AAA is one step away from the major leagues, but most top prospects spend only a short time at the level while most AAA rosters are populated predominantly with older players who act as an extended bench for the MLB club. Most top prospects who are getting close to MLB ready are found in AA. It was a bit of a novelty, and not completely in a good way, to find 4 former first round draft picks on the Opening Day River Cats roster, Christian Arroyo, Tyler Beede, Chris Stratton and Kyle Crick. Arroyo and Beede were there on a more or less scheduled stop on their way to the big leagues, but Stratton and Crick seemed to be getting one last chance to salvage their careers. Chris Shaw would get a mid-season callup making it a total of 5 former first rounders who played a significant role on the club.
In addition to the former first rounders, at least 2 other legitimate prospects appeared on the Opening Day roster: OF Austin Slater and 3B/1B Ryder Jones who also got PT in the OF. Jae-gyun Hwang was an intriguing addition out of spring training and Orlando Calixte was signed as a minor league FA and immediately added to the 40 man roster. Tim Federowicz provided catching insurance for the Giants while giving a steady veteran hand to guide the young pitchers.
On the pitching side, former 2'nd round draft pick, Joan Gregorio lengthened the rotation and Andrew Suarez was a midseason callup. Long time minor leaguers Jose Flores and later Roberto Gomez were important rotation pieces while Dusten Knight, DJ Snelton and Tyler Rogers helped out in the bullpen.
The River Cats last place finish in the PCL Pacific Northern Division with a record of 64-77 was likely partially due to nearly constant roster movement but mostly to weakness on the pitching side. It should be remembered that the purpose of a minor league roster is not to win championships but to develop and supply players for the MLB roster.
Here is a list of players who spent time on both the River Cats and Giants active rosters during the 2017 season:
Christian Arroyo, Austin Slater, Ryder Jones, Conor Gillespie, Tim Fedorowicz, Kelby Tomlinson, Drew Stubbs, Carlos Moncrief, Jae-Gyun Hwang, Justin Ruggiano, Michael Morse, Mac Williamson, Orlando Calixte, Aaron Hill, Jarrett Parker, Pablo Sandoval, Chris Marrero, Roberto Gomez, Chris Stratton, Derek Law, Kyle Crick, Steven Okert, Reyes Maronta, Josh Osich, Albert Suarez.
Here are some statistical leaders for the 2017 River Cats(Arbitrary thresholds: 100 AB, 20 IP):
AB: Orlando Calixte- 378, Mac Williamson- 352, Jae-Gyun Hwang- 351, Chris Shaw- 336, Juniel Querecuto- 293.
Hits: Jae-Gyun Hwang- 100, Chris Shaw- 97, Orlando Calixte- 92, Mac Williamson- 86, Tim Fedorowicz- 85.
Doubles: Chris Shaw- 25, Jae-Gyun Hwang- 21, Mac Williamson- 21, Tim Fedorowicz- 19, Ryder Jones- 19.
Triples: Orlando Calixte- 5, Jae-Gyun Hwang- 4, Ali Castillo- 3, Ryder Jones, Juan Ciriaco, Wynton Bernard- 2.
HR: Chris Shaw- 18, Orlando Calixte- 14, Mac Williamson- 14, Ryder Jones- 13, Jae-Gyun Hwang, Tim Federowicz- 9.
Runs: Mac Williamson- 54, Orlando Calixte- 48, Jae-Gyun Hwang- 44, Ryder Jones- 44, Chris Shaw- 42.
RBI: Jae-Gyun Hwang- 56, Mac Williamson- 50, Chris Shaw- 50, Ryder Jones- 44, Orlando Calixte, Tim Fedorowicz- 43.
SB: Orlando Calixte- 19, Wynton Bernard- 13, Kelby Tomlinson- 9, Jae-Gyun Hwang, Ryder Jones, Juan Ciriaco- 7.
BA: Austin Slater- .321, Ryder Jones- .312, Tim Fedorowicz- .300, Kelby Tomlinson- .296, Ryan Lollis- .292.
OBP: Ryder Jones- .396, Austin Slater- .377, Kelby Tomlinson- .377, Tim Fedorowicz- .366, Jarrett Parker- .353.
IP: Tyler Beede- 109, Roberto Gomez- 97.1, Andrew Suarez- 88.2, Chris Stratton- 79.1, Tyler Rogers- 76.
ERA: Tyler Rogers- 2.37, DJ Snelton- 2.42, Derek Law- 2.48, Kyle Crick- 2.76, Joan Gregorio- 3.04.
Strikeouts: Roberto Gomez- 89, Tyler Beede- 83, Andrew Suarez- 80, Chris Stratton- 71, Jose Flores- 65.
Saves: Tyler Rogers- 10, Derek Law- 10, Kyle Crick- 6, Steven Okert- 6.
DrB's 2017 River Cats MVP: Chris Shaw!
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Hard to argue against Shaw, but Slater, Jones, Hwang, and (in a short role) Arroyo had good seasons for Sacramento.
ReplyDeleteOf those, only Shaw didn't make it up to SF. Yet.
Spring Training doesn't say much about who's going to be contributory in the majors -- perhaps we should have been worried when Conor Gillaspie, Aaron Hill, Chris Marrero, and Jarrett Parker made the Opening Day roster. Those four plus Eduardo Núñez and Brandon Belt missing more than a third of the Giants' season didn't bode wellfor the offense.
Then there were the pitching problems.
Spring training is a terrible place to evaluate players. We can now mention Chris Marrero in the same sentence as the immortal Randy Elliott when talking about spring training phenoms who flamed out once the season started.
DeleteOne of my bigger criticisms of Bobby Evans is the way he seemingly signed every available washed up veteran and AAAA player, essentially holding an open tryout in 2017 spring training. It really resulted in nothing positive and created a lot of confusion and uncertainty around who was going to make the roster. I'm not saying you should not bring in a few of those. The Giants have had success with guys like Ryan Vogelsong, Gregor Blanco, Andres Torres and Gorkys Hernandez, but if you get too many in camp at once, it becomes difficult to adequately evaluate them.
Probably should have mentioned Christian Arroyo hitting .439 before a late April callup which did not go well. Then getting hit on the hand shortly after getting sent back down and getting hit again his first game back which shut him down for the season. Had he gotten a full season of AB's, he would probably be ready to take over 3B next season. As it is, he might need another half-season of salt in AAA which really complicates the Giants offseason plans.
ReplyDeleteAnother big disappointment: Joan Gregorio getting shut down by a 50 game substance suspension just as it was starting to look like he might be able to help the big club. Up until then, he was the best SP on the River Cats roster.
Not to give any solace to the bad guys from the South, the current 1-15 Doggies have had their share of bad luck. Their DL has been a roster full.
DeleteDepth fueled by Midas-level gold helps
Read somewhere they are the first team to go 15-1 and 1-15 in the same season!