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Friday, June 20, 2014

Giants Prospects Review



The prospect list is going through a little bit of a restructuring after the MLB Draft and the Carbonell signing with the first order of business being "where do you slot Carbonell?" OK, he's not Cespedes or Puig or even Jose Abreu but at least the Giants are in the game as far as the recent Cuban exodus of players. Other than Panik, Susac and perhaps Mac Williamson, I'm not sure if we have a better hitting prospect. From a tools standpoint, only WIlliamson comes close. 

The second order of business is saying good-bye to this year's crop of 25 year olds, Ehire Edrianza and Heath Hembree. You know my theory there, at age 25 you become more suspect than prospect. At least we're getting some utility (no pun intended) out of Adrainza. Hembree seems to be the pitching version of Gary Brown, more of a teaser than a pleaser. The Giants have to see what they have in Hembree at the major league level. 

Also leaving the list, but not the organization, are 1B Ricky Oropesa and OF Jarrett Parker, both of whom struggle with contact but otherwise look good in the uniform. OF Shawn Payne shows good speed, but you can't steal 1st base. The other hope from the offensive side is the elder statesman 3B Adam Duvall, who feel of the list last year with 25 year-itis, but proceeded to crush his way through AA-AAA ball. Like my man, Conor Gillaspie, Duvall is blocked by the Panda. 

Among the pitchers, Chris Marlowe, Jorge Bucardo, Stephen Harrold never really caught fire. However, Jose Casilla, in limited work, has shown potential to be a late contributor.  This doesn't hurt BTW. I think the younger Casilla can give the Giants similar type inning and play as important a role as his older brother. The mirror doesn't lie. 


SF Giants brothers Jose and Santiago Casilla side-by-side




Next year's group of 24 YO's is key. The Giants have to get some mileage out of:

C Andrew Susac
2B Joe Panik 
OF Mac Williamson
RHP Chris Stratton 
RHP Derek Law

Law's recent arm problem complicates things as does Stratton's placement in Hi_A San Jose. He needs to start advancing or that pick starts to look pretty iffy. Two of the three bats need to contribute. 

I saw some analysis crediting the Giants with a good pick in the second round with C Aramis Garcia, but looking up and down the organization, this was a clear need pick. After Susac it's  a long fall before you find another C prospect, perhaps stopping at the surprise late round signee from last year's draft John Riley.

This draft is really uninspiring after seeing Beede almost fold up in Omaha, not even looking like Vanderbilt's ace. If he and Garcia don't come up large, this draft could come up empty.

After the first two, Dylan Davis seemed to wow more guys with his 95+ MPH arm from the hill than the OF, so a toss-up between mound and RF. He did hit well in the Cape Cod League, so FWIW. 

Sam Coonrod the RHP from SIU is a project, albeit a project the Giants have shown some skill at turning into a prospect. Maybe a Jake Dunning type at best? It seems like the jury is still out on 6th rounder Skyler Ewing as far as whether he sticks at 1B or C and same with 8th rounder from Stanford Austin Slater as OF/3B. 6-2, 205 seems to lean toward 3B, ultimately he has to hit his way up regardless of where he plays. 

That's your future Giants fans, should the present be too much for you to handle. 

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