GIANTS PROSPECTS - DOWN ON THE FARM

GIANTS PROSPECT - NATE SCHIERHOLTZ


If you wanted to know the reason for some of the pessimism regarding the future of the Giants at the major league level all you have to do is look at the stats from some of the higher rated pitching prospects in the minor-league system.

First thing that jumps out is that the better prospects are at the lower levels. Alderson and Bumgardner are 1-2 on almost any ranking of Giants pitching prospect you can put together and you can see where they play.

Luckily for the G-man so far, there stats bear out the excitement most scouts continue to show for these two. Bumgardner's 10.10 K/9 rate and low WHIP jump off the page.

Level...Name...............Ht...Wt...Age..WHIP...K/9...BB/9...HR/9
Hi-A....Tim Alderson.......6-6..217..20..1.25...7.80..2.90...0.30
Low-A...Madison Bumgardner.6-4..215..19..1.01...10.10.1.68...0.34
Hi-A....Henry Sosa.........6-2..185..23..1.16...9.42..2.31...0.84
Hi-A....Kevin Pucetas......6-4..225..24..1.07...7.60..1.95...0.25
AA......Ben Snyder.........6-2..224..23..1.17...7.47..2.07...0.27
AA......Kelvin Pichardo....6-0..215..23..1.07...8.10..4.05...0.68
Hi-A....Joe Patterson......6-1..210..22..1.32...10.50.4.13...0.358
Hi-A....Dan Otero..........6-3..205..23..1.06...8.73..1.36...0.00
Low-A...Andrew de la Garza.6-4..200..24..1.05...9.18..1.55...0.17
Hi-A....Clayton Tanner.....6-1..202..21..1.48...6.90..3.33...0.00
Low-A...Daniel Turpen......6-4..215..22..1.31...7.70..1.88...0.19
Hi-A....Dan Griffin........6-7..245..24..1.41...7.42..4.06...0.35

Sosa and Pucetas are Futures Game alumni and highly regarded. Sosa's HR/9 rate seems a little high this year, otherwise the stats are not-to-hot, not-to-cold. The same could be said for LHP Ben Snyder, although all three have good WHIP's and Sosa's 9.42 K/9 rate is nothing to sneeze at. Anytime you see that rate over 1K per IP, you know the pitcher is fairly dominant at that level. It's what drew my attention to D'Acquisto year ago when the Sporting News used to post the minor league leaders.

Pichardo is interesting, a short RHP (that's generally a negative) with a low WHIP, a pretty good K/9 (positives) balanced out by the high BB/9 and HR/9 (negatives). Hard to see him progressing beyond the AAA level.

Joe Patterson is a LHP with a high K/9 offset by a high BB/9. WILD THING!!!!! He'll get the long look lefties get though. Same with de la Garza, low WHIP, high K/9 an a lefty. I smell promotion here. Otero has a good K/9 and outstanding HR/9 rate.

Daniel Griffin's size says closer, his high WHIP and BB/9 rate say not at the MLB level. Too bad.


Here are the stats from the 25 and older club:

Level...Name...............Ht...Wt...Age.WHIP...K/9...BB/9...HR/9
AAA.....Geno Espinelli.....6-4..195..26..0.95...7.44..1.08...0.00
AA......Brooks McNiven.....6-5..180..27..0.81...3.39..2.36...0.74
AA......Garrett Broshius...6-2..185..27..1.19...4.50..1.90...0.27
AA......Adam Cowart........6-2..190..25..1.44...4.20..1.54...0.45

I guess you can see why Team USA may have wanted Espinelli, based on these stats. McNiven will play for Team Canada. But I just saw where Nate Schierholtz has been added to the Team USA roster. Good for the red, white and blue...but given the choice, I'd have let them keep Espinelli and move Shierholz to the big club.

Broshius and Cowart look like they should be dusting off their resumes.
------------------
GIANTS PROSPECTS DOWN ON THE FARM:

CLASS..PLAYER, POS............AB..R..H...RBI..AVG
LoA....Villalona, Angel 1B....4...0..2...1.....253
AAA....Schierholtz, Nate RF...5...1..1...0.....309..2B(20);newest Olympian

CLASS..PITCHER.......IP...H..R..ER..BB..K..ERA
HiA....Sosa, Henry...5.0..6..2..1...2...3..4.31