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SF Giants hitting prospects rundown (4/5 - 4/17)

By Wrenzie Regodon |
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The man. / USA TODAY NETWORK
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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 (4/5 - 4/17)

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-part 2022 pre-season top 30 prospects ranking and the thought process behind the ranking is the one-stop-shop for you.

I'm here to recap the happenings on the hitting front throughout the first week of the 2022 Minor League regular season.

River Cats Hitting Prospects

David Villar: 9 G, 40 PA, .303 AVG, 1.183 OPS, 5 HR, 16 RBI, 7 BB, 13 K
Heliot Ramos: 6 G, 28 PA, .250 AVG, .774 OPS, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 7 K
Luis Gonzalez: 9 G, 44 PA, .278 AVG, .881 OPS, 1 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 8 BB, 9 K, 3 SB
Ricardo Genoves: 8 G, 34 PA, .258 AVG, .711 OPS, 1 2B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 3 BB, 10 K

Looks like David Villar took things personally when the Giants curiously did not add him to the 40-man roster to protect him in the Rule 5 Draft and probably thought to himself "fine, I'll do it myself" with this superb start of the season. Villar has been a full-blown three-true-outcomes behemoth as 62.5% of his plate appearances have been either a home run, a walk, or a strikeout. His 32.5% strikeout rate should not be ignored, but if he can continue producing like this which I think he could considering his present BABIP of .333 is somewhere along the lines of his previous numbers, he will definitely force his way into the 40-man roster and into some big league playing time.

Speaking of the 40-man roster, do you know who's on the 40-man roster? That's right, it's Heliot Ramos. We all know why he only played six games for the River Cats. I am excited about what he can do in his second lick of the PCL. I could definitely see Heliot in an everyday/platoon-type role a la Austin Slater where he will be a staple of the lineup against lefties (.908 OPS last year versus lefties) while being capable to play in center field which is very nice. Against lefties though, he might see sporadic playing time (.675 OPS last year versus righties) so having a consistent performance against either handedness will be crucial for him.

Even though he already reached the big leagues in 2020, Luis Gonzalez is still very well a prospect. His four-hit game, where he also hit a walk-off single, against Sugar Land is boosting the numbers for him in the early going. Gonzalez embodies a lot of the hallmarks that the current regime is looking for in a hitter. He gets on base (.409 OBP), he works the count (4.3 pitches per plate appearance, and he can provide a little bit of everything (play good outfield defense, steal some bases, hit some home runs). Other than Joc Pederson and Steven Duggar, there are not a whole lot of lefty bats in the big league roster and if one of the two ever gets hurt, I expect Gonzalez to be in the fold.

Let's cap off the River Cats rundown with their catcher Ricardo Genoves. I was initially surprised when they announced that Genoves will start the season in Sacramento instead of Richmond because he did not really perform well in Eugene and the front office signed Jhonny Pereda to supposedly be the starting catcher for the River Cats. However, that's not the case as Genoves has been getting the bulk of playing time behind the plate and though the offensive performance is not exceptional as expected, his defense behind the plate is much improved as he only allowed just one passed ball so far. The opponents are testing his arm though and are doing so successfully (3/3 stolen base attempts against him). It will be interesting if Genoves will hold up offensively throughout the season or his struggles will prompt a switch between him and Brett Auerbach.

/ Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

SF Giants hitting prospects rundown (4/5 - 4/17)

Flying Squirrels Hitting Prospects

Sean Roby: 7 G, 31 PA, .400 AVG, 1.636 OPS, 6 HR, 11 RBI, 6 BB, 10 K
Brett Auerbach: 7 G, 35 PA, .333 AVG, .962 OPS, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 5 BB, 8 K, 2 SB
Will Wilson: 7 G, 35 PA, .250 AVG, .793 OPS, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 7 BB, 9 K
Tyler Fitzgerald: 7 G, 31 PA, .111 AVG, .342 OPS, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 17 K, 1 SB

Do you know what's better than five home runs? How about six? That's exactly what Sean Roby did in the first week of the 2022 season. What made the feat more incredible is that he did not only hit more home runs than Villar but he also did it while playing two fewer games in an extreme pitcher-friendly ballpark! The Diamond is notorious for killing flyballs but Roby made it look like the Great American Ball Park with his power performance. Those six homers were not cheapies either. He hit one off the scoreboard which is a very rare feat to do and all of his six homers had more than 400 feet of estimated distance. Yes, the strikeouts are concerning as well, but if he can produce, people will look past that. The single-season record for home runs in a season for the Flying Squirrels was set last season by Villar with 20 and Roby is already more than a quarter through. There's a big shot that Roby will shatter that record and he's already back inside my top 30 prospect as a result.

It is a well-deserved Prospect of the Week for Roby, but our king Brett Auerbach is too shabby, either. He's basically doing Brett Auerbach things once again. He's played multiple positions in the field (two games behind the plate, three games at second base, one game at third base, two games at center field), and he's already doing a little bit of everything while keeping his peripherals in check. I was actually thinking of what kind of Auerbach should show up offensively because he showed that he can mainly hit for contact with San Jose and mainly hit for power with Eugene. We are seeing that he is meshing those two together in a beautiful way and it's wonderful. Let's all enjoy Brett Auerbach while he's still being severely underrated by the people who do not exclusively cover the Giants.

The final hitter who has a strong-looking first week is Will Wilson. As we all know, Wilson spectacularly face-planted when he got to Richmond and there are a lot of reasons for that but it is mainly simplified as not being able to make contact with the ball. Our very own Jeff Young interviewed him during Spring Training and Wilson talked about doing more baseball-related strength training to help translate his work off the field to actual in-game performance. So far, so good. He's still pretty aggressive in the batter's box but he's been taking walks better and he looks more athletic in the dirt defensively. Let's see if it can continue as the season rolls along.

On the unfortunate side of things, Tyler Fitzgerald is off to a horrendous start to his 2022 season with a 55% strikeout rate. Whenever I watch his plate appearances, he's plainly not seeing the ball well out of the pitcher's hand. Fitzgerald came into the 2022 season as one of the most reliable hitters in the Emeralds lineup last season but it's tough times for the middle infield prospect to begin his Flying Squirrels career. Good thing there's plenty of time to turn things around.

/ USA TODAY NETWORK

SF Giants hitting prospects rundown (4/5 - 4/17)

Emeralds Hitting Prospects

Casey Schmitt: 6 G, 21 PA, .389 AVG, 1.087 OPS, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 2 K
Armani Smith: 7 G, 24 PA, .316 AVG, 1.090 OPS, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 6 K, 1 SB
Hunter Bishop: 6 G, 24 PA, .136 AVG, .344 OPS, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 BB, 8 K
Luis Matos: 6 G, 25 PA, .160 AVG, .320 OPS, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 SB

Ha, alright let's start off with one of my favorites, Casey Schmitt. The 2020 second-round draft choice might just be the most underrated prospect in the organization last season as I've seen numerous listings by the big publications and even Giants beat writers listing him in the 20s which in my opinion is unacceptable. I'll expand into this notion on a bigger scale on a post in the near future. His start this season could not be even better. He's working the count very well, he's making tons of contact, he's not striking out, and his defense has always been top-of-the-shelf. It's very nice to see someone you are high on start off the 2022 season on the right foot and I hope that he can continue doing what he is doing throughout the course of the season.

Another one who is off to a great start this season is Armani Smith. Smith is a returnee to the squad after struggling towards the second-half of the season with the general swing and miss and his body potentially breaking down. That resulted to him coming back to Eugene with the opportunity to prove that he belongs into the conversation as one of the 30 best prospects in the organization. After the first week of play, it looks like he is on a mission to do so. He looks like the guy that we've seen torch Low-A ball in the first half of the season. I have no questions about the prospect except whether he can hold his performance through the second half of the season.

Let's now talk a couple of prospects who forgot to put the saddle on the horse after the first week of play. First off is Hunter Bishop. Bishop just does not look good at the box. He's getting blown by fastballs quite a lot, he's hitting lots of pulled groundball outs, he's also unlucky at times with the BABIP gods, etc. Overall, he's just do not look good. We can always say the "chalk up the rust" notion for him but when is the right time to say that it's just not rust anymore and it's just say that he just doesn't have it? Definitely not right now and there is a possibility that his bat warms up as the weather warms up as well, but he just does not look good out there at the moment.

The other prospect that is struggling mightily after the first week of play is Luis Matos. Unlike Bishop, Matos does not have any concerns with his ability to hit especially after last season's performance. However, his first-week struggles is reminiscent of his late-season slump, the first notable slump, of his pro career. He's not doing anything out of the ordinary in terms of his approach and his swing, it's just that he's not putting the sweet spot of the bat on the ball. The impact of his contact-heavy approach is being felt though as he provides close to nothing offensively if he can't hit. It's probably the best time to recalibrate his eyes, remove the sandbags on his arms, and start barreling the ball. It's not really a huge concern at the moment but is something definitely to keep an eye on.

/ Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

SF Giants hitting prospects rundown (4/5 - 4/17)

SJ Giants Hitting Prospects

Dilan Rosario: 6 G, 26 PA, .350 AVG, .900 OPS, 1 2B, 6 RBI, 5 BB, 6 K, 1 SB
Adrian Sugastey: 7 G, 30 PA, .250 AVG, .858 OPS, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 5 BB, 6 K
Grant McCray: 6 G, 27 PA, .200 AVG, .770 OPS, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 6 BB, 5 K, 1 SB
Aeverson Arteaga: 7 G, 32 PA, .231 AVG, .721 OPS, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 5 BB, 12 K, 1 SB

The best-looking hitter so far through the first week has been Dilan Rosario. Rosario is a sixth-round draft choice by the Giants in 2019 from the same school that Heliot Ramos once called his home, Leadership Christian Academy. Rosario struggled mightily on the offensive side of the ball in his two seasons of Complex ball, never having an OPS above .625. So what makes the Rosario of 2022 different to the Rosario of last season and 2019? It all boiled down to the approach and the swing. He's had more of a feast or famine approach and swing in Arizona with a corresponding swing and the exit velocities. This year though, he's looked to have more of a line-drive swing and it's worked very well for him. He's primarily played second base this season but he's also played some shortstop when Arteaga is resting or played DH. It's a nice start for Rosario and it's helped him to put himself back to the minds of the prospect community.

The next prospect whose doing well at the start of the season is one of their top young position prospect Adrian Sugastey. Sugastey is kind of what I expected so far this season. He's hit for a good average, he's not trying to do too much in two-strike counts, he's looking to do damage in favorable counts, and his play behind the dish looks good. The only qualm against him is that he's getting beat by sequencing at times but that's what's really expected. I expect his numbers to be better and be one of the best hitters in the California League by the end of the season.

Grant McCray's not really doing damage in terms of the batting average but his peripherals tell us that he's buying into the philosophies of the coaching staff. He's taking his walks, he's working the count well, he's utilizing his plus speed when he makes contact with his extra-base hits, and he's playing very good defense in the outfield. He might eventually be a prospect with three above-average tools in his speed, arm, and defense, an average power, and a below-average bat, but that kind of profile tends to make the big leagues as long as the production is consistent. McCray's shown that he's very coachable and that gives me plenty of hope that he will eventually be a strong producer with the bat as the season rolls along.

To cap off this week's hitters rundown, let's talk about Aeverson Arteaga. I'll be honest here that I'm kind of disappointed with his start of the season. Not really because of the high strikeout numbers (37.5% strikeout rate) but where do the issues lie. First off, he's really struggled to hit breaking balls, particularly sliders away from him, over the first week of the season like it's clockwork. The next issue is that his internal clock on defense is still not there. He will be there on the play but he will tend to rush things or lack focus and bobble the ball and allow the runner to get on base instead of getting outs. Those things are concerning for me because those things are not something that you can fix overnight. That's something that takes plenty of reps and I thought that Arteaga would take the jump on both sides of the ball this season. Apparently, it is not the case. Unless he suddenly flips out a much improved hitting approach within the next week or so, I think this will be the Arteaga that we will see for quite some time. He's still very talented though so the chances are he will fix this issues but it's best to temper expectations right now.

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