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

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.