Minor League roundup, April 25: Mason Black is ready

Yesterday’s action on the Giants farm.

The San Francisco Giants are back in action tonight, and their four Minor League Baseball affiliates were all in action last night. So let’s talk about them!

Link to the 2024 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

All listed positions are the positions played in that game.

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News

Fangraphs just released one of my favorite annual bits of prospect literature, their list of the top 42 Giants prospects. It’s always fun to see how different people view things … in this case, some of it quite differently! There are also some important nuggets in there, such as minor injuries that are slowing down outfielder Rayner Arias (No. 5 CPL) and infielder Walker Martin (No. 7 CPL).

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AAA Sacramento (16-8)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Las Vegas Aviators (A’s) 7-1
Box score

In case you missed the news, the Giants have a hole to fill in the rotation for a few weeks, after LHP Blake Snell was placed on the 15-Day IL, and is expected to miss a handful of starts. It’s still not clear how the Giants will handle the absence of their most high-profile offseason acquisition, but one solution that would make a lot of sense would be to temporarily replace Snell with the player that he displaced.

Before the Giants signed Snell to a last-minute pillow contract, it was expected that RHP Mason Black (No. 10 CPL) would get the final spot in the rotation while we waited for Alex Cobb’s return. Black had been slotted into the preseason rotation all spring, and the coaching staff was overtly quite impressed with him. And then the reigning Cy Young winner was added to the rotation, and Black was sent to AAA Sacramento to start the season.

All that is to say, Black pitched on Thursday, and with the Giants having had an off day — with another coming on Monday — he’ll be lined up to take Snell’s spot, should the Giants go in that direction.

Perhaps more importantly, Black pitched well … as he has been doing quite a lot this season. After a slightly slow start to the night, in which he gave up hits to 2 of the first 3 batters he faced, Black settled in and was fairly dominant the rest of the night, needing just 71 pitches to cruise through 5 innings, while allowing only 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 unearned run, with 5 strikeouts. That’s an impressive line anywhere, but it’s a doubly-impressive line in the PCL on a night when the Automatic Balls and Strikes system was in action.

Black now has a 1.19 ERA on the season (Fangraphs hasn’t updated their stats to include Thursday’s game yet, but his FIP was 3.32 before the outing, so…), with 25 strikeouts to just 5 walks in 22.2 innings. It definitely seems like there’s nothing left for him to prove in AAA, he just needs something to happen to open the door … and well, well, would you look at what happened.

Sacramento only needed 2 pitchers on the night, as RHP Tommy Romero was equally successful at earned run prevention, albeit with slightly more chaotic path. Romero gave up 4 hits and 4 walks in 4 innings of work, but managed to keep runs off the board while striking out 5. Perhaps not dominant, but definitely effective, and it lowered his ERA to a delightful 2.66. It’s been a really strong year for the Minor League free agent.

On offense, the damage was done by the Minor League free agents rather than the top prospects and 40-man roster bats. Specifically it was a trio of such players who made up the back third of the lineup, but did a whole lot of damage, none more so than right fielder Yusniel Díaz, who hit 1-3 with a home run (107.8 mph!), a walk, and 2 stolen bases. What a night!

Díaz, who has 1 Major League plate appearance to his name, is probably buried a bit on the depth chart, but he’s quietly been having a really strong year for the River Cats.

Catcher Jakson Reetz and center fielder Chase Pinder reached base in all 4 of their plate appearances, with the former hitting 1-1, drawing 2 walks, and getting hit by a pitch, and the latter hitting 2-2 with a double and 2 walks. Like Díaz, they’re fairly buried on the depth chart, but impressing nonetheless. Which sometimes is all you can do!

The high-profile hitters all had mostly forgettable days, though third baseman Casey Schmitt did hit a bases-loaded double, which pushed his hitting streak up to 13 games — he has 24 hits, 9 extra-base hits, and a staggering 24 RBI during that time.

AA Richmond (9-9)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Bowie Baysox (Orioles) 9-0
Box score

Well, this was an absolute dud of a game, so really no need to linger long on it. The Flying Squirrels hitters were absolutely shut down, mustering just 2 hits while striking out a staggering 17 times. 17 times!!!

A quartet of Squirrels had a strikeout hat trick: right fielder Victor Bericoto (No. 19 CPL), center fielder Hunter Bishop, first baseman Logan Wyatt, and catcher Andy Thomas. Third baseman Luis Toribio was the only player to reach base multiple times, hitting 0-1 with 2 walks and a strikeout, while left fielder Vaun Brown (No. 17 CPL) provided the closest thing to offensive success, hitting 1-3 with a triple and a strikeout. The Giants are surely hoping for more of that from Brown, both in terms of hits and strikeout suppression: that was just his 3rd extra-base hit of the year, and he has just 2 strikeouts combined in his last 3 games, after having at least 2 strikeouts in 8 of his first 10 games.

The pitching was also bad, as starting RHP Matt Frisbee got rocked, giving up 10 baserunners and 5 runs in 3.1 innings. And unfortunately, RHP Eric Silva (No. 41 CPL) also got rocked, with 2 hits, 2 walks, a hit batter, and 4 earned runs to his name, in just 1 inning. Silva had strung together 4 great outings following a brutal season debut, so let’s hope this is just a temporary setback.

But in between Frisbee and Silva there were some strong performances, as RHPs Evan Gates and José Cruz had strong outings. Gates struck out 4 batters in 2.2 scoreless innings, allowing just a hit and a walk. That lowered his ERA to 0.96, albeit with a 4.28 FIP. His groundball rate (57.1%) and strikeouts per 9 innings (11.6) are fantastic, though his walks per 9 innings (10.6) certainly needs to come down. Cruz is also struggling with walks — he had 2 in this game in 2 no-hit innings, with 2 strikeouts, and now has 11 free passes on the year in just 6.2 innings. But he’s kept runs off the board, with a 1.35 ERA (though his FIP is a laughably-separated 7.22).

High-A Eugene (14-4)

Eugene Emeralds beat the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks) 7-6 (10 innings)
Box score

A fairly dramatic game for the Ems, who were knotted 3-3 after 9 innings, and then gave up a 3-spot in the 10th … only to walk it off in the bottom half of the inning. The walk-off hit was a single courtesy of catcher Onil Perez (No. 24 CPL), who hit 2-6 and stole his 7th base of the year, in as many attempts.

Perez is only going to keep flying up prospect lists if he keeps this up, as the 21 year old is up to a .886 OPS and a 168 wRC+, with as many walks as strikeouts. Just a fabulous start to the year for him.

Speaking of walks, center fielder Quinn McDaniel keeps drawing them by the bucketful. And he’s doing the same with stolen bases. McDaniel only hit 1-3 with a pair of strikeouts in this game, but he worked 3 walks and swiped 2 bags. The 2023 5th-round pick, who is getting time in center as well as his natural home in the middle of the infield, has a ridiculous 21.4% walk rate, which is comfortably the highest among 30 Giants prospects with at least 50 plate appearances this year. And he now has 12 stolen bases this year, which also leads the organization, while only being caught twice. Just a fantastic full-season debut for the right-handed hitter, who has a .915 OPS and a 177 wRC+.

Right fielder and MCC cult hero Tanner O’Tremba had another nice day, which he’s being doing a lot lately. He reached base 4 times, hitting 3-4 with 2 doubles and a hit by pitch, and also stole his 4th base of the year. The last week has really turned the season numbers (.967 OPS, 187 wRC+) around for TOT: after hitting just 3-19 with no extra-base hits and 9 strikeouts (albeit with 7 walks) in his first 7 games, O’Tremba has rattled off a 4-game hitting streak, hitting 7-14 with 4 extra-base hits and 4 strikeouts (albeit with 0 walks). Keep that up, Tanner!

A really nice start on the mound for RHP Manuel Mercedes (No. 37 CPL), who had easily his best game of the year, giving up just 4 baserunners and 1 run in 5 innings of work. Through his first 3 starts of the season, the 21 year old had just 6 strikeouts to 11 walks in 9.2 innings. But on Thursday, he only issued 1 free pass, while doubling his season total with 6 punchouts. A great showing for one of the best groundball-inducers in the Minor Leagues. It lowered his ERA to 4.91 and his FIP to 4.94.

LHP Matt Mikulski, who has been much improved in admittedly a tiny sample this year, had his first real stumble of the year, giving up 4 hits, 1 walk, and 2 runs in 2 innings of work, while striking out 1 batter. Mikulski’s numbers are significantly better than last year, and the 2.00 ERA and 3.12 FIP are delightful signs for someone whose ERA has lived in the 6s his whole career. But there are certainly warning signs, such as the 5 walks in 9 innings, and the 16.7% groundball rate.

Low-A San Jose (6-11)

San Jose Giants beat the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies) 7-0
Box score

After getting shut out in the first 2 games of the series, the Baby Giants returned the favor, beating Fresno 7-0. Much better!

As is usually the case in a shutout, the pitching was delightful in this game, so let’s give it a little bit of shine. The best outing came courtesy of RHP Cale Lansville, the team’s 14th-round pick in July’s draft. Lansville has done a good job limiting walks in his brief career, and this game was no different, with just 1 bases on balls given up in 4 innings, albeit with a hit batter thrown in there as well. But even more impressive was that he didn’t allow any hits in those 4 shutout innings, and struck out 5 batters. That’s a dynamic outing, and definitely a step in the right direction for someone who came into the game having allowed 20 hits, 12 runs, and 8 earned runs in just 10.2 innings of work on the year.

LHP Cesar Perdomo followed, and took a much different, and less-dominant approach, but any method for putting up donuts in the run column is a good one. Perdomo, pitching in A-Ball for the first time in his young career, gave up 4 hits and a walk in 3 innings, with just 1 strikeout. But no one scored, which kept his glistening ERA and 1.59, and his FIP at 2.68. Perdomo has been a low-walk, high-groundball hitter his whole career, and we know the Giants love those players … and have success with them!

Rounding out the shutout was RHP Cody Tucker, who put the strikeout stuff on display, whiffing 4 batters in 2 innings, while allowing a hit, a walk, and a hit batter. Tucker has been spinning the wheels a little to start the year, so let’s hope this outing jumpstarts him.

On offense, the star was left fielder Bo Davidson, who had perhaps the finest day of his young career. The left-handed hitter, signed as a free agent after going undrafted in 2023, hit 2-3 with a home run and a walk, and threw out a runner at second base for good measure. What a day! It’s been a slow start for Davidson, who has a .454 OPS and a 27 wRC+, but it’s very early.

Designated hitter Drew Cavanaugh also had a day worth smiling about, hitting 2-4 with a double. A left-handed hitting catcher drafted in the 17th round in 2023, Cavanaugh was playing in just his 5th game of the season … and tripled his hit total!

Center fielder Jonah Cox continues to swipe bags at a near-McDanielian pace, as he hit 2-5 and stole his 10th base in as many attempts. Add that to a .712 OPS and a 110 wRC+, and it sure looks like the Giants had a little thievery in getting this guy from the A’s in the Ross Stripling trade.

First baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 3 CPL) played in his 2nd game since returning from injury, and was lifted for a defensive substitution in the 8th inning after hitting 1-4 with 2 strikeouts. Let’s hope that was just a ramping up thing, and not a returning injury thing.

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Home run tracker

AAA Yusniel Díaz (3)
Low-A Bo Davidson (1)

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Friday schedule

Sacramento: vs. the Las Vegas Aviators, 6:45 p.m. PT
Richmond: vs. the Bowie Baysox, 3:35 p.m. PT
Eugene: vs. the Hillsboro Hops, 7:05 p.m. PT
San Jose: @ the Fresno Grizzlies, 7:05 p.m. PT

Reminder: Minor League games can be viewed on MLB TV.