Sacramento River Cats & SF Giants Press Clips Wednesday, APRIL 19, 2017

Transcription

1 Sacramento River Cats & SF Giants Press Clips Wednesday, APRIL 19, 2017 Article Source Author Page River Cats bats fall silent in 8-2 loss to Bees River Cats Staff 1 Pick your personal minor-league hope of the 2017 Giants McCovey Chronicles Brisbee 1 Down on the Farm: Morse plays left, goes hitless in first rehab game NBCS Bay Area Johnson 3 Giants draft well, but where are the outfielders? SF Chronicle Jenkins 5 Cain Rewards Bochy s faith, Giants outlast Royals in 11 innings Mercury News Baggarly 6 Report: Angel Pagan taking the 2017 season off CSN Bay Area Pavlovic 9

2 River Cats bats fall silent in 8-2 loss to bees By Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats (5-7) were first on the board Tuesday night but it was the Salt Lake Bees (7-6) who came out on top 8-2 in the series opener. Shortstop Christian Arroyo extended his hitting streak to 11 games in his very first at bat by launching a solo home run to the opposite field, giving the home team a 1-0 lead. It was all Salt Lake after that however, as the Bees scored all eight of their runs from the third inning on while outhitting the River Cats Sacramento starter Dan Slania picked up the loss, his second of the year and second against Salt Lake. The River Cats will hand the ball to right-hander Tyler Beede (1-0, 6.30) tomorrow night for his third start of the year. Beede will square off against Bees right-hander Troy Scribner (1-0, 0.00). First pitch is set for 7:05 pm (PT) and the game can be heard live online at rivercats.com and on the air on ESPN Postgame Notes Quote of the Night: "Behind the plate, I felt good. I felt better behind the plate than in the box, just first time in a live game under the lights in a while." -Trevor Brown on his first rehab game. Arroyo again: Christian Arroyo stole the headlines once again tonight, hitting his second home run of the season while going 1-for-4 the 21-year-old leads the PCL with a.442 batting average and leads the team with 12 runs, five more than the next closest player. Brown is back: Catcher Trevor Brown made his first rehab appearance with the River Cats tonight, going 1-for-3 with his lone hit coming on a bloop single in the seventh inning he also threw out a baserunner attempting to steal. Round two: Dan Slania faced the Salt Lakes Bees for the second time this season went five innings, giving up four runs on five hits while walking three and set a River Cats season-high with eight strikeouts. Ryder in a groove: Third baseman Ryder Jones continued his tear since joining the team on April 16 Jones registered his first RBI tonight is now hitting.385. Pick your personal minor-league hope of the 2017 Giants By: Grant Brisbee, McCovey Chronicles When I feel overwhelmed by the size of Major League Baseball there are 750 active major leaguers right now, with another 250 getting regularly shuffled up and down I remember that the poor folks covering the minor leagues have it worse. There are so, so, so many minorleague baseball players. It s how Pablo Sandoval can miss a top-30 list of Giants prospects months before he leapt up from A-ball and destroyed the National League. That s why I leave the bulk of the minor-league lifting to Roger over here. He knows what s going on. Read him.

3 However, I m sure a lot of you follow the minors in at least some capacity. You ve heard of Christian Arroyo or Tyler Beede, for example. You might know that Jose Vizcaino s kid is in the Giants organization now. And I want you to chime in with your biggest minor-league hope of Pick a player you want to succeed above all others because of what that would mean for the Giants short- or long-term plans. For example, I might have written this last year: PLEASE. JUST ONE OUTFIELDER. THAT S ALL I ASK. IT FEELS LIKE I M LIVING IN SOMEONE ELSE S SIMULATION, AND THEY RE JUST MESSING WITH ME AT THIS POINT. But I m pretty comfortable that at least one of the current young outfielders will continue to provide hope for the future, so I ll use my pick on someone else. Kyle Crick shouldn t realistically be expected to help the Giants in That is, if you re being rational and cautious, it s enough to hope for incremental improvements and steps in the right direction. Not only that, but Crick recently suffered a concussion after taking a line drive to the head while watching from the dugout, so his odds got even longer. Best of luck to him on a speedy recovery. However, this isn t about realistic. This is about hopes and crossed fingers. And I have about a dozen innings here that support these hopes. My dream is Kyle Crick turning into a dominant reliever for the 2017 Giants. First, back up and recall what Crick s path has been so far. He was a top prospect in the organization and one of the most coveted right-handed pitching prospects in baseball, ranking in the top 40 of every prospect list before the 2014 season. He was raw, and he would need to iron out some of the wrinkles, but the stuff was just too good to ignore. Then he ironed more wrinkles in. Then he dropped the iron on his foot. Then he left the house to find some ice, and the iron caught the house on fire. In 2015, he walked 66 batters in 63 innings, which is hard to fathom. He cut that rate to 5.5 walks per nine innings in 2016, but his strikeout rate cratered at the same time. All the while, his stuff was super stuffy. Remember this video from 2013? The velocity and breaking balls are the same in 2017, for the most part. You can see the potential. You can dream on it. Then you look at the walk rate, gasp, and shudder. I ll bet Nick Neugebauer has good stuff right now, too. Stuff might not even be half the battle. That s why I was intrigued with Crick s spring training. Of course, not only do small-sample warnings apply, but spring-stats-are-trash warnings apply. Still, he looked great, walking just three of the 35 batters he faced in relief, while striking out nine of them and allowing a run. The Giants challenged him with a promotion to Triple-A after three seasons in Richmond. Maybe that was because they wanted him to have a change of scenery. Maybe it was because they were impressed with his outings in the spring. Either way, he responded well in three outings, striking out five in four innings without allowing a walk. He even picked up a save. While the Giants experimented with Crick in relief in 2015, that might have been because they had no idea what else to do, and they let him start again the next season. It looks like the move

4 to the bullpen is more of a long-term solution now, which is what scouts and prospect writers have been suggesting for years. My dream is that everything just... cricks into place. Ha ha, a little prospect humor there, folks. But, no, sometimes pitchers find success in the bullpen that eluded them in the rotation. Maybe it s a difference in preparation, or maybe they re just better suited to facing anxious hitters in late-game situations. The overnight-success phenomenon happens more with converted starters, at least anecdotally. One of my favorite Baseball-Reference pages belongs to Jeff Nelson, who was a successful right-handed reliever in the majors for 15 seasons. He was drafted out of high school by the Dodgers in 1984, and when he was 19, he walked 87 batters in 73 innings. He would eventually whittle that walk rate down to 5.2 walks for every nine innings he pitched in Double-A, which still isn t very good. There are a lot of pitchers with great stuff who never make the majors because they can t throw strikes, and Nelson was clearly one of them. Then he moved to the bullpen and his control improved. Or maybe the control didn t improve, but his new role suited his wildness better. Regardless, Nelson moved up to Triple-A and reached the majors when he was 25. He pitched well enough to become one of the rare middlerelief All-Stars in major league history. The situations are different on more than a couple of levels. For example, Nelson pitched like this: His lack of control had a lot to do with the wacky movement, which made him almost like a knuckleballer. And in his 30s, he became a wobbly, maddening walk machine again, even as he continued to find success, so it s not like this is a Randy Johnson-like retelling of The Boy Who Learned How To Throw Strikes. It s just a story of a dude who couldn t hit a target if Mickey Hatcher were catching and still ended up with a very successful career. This is my dream for Crick, and the fast start helps validate this because I want it to. It s a small sample size, and moving struggling starting pitchers to the bullpen isn t always magic. But it wouldn t be that strange in a post-vogelsong world, right? A live-armed pitcher and his gnarly fastball/curve combination finding a permanent home in the bullpen? It makes perfect sense to me. That s my prospect hope. Please, before you talk about your stupid lunch, humor me with a pick of your own. Bryan Reynolds zooming all the way to a September call-up? Chris Shaw hitting.350? Tyler Beede developing into a rotation fixture? Ryan Lollis winning the NLCS MVP? There aren t any wrong answers, here. Just beautiful prospect dreams. Down on the Farm: Morse Plays Left, Goes Hitless in First Rehab Game By: Dalton Johnson, NBCS Bay Area Michael Morse was back on the field in a Giants uniform for the first time in nearly a month Tuesday night. Well, that is, a San Jose Giants uniform in Advanced Single-A.

5 Morse, 35, began his rehab assignment after straining his hamstring rounding first base in spring training on March 20. It s really too bad for him. He was doing all he needed to do to make the club. It s a shame, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said at the time of the injury. Morse went 0-for-2 with a walk, a strikeout and a run scored Tuesday in San Jose as the Giants took down the Salt Lake Bees, 3-2. Most interestingly, he played left field for seven innings and caught the only ball hit his way. In his first at-bat back in action, Morse drew a walk and later scored on a Dillon Dobson liner to center, which also plated catcher Aramis Garcia, scoring all the Giants runs for the game in the first inning alone. Morse's strikeout came on a called strike three in his next time up, but he showed promise with his final at-bat. At the plate in the bottom of the fifth with Giants 2016 first-round pick Bryan Reynolds at first, Morse rocketed a line shot to third. Unfortunately, it was snagged and resulted in a double play. Morse was replaced defensively in the top of the eighth inning by Daniel Carbonell. In spring training, Morse impressed Bochy with his bat as well as his glove and fitness I think, not just the way he was swinging the bat, but he was playing a good first base and I put him in the outfield, Bochy said. I think he was moving around well. He came into camp in tremendous shape. That should show him he still has some baseball left. Good baseball. Morse played in 14 games for the Giants in spring training, spending time at both first base and left field. He hit.258 with a.343 on-base percentage and.516 slugging percentage while knocking out two home runs. I proved to myself that I can still play, Morse said the day after his injury. And I proved to myself yesterday that I m not really a fast runner. The last time Morse played in the majors, he went hitless suiting up in six games for the Pirates in He also has not played in left field since 2015, where he made no errors in 35 innings for the Marlins. Morse proved he can still play in spring training. Now he must prove he can stay healthy to be that spark he was for the Giants again, just like back in And it all starts down on the farm in San Jose. Around The Horn Morse isn t the only veteran outfielder for the Giants in the minors looking to make it back up to the bigs. Drew Stubbs, 32, has only played in five games for the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats and already has 10 strikeouts. He is improving though, going 4-for-10 in his last two games. Justin Ruggiano, 35, is also in the outfield mix for the River Cats. He has struggled so far, hitting only.214 with 10 strikeouts in eight games. The Christian Arroyo hit parade continues in Sacramento. Arroyo belted his second home run of the season Tuesday night and now has an 11-game hit streak. At 21 years old, he is batting.442, which leads the Pacific Coast League.

6 Last week, Aramis Garcia was named to the MLB Pipeline Prospect Team of the Week. After missing much of the season injured in 2016, Garcia, 24, is hitting.341/.386/.610 with three home runs and 13 RBI in nine games. Giants draft well, but where are the outfielders? By: Bruce Jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle On a June day in 1977, the Giants drafted a high school player named Charles Chili Davis. He came from Dorsey High in Los Angeles. And it was the type of move that had become quite familiar to Giants fans. A solid outfielder and good hitter, Davis proved to be everything the franchise expected. No one could have anticipated that it marked a startling dead end for the Giants outfield development. This isn t a sad story, because the Giants drafted their way to a World Series appearance in 1989 and three world championships in China Basin. They are renowned for their scouting instincts, and they appear to have a couple of intriguing prospects in recent No. 1 draft picks Christian Arroyo (2013) and Tyler Beede (2014). But they haven t signed and developed a star outfielder in 40 years. Davis, who spent the first seven of his 19 big-league seasons in San Francisco, was the last one. And though nobody s panicking about the club s slow start, the issue comes into play with so many questions to be answered about the team s left-field deployment. Whether it s the disabled (Jarrett Parker), the injured (Michael Morse, Mac Williamson), the wayward (Melvin Upton Jr., Justin Ruggiano, Drew Stubbs), the promising (Austin Slater, Jae-gyun Hwang) or 11- year minor-leaguer Chris Marrero, the Giants fear they don t have a left fielder who measures up to big-league standards on a contending team. Right now, it s a weakness, general manager Bobby Evans said Tuesday morning before boarding a flight to Kansas City, where the Giants opened a two-game series. We knew going in we wouldn t have any guarantees there, and there would be the risk of struggles. We hope to turn it into a position of strength, and there s no doubt Parker s injury (broken collarbone) was a setback. But we re not 5-9 because of left field. We have veteran leadership at every one of the other seven positions, plus the rotation and the closer. We re 5-9 as a team. For those who have followed the Giants over the decades, it s a bit unsettling to ponder an outfield that isn t methodically destroying the opposition. That was the franchise s identity from the moment it began play in San Francisco in Through the early 1960s, it wasn t just the formidable presence of Willie Mays, or the agonizing decision over whether to play future Hall of Famers Willie McCovey or Orlando Cepeda in left field. The Giants routinely had professional hitters on the bench: Leon Wagner, Willie Kirkland, Harvey Kuenn (acquired in trade), Manny Mota, Ollie Brown and the three Alou brothers: Felipe (who had great years as a starter), Jesus and Matty. It was just a given for National League opponents: The Giants had an eye for hard-hitting outfielders, and there were plenty to spare.

7 It got almost ridiculous as time went on. A kid named Bobby Bonds arrived in 68, playing a few games over the season s second half. George Foster, bound for prodigious home run feats in Cincinnati, broke in with the Giants in 69. Dave Kingman forced his way into the lineup in 71 and helped lead the way to the playoffs. Gary Matthews and Garry Maddox joined Bonds in a tremendous all-around outfield ( ). And just when things finally began to go sour Von Joshua and the washed-up Bobby Murcer cracking the lineup in 1975 Jack Clark arrived. Since the drafting of Chili Davis? It has been a parade of not-quites including Rob Deer, Todd Linden, Chris Singleton, Freddie Lewis, John Bowker and Roger Kieschnick. Let s not forget Marvin Benard, a 50th-round draft pick who spent nine years with the Giants, including a.322 season in 1998, but he didn t fit into the star category. (Imagine the course of history if Barry Bonds had signed with the Giants when they drafted him in He went to Arizona State and signed with the Pirates in 85.) On several occasions over those 40 years, the Giants very first pick in the June draft was an outfielder. The complete list: 1984: Alan Cockrell, University of Tennessee. 1989: Steve Hosey, Fresno State. 1990: Adam Hyzdu, Moeller High School, Cincinnati. 1994: Dante Powell, Cal State Fullerton. 2004: Eddy Martinez-Esteve, Florida State (the 29th pick of the second round; didn t reach the big leagues). 2005: Ben Copeland, University of Pittsburgh (the Giants didn t have a pick until the fourth round). 2010: Gary Brown, Cal State Fullerton. The Giants also got Parker and Adam Duvall, now a power-hitting outfielder for the Reds but drafted and tested as an infielder during his brief time in San Francisco. 2016: Bryan Reynolds, Vanderbilt. Highly regarded second-round pick off to a quick start (15- for-40) at Class A San Jose. Well, it definitely hasn t been a strength of ours, Evans said. It s odd enough that I don t have a definitive explanation. One thing to remember is that during Bonds time ( ) we were constantly building our team around veterans. More recently, there s obviously a breakdown there, and it s definitely something we ve put on the radar. We don t want that area of weakness to become a distraction. Many fans have wondered about the possibility of Arroyo, probably the best hitter in the Giants system, getting a trial in left field for Triple-A Sacramento. We ve talked about it, and he s taken a few flyballs, but we haven t made that move yet, Evans said. When you ve got a kid about to turn 22, it s tough when you throw him a new wrinkle. It can change the pace of his progression. So we re looking at him as an infielder for now.

8 Cain rewards Bochy s faith, Giants outlast Royals in 11 innings By: Andrew Baggarly, Mercury News KANSAS CITY Even when Bruce Bochy isn t in the ballpark, his intuition has a way of working out. While Bochy recuperated from a heart procedure in San Diego on Tuesday, Matt Cain rewarded the manager s faith in him. Cain was brilliant while holding the Kansas City Royals to a run on four hits in seven innings, cementing his place in the Giants rotation that looked so shaky just a week ago. The Giants bullpen was just as tough, Joe Panik hit a tiebreaking single in the 11th inning, closer Mark Melancon struck out Raul Mondesi to strand two runners and interim manager Ron Wotus shook hands after a 2-1 victory at Kauffman Stadium. Wotus was reminded: last year, when Bochy missed a game because of a heart scare in Miami, Wotus managed the club to a 14-inning win. Yeah, no kidding, Wotus said. I hope he wasn t watching it. He has a knack for knowing what games to take off, I ll tell you that. A week ago, it appeared that Cain would take off the series as well. But Bochy was resolute after the right-hander s last start against the Arizona Diamondbacks: he would not use Monday s travel day to skip Cain in the rotation. Cain did not receive a decision, but he rewarded Bochy s faith and also got the chance to experience pitching at Kauffman Stadium after elbow surgery deprived him of that chance in the 2014 World Series. The Giants were playing at Kansas City for the first time since winning Game 7 here.] It s a great place to pitch, Cain said. It s a great ballpark, and after 2014, being on the sidelines watching, for me to be a part of the rivalry and the atmosphere that the fans brought, it was pretty cool. The only run Cain allowed came when Whit Merrifield hit his first major league home run in the fifth inning. He was outstanding. I mean, really good, Wotus said. They ve got a strong lineup with some left-handed boppers, and he pitched extremely well. Cain said it was meaningful that he took his turn in the rotation, allowing him to stay on a normal routine. He said he is benefiting from the side work he was able to do in the spring and between starts something he couldn t do the previous two years, when he was more concerned with how his arm would bounce back from day to day. And throwing to Nick Hundley has helped him stand a little taller on the mound, too. He and Buster (Posey) are both so good at that, Cain said. They instill that confidence in you. You don t have to dig down and find it yourself. Hundley quietly had a huge game. He saved a run in the eighth inning when he blocked a pair of Steven Okert pitches in the dirt before Eric Hosmer grounded out to strand the bases loaded.

9 Then Hundley doubled in the 11th and scored on Panik s slicing single, which Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain only managed to trap. I saw a lot of green out there, and then you see Lorenzo running it down and, well, you have bad thoughts, Panik said. Fortunately, that one caught some grass. Before Panik s hit found grass instead of leather, both teams fumbled for a clutch hit and combined to strand 21 runners. The Royals are 3 for 37 this season with two outs and runners in scoring position (and 1 for 6 Tuesday), the worst in the major leagues. The Giants almost out-wasted the Royals. Their lowlight came in the seventh inning when they had three chances to score the tiebreaking run from third base, and couldn t do it. As a consequence, Cain took no decision. But he managed to gain momentum. Now will the Giants skip Cain s next turn Monday in a homestand opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers? I m not privy to do that, Wotus said. Boch will be back and let you know what we re doing. The Giants scored their only run for Cain in the sixth, when Panik singled and crossed the plate on Hunter Pence s RBI single. They would have taken the lead, but Royals catcher Salvador Perez made an incredible tag at the plate. Brandon Belt had tried to score from second base on Buster Posey s single, which shortstop Alcides Escobar dived to keep on the infield. Perez barely picked Escobar s throw and held the ball like a sno-cone as he stuck his mitt in front of the plate. Instead of kicking the ball out, Belt s big ol size 15s actually rammed the ball into the pocket. Buster Posey came off the concussion list and had three singles in five at-bats as the designated hitter, but he didn t look too comfortable at the plate. He came to bat with two on and two out in the 10th and didn t take good swings while striking out against left-hander Scott Alexander. Posey is expected to DH again on Wednesday. Panik had to laugh after the Giants turned another double play with an assist from a replay challenge in the 10th inning just as they did in Game 7 of the World Series. Both times, Eric Hosmer was the batter ruled safe only to be called out upon review. Panik memorably started that World Series double play behind Jeremy Affeldt when he made a diving stop and flipped to Brandon Crawford with his glove. This one was a bit more conventional, and replay officials Chad Chop and Shawon Dunston made sure that Wotus challenged it. Same deal, Panik said. It was me to Craw to Belt to Chop and Dunston. I came up here and saw Dunston and Chop and thanked them again, just like I did in Game 7.

10 The Giants painfully failed to score the tiebreaking run from third base with no outs in the seventh inning. They started their rally when Brandon Crawford hustled for a double and Eduardo Nuñez fouled off a bunt attempt before threading a single through the left side. Hundley struck out, and then left-hander Travis Wood walked Panik to load the bases. Royals manager Ned Yost stayed with Wood against Chris Marrero, who had a golden opportunity. But Marrero didn t protect with two strikes and took a fastball as umpire Lance Barksdale rang him up. It was the key at-bat in the inning, which ended with Denard Span tapping out to second base. Derek Law pitched a pair of shutout innings to earn the victory. The first Cain-Cain matchup in major league history went to Matthew. He held Lorenzo Cain hitless in three at-bats, all fly outs. It is probably not in the Giants best interests for most games against the Royals to be decided by outfield defense. Lorenzo Cain glided back to make a difficult catch on Hundley look easy in the fifth inning. And left fielder Alex Gordon laid out to catch Marrero s line drive in the sixth. Wotus laughed when told that Bochy was watching the game, and complaining about having to listen to Affeldt s debut in the broadcast booth. I m off the hook, and you can quote me on that, Wotus said. Listening to Affeldt? That s probably worse. Report: Angel Pagan taking the 2017 season off By: Pavlovic, CSN Bay Area KANSAS CITY The Giants were never planning a reunion with Angel Pagan. It turns out they won t be facing him this season, either. According to a report from the Puerto Rican website El Vocero, Pagan will take the year off to spend time with his family. The 35-year-old has two daughters who grew up in part during his five years in San Francisco and a third born during the 2015 offseason. Per El Vocero, Pagan said the decision was made as a family. I ve been away from my house for a long time, he said, adding that he wants to take advantage of time that can t be recovered. Pagan said he is not necessarily retiring. The outfielder played five seasons for the Giants, hitting.281 with 31 homers and 81 stolen bases in 583 games. He often dealt with injuries, but put a long season together

11 in 2016, batting.277 with 12 homers in 543 plate appearances. His run ended with an injury in the NLDS. The Giants and Pagan were not always on the same page, and the team quickly moved on in the offseason, committing to a Jarrett Parker-Mac Williamson plan that has been decimated by injuries and ineffectiveness. Pagan played for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and looked healthy and like his old self. He reportedly had interest from several teams including the Braves, Orioles and Blue Jays but he was seeking a guaranteed major league deal with a set salary in mind. Ultimately, Pagan chose a year at home over a flyer with an MLB team. Last week, Windy Pagan posted a photo on Instagram of the couple posing with their oldest daughter at a resort. In love with our first daughter! she wrote. She is almost my (height).