Down on the Farm: Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 2019 Season Review

The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes play in the Short Season Northwest League.  The NWL's player target is college draftees who are generally in the 21-22 yo age range.  You will also see an assortment of rookie league graduates, full season washouts and rehabbing players.  The NWL tends to be a hitter-friendly environment.  The Volcanoes got off to a hot start and won the first half of their season.  They finished second to the Hillsboro Hops in the second half, then got swept out of a best of 3 playoff series against the Hops.

The biggest story of the Volcanoes season was 19 yo OF Alexander Canario who was initially reassigned to the AZL where he crushed it.  He kept right on hitting after his promotion hitting .301 with 9 HR's in 193 AB's.  He is widely reported to have the fastest bat speed in the Giants organization.  OF Franklin Labour(21 yo) hit .307 with 14 HR's before in 166 AB before a promotion to Augusta.  3B Sean Roby(21 yo) raked for a .338 BA in 161 AB.  The top performing 2019 draftee was OF Armani Smith who hit .307 with 4 HR in 163 AB. SS Tyler Fitzgerald hit .284 in 102 AB's.  SS Simon Whiteman hit .279 with 15 SB's in his pro debut.  The top 2 draftees arrived late so had very small sample sizes.  OF Hunter Bishop continued his 3 true outcomes approach with a .227/.427/.400 slash line with 4 HR's in 85 AB.  1B/OF Logan Wyatt slashed .284/.385/.403 in 67 AB.

RHP Kervin Castro(20 yo) was the outstanding pitcher, 5-3, 2.66, 67.2 IP, 13 BB, 61 K.  LHP Jacob Lopez(21 yo) went 2-3, 3.02, 41.2 IP, 7 BB, 39 K before the Giants traded him for AAA OF Joe McCarthy.  I probably would not have made that trade, but we'll see how it turns out.  Most likely a wash.

Team Leaders:

AB:  Jeff Houghtby 204, Yorlis Rodriguez 195, Canario 193.
BA(150 AB):  Roby .338, Labour .307, Smith .307.
2B:  Canario 17, Houghtby 16, Harrison Freed 12.
3B:  Smith 3, 4 tied with 2.
HR:  Labour 14, Canario 9, Tyler Flores 7, Ricardo Genoves 7.
SB:  Whiteman 15, Adkins 10, Bishop 6.

IP:  Castro 67.2, Travis Perry 63.2, Lopez 41.2.
Wins:  Castro 5, Perry 5, Jesus Ozoria 4.
K's:  Castro 61, Perry 47, Clay Helvey 41.
Saves:  Israel Cruz 5, Helvey 4, Bryce Tucker 4.