Monday, April 4, 2016

Down on the Farm: Sacramento River Cats 2016 Roster

We have our minor league rosters for the 4 full season teams in.  We'll go through them 1 at a time.  Here are your 2016 Sacramento River Cats:

Catchers:  George Kottaras, Miguel Olivo, Andrew Susac.

Infielders:  Juan Ciriaco, Mitch Delfino, Conor Gillaspie, Grant Green, Hak-Ju Lee, Ramiro Pena.

Outfielders:  Darren Ford, Gorkys Hernandez, Ryan Lollis, Jarrett Parker, Mac Williamson.

Pitchers:  Ty Blach, Clayton Blackburn, Mike Broadway, Jake Dunning, Austin Fleet, Braulio Lara, Derek Law, Matt Lujan, Vin Mazzaro, Phil McCormick, Steven Okert, Ricky Romero, Chris Stratton, Albert Suarez(not Andrew).

There is a nice mix of true prospects and MLB depth here.  Big Mac is the guy I'm rooting for on the offensive side big time.  I'm hoping he destroys AAA pitching and makes himself the first option when Bochy decides he needs more power out of LF.  Blackburn, Stratton and Blach are the SP's to watch with Dunning, Law and maybe Broadway being the relievers most likely to be called up.  You can't count out a hard throwing lefty like Lara either. Phil McCormick is an interesting lefty sleeper who can work multiple innings per appearance.

Andrew Susac has to prove he can stay healthy and probably has some defensive fine tuning to work on.  He's a pretty good bet for a callup before the season is over.  Olivo is 37 yo and Kottaras is 33.  It's a bit surprising to me the Giants went with Trevor Brown as the reserve catcher over one of those two.

Mitch Delfino has quietly worked his way up the organizational ladder.  I would hope he gets most of the starts at 3B if he is going to be in AAA, but Conor Gillaspie and Grant Green are possible 3B options too.  Hak-Ju Lee needs to internalize the Giants hitting philosophy which is polar opposite what he's learned with the Rays for the last how many years?  I saw Lee make some plays in spring training and he's the real deal on defense.

Who are you watching or are excited about on this year's River Cats team?

8 comments:

  1. Dr.B The Giants top 30 lists him as Andrew Suarez if you go to the Cats website and click on Albert as they lusted him it goes to a different player different team. They must have made a mistake on listing it.

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    1. Not a mistake. It's Albert. He appeared in a couple of spring training games.

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  2. Andrew Suarez no. 2 pick different guy, probably San Jose this year.
    What about Ricky Romero for SP depth, looked good this spring?

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    1. I honestly was not that impressed by what I saw of Romero in spring training. I guess his line of 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K's is good in comparison to some of those 8 or 9+ ERA's we saw but he has a long way to go to work himself into consideration for a future callup, IMO.

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  3. I'm beginning to wonder about Susac's future with the organization. Not his talent, not his durability, not that the Giants are giving up on him but if he's simply been displaced by Brown who, maybe I'm reading too much behind the lines, might be a Mike Matheny (with the possibility of a bat though it's too early to tell) type of catcher and may end up as part of a trade.

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    1. From the way they played Brownie this spring, it did seem like the Giants were preparing him for the long haul and not just a 1 or 2 week fill-in stint. Plus, if the Giants saw the situation as just needing a DL replacement, I think they might have gone with Olivo or Kottaras. The way it stands now, I think Susac needs to get himself into a position where he is a clear upgrade to replace Brown as the backup catcher. For that to happen, he's going to have to stay healthy, improve his D, keep hitting and then Brown is going to have to struggle. So yeah, I'm basically agreeing with you.

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  4. Replies
    1. Blanks is probably in Extended Spring Training nursing his sore Achilles tendons

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