Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
The year began with Baseball America determining the Giants’ farm system is the 28th best in baseball. It is ending not just with another ultimately meaningless (but nonetheless encouraging) outside ranking — the system is all the way up to 14th — but actual hardware. The Sacramento River Cats are the champions of Triple-A baseball.
The rings — however many there will wind up being, as 85 players suited up for the team — will be a reminder of where the Giants came from and where they hope to be going. Granted, a Triple-A team’s success is not a fair barometer of farm-system health, but the last time a Giants Triple-A club won its division was 1998. Times are not changing for the Giants, with a new organizational direction, a new president of baseball operations and different voices being heard: Times have changed.
There are some who believe minor league results and success do not mean much; progress and development trump all. The Giants’ farm director is not among them.
“I think that’s ultimately what we’re trying to teach them to do, is how to win games at the major league level,” Kyle Haines said over the phone this week. “To treat the minor leagues as a glorified workout, to go out and exercise and play a game, I don’t know why teams wouldn’t want to find some satisfaction that their players are playing really well and winning games and getting into the playoffs and playoff atmosphere and seeing what playoff baseball is and isn’t.”
The River Cats — who by the end more closely resembled the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels, so short-handed by the September (and earlier) call-ups — now know. That makes them the Giants’ affiliate of the year.
Player of the year: Heliot Ramos
There were a lot of contenders for a system whose No. 1 prospect, Joey Bart, graduated to Double-A and No. 3 prospect, Marco Luciano, flashed potential future stardom as just as an 18-year-old in Rookie Ball. But Ramos’ breakout year was impossible to miss.
The 20-year-old from Puerto Rico reached Low-A Augusta last season, where he struggled. The tools were there, but the same plate discipline problems that plague so many prospects were there, too, for the 2017 first-round pick.
“He came in as a young, 17-year-old boy,” Haines said. “Now you see him out on the field, he acts like a grown, mature man at such a young age.”
A grown, mature man who rakes. Ramos (with Bart) hit Richmond this season, setting himself up as a possibility to debut next season. He had no problem with High-A pitching, slashing .306/.385/.500 with San Jose, including 13 home runs in 294 at-bats.
“I thought he swung at a lot better pitches overall. He really grew emotionally,” Haines said. “… He became more fundamentally sound all the way around.”
Heliot Ramos with a monster Home Run on the last day of the season 💪🏽@beisboldepr @HeliotRamos @GoSquirrels @SFGiants @NBCSGiants pic.twitter.com/dUCtRDNC9C
— Anthony (@Anthony49208035) September 2, 2019
That includes in center field, where the Giants hope Ramos can stay. It’s always tough to tell with young bodies that are filling out, but Haines said he envisions him as a future major league center fielder.
How soon will that future be? Might Giants fans see next season the next electric call-up who can’t legally drink?
“In a way he’ll determine that,” Haines said. “If he wants to show us that he’s the best option in the major leagues, then he can show us. We’ll let him determine what his timeline is.”
Riser: Seth Corry
Conner Menez raced through Richmond and jumped to the majors after his Sacramento stint. Logan Webb, after a PED suspension, rocketed all the way from Augusta to the Giants in under a month. Sean Hjelle, in his first full professional season, looked solid.
But no one’s game rose this year yet quite like Corry’s, who’s all the way up to No. 9 in the system, according to MLB Pipeline, after being No. 14 last season.
The southpaw has had chronic control issues — “He knows he walks guys,” Haines said — having given up 32 bases on balls in 57 2/3 innings between Low-A and Rookie Ball last season. The red flags were still firmly attached to him for the first half, when he pitched to a 2.59 ERA with Augusta but allowed 42 walks in 59 innings.
Then he found something.
“He did some slight, very subtle mechanical changes. But I think at the same time, he just gained a lot more confidence,” Haines said of Corry, 20, a third-round pick in 2017. “His in-between-start routine was really well-ran, he seemed to kind of clean up a very subtle mechanical deal. From there, he just gained a lot of confidence as it unfolded the way he envisioned. It became kind of contagious — he just gained more and more confidence every time out.”
He was untouchable from July 2 to Sept. 1, a span of 12 games in which he recorded a 0.99 ERA, struck out 86 in 63 2/3 innings and walked 16. Opposing hitters batted .156 against him.
LHP Seth Corry (20.8Y) had another dominant start last night for Augusta: 6IP 1H 1BB 8K. He was consistently 93-94, per stadium gun.
His last 5 starts: 27.2IP 13H 5BB 32K 1.30ERA
Season: 81.2IP 51H 45BB 112K 2.09ERAVideo of 7 out of 8 strikeouts from yesterday: pic.twitter.com/UOMAmHK5kl
— GPT (@giantsprospects) July 19, 2019
Haines did not want to put an estimated arrival date on Corry, but, “Left-handed pitching can move fast, so you never know.”
Faller: Chris Shaw
In 2018, the big first baseman was the team’s No. 4 prospect. Today, he seems a bit like the forgotten man.
After a rough first taste of the majors at the tail end of last season — 23 strikeouts in 54 at-bats — and a poor spring training, Shaw was sent all the way back to Richmond and tasked with hitting (and plate-disciplining) his way back to the majors. The Giants wanted the former first-rounder from Boston College to strike out less, walk more and improve in left field to help find a spot for him.
He has, but only at the minor league level so far.
Shaw worked his way back, hitting 28 homers between Double- and Triple-A, with 111 strikeouts in 442 at-bats — an improvement. He was passed over so many times before getting the September call-up. In limited time so far, he hasn’t shown the same improvement, 1-for-11 with six strikeouts and still awaiting his first extended chance.
There’s still time for the 25-year-old to prove himself, but he’s now their No. 21 prospect.
Moment(s) of the year: Sam Selman/Tyler Rogers
It is hard to find a happier major leaguer than Sam Selman was on Aug. 1.
After seven seasons with the Royals, Selman chose minor league free agency and nearly quit baseball before going to Driveline, getting a tryout and getting signed by the Giants.
He emerging as a stopper with Sacramento, and after 255 total minor league games — and seven flights in about two days — Selman got his chance in Philadelphia.
When he officially got the call, Selman was at breakfast with family.
“Mom started crying when the eggs were served,” Selman said at the time. “The waiter had no clue what was going on.”
For Haines, though, what he remembers most fondly is another longtime minor league reliever who had been passed over so many times.
“The one that really stands out to me is Tyler Rogers,” Haines said of the submariner, who has a 1.42 ERA in 13 major league games, after 342 minor league appearances. “He’s been with the organization so long. He’s got so many people who support him and believe in him. His teammates — it’s hard in the minor leagues to see someone get rooted for by their teammates the way everyone roots for Tyler.
“Just seeing Tyler get his opportunity — and so far he’s doing so well in the big leagues — that one really stands out.”
