Giants prospects highlight High-A ball recap

Hello, minor league baseball fans, and welcome to the first installment of GotC’s High-A ball recap. Every week, I’ll be giving you a performance update of prospects and teams in the California, Carolina and the Florida State Leagues. This level of the minors is often where players spent their first full season as a professional baseball player—for example, Lynchburg outfielder Mike Papi—and begin the arduous journey to the majors.

In these updates, top prospects and recent draft picks will be the focus. Since this is often a franchise’s first extended look at their draft picks and international signings, those players are the most intriguing and deserve the most attention. A 26 year-old who is still in Single-A isn’t likely to make a big league roster at any point in the future, so it would be a waste of time to spend a lot of attention on them, even if they are off to a hot start.

Additionally, I realized there aren’t a lot of recognizable names in High-A ball, which makes sense; players, even if they were highly drafted, have little to no bodies of work and haven’t had time to accumulate lots of quality at bats or innings to move up prospect rankings and scouts’ radars.

Next: California League

California League
North
Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks)—8-3
Bakersfield Blaze (Mariners)—5-6
Modesto Nuts (Rockies)—5-6
Stockton Ports (Athletics)—5-6
San Jose Giants (Giants)—3-8

South
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Dodgers)—8-3
Inland Emprie 66ers (Angels)—7-4
Lancaster JetHawks (Astros)—6-5
High Desert Mavericks (Rangers)—5-6
Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres)—3-8

Notable performances:
It may not show in the standings, but San Jose has some players off to hot starts in 2015. Shortstop Christian Arroyo, the Giants’ first round draft pick in 2013, is hitting .321 and slugging .679, including two home runs in seven games. He’s missed the past four games due to injury, but should be back soon. Fellow 2013 draftee Ryder Jones (second round) is hitting .417 with two home runs and has driven in eight runs in ten games, and pitcher D.J. Snelten has given up two earned runs over two starts. Two of his fellow hurlers haven’t been as successful: Tyler Beede and Keury Mella, both top five Giants prospects according to MLB.com, have combined for a 4.15 ERA and 1.33 WHIP.

More from Call to the Pen

Elsewhere, outfielder Raimel Tapia (Modesto) is hitting .311 with six doubles and 12 RBIs in 10 games. The Rockies prospect has hit over .300 each of the past three seasons and is on his way to doing it once more. Todd Glaesmann hit for the cycle Wednesday and leads the league in home runs and OPS.

Rangers outfield prospect Ryan Cordell, a 2013 11th-round draft pick, is off to a scorching start for the High Desert Mavericks, hitting .396 and slugging .667. He has struck out 11 times in 11 games already, so that will be a concern as the season progresses. Kevin Cron’s most notable stats are also his power numbers: the 2014 draft pick out of TCU has hit three home runs, second in the league, and is slugging .543.

Next: Carolina League

Carolina League

North
Frederick Keys (Orioles)—7-4
Wilmington Blue Rocks (Royals)—6-4
Potomac Nationals (Nationals)—6-5
Lynchburg Hillcats (Indians)—3-8

South
Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Cubs)—6-3
Carolina Mudcats (Braves)—5-4
Salem Red Sox (Red Sox)—4-5
Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox)—3-7

Notable performances:
A couple outfielders are leading the way in notable offense performances here; Bradley Zimmer (Lynchburg), the Indians’ first round draft pick last season, is hitting .324 with four home runs and seven RBIs through ten games; Manuel Margot (Salem) is hitting .355 with three triples and has scored seven runs in eight games; and Bubba Starling, who many believe is a bust and will never deliver on his potential as a first round draft pick in 2011—he is a career .241 hitter entering play Monday—is hitting .361 with a .425 on base percentage.