San Francisco Giants: Minor League Thoughts On The San Jose Giants
As usual, the San Francisco Giants have a wealth of talented prospects available to them in the minors. After a few in-person viewings of their minor league affiliate in the California League (Lo-A), San Jose Giants, I can assure you the 2022 roster is way behind that of the 2021 roster (which is now mostly situated at Hi-A Euguene)in terms of offensive (and superstar) talent. Does that mean the Giants don’t have any talented prospects in San Jose worth talking about? Absolutely not.
I’d like to start out with Aeverson Arteaga. In terms of offensive prospects, Arteaga is the highest-ranked in San Jose. He’s a SS signee from the international ranks. The Giants do have Marco Luciano (a top-10 prospect in baseball) currently projected as the SS of the future in Eugene. Thus, Arteaga is sort of lost in the shortstop shuffle.
Arteaga does not possess anywhere near the offensive upside of Luciano. Arteaga struggled with the breaking pitches. He’s also very prone to the swing and miss. While that can be addressed in the lower levels of the minors (Luciano has some of the same issues). My main concern is that Artega isn’t making contact. Either he takes a swinging strike, or the contact he does make is a weak tap. If you’re looking for that Luciano power, you’ll not find it here. On the bright side, Artega is a much more refined SS than Luciano. He’s a lot better defensively.
More Minor League Baseball: The Unfortunate Truth About Sean Hjelle
The San Francisco Giants have a few other quality hitting prospect at San Jose. While I won’t highlight them too much, Adrian Sugastey (Catcher), Grant McCray, (Outfield) and Vaun Brown (Outfield) are all players with solid hit tools. McCray has me the most intrigued. He’s a blend of power and pure contact. He’s likely the one Giant prospect in San Jose who’s a realistic threat to steal 25 or more bases at the major league level.
The Giants are known for developing pitchers. One player I got to see a bit of was Eric Silva (4th rnd, 2021). High school arms are always hard to predict. While Silva isn’t anywhere near the prospect of top pitching prospect, and former high school draftee, Kyle Harrison, he’s an intriguing enough name to get behind for the future.
My first live viewing of Silva was a mixed bag. He’s got a very decent chance of developing his slider into a plus-plus offering. Right now, it tends to be more of a slurve and doesn’t have consistent break. The changeup, while solid, doesn’t have a consistent decrease in velocity from the fastball. Ironically, the change-up seemed to be his most effective offering. He will need to work on the other pitches (and differentiate the fastball and change). Silva does also possess some control issues (apparent as the game goes on).
Let’s talk about 2021 1st rnd pick, Will Bednar. Outside of Kyle Harrison, Bednar might have the best slider in the Giants organization. The pitch seemed almost unhittable against the Stockon Ports. He threw 3 against Ports leadoff hitter, Denzel Clarke ( who made contact with none). The slider breaks really late in the zone. The fastball was arguably the worst pitch he threw during my time watching him. The fastball isn’t a bad offering, however, the slider is his bread and butter.
As I mentioned before, this San Jose team is nowhere near what last years team was. While there are more pitchers that have ace potential, I’d argue Kyle Harrison has more of a superstar profile than any of Bednar, Silva, and Matt Mikulski. The hitting, that’s the real issue. There is not a star among this group in San Jose. McCray is the one I belive could challenge for an All-Star team in the future, however, we shouldn’t expect MVP consideration that the like of Luis Matos, Marco Luciano, Jairo Pomares, and Brett Auerbach flashed on last year’s San Jose roster. Still, the Giants development system is one of the best in baseball. If anyone is to make diamonds out of rocks, it’s this organization.
Image Source: George Walker IV / The Tennessean
Daniel is a guru of baseball and basketball prospects. He’s a very experienced Amusement Park traveler as well. Follow him and his hot takes on Insta @dgentleman9288
