G, 20 PA, .316 AVG, .919 OPS, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K
Luis Toribio: 5 G, 19 PA, .333 AVG, 1.035 OPS, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K
Hunter Bishop: 5 G, 21 PA, .100 AVG, .543 OPS, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 6 K, 2 SB
Patrick Bailey: 3 G, 12 PA, .000 AVG, .083 OPS, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

It's time to pull the rabbit out of the hat and let's talk about Marco Luciano. There is no question that Luciano is off to a nice start in 2022 with a .325 batting average, a .939 OPS, four doubles, a couple of bombs, a 6.8% walk rate, and a 25% strikeout rate. Looks like Luciano's focus on getting his body ready for this season has paid off with this start. On defense, he's improved his routine plays by making cleaner throws and having better footwork but there are still issues, specifically going to his right, that might never be resolved. Luciano has often been compared to Seattle stud prospect Noelvi Marte and at this point in time, Luciano is on a much better start compared to Marte. Luciano's hot start might've been muted by the consensus being down on him after a trying 2021 season, myself included, but he and Kyle Harrison have separated themselves as the creme de la creme of the system after two weeks of play.

I was worried for Luis Toribio after he got bumped up to High-A since he had a difficult 2021 season for the San Jose Giants as he got passed by both Luciano, Matos, and Pomares on the pecking order. It did not deter Toribio to show up looking for revenge after a strong second week. It is interesting to note that Toribio did not get going last season until he got moved to play first base full-time around July. He's put up his first good stretch in the second week of the season. Toribio now has an OPS of .814 which is still worse than his Complex numbers but much better than what he's shown last season in Low-A ball.

Aside from Luis Matos, let's talk about the two prospects in the Emeralds lineup who are off to a cold start to their seasons: Hunter Bishop and Patrick Bailey. We have talked about Bishop's early-season struggles last week and he indeed hit his first two Bish Bombs of the 2022 season, but other than that, it's been nothing but pain. Bishop's SLG is only at .267, his strikeout rate is at 31.1%, and his walk rate is only at 6.7%. If I could compare his start of the season, that would be something like in football where other than a couple of splash plays, all of the plays went for zero or negative yards.

Let's finish off this one by talking about the other first-rounder. It's like we have seen this script before. Last season, Bailey struggled mightily over the couple of months of the season in Eugene as he battled with conditioning and some back issues. This season, Bailey has struggled mightily over the first couple of weeks of the season with a .395 OPS. Simply abysmal stuff where the makings of a dynamic hitter simply is not there with the way his swing and his whole body works. It's mostly hands and hips with very little use of the lower half. Yes, he's kept his strikeouts at a respectable rate, but he also has not walked much and he often gets to defensive swings in two-strike counts resulting to outs. Bart doing well in the big leagues certainly has not helped Bailey's case to being the future of the Giants at the catching position. If both Bishop and Bailey continues to show this kind of form as the calendar flips to May, it may be time to hit the panic button.