Blake Snell led off the pre-Independence Day fireworks with nine strikeouts over five shutout innings. Meanwhile, Ismael Munguia continues to hit in Richmond, and there’s a very intriguing positional battle that’s about to happen in Sacramento with today’s well-deserved promotion. Also, some self-promotion at the end! (So sorry…)
AAA: Reno 7, Sacramento 1
Player of the Game: SP Blake Snell: 5.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K
Well, this was very nice to see with how the big league team needs starting pitching. Blake Snell had allowed a combined five runs in 4.2 innings over his previous two rehab starts, with six strikeouts to four walks.
Other Players to Spotlight:
- SS Christian Koss: 0-3, 1 K – Well, the Giants couldn’t ignore Koss’ run in Richmond, promoting him after he hit .386/.453/.627 in 25 games there. Notably, Koss was playing shortstop, which meant…
- 2B Marco Luciano: 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K – …Luciano moved to second base, his seventh game there this year and 13th overall as a pro over five seasons.
Top Prospect Lines:
- 3B Casey Schmitt: 0-4, 1 K
- CF Grant McCray: 0-3, 1 K
Other Notable Lines:
- None
AA: Richmond 9, Bowie 5
Player of the Game: 2B Alerick Soularie: 1-4, 1 R, 4 RBI, 1 HR (1), 1 E (5)
Alerick Soularie led the Richmond offense with a grand slam, for his first home run with his new team. Soularie previously had two home runs in 33 games with Double-A Wichita. He’s hitting .209/.277/.326 through 13 games with Richmond.
Other Players to Spotlight:
- LF Ismael Munguia: 3-5, 1 R, 1 RBI – In 11 Double-A games, Munguia has five multi-hit games, but this is his first 3-hit game.
- RF Jairo Pomares: 1-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR (10) – Pomares now has 10 home runs in 42 games. His season high was 20 in 77 games in 2021 between San Jose and Eugene.
- RP Kolton Ingram: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K – Ingram made his organizational debut after being claimed from the Cardinals on waivers on July 2nd. It’s his fourth minor league team and organization this season, starting with Syracuse (AAA Mets) for four games, Round Rock (AAA Rangers) for two games, then Memphis (AAAA Cardinals) for 14 games, being DFA’d and claimed off waivers for each organizational change.
Top Prospect Lines:
- None
Other Notable Lines:
- CF Carter Howell: 2-5, 1 SB (10)
- SS Will Wilson: 1-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
- RP Tanner Kiest: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K
High-A: Hillsboro 2, Eugene 1
Player of the Game: 3B Justin Wishkoski: 2-3, 1 2B (14)1 BB
Justin Wishkoski led the team in hits. His batting line rose up to .268/.357/.403 with 14 doubles, a triple, and five home runs.
Other Players to Spotlight:
- SS Diego Velasquez: 1-3, 1 R, 1 2B (18), 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS (5) – Velasquez still has a perfectly cromulent batting line of .274/.366/.396.
- 1B Bryce Eldridge: 1-4, 2 K, 1 2B (2) – Eldridge picked up his second double, and now has five strikeouts and five walks in six games.
- SP Wilkelma Castillo: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K – Castillo has been successful since getting promoted from the ACL, allowing just one run over 7.0 innings in two appearances. He had a 5.02 ERA in Arizona.
Top Prospect Lines:
- None
Other Notable Lines:
- CF Jonah Cox: 0-4, 1 K
Low-A: San Jose 4, Stockton 3
Player of the Game: 2B Justin Bench: 4-5, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 2B (10), 1 SB (2)
Justin Bench led the team in hitting and had his second career 4-hit game over 2+ pro seasons. He’s hitting .273 on the season, up from .245 in just this one game.
Other Players to Spotlight:
- 2B Elian Rayo: 2-4, 1 R, 1 K – Rayo bumped his average up to .248, the highest it’s been since late April.
- CF Wade Meckler: 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K – Meckler is 2-for-7 with a double, and three walks to one strikeout in two games since returning.
- RP Cole Hillier: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K – Hillier lowered his ERA to 3.00 through 16 relief appearances. He has 33 strikeouts to 16 walks in 33.0 innings.
Top Prospect Lines:
- None
Other Notable Lines:
- RP Junior Flores: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
- SS Ramon Peralta: 1-4, 1 K – Low-A debut for Peralta. He hit .313/.452/.542 in 24 games in the ACL, his second season there.
ACL: ACL Giants 4, ACL Guardians
Player of the Game: DH Walker Martin: 1-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (3), 3 K
Walker Martin had the big game, hitting his third home run of the season, his first since he hit two home runs back on May 27th (his only other home runs of the year. His batting line sits at .216/.372/.340.
Top Prospect Lines:
- CF Rayner Arias: 0-5, 3 K
Other Notable Lines:
- RF Jose Ortiz: 1-4, 1 K
- LF Bo Davidson: 1-3, 1 K – This is Davidson’s second rehab game, he’s 2-for-5 combined.
- PH-LF: Donovan McIntyre: 1-2, 1 2B (1), 1 K
DSL: No Games Scheduled
Personal Note:
My friend and colleague Roger Munter had me on his Podcast this week, There R Giants! He had me on to talk mostly about my experiences visiting Birmingham for the Rickwood Classic, but also other stadium talk and a few thoughts about Giants Prospects before our 30 minutes were up (boy, I wanted to talk about more, especially the upcoming artificial turf in Sacramento…).
If you’d like to give it a listen, here’s the link! And please support Roger, who is one of the best resources for Giants Minor League stuff out there!
https://rogermunter.substack.com/p/there-r-giants-pod-179-with-kevin
4 comments
Hope Snell is ready soon I feel like if he was ready to go from day one we’d be at least 5 games up
I’ll believe it when I see it with snell ones he’s back.
If Snell has his usual second half breakout (career splits below):
https://preview.redd.it/tmavfyon3gad1.png?width=814&format=png&auto=webp&s=bd25402b399794b4922765f7abc5a5436bd2fa55
I’ll eat all the crow in the world. Yum.
Thanks for the podcast link, I’ll be listening on my long walk tomorrow.
Luciano has really cooled off at the plate since his IL stint. I grimly breathe a sigh of relief any time I don’t see an E next to his name in these lines. Man, this seemed like his year to stick in the majors, but his glove really got exposed, then he got hurt.
I would love to see him put pressure on the big club again, but might not be his season. The way Ramos has taken off after seemingly floundering in AAA reminds me that it sometimes takes time, even for the most talented guys.