With the first month of the minor league season in the books I think that now is a good time to take a look at how things are going down on the farm.
First up the Giants position prospects (all stats are through the April 28th):
Rank
|
Name
|
PA
|
H
|
2B
|
3B
|
HR
|
BB
|
SO
|
BA
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
1
|
Gary Brown
|
99
|
18
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
8
|
13
|
0.222
|
0.330
|
0.272
|
2
|
Joe Panik
|
92
|
19
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
11
|
7
|
0.235
|
0.326
|
0.309
|
3
|
Andrew Susac
|
70
|
14
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
7
|
24
|
0.230
|
0.329
|
0.328
|
4
|
Franscico Peguero
|
86
|
17
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
5
|
12
|
0.215
|
0.256
|
0.354
|
6
|
Tommy Joesph
|
71
|
15
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
12
|
0.227
|
0.268
|
0.333
|
8
|
Hector Sanchez
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
10
|
Jarrett Parker
|
79
|
13
|
3
|
2
|
4
|
12
|
33
|
0.203
|
0.342
|
0.500
|
11
|
Ehire Adrianza
|
88
|
17
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
13
|
14
|
0.233
|
0.345
|
0.260
|
14
|
Adam Duvall
|
96
|
20
|
4
|
1
|
3
|
4
|
25
|
0.227
|
0.281
|
0.398
|
18
|
Shawn Payne
|
56
|
17
|
4
|
1
|
1
|
8
|
10
|
0.370
|
0.482
|
0.565
|
19
|
Chuckie Jones
|
71
|
6
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
37
|
0.090
|
0.141
|
0.179
|
That's a pretty ugly list. It looks like there are quite a bit of early struggles (good thing they aren't playing for the big league team because they would be finding a spot on the bench to keep warm) but there is time for all of these guys to recover.
The big stand outs offensively are Jarrett Parker (who is repeating the level in San Jose right now) and Shawn Payne in Augusta. Payne is a bit old for his level but he has some very interesting tools, with his great athleticism. The thing that makes me really like him is his walk rate 14.3% against a very respectable strike out rate 17.9%, it will be interesting to see how the Giants treat him as the season moves along.
The Giants top 2 prospects, Gary Brown and Joe Panik are off to a slow starts, but the nice thing to see is that even with batting averages in the low 200's they have both found ways to get on base at around league average rates. Neither is hitting for much power but I think that will come as they get used to the level and make adjustments.
One guy who is off to a real hot start that isn't on the list that might be someone to look out for is Roger Kieschnick. Kieschnick was regarded as a prospect a few years back but injuries and struggles in AA took a bit of his sheen off. Well now he is raking in Fresno (all PCL need to be taken with a grain of salt) and the power that he is always shown is there in a big way with an early season slugging percentage north of .600. He still doesn't walk too much and can put up big strike out numbers as well, but if he is healthy he could provide some pop as a left fielder.
Now the pitching prospects (all stats are through the April 28th):
Rank
|
Name
|
IP
|
ERA
|
FIP
|
GB%
|
K%
|
BB%
|
HR/9
|
BB/9
|
K/9
|
5
|
Eric Surkamp
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
7
|
Kyle Crick
|
12
|
3.09
|
5.17
|
61%
|
20%
|
22%
|
0
|
9.26
|
8.49
|
9
|
Heath Hembree
|
8
|
2.25
|
4.33
|
48%
|
16%
|
6%
|
1.13
|
2.25
|
5.63
|
12
|
Adalberto Mejia
|
8
|
13
|
6.44
|
37%
|
4%
|
15%
|
1.08
|
7.56
|
2.16
|
13
|
Clayton Blackburn
|
18
|
2.95
|
2.49
|
56%
|
24%
|
6%
|
0
|
2.45
|
9.82
|
15
|
Michael Kickham
|
18
|
2.55
|
4.11
|
44%
|
20%
|
15%
|
0.51
|
5.6
|
7.64
|
16
|
Seth Rosin
|
7
|
1.23
|
2.25
|
6%
|
41%
|
6%
|
1.23
|
2.45
|
15.95
|
17
|
Joshua Osich
|
7
|
0
|
1.55
|
33%
|
27%
|
4%
|
0
|
1.35
|
9.45
|
20
|
Jacob Dunnington
|
12
|
6.57
|
2.55
|
48%
|
18%
|
9%
|
0
|
3.65
|
7.3
|
The pitchers have gotten off to a much better start than the batters. Maybe it is a case that early in the season the pitching just being ahead of the hitting and with the warmer summer weather things will balance out a bit. Anyway something to keep an eye on.
The big thing that is nice to see is that a good portion of the pitchers have k rates above 20%, with Seth Rosin leading the way with an obscene 41% rate in his 7 inning pitched. The guy that is really impressing me right now is Clayton Blackburn who excelling in Augusta, he signed out of high school so he is still young but he seems to have good command (so/bb of 4) and a nice sinking fastball that has gotten a good amount of ground balls (56%), I am excited to see how he progresses.
The one early concern is Adalberto Mejia who made the jump from the DSL straight to low A Augusta. That was a pretty aggressive promotion for a guy who had yet to pitch in the US and is the 10th youngest guy in the league. So far he has struggled pretty bad, but he has improved over his last few games he has 2.3 innings pitched with 3 strikeouts and just one walk. Hopefully that is a sign is making some adjustments.
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