DrB's 2020 Giants Top 50 Prospects: #22 Conner Menez

Conner Menez LHP.  DOB:  5/29/1995.  6'3", 205 lbs.

AA:  3-3, 2.72, 59.2 IP, 10.56 K/9, 3.02 BB/9.
AAA:  3-1, 4.84, 61.1 IP, 12.33 K/9, 4.40 BB/9.
MLB:  0-1, 5.29, 17 IP, 11.65 K/9, 6.35 BB/9.

When Conner Menez was drafted in Round 16 of the 2016 draft out of a small faith-based college in Santa Clarita, CA, he looked like he might have a chance to be an organizational or "roster filler" pitcher in the minors.  Instead, he dominated out of the gate and ended up starting 5 games for the San Jose Giants that summer.  He stayed in San Jose for all of 2017 and early 2018, but then his K/9 took a big jump into double digits which got him promoted to AA and finally a couple of starts in AAA.  You can see the numbers from last year culminating in a late season callup.  Although the ERA looks ugly, the line does not show that over his last 5 appearances, all out of the bullpen, he went 0-0, 0.00, 4.1 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 8 K's.

Conner's big challenge is obviously keeping the walk rate at manageable levels but he has an outside shot at making the 2020 Opening Day roster as a lefty option in the bullpen.  More likely, he'll get sent back to AAA to polish up his game and wait for an opportunity, which is likely to come at some point.  Menez features a classic 4-pitch mix of FB that averages 91+ which he throws about 60% of the time, a slider(15%), changeup(15%) and curveball(9%).  Statistically the FB and CH are his best pitches but they are all close to average in effectiveness.