Top Prospects Series
Below is an evaluation of the prospects within the farm system of the San Francisco Giants. Scouting reviews had been compiled with data offered by trade sources in addition to our personal observations. This is the third yr we’re delineating between two anticipated reduction roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see within the “position” column under: MIRP for multi-inning reduction pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning reduction pitchers. The ETAs listed usually correspond to the yr a participant needs to be added to the 40-man roster to keep away from being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual changes are made the place they appear acceptable, however we use that as a rule of thumb.
A fast overview of what FV (Future Value) means may be discovered right here. A a lot deeper overview may be discovered right here.
All of the ranked prospects under additionally seem on The Board, a useful resource the location gives that includes sortable scouting data for each group. It has extra particulars (and up to date TrackMan information from varied sources) than this text and integrates each group’s checklist so readers can evaluate prospects throughout farm techniques. It may be discovered right here.
Other Prospects of Note
Grouped by kind and listed so as of choice inside every class.
Young, High-Variance Guys
Alix Hernandez, RHP
Jose Ramos, UTIL
Guillermo Williamson, 1B
Derwin Laya, 3B
Manuel Mercedes, RHP
Hernandez is a spin price darling on the advanced whose fastball has crept into the mid-90s for some scouts, however was extra within the low 90s on Eric’s look. Ramos is an undersized multi-positional prospect with a well-rounded toolset. Williamson is hitting the ball very arduous on the advanced, however he’s additionally hanging out so much. Laya seems like he ought to be hitting the ball arduous due to his body and bat pace, however the hit software is gentle. Mercedes regarded like a possible mid-rotation starter on the advanced two years in the past, however he’s backed up during the last couple of years and is now a sinkerballer who struggles to overlook bats.
Relievers
Carson Ragsdale, RHP
Will Bednar, RHP
Hunter Dula, RHP
Mat Olsen, RHP
Seth Lonsway, LHP
Nick Avila, RHP
Sam Delaplane, RHP
Luis Moreno, RHP
Julio Rodriguez, RHP
Nick Swiney, LHP
Ragsdale sits within the mid-90s early in outings and has an enormous breaking ball, however he has sadly been harm a ton. Bednar hasn’t thrown arduous or thrown strikes for a few years now, however his breaking ball remains to be good. Between him and Matt Mikulski, the highest of the Giants’ 2021 draft class is wanting fairly tough. Lonsway, Olsen and Dula have driving fastballs and breaking balls that flash; Dula throws a bit tougher than the opposite two, however Lonsway’s curveball is one of the best pitch of that group. Avila was a White Sox Rule 5 decide who was despatched again to the Giants. He’s a kitchen sink reliever. Delaplane had one of many extra dominant sliders within the minors earlier than a TJ price him a number of seasons. He’s again now, however his peak velo hasn’t returned. He’s a low-90s reliever with a giant slider and below-average management. Moreno is sitting 95 however pitches backwards off his changeup and slider. He’s been within the decrease ranges for a number of years. Rodriguez has elite breaking ball spin charges and a fastball that performs down as a consequence of form and poor management. Swiney has moved to the bullpen and is sitting 89.
Starter Depth
Nick Zwack, LHP
Nick Sinacola, RHP
Carson Seymour, RHP
Kai-Wei Teng, RHP
Ryan Murphy, RHP
Most of this group has a sneaky, low-90s heater (Zwack, Sinacola, Murphy) that they command in addition to a superb breaking ball, however not likely the third pitch wanted to lock them in as a fifth starter. Seymour sits 93-94 and has good uncooked breaking stuff, nevertheless it performs down as a consequence of poor command. Teng has begun to take a slider-first strategy and is sitting 91-93.
Can You Play Center Field?
Tyler Fitzgerald, 2B/3B
Hayden Cantrelle, 2B
Dalton Guthrie, CF
This total group has seen somewhat little bit of time in heart area currently. Each of them is an efficient upper-level org participant who wants a premium place on their scout card to carry down a giant league function. Cantrelle and Fitzgerald lack the arm for brief. Guthrie used to play 2B/3B however has centered solely on the outfield currently.
System Overview
Are the Giants good at creating arms or not? On the one hand, they appear to have a gentle stream of men who come out of just about nowhere. On the opposite, a lot of their excessive draft picks and thrilling younger pitching prospects have trended down. San Francisco’s penchant for low-release arms is obvious all through the system, usually pitchers with decrease arm slots reasonably than drop-and-drive sorts who create backspinning axis on their fastballs. The final couple of the Giants’ drafts have been very pitcher-heavy after their 2019 draft actually diversified danger throughout many various kinds of gamers. Many of the fellows from 2019 haven’t labored out, however that draft it felt just like the Giants stayed open and took opportunistic photographs on a number of over-slot gamers, whereas the previous couple of seem like San Francisco went in with a premeditated, pitching-heavy agenda. That’s all hypothesis, in fact.
The worldwide scouting division continues to hit issues fairly large. Ryan Reckley apart, the Giants’ monitor document of scouting worldwide bats is sort of sturdy just lately. Rayner Arias regarded very, excellent in Arizona earlier than he went again to the Dominican Republic for the DSL season, and among the many non-Top 100 prospects at the moment on the checklist, he’s simply the one with one of the best probability of taking a leap over the subsequent yr or so. Hopefully he’ll come again to the states for instructs (if the Giants take part — they didn’t final yr) and get a chance towards extra superior arms than he noticed throughout A-ball minor league video games within the spring.
Overall, that is an above-average contingent of younger gamers. A number of it’s being pushed by the massive league prepared (or almost so) bats on the very prime. Even if the fellows under the Luis Matos/Patrick Bailey/Marco Luciano tier solely flip into function gamers, they every have a premium software (Casey Schmitt’s protection, Vaun Brown’s pace, Wade Meckler’s contact) and due to this fact clear methods to make a giant league affect. The system can also be deep on pitching regardless of the pace bumps a number of the higher-profile arms have skilled. There are 28 pitchers on this checklist. Many of them have warts, even Kyle Harrison, however even when the legit starter candidates (principally the names on the prime of the 40 FV tier) fall quick, all of them have seemingly bullpen utility.
The gamers on this group are higher for buttressing a contending group with in-house depth (particularly all of the pitching) than they’re to commerce from on the deadline. The prospects within the 45 FV via 40+ FV tier are all good gamers, however we don’t suppose any of them is headlining a monster deal. The Giants are within the thick of the NL West race, and a number of the different golf equipment within the division have extra ammunition to make a giant time commerce with out sacrificing somebody from the massive league roster.
Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com