SF Giants hitting prospects rundown (5/1 - 5/7)

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 (5/1 - 5/7)

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.

With the SF Giants top 30 prospects update, I will be skipping the final week of action in terms of the stat line but still talk about the past two weeks of action.

River Cats Hitting Prospects

Kevin Padlo: 3 G, 12 PA, .250 AVG, 1.250 OPS, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 SB
David Villar: 6 G, 19 PA, .308 AVG, 1.218 OPS, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB, 1 K
Ricardo Genoves: 5 G, 19 PA, .412 AVG, 1.003 OPS, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K

What a way for Kevin Padlo to introduce himself to the Giants fanbase with a three-home game in his first week as a River Cat and was actually on the Giants big-league lineup for a couple of games against the Dodgers before getting sent back down. Originally from the Rockies organization, Padlo was sent to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2016 via trade that sent now Giants reliever Jake McGee to Colorado. Padlo bounced around the Rays organization during his time there and actually made his big league debut last season but was waived and claimed by the Mariners in August. The Giants acquired him from the Mariners last April for cash and he should provide some infield depth for the club.

There is no stopping David Villar's quest for big league opportunity and this week is no different with a strong week offensively. Villar has seen time on both third and first base but the strikeouts have crept up over the past two weeks that brought his strikeout rate to around 27%. He is still awesome with the bat with an OPS above 1.000 but let's be hopeful that the Giants front office will reward Villar's past couple of years with a big league stint because he very much deserves it.

Ricardo Genoves has looked much more comfortable in the batter's box over his past seven games with a .385 batting average, 1.005 OPS, and four doubles that brought his batting average to a more respectable .279. His .395 BABIP clearly makes his current form unsustainable but it's nice to see Genoves be more proactive with the bat and be a more comfortable defender behind the plate where his frame job stands out. His blocking and movement behind the plate also continued to look better than last season so that's another plus for him. He is now projecting to be the second man behind Joey Bart in the Giants catching organizational depth chart.

SF Giants hitting prospects rundown (5/1 - 5/7)

Flying Squirrels Hitting Prospects

Diego Rincones: 3 G, 12 PA, .083 AVG, .166 OPS, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 3 K
Franklin Labour: 6 G, 24 PA, .158 AVG, .965 OPS, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 4 BB, 11 K
Rob Emery: 4 G, 14 PA, .385, 1.126 OPS, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K

It has not been all good for the Flying Squirrels bats over the past week so we will talk about the hitters who did well over the past week. Let's start however by having a discussion with Diego Rincones. Rincones has definitely not looked like his 2021 self in terms of production. His ISO (or isolated power which explains extra-base output) is a paltry .033, a far cry from his .221 ISO from last season. The way he swings the bat is not as vigorous as before (his physique might be the reason for this) but he's still making plenty of contact (10.4% strikeout rate) which is a testament to his bat-to-ball skills. His worse physique is also evident on defense when running routes. Here's to hoping that Rincones could find his power stroke once again during the season.

Franklin Labour is such an interesting prospect to follow. His batting average is below the Mendoza line but his OPS is actually just below .700 which pretty much does not make sense for a typical hitter. Labour is not your typical hitter though as more than half of his hits went for extra bases (two doubles, a triple, and four homers) but like every all-or-nothing hitter, Labour strikes out at an astronomic rate of 43.4% which does not make sense and make you think to not consider him as a viable prospect. His tools, however, should not be denied because he can pretty much flip the outcome of the game with his tools amidst all his strikeouts.

Capping off this week's recap is Rob Emery. There are actually three prospects who play catcher for the Flying Squirrels this season and they are Brett Auerbach, Brandon Martorano, and Emery. Martorano and Emery has played the most games behind the dish as Auerbach is often deployed up the middle but has missed some time due to injury. Emery's hot week resulted to his OPS to creep up almost 200 points from .459 to .655.

SF Giants hitting prospects rundown (5/1 - 5/7)

Emeralds Hitting Prospects

Casey Schmitt: 5 G, 16 PA, .286 AVG, 1.099 OPS, 1 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K
Jairo Pomares: 6 G, 21 PA, .250 AVG, .886 OPS, 1 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 7 K
Carter Aldrete: 6 G, 17 PA, .154 AVG, .738 OPS, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 1 K

The entire Emeralds hitting corps has not swung the bat well this week so this portion might be a little short. It's just hard to generate or sustain any momentum when the weather changes constantly resulting to delays and at worst, rainouts. Casey Schmitt's strikeout rate has increased considerably from late-April onwards with a 30.4% rate resulting to a 24.7% strikeout rate this season. Nonetheless, Schmitt is the undisputed best hitter for the Emeralds this season with a .931 OPS and five homers alongside his clean defense at third base even though it's been treacherous at times with the rain making bounces off the turf field more difficult than usual.

It has not exactly been unicorns and rainbows for Jairo Pomares this season after destroying much of Low-A last season. The bad habits that Pomares was known for (free swinging tendencies, lack of penchant for drawing walks) has caught up to him early this season with his OPS looking to go below .700. The power that he was very well known for was not there for Eugene with just three homers but his slugging is in respectable .441 rate. The thing that kept dragging down his OBP is his 4.61% walk rate which is well below-average. There's an argument that Pomares could still be effective if he stuck with his free-swinging ways but we are seeing the downsides of having that kind of approach which will not sit well with the Giants hitting philosophy of working the count and drawing walks. It's safe early on to say that Pomares is in the trading block but his stock is not as high as it is due to his performance.

Even though Carter Aldrete has only hit .154, he's kept his OPS to a low but still decent .549 because half of his hits went for extra bases (two homers, two doubles). He's had a more consistent playing time since the end of April and his OPS over the past nine games since getting that playing time is a decent .796 even though his batting average is a paltry .211 over that stretch. He might be the second Sun Devil to be drafted by the Giants in the 2019 draft but he's performed better than Hunter Bishop so far this season.