Kyle Harrison's start went south fast but the Giants hitters and relief pitchers overcame the disaster start for the win. Key Lines:
Wade Meckler LF- 1 for 3, 2 BB. BA= .294. Meck is quietly having himself a nice little spring. There is a roster crunch in the outfield but he may not be out on a roster spot just yet.
Willy Adames SS- 2 for 4, HR(1). BA= .412. Adames was already having a fine spring and today he became, what, the 15'th Giants player to homer this spring?
Matt Chapman 3B- 1 for 1, 2 BB. BA= .400. Chapman is cruising.
Sam Huff C- 2 for 2, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .308. Huff seems to be the favorite to break camp as the back up catcher assuming Tom Murphy is not ready which seems very likely at this point.
Grant McCray CF- 2 for 4. BA= .200. McCray has not had a great spring but there is still plenty of time left. I would not count him out of the 4'th OF race for no other reason than he is the best centerfielder of the candidates by a large margin.
Casey Schmitt 2B- 1 for 3, HR(2). BA= .208. If you had your money on Casey At The Bat to be the first Giant to hit 2 HR this spring, well, you are the winner of the jackpot!
Christian Koss PR/3B- 1 for 3, 2B, SB(1). BA= .294. Koss might be the best all-around fielder of the utility infielder candidates. Darkhorse for a roster spot. He has a rooting section.
Kyle Harrison LHP- 1.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 12.77. Harrison was greeted by a hail of line drives in the first inning and was lifted with just one out in the inning after giving up 5 runs including Gabriel Moreno C's 3-run HR. He came back in the second inning and gave up a one-out single which he erased with a GIDP. He gave up a leadoff double in the third inning followed by a K on his 44'th pitch and came out of the game. Not a good day for Young Kyle. I forgot to look for velocities on Gameday. If anyone has those please post in comments. Fingers crossed it was just a bad day and he's not hurting.
Carson Whisenhunt LHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 4/0 GO/AO. ERA= 0.00. The Whiz will likely start the season in AAA Sacramento but it sure looks like he is poised to take it to the next level.
Ryan Walker RHP, Lou Trivino RHP, Joel Peguero RHP and Antonio Jimenez LHP all pitched a scoreless frame.
Justin Verlander RHP gets the start tomorrow in Scottsdale against the White Sox.
8 players got cut from major league camp:
40 man roster players Marco Luciano OF and Mason Black RHP were optioned to the AAA Sacramento River Cats and reassigned to minor league camp.
Raymond Burgos LHP, Miguel Del Pozo LHP, Ethan Small LHP, Kai-Wei Teng RHP and Cole Waites RHP were reassigned to minor league camp.
Luciano's option might be a modest surprise but with Heliot Ramos OF needing catch-up time in LF, Luciano was not going to get much playing time which he desperately needs.
Luciano's has an "M" problem: Matos, Meckler, & McCray.
ReplyDeleteHe needs to play and learn a new position so he was pretty sure to play for Sacramento this season, at least for a while.
LHP's Raymond Burgos, Miguel Del Pozo and Ethan Small, were reassigned to minor league camp also, along with 3 RHP's
ReplyDeleteHmm....that was in the post.
DeleteUmmmm. What's this whole pulling the pitcher and then they come back in thing? Is this some new rule we're being forced to accept? If so, it's not cool.
ReplyDeleteOnly in spring training games so pitchers can get to their total pitch count without exceeding their 1-inning pitch limit.
DeleteHarrison averaged 91mph on 19 fastballs.
ReplyDeleteStill early in the spring and he got a late start but something to keep in mind.
DeleteI’m pretty bearish on Harrison. He’s a good competitor but he needs to work on his secondaries and/or needs a serious velo bump.
Delete- Fan
Assuming he is healthy, which I have to wonder about, I think it's pretty clear he needs to get the velocity up to the 93-95 MPH range or start the season in AAA building up his arm strength and command.
DeleteWith the way Roupp has been pitching, he's making a case to start the season as the #5 starter and allow Harrison to start 2025 in Sacramento where he can learn to locate his pitches better.
ReplyDeleteSo far Melvin's pitching assignments seem to be pointing to Roupp as the presumptive 5'th SP.
DeleteLooking over the 40 man & tops of prospect rankings, and thinking I've heard Miller debuting soon, seems that everyone is at this moment healthy & playing except for Murphy & Reggie Crawford.
ReplyDeleteIf Wade puts up a full season of .167 batting average with .891 OPS, that's success, ri?
ReplyDeleteMaybe frustrating for fans but yes, a .891 OPS would be a darn good season.
DeleteIt depends on the roll, Doc. If its a leadoff or 2 spot, who cares how he gets on base(?), he's there to set the table. If he's cleanup or 5/6, its a problem as he needs to clear the table, not set it up for the bottom of the order. Since Wade's being forecast for a 1/2, I find it a win. The wild card is that as NL mavens we aren't as used to the dynamics of the permanent DH, where the bottom of the order isn't the black hole one gets with the P in the 9 spot, so the 1/2 may come up more often with RISP than we are used to- Frustration with a .167 hitter may be justified if he can't adjust to these occasions.
DeletePer lineup theory it does not matter where he bats. .891 OPS is darn good and contributes anywhere. Remember OPS is not just OBP. It's OBP + SLG%. Now, I highly doubt he can sustain a .891 OPS with a .167 BA for a full season but if he did it would play no matter where he batted in the lineup.
DeleteHaving Luciano go down to AAA for the season doesn't bother me in the least. He belonged in AA last season and belongs in AAA this year, but the Z era 'push the kids until they fail' model ran him up to a level where he was hopelessly outmatched. This can be good for a prospect, but is usually just bad. It's certainly bad for a farm system as it promotes chaos, which results in poor training. It also leaves you with a good farm system rated 29th with an asterisk, as all the guys who should have been the monsters of the AAA team are the bench players in the show.
ReplyDelete