Giants assign 25 players to minor league
How top prospects performed this spring
The San Francisco Giants reassigned 25 players to minor league camp Monday including nearly all of the organization’s top prospects who received invitations to major league spring training.
Catcher Joey Bart, infielder Marco Luciano and outfielder Hunter Bishop were among the players sent to minor league camp, which won’t begin until April, but there was one notable top prospect who was not cut on Monday.
Outfielder Heliot Ramos, arguably the top offensive performer in camp this spring, will remain in major league spring training after going 9-for-21 with three home runs and six RBI in limited Cactus League action.
Aside from optioning or reassigning several prospects and minor leaguers, the Giants also optioned a handful of players on the 40-man roster with major league experience including outfielder Jaylin Davis, lefthanded pitcher Conner Menez and catcher Chadwick Tromp.
Minor league camp won’t technically open for two more weeks, but all of the players optioned or reassigned Monday will have a separate minor league daily schedule from this point forward. They will all remain eligible to participate in Cactus
League games as needed, so don’t expect Buster Posey and Curt Casali to catch every inning of spring training.
Our beat reporter, Kerry Crowley, has been on the ground in Scottsdale this spring watching the Giants’ top prospects and he has evaluations of how each of the Giants’ top young position players performed.
MARCO LUCIANO (RANKED NO. 1 GIANTS PROSPECT BY MLB.COM) >> When asked last week if Luciano was overmatched at the plate this spring, Kapler denied the assessment and reminded reporters the Dominican Republic native is only 19 and still getting acclimated to facing big league pitching. Kapler may not want to say so publicly, but in a small sample size of 16 at-bats, it is fairly clear Luciano is overmatched
right now. With a 1-for-16 line that includes 11 strikeouts, his bat has struggled to catch up to fastballs and he has found himself down in the count 0-2 in what feels like the majority of his plate appearances.
At the same time, Kapler is also right to point out Luciano is only 19. The shortstop wants to be in the big leagues by Opening Day next year, but the middle or end of the 2022 season might be a more realistic timeline because he has so much development left. The raw power, the speed, the athleticism and the arm at shortstop are all impressive qualities, but it might take a bit for Luciano to become the complete player he’s projected to be. There’s little doubt in my mind he can be a star at the major league level, especially considering the rest of the Giants’ top prospects routinely marvel at his talents, but Luciano appears to be pressing a little bit this spring and will obviously benefit from some at-bats in A-ball this year. JOEY BART (NO. 2) >> After arriving at the major league level in 2020, Bart struggled with chasing pitches outside the strike zone and whiffing too often when he did swing in the zone. Bart has still struck out in five of his 15 at-bats this spring, but he’s been the victim of some questionable strike three calls and has actually shown improved plate discipline that isn’t showing up in the box score due to such a small sample size.
There are still a few things for Bart to clean up defensively, but he’s a big target, has a strong arm and has cut down on the cross-ups that seemed to occur far too frequently last season. When he’s making contact, he’s driving the ball with authority, hitting the ball in the air more and showing good speed on the bases for a catcher.
Will Bart ever hit .300? Probably not. Will he hit 25-to-30 home runs? He has that kind of power, but I wonder if his oppositefield approach will lead to more doubles when he’s playing regularly.
HELIOT RAMOS (NO. 3) >> Of the 75 players in Giants camp, Heliot Ramos and Donovan Solano are currently competing for the title of spring training MVP. Solano is hitting .500, but Ramos has a .905 slugging percentage and leads the team with three home runs.
The power is ridiculous, the consistency has improved and it feels like every time Ramos steps into the batter’s box, there’s a chance for a highlight-reel type of a moment. One of the underrated aspects of Ramos’ performance thus far is that when he’s been on base, he’s often looking to steal. The box score shows one stolen base and one caught stealing, but he’s been running on pitches that have been hit or fouled off, too.
The Giants say they want to continue looking at Ramos in center field, but it feels to me like he’s better off settling in as a left fielder or right fielder. There’s so much ground for Ramos to cover and while he’s a tremendous athlete who gets good reads, I’m not certain he’s fast enough to cover the cavernous confines of National League West ballparks.
If Ramos isn’t helping the big league club at some point during 2021, I’ll be very surprised.
HUNTER BISHOP (NO. 4) >>
I have legitimately never seen a player swing the bat harder than Hunter Bishop.
The Giants’ 2019 first round draft choice mixes his violent swing with elite bat speed that allows him to let pitches travel, making it easier for him to lay off borderline pitches and swing late at pitches he thinks he can drive. Bishop looks and feels so much more comfortable this year and while he may open the year at Low-A or High-A, it wouldn’t surprise me if he muscles his way up to Double-A Richmond early on because of all the time he’s spent over the last year tracking Triple-A and major league-caliber pitching. Additionally, Bishop might be one of the best overall athletes in the Giants’ system and his hustle will make him a fan favorite.
PATRICK BAILEY (NO. 6) >>
Farhan Zaidi and scouting director Michael Holmes caught everyone by surprise when they drafted Bailey, a college catcher out of North Carolina State, in the first round in 2020, but it meshes with Zaidi’s affinity for catchers.
Bailey isn’t nearly the physical specimen Bart is and he’s not a top-100 prospect, but there are reasons to like his game. He carries himself like a veteran behind the plate and is clearly very comfortable working with major league pitchers, which is a good sign for a player who has yet to appear in a minor league game.
A switch-hitter, Bailey’s primary focus this season will be much like that of many other Giants prospects, which is making more contact and laying off pitches below the strike zone. I haven’t seen enough of Bailey from either side of the plate to form a strong opinion about him as a hitter, but the quality of his at-bats thus far have been strong and he isn’t afraid to get deep in the count.
I am curious to see how Bailey’s career shakes out compared to that of Tyler Soderstrom, the Turlock High catcher who was drafted later in the 2020 first round by the Oakland A’s. WILL WILSON (NO. 12) >> I might be higher on Wilson’s potential than most people who evaluate prospects in part because it feels like every time I look up, Wilson is finding the barrel.
I know strikeouts have been an issue for Wilson this spring, but that’s to be expected of a player who only has one minor league season (at short-season ball) under his belt. Kapler compared Wilson’s skills as a hitter to Solano’s earlier this week and that really made sense to me because neither player is a 15-to-20 home run guy, but both can hit gap-to-gap and have a tendency to make really solid contact.
I’ll need to see more of Wilson at third base and shortstop before ruling out the idea of him playing anywhere other than second, but to me, he’s a blend of Dustin Pedroia, Joe Panik and Solano and that should excite the Giants.