The AAA leagues opened their seasons today one week ahead of the lower full-season leagues.
AAA: The Sacramento River Cats dominated the Albuquerque Isotopes 8-0:
Before we get started with the Key Lines from the game, let's take a look at the River Cats roster:
Pitchers: Tristan Beck RHP, Mason Black RHP, Raymond Burgos LHP, Miguel Diaz RHP, Justin Garza RHP, Kyle Harrison LHP, Sean Hjelle RHP, Antonio Jimenez LHP, Joey Lucchesi LHP, Trevor McDonald RHP, Juan Mercedes RHP, Helcris Olivares LHP, Joel Peguero RHP, Carson Ragsdale RHP, Juan Sanchez LHP, Carson Seymour RHP, Kai-Wei Teng RHP, Ryan Watson RHP, Carson Whisenhunt LHP, Keaton Winn RHP.
Catchers: Brett Auerbach, Logan Porter, Max Stassi.
Infielders: Sergio Alcantara, Osleivis Basabe, Jake Lamb, Brett Wisely.
Outfielders: Hunter Bishop, Marco Luciano, Grant McCray, Wade Meckler
There are a lot of prospects here who got rushed up last season and are now offically post-prospects but they are really still prospects with legitimate chances to have significant major league careers.
Key Lines:
Marco Luciano gets off to a good start in his quest to become an outfielder. Yes, he needs to be able to competently field a position but let's face it, he's going to go as far as his bat takes him. I am looking for a breakout season at the plate for him. Brett Auerbach is listed on the roster as a catcher but there are only 4 healthy infielders on the roster so I expect to see him mostly playing infield. Interesting that Brett Wisely was the Opening Day shortstop.
Superstrong start from Carson Seymour pounding the zone with his mid-90's sinker but with enough secondary stuff to get the K's. Solid 2 innings from Tristan Beck who should be an early consideration for a call up if/when needed.
Is that a better AAA level lineup/team (comparatively) than the Giants lineup/team at the Major League level?
ReplyDeleteThat remains to be seen on both levels but for me the Giants AAA roster is the most exciting it's been in many years.
DeleteThe River Cats could start a Carson every day this week end, but it's Winn tonight replacing Harrison. Winn had 10 strikeouts in five innings this spring for the Giants.
ReplyDeleteThe official Sacramento team drew 8,408 fans for their Opener yesterday evening.
ReplyDeleteThat is below their average attendance last year of 9,338 but the temperature last night got down to 48 °F with 80% humidity.
Nasty.
Watched a little of this game in MiLB.TV. Yeah, that ballpark wasn't half full.
DeleteOn a subjective note, they've made quite a few "improvements" (read: Absurdly large video screens, a monster MLB batter's eye-backdrop, etc.) that, at first glance, block the views of downtown and rob more than a bit of the charm of the park.
Oh, and Strauss has their logo all over minor league batting helmets now. Looks super trash.
DeleteA tribute to this blog that I knew or had heard of almost everyone on that roster. Thanks Doc. As mentioned before, this seems like a pretty strong AAA roster with that many “post prospects.” Maybe an unintended positive of The Churn? So many of these guys have been in the show, they won’t experience the usual big-eyed culture shock when they get called up. We shall see if it works out that way.
ReplyDeleteNoticed a whopping 20 pitchers on the roster and several pitchers could help the big club right now. Yup time for Luciano to stay healthy and have a big year with the bat
ReplyDelete