Number 6-Clayton Blackburn

Our sixth rated prospect spent time last season at Low A and High A and might have had the best season of any minor leaguer that the Giants had last year.

Clayton Blackburn led the South Atlantic League in strikeouts and finished his season winning a Cal League playoff game for San Jose,where he should return this season.
Blackburn does not throw especially hard,but has a plus slider and curveball and his season at Augusta makes me think he has an advanced feel for pitching.
In 131 innings,Blackburn struck out 143 and walked just 18. Ordinarily,I would look at those numbers and assume a polished college pitcher dominating the low minors.but Blackburn was a high schooler and didn’t turn 20 until earlier this month.

The surprise of the 2011 draft,Blackburn is going have to keep himself in shape as he has more of a burly body type and won’t have the luxury of further growth to help a fastball that maxes out around 92 according to Baseball America.

Blackburn will start at High A San Jose with Augusta teammate Kyle Crick and perhaps Chris Stratton in one of the minors more talented rotations…

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Number 5-Mike Kickham

The Giants fifth rated prospect in their system is one that is not that far away from perhaps making the parent club.

Mike Kickham has above average velocity for a lefthander and has a strong slider along with an improving changeup.

The former Missouri State standout was challenged last season with a move to AA Richmond after spending 2011 with Low A Augusta.The upward movement worked as Kickham’s numbers actually took a leap upwards at the level as he dropped his ERA more than a full run and struck out 137 in 150 innings for the Flying Squirrels,which was good enough for second in the Eastern League.Kickham did see his walks increase in Richmond,so there are some things to work on,but I would not say that he has major control issues at all.

I was able to see Kickham pitch in both 2011 and 2012 and I thought that Kickham was much improved than in his Hagerstown appearance and seemed to be more comfortable throwing his two seamer than he did against the Suns.Kickham is most likely to be in the rotation at AAA Fresno,but could have a chance to stick in the Giants bullpen,if injuries would pop up in spring training.
Kickham could eventually find a fit in the middle of the Giants rotation in the three,four or five slots for 2014,if all goes well in Fresno…

Number 4-Joe Panik

The Giants used their first rounder in 2o11 on an college shortstop from a cold weather school and was projected to be selected a round later than he was selected in,so the selection of Joe Panik of St.John’s came as somewhat of a surprise.

Panik was drafted as a shortstop and has played there in his two years in the Giants organization at short season Salem-Keizer and High A San Jose,but projects best as a versatile utility man that can play second or short at times.

Panik’s glove is not a weakness,but does not compare to that shown by the incumbent Brandon Crawford,so it is most likely that Panik will eventually move to second,if he is to be a full time player

Panik shows an aptitude for hitting for contact (.331 and .297 as a pro) and will have to continue to hit for an high average as his power is average at best although with 27 doubles,it does indicate some power in the alleys.

Panik hits from the left side,which is always an advantage and should work in his favor in whatever role that he eventually plays in San Francisco,but I am mildly concerned by his struggles in the Arizona Fall Leagues,where he hit barely above .200 in 20 games.

I’ll have a better idea on Panik when I am able to see him play this season at AA Richmond…..

Number 3-Gary Brown

Gary Brown was the first selection for the Giants in 2010 from Cal State-Fullerton and was thought be a great fit as the Giants long term leadoff hitter and center fielder.Brown cemented that even more with a strong 2011 in San Jose for the High A Giants,but was somewhat disappointing with his 2012 in AA Richmond.
A slow start was countered by a reasonably strong stretch run to enable a finish at .279 for the season.
Brown’s power was cut in half (14 homers to 7),although some drop off was to be expected leaving the California League.

I saw Brown each time that the Squirrels hit Harrisburg and struck me as less than the sum of his parts.Brown has plus speed and he is going to be a well above average defender as I saw him make two terrific catches that covered a large patch of ground. Brown is going to be a terrific addition covering the expansive area at AT&T Park,so I have no problems there.

What I do wonder about his ability to get on base at the major league level,Brown had problems against righthanders every time that I saw him against the Senators,although he did do better against lefties and I thought he might be better projected as a fourth outfielder,which is not what I had hoped to see in such a touted prospect.

Then why is Brown the third rated prospect?Because I am not ready to give up on his bat yet.
His doubles total stayed consistent (34 to 32) and his adjustment to AAA where the ballparks (like the Cal league) are a bit more kind to the hitter will tell a lot about the future of Brown.

I’ll be very interested in seeing just how that works out…

Photo Credit:SanJose,.com

Number 2-Chris Stratton

   The Giants second rated prospect has pitched just sixteen innings in professional baseball,but yet Chris Stratton shows the type of promise to leap him to the top of the San Francisco system.

Stratton missed most of the short season after getting hit in the head during batting practice and that limited him to the small amount at Salem-Keizer. The former Mississippi State Bulldog righthander works in the low 90’s and can reach 95,which is not as high as number one prospect Kyle Crick.

Stratton uses the slider and is working on improving his changeup,which the Giants have allowed him to throw to righthanders as Baseball America reports.

The lanky 6’3 Stratton was undrafted and moved his way up from long reliever to the staff ace in Starksville .
Stratton fell to 20 in the draft in a mild surprise as he ranked well up against the other college righties in the draft in Baltimore’s Kevin Gausman and Kansas City’s Kyle Zimmer.

Stratton looks to me to project best as a third starter with the possibility of being a number two eventually. Stratton will start at either Low A Augusta,if the Giants want him to make up the innings lost late last season and then promote him quickly to High A San Jose or perhaps try to challenge him with a direct assignment to San Jose.

Prospect three tomorrow!

 

Number 1-Kyle Crick

I usually start at the top and work my way down on countdowns.I know it cuts down the dramatic finish,but I like to do it this way.

The Giants system is not an especially strong one right now.Past deals to augment the big league rosters weakened the prospect pool and picking in the lower part of the first round has not helped much either.

So considering all that,the Giants top prospects might not be nearly as high in other systems.

We’ve given a slight edge as the top prospect in the system to Kyle Crick.Crick,a 2011 sandwich pick,spent his first full season in pro baseball in the South Atlantic League and pitched better as the season went along.

Crick’s curveball was the top rated breaking ball in the league in a poll of managers in the league and began to use his changeup far more as the season went along in order to expand his pitches.Crick throws in the mid 90’s and Baseball America reports that he is capable of reaching 99 at times.

The issue with Crick appears to be control for now as Crick walked over five batters per nine innings at Augusta.
The problem was evident when I was able scout Crick in his start at the Muni against the Hagerstown Suns,where Crick threw five scoreless innings,but walked five Suns.
I thought that Crick almost tried to throw his fastball too hard and as result,his pitches wound up high in the zone.

Assuming that Crick can ease those difficulties,I can see Crick as a durable,high inning starter that should slot comfortably in the upper half of the Giants rotation.

Crick will start next season at High A San Jose in the California League in a challenging league for pitchers…

Kensuke Tanaka

I am still recovering from a flu bug,that has put me behind on both this blog and the mother ship,so my work on the prospect list took a minor blow.

The Giants did make a minor move of interest as they signed Kensuke Tanaka to a minor league contract.

The signing of Tanaka might make the return of Ryan Theriot to the team in doubt,but just who is Tanaka?

Well,Tanaka was a member of the Nippon Ham Fighters,which contrary to belief is not a team named after defenders of the pork product,won five gold gloves and hit .294 for a career.Tanaka hit .335 in his last fully healthy season,so he can put the bat on the ball,but only once hit double digits in homers (11).Tanaka can run a bit with 161 steals in a career ranging from 2006-2012,but has had injury problems over the last two seasons.

I spoke to my good friend Brandon Siefken from baseball81.com about Tanaka and the review was less than glowing.Actually,Brandon seemed surprised that not only did Tanaka leave,but that any team had interest at all-” Not much help but really I never noticed the guy.They must have got him really cheap”.

Looks to me like the Giants might have gotten a slap hitting spot starter or risked very little money on a player that may not be able to produce enough pop to carry in the big time…..

 

 

Starting to get to work

Had some time to hunker down a bit and get to work on the prospect list.I have plenty to do but the process has begun.
Baseball America’s Almanac arrived in my mailbox today,so having stats at my fingertips will be a huge help.With luck the series will start in the next few days!Thanks again for the kind comments on the start of this endeavor!

Shawn

Why San Francisco Giants ?

Well,because they are available.

If you are a hard core Giants fan and you think I have not paid my dues,you’d likely be right.

My teams have always been the Pirates and Indians,but I have always despised the Dodgers,so shouldn’t that count for something?

The Giants were an easy transition for several reasons.

Being a right coaster that works third shift,I was able to watch late games after buying the MLB package in 2004 upon paying the mortgage on a home and I can listen to games at work via the XM radio subscription.

I loved the Giants broadcast team of Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow,their commitment to building through pitching (fair warning,I am a pitching guy) and from the Giants two Low A seasons in Hagerstown,I had met some of their players,most notably Matt Cain.Add in a great ballpark and I was hooked.but I’m telling you up front-if you are looking for some guy that can say I’ve been a fan since Johnnie LeMaster,that’s not me,although I did like Chris Speier as a kid if that has any value.

I love doing what I do as a hobby.

I go to games,scout talent and yes,I do get autographs.I’ve done it since I was small and I enjoy it (for the most part).I pride myself on not allowing it to color what I think of a player and I would think if you asked the readers over at TRS,they would agree that I keep that distance.

The Pirates and Indians already had a strong minor league presence on the web,so to me,the Giants were the natural choice.I already see more Giants games than the others due to attending games and I get to see their prospects in Low A and AA,so that made sense.However,if the Giants would have had more of a web presence,I would have likely not embarked on this project.I had to have a passion for the subject,I was not going to do this just for the sake of doing such.

This will take time,but I think that I’m going to start with a top 25 countdown,talk about the players a bit and try to bridge that to the season.

Look for extra stuff in April when Augusta (the Giants low A team) hits Hagerstown of their only visit of the season and extra accent on Richmond when they are in Harrisburg.I usually see the Flying Squirrels each of their three trips to the PA capital,so that might be worth sticking around for.

If you have thoughts,advice or anything that you would like to see here,please comment.I don’t know if you don’t let me know..Please also keep in mind that TRS is on Blogger and WordPress is still on the learning curve for me. I’ll only get better using their system.

I may start with a few more general posts before the countdown or I could jump right in,no final decisions yet.

Anything else that I can answer? Let me know.

Shawn

Welcome!

To my loyal readers from ThoughtsofRS,this is the project that I have been talking about.

Welcome to SFGiantsProspects!

The Pirates and Indians minor systems are well represented on the web,but the World Champions are not?
Well,Not anymore.

This will be a work in progress and sometimes progress will be slower than others,however,I hope over time to make this the premiere site for talk on the San Francisco Giants minor league system.

To my friends and readers,I will make you this offer-I don’t care if you are a Giant fan or not or even if you do not intend on being one-this is your chance to write on line.

If you want to do game coverage from a minor team or just opine,Let me know..

I am very excited about this,so feel free to join me on this venture!!!

I would like to thank my good friend Luke Erickson and his great Nationals Prospect site as one of the inspirations and also to those of you over at TRS for loving baseball as much as I.

This will take time,I need to learn to navigate Word Press better and make time for both the sites,but I am looking forward to the challenge.

Thanks!

Shawn