The San Jose Giants play in the A+ level California League. Target player demographic is college draftees in their first full pro seasons and HS draftees graduating from Low A ball for their second full pro seasons. That puts the target age range at 20-22. The Cal league is widely known as being extremely hitter-friendly but the SJ Giants home park is close to neutral.
The 2019 SJ Giants had the Giants top 2 rated prospects, Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos to start the season. Both missed time with injuries and got early promotions to AA, but still managed to leave their mark with the team. I was fortunate enough to see both of them play in a game in San Bernardino just before their promotions so I will always be able to say I saw them play when they were in A ball!
The Giants got off to a sluggish start with a 30-39 first half, partly because Bart and Ramos both went out early with injuries that kept them out for about 6 weeks. They were over .500 at 36-34 in the second half and won 10 of their final 12 regular season games to make the Cal League playoffs as a Wild Card. They then lost to the Visalia Rawhide 3 games to 0 in the first round. The Giants W-L record has an interesting subplot. It's extremely rare for a midseason managerial change in the minor leagues, but Bill Hayes abruptly resigned on July 13 a couple of days after giving a bizarre pregame interview the Voice of the San Jose Giants, Joe Rizzo, in which he came off as extremely critical of Joey Bart. There had been rumors of discord between him and Bart, which have been denied on all sides, but that interview would suggest there was some fire under that smoke. Back to the W-L record: The Giants overall record stood at 39-53 when Hayes resigned. They went 25-19 under replacement Hector Borg. You've got to think Borg is now a name to watch as a potential future MLB manager.
As for on-field performance, Heliot Ramos was electric when healthy posting a .306/.385/.500 slash line with 13 HR's in .294 AB at age 19. Joey Bart seemed to struggle a bit after returning from fractured hand from a HBP posting a ..265/.315/.479 with 12 HR's in 234 AB. Offensive mainstays for the full season included SS Manuel Geraldo- .255/.298/.371 with 18 SB's, 3B David Villar- .262/.334/.421 with 13 HR's, 2B Kyle McPherson- .254/.328/.332 with 13 SB's and OF Courtney Hawkins- .256/.314/.497 with 21 HR's.
On the pitching side, RHP Jose Marte was the Opening Day SP but missed time with injury. He finished the season with an impressive 80 K's in 74 IP, but battled control issues with 44 walks resulting in a disappointing 5.59 ERA. The Giants conservatively assigned 2018 second round draft pick, Sean Hjelle to Augusta to start the season. He put up a line of 5-5, 2.78, 77.2 IP, 19 BB, 74 K with the SJ Giants before moving on up to AA. I was hoping to see the 6'11" RHP in person, but just missed him in San Bernardino before his promotion. RHP Matt Frisbee also started the season in Augusta but dominated at both levels and emerged as a kind of sleeper prospect, 9-8, 3.17, 116.1 IP, 22 BB, 131 K. 2018 third round draft pick, RHP Jake Wong, had mixed results after his promotion to SJ- 3-2, 4.98, 72.1 IP, 24 BB, 67 K. RHP Tristan Beck was a late addition after the trade deadline. I saw him pitch in person and came away impressed- 3-2, 2.27, 35.2 IP, 13 BB, 37 K. RHP Camilo Doval pitched exclusively out of the bullpen. Like last season in Augusta, he got knocked around in his first few appearances but dazzled with a triple-digit FB ended up with 80 K's in 56.1 IP
Team Leaders:
BA: Ramos- .306, Heath Quinn- .289, Sandro Fabian- .287.
HR: Hawkins- 21, Ramos- 13, Villar 13, Bart- 12.
SB: Geraldo- 18, Bryce Johnson- 18, McPherson- 13.
Wins: Frisbee- 9, Aaron Phillips- 8, Olbis Parra- 6.
K's: Frisbee- 131, Phillips- 101, John Gavin- 87.
Saves: Frank Rubio- 7, Parra- 3, Raffi Vizcaino- 3.
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