Only three of the San Francisco Giants’ minor league affiliates were in action Tuesday, as AA Richmond was in the rain, while the ACL and DSL teams are yet to start their seasons.

Let’s dive into it.

Link to McCovey Chronicles 2022 Community Prospect List (CPL)

All positions listed are positions played in this match.

AAA Sacramento (7-6)

Sacramento River Cats lost to Oklahoma City Dodgers (Dodges) 10-4
The score of the box

For a little while on Tuesday, all eyes turned to RHP Sean Hjelle (#30 CPL). With the Giants needing a spare starter on Saturday due to the rotation-compressing doubleheader, some wondered if Hjelle — who is on the 40-man roster — would get the nod. So his scheduled departure to Sacramento was worth watching, because if he was taken out, it would set him up for a Saturday date with the Giants.

But his MLB debut will have to wait. It looks like Sammy Long will get that start, and Hjelle instead got a start in AAA where he struggled, allowing 8 hits and 1 walk, with no strikeouts. He was damage limited, allowing just 2 earned runs in 3.2 innings, but still a pretty poor performance. The lack of strikeouts has been a big problem with Hjelle for a while, and that’s part of why his ERA (2.19) is so much brighter than his FIP (4.47). In 3 starts, he had only 6 strikeouts in 12.1 innings.

The real pitching difficulties, however, came from RHP Luis Ortiz, who allowed 6 earned runs in 1.2 innings. It’s a good way to ruin your ERA in a day, and that’s exactly what happened, because Ortiz went up to 14.09. Also a tough day for RHP Kervin Castro (#26 CPL), who allowed 2 hits, 1 walk, 2 runs and 1 earned run in one inning of work. Those are the first hits and runs Castro has allowed this season, but he’s now walked 5 batters in 5 innings.

It was a mediocre day offensively for the River Cats, but a great day for right fielder Jaylin Davis, who went 2-4 with a home run, a double and a walk.

Davis is on the 40-player roster, but has a pretty tough road to climb to make the active roster. But after a slow start to the season, he is starting to make his case. He is currently working on a 5-game hitting streak, in which he is 9-22 with 2 homers, 2 doubles and 2 walks. His OPS over the year is .840, good for a 108 wRC+.

Shortstop Arquímedes Gamboa, who hit 2 singles and a walk to raise his OPS to .805, center fielder Luis González, who homered, moving his OPS to .900, and first baseman Jason Krizan, who homered to bump his OPS down to .613.

Second baseman Alex Blandino continued his rocky start to the season, going 0-4 with 3 strikeouts and his 4th error of the season.

High-A Eugene (5-4)

Eugene Emeralds defeated the Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays) 6-5
The score of the box

It’s always a good sign when your best prospect is having a good day, and shortstop Marco Luciano (No. 1 CPL) did just that, hitting 2-4 with a home run and a double, and passing his OPS at 1.030. If he keeps it up, he’ll be hitting balls in Richmond in no time.

But while Luciano had a great game to continue a great season, a few other top prospects had very tough games to continue very tough seasons. Three Emeralds had 0-4 games: center fielder Luis Matos (No. 3 CPL), whose OPS is now .338; wide receiver Patrick Bailey (#9 CPL), whose OPS is now .472, and right fielder Hunter Bishop (#10 CPL), whose OPS is now .408. It’s time to turn around, guys!

Speaking of turning things around, first baseman Luis Toribio (#39 CPL) had a very rough start to the year, but turned it around in a hurry. He hit 2-4 with a home run and a triple in that one, taking his OPS to .936. Toribio has played 6 games this year. In the first 3, he went 0-9 with 4 strikeouts and 1 walk. In the 3 games since, he is 5-11 with 2 homers, 1 triple and just 2 strikeouts.

The bad news of the day came on the pitching front, as LHP Seth Corry (#33 CPL), who is desperately trying to recover from a brutal 2021, left the game after just 2 pitches.

If MiLB’s play-by-play is accurate, Corry had a hilariously cruel/ironic outing, as the walking pitcher left the game after two pitches but was still on the hook for the batter when they were, you guessed it, market.

RHP Nick Avila had a great outing from the bullpen, knocking down all 5 batters he faced, 4 by way of strikeout, for his first save of the year.

Down-A San Jose (6-4)

The San Jose Giants defeated the Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks) 10-5 (10 innings)
The score of the box

A funny offensive day for the Baby Giants. They had 9 hits, 7 of them singles and the other 2 doubles, and they struck out 15 times. You wouldn’t expect this outing to result in 10 runs, but between Manfred Man in the 10th inning (when the Giants scored 5 runs) and 5 Rawhide errors, San Jose had a big number.

It was a great day (one of his first this year) for right fielder/first baseman Victor Bericoto, who went 3-5 with a double and a walk to bring his OPS to .666. Also bright days for shortstop Dilan Rosario, who reached base 3 times to raise his OPS to .875, and right fielder Alexander Suarez (#37 CPL) who entered the game late and was a perfect 2-2 to take his OPS to . 681.

The Baby Giants started the game with 3 of their most intriguing pitchers and had mixed results. RHP Eric Silva (#38 CPL) started and allowed 3 hits, 1 walk and 1 earned run in 2.2 innings, with 4 strikeouts, giving him a 1.93 ERA but a PIF of 4.66. He was followed by LHP Esmerlin Vinicio (#40 CPL), who rocked a terrible last outing to allow just one hit and no runs in 1.1 innings, with 2 strikeouts. He now has a 10.80 ERA, but a 4.02 FIP. And then it was RHP Manuel Mercedes (#23 CPL), who was rocked, allowing 4 hits, 4 walks and 4 runs (3 earned) over 2 innings, with just 1 strikeout. His 2nd pro season is off to a rocky start, as he has a 7.71 ERA and 10.02 FIP.

Home runs

AAA Luis González (3)
AAA Jaylin Davis (2)
AAA Jason Krizan (1)
High-A Marco Luciano (2)
High-A Luis Toribio (2)