Down on the Farm: First Base Depth Chart

First base for the Giants has been a revolving door of reclamation projects since JT Snow retired. Aubrey Huff is the current incumbent first baseman. Despite a lot of anger at his wretched performance in 2011 when he was quite obviously out of shape and out of sorts, he will almost certainly be the starting first baseman on opening say 2012. How long he stays there probably depends on his apparent conditioning and performance. He will likely not be with the Giants in 2013. Brandon Belt is the heir apparent to JT's old position. The questions about Belt are whether he will be the starting LF in 2012 or start the year in AAA, and whether he will take over at first base sometime in mid-season or in 2013. Of course, Brett Pill might sneak in and have something to say about all that. Belt has too many MLB AB's to qualify as a prospect, but he is not an established MLB player either. Let's take a look at who might challenge Brandon down the road:

AAA

Brett Pill 6'4", 210 lbs. B-R, T-R. BD: 9/9/1984. AAA .312/.341/.530, 36 2B, 25 HR. MLB .300/.321/.560, 3 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR in 50 AB. Pill has taken his time climbing through the organization. He's always been a doubles machine, but found his HR stroke in 2011. Impressed almost everybody including Brian Sabean with a major league approach at the plate in a September look-see. He's an excellent fielder to boot and even played some 2B for Fresno in a pinch. Did he put himself into position to challenge for the starting first base gig in SF should Aubrey Huff falter again?

HIGH A

Luke Anders 6'6", 225 lbs. B-L, T-L. BD: 10/2/1986. .246/.326/.423, 24 2B, 13 HR. Unimpressive performance for the big guy in San Jose. Probably an organizational player. Will probably get a chance to show something in Richmond just because there isn't anyone else to play the position there!

LOW A

Josh Mazzola 6'2", 195 lbs. B-R, T-R. BD: 4/10/1986. .259/.342/.427, 22 2B, 13 HR. Mazzola was signed as an undrafted FA in 2008. He missed almost all of 2010 with an injury. Probably an organizational player at this point.

Ryan Scoma 6'2", 180 lbs. B-L, T-R. BD: 9/12/1987. .254/.310/.358, 26 2B, 6 HR. Scoma showed some doubles power but will have to hit more to be a 1B prospect, although Pill had similar struggles in the low minors.

SHORT SEASON

Brice Cutspec 6'4", 250 lbs. B-L, T-R. BD: 12/7/1987. .240/.286/.479, 6 HR in 96 AB's. Cutspec was signed as an undrafted FA in 2010. Put up good numbers in the AZL. Showed a bit of power at the higher level, but not much else. Last game was 7/29. Injury? Lost his job to Ben Thomas?

Ben Thomas 6'1", 240 lbs. B-L, T-L. BD: 6/3/1989. AZL .346/.380/.569, 9 2B, 6 HR in 130 AB. S-K .302/.340/.417 in 96 AB. Wide body late round college draftee. Batting line for Xavier was .350/.435/.632 with 15 HR's. Seems to be be a hitter and John Barr seems to know hitters when he sees them. Will have to prove it at higher levels.

ROOKIE AZL

Brian Nicholson 6'2", 225 lbs. B-L, T-L. BD: 10/31/1989. .274/.336/.402 in 117 AB. Another late round college draftee out of NAIA Concordia in SoCal. Modest start to pro career and was old for the league.

DSL

Alexis Almeida 6'3", 215 lbs. B-R, T-R. BD: 2/16/1993. .248/.267/.288. Don't know anything about this kid but he's got the size to play 1B and he's not too old for the level. That's enough for me to include him.

2011 DRAFTEES

Ricky Oropesa 6'3", 225 lbs. B-L, T-R. BD: 12/15/1989. USC .322/.402/.481, 10 HR. 2010 .353/.454/.711 with 22 HR. As most of you know, I work with Ricky's mom and have followed his career since he was a junior in high school. Imagine my excitement when I realized Ricky had been drafted by the Giants, the team I have been obsessed with since I was about 10 years old! I plead no contest to any charges of bias here! Rickey is a classic power hitting first baseman, the kind the Giants have tended to not draft during Brian Sabean's tenure as GM. He tore up the Pac 10, a conference that generally has pretty good pitching, in 2010. His 2011 was not as impressive which is probably why his draft stock slipped. He may have been pressing a bit during his draft year. There was also the BBCOR bats that are not as lively as the old metal ones. A couple of other factors that are not as well known: 1. There were not BBCOR bats available in Ricky's preferred size for the first month or so of the 2011 season so he had to adjust and then readjust when his bat finally came. 2. The new coach at USC wanted him to use a more level, line drive swing. I'm pretty sure the Giants will have no problem letting him use his natural power stroke in the pros. I think Ricky is athletic enough to play 3B or even LF, but he will probably stay at 1B. He'll go as far as his bat takes him at that position. I have faith in the bat!

From what I can gather, the Giants were looking at Ricky in round 2 of the draft. That still would have been a good value as BA had him ranked in the supplemental first round. When Andrew Susac fell to the Giants in round 2, they made the adjustment and grabbed him only to find Ricky still on the board at their pick in round 3! I'm sure falling that far was disappointing to Ricky and his family, but what a great drafting job by the Giants! I understand the clincher to the Giants interest came when John Barr himself was in the stands at the game where Ricky took Gerritt Cole deep late in the college season. Based on his college pedigree and draft position, I would expect to see Ricky playing for the San Jose Giants next spring.

WILD CARD

Angel Villalona Angel V was a raw teenage prospect when we last saw him play for the San Jose Giants in 2009. Since then, he's been on a painful journey, an experience that likely either ruined his baseball career forever or forced him to grow up in a big hurry. Accused of murdering a man in his home country of Dominican Republic, and then left to twist in the wind by the prosecutor after the family of the deceased withdrew their claims after a reported 5 figure payoff. Whether Angel is truly guilty or not, the whole episode exposed what must be a very corrupt and ineffectual law enforcement and judicial system in that country. Angel has been reported to be in much better shape than when he last played. He recently came to terms with the Giants in a dispute over his bonus money. It will be interesting to see where he surfaces in 2012. My guess? AZL.

The Giants seldom draft first basemen in the higher rounds preferring up-the-middle players. I understand the concept that it's easier to fill corner positions from outside the organization, but the Giants haven't always been able to do that. Historically, first base has brought the highest return on first round draft picks of any position. The Giants philosophy may be changing a bit under John Barr with the recent drafting of Brandon Belt, who was a major sleeper, and now Ricky Oropesa, who is more of a classic power hitting first baseman with great pedigree. Here's my ranking of the organizational first base prospects:

1. Ricky Oropesa(by a large margin, BTW)
2. Brett Pill
3. Luke Anders
4. Ben Thomas
5. Ryan Scoma
6. Josh Mazzola
7. Brice Cutspec
8. Brian Nicholson
9. Alexis Almeida
?? Angel Villalona(could be ranked as high as #2 or as low as #10. I'm gonna say maybe #3 as there is a pretty big drop off between Pill and Anders.)

Brandon Belt would top the list if he still had prospect eligibility. It's hard to tell who might be the Giants first baseman of the future. The cupboard is not as bare as this list makes it look. There's Belt, of course. Then either Buster Posey or Pablo Sandoval could slide over there at any time. Adam Duvall could move over from third base and Tommy Joseph could still end up there. Alex Burg is a deep sleeper.