Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Down on the Farm: Your 2017 Sacramento River Cats

Opening Day for the minor leagues is coming right up this Thursday, April 6.  Rosters for all 4 of the Giants full season teams are up, so let's take a peak to see who will be showing up in Down on the Farm in a few days.  First up, the AAA Sacramento River Cats:

Pitchers:  Tyler Beede RHP, Clayton Blackburn RHP, Kyle Crick RHP, Roberto Gomez RHP, Joan Gregorio RHP, Chase Johnson RHP, Steven Okert LHP, Josh Osich LHP, Matt Reynolds LHP, Tyler Rogers RHP, Ricky Romero LHP. Michael Roth LHP, Kraig Sitton LHP, Chris Stratton RHP, Albert Suarez RHP.

Catchers:  Jeff Arnold, Tim Fedorowicz.

Infielders:  Christian Arroyo SS, Kyle Blanks 1B, Orlando Calixte SS, Ali Castillo 2B, Juan Ciriaco 3B, Jae-Gyun Hwang 3B, Ryder Jones 3B, Kelby Tomlinson 2B.

Outfielders:  Wynton Bernard, Carlos Moncrief, Justin Ruggiano, Austin Slater.

Note:  Steven Duggar is not listed on a roster and is starting the season on the DL with a flexor strain.  Trevor Brown is missing. I think I read he has in injury too.

First reaction:  How are they going to play everybody?  Who gets priorities?

A few mild surprises:  1.  Cricky must have impressed in camp as this is an aggressive placement for him based on his last two seasons in Richmond.  Fairly aggressive placement for Chase Johnson too.  Is he the Closer for the Cats?  Also an aggressive placement for Ryder Jones although he had a great camp.

Burning Questions:  1.  Where is Christian Arroyo going to play?  From the listed names it seems like he'll most likely be the Opening Day SS as Hwang will almost certainly be the 3B.  Jones will likely slide across the diamond and start at 1B with Blanks mostly DHing.  2.  Who are the SP?  Beede is a lock.  I would also add Blackburn, Stratton, and Gregorio.  Crick?  Suarez? Romero?  Roth?  3.  What is Kelby Tomlinson's role?  Seems like he has to be the starting 2B.  Giants have several players, including Hwang, Arroyo and Tomlinson that they seem to want to get experience at multiple positions, so we may see them everyday but not always at the same defensive position.

7 comments:

  1. Isn't Brown on the active roster?

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  2. I'd assume the starters will be Beede, Blackburn, Stratton, Suarez, and Gregorio.

    And with only 4 OF listed, I wonder if Hwang will get some time in LF - at least before Duggar returns.

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    1. I think he and Calixte will see a good amount of OF time.

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  3. Do you think Arroyo or Tomlinson might see some LF time? Didn't Slater used to do some 2b? Could he be mixed into the IF shuffle?

    Sac looks like a good team. Some top 100 prospects, MLB vets, and a lot of potential MLB roster types.

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  4. Some aggressive placements on the squad, hopefully they step up. I was a little surprised that Slania didn't start the season in Sacramento, but he will probably get there at some point this season. Still surprised Okert is down here.

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  5. MLB made a mistake with their article by reporting that Moronta and Martinez are starting the year at Sacramento. Even though they report them going to Richmond in the same article. But its what they say about Gregorio that's interesting here. " are ticketed for Triple-A Sacramento to begin the year, as are relievers Joan Gregorio, Steven Okert, Reyes Moronta and Rodolfo Martinez." I wonder if their they wrong about Gregorio too?

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