Roster Breakdown
I am a little late to the party here, but I wanted to provide some thoughts on the rosters for the Giants affiliates. Melissa Lockard (@melissalockard) and Roger Munter (@rog61) did a much better job of breaking it down and I would highly recommend their work for a more comprehensive breakdown.
San Francisco
Quick breakdown on this roster, as there weren't many surprises. It felt like the 28 spots/injuries allowed the front office to punt a few final decisions. I would assume Beede, Williams, Duggar, Long and Littell were the beneficiaries of the injuries/extra spots. Williams, Duggar, Littell and Long have options left and will most likely be sent down before Beede unless he performs poorly. The front office will stretch every possible decision out as long as possible to keep players on the 40 man roster (IE - see last year when players were regularly placed on the 60 day IL for symptoms after getting a covid shot). It will be interesting to see how the roster will look if all players are healthy (a rare occurrence).
The achilles heel for me with this roster is the SP depth. If one or two starting pitchers go down for an extended amount of time, it will be hard to fill those innings internally.
Sacramento - https://www.milb.com/sacramento/roster
l;;;;;p;;;;;;;Nothing too surprising on the pitching side. A lot of minor league free agents, young 40 man pitchers and "swing" guys that are most likely viewed as multiple inning type pitchers at the ML Level on an emergency basis.
I was very excited to see Joey Marciano make the roster. Him and Plassmeyer are the only pitchers that aren't minor league free agents or on the 40 man roster. He has good stuff from the left side and is an A+ person who retired a few years ago to help his family out and came back to the game after taking care of some personal stuff. I will certainly be pulling for him this year.
Sean Hjelle appears to be one of the starting pitchers for the River Cats at this time. I would presume he would be the first name called up when/if a 6th starter is needed. In the end, I think he finds success at the ML level as a reliever where his velo will be higher and his unique angle will be tough on hitters. Imagine him and Tyler Rogers coming in back to back.I would also imagine there was some internal discussion on Kervin Castro and Greg Santos being stretched out as starters, but I believe keeping them as relievers will be better for them in the long run. Castro needs to find some more consistency and Santos needs to dominate with his slider since his FB regularly gets whacked and doesn't have the profile to be an effective pitch at the ML level, even with the plus velo.
On the position player side, it was great to see Ricardo Genoves make the AAA roster. The Giants never added to the upper level catching depth like many assumed they would during spring training. At this time, I would anticipate Genoves being the 3rd string catcher and the first person called up if an injury happens to Bart or Casali. I thought he might be lost in the Rule 5 draft, so this year gives the Giants an extra year of evaluation and a chance to protect him before the off-season. I have always believed he had a role as back-up C at the ML level who will provide good leadership. solid defense and a little pop.
For the infielders, Villar being included was a great decision. He will most likely push himself onto the 40 man roster this year with a strong AAA performance. Krizan is a very solid baseball player without standout tools. He grows on you the more you watch him play and would be able to hold his own at the ML level.
Bryce Johnson also belongs on a ML roster at some point. He can play all three OF positions at a plus level, is one of the better baserunners in baseball and can provide a solid PA from both sides of the plate.
One additional note, it appears the roster is at 30 for the year, which makes me assume MLB has allowed the AAA teams to have the five man taxi squad again. Essentially, the team will need to designate five players a game (typically all starting pitchers/piggyback relievers) that are not eligible for that specific game. This rule immensely helps the AAA staff manage the game to game requests of the ML staff/front office.
Richmond - https://www.milb.com/richmond/roster
You can start to see the beginning of the next "wave" of prospects for the ML team on this roster.
The pitching has some interesting relievers who are most likely solid minor league arms, but with a few years of strong performance/small tweaks to their arsenal could be a ML option in a year or two.
Tristan Beck has always had good stuff., but has struggled to stay healthy. Hopefully he is able to put together a full year of health and show he can be an effective starter.
Kai-Wei Teng could take a big leap this year. He had a rough 2020/2021, mostly due to some interesting development decisions/needing to adapt to a new organization and small injuries, but showed good stuff at the end of 2021 that hopefully translates to a strong 2022.
Dabovich, Ruotolo and Wright all have a chance to put themselves into position to be ML relievers this year or next with a strong season.
On the position player side, Auerbach is a manager's dream who will become a fan favorite in San Francisco once he reaches the major leagues. He isn't just a "token" emergency catcher and can fill at an average level at six additional positions (SS and CF are a bit of a stretch). He will be a fun one to watch this year. I would bet with even a small amount of success that the ML staff pushes for him on the roster at some point.
Roby and Wilson have make or break years in AA this year. Both have the potential to be ML players, but will need to make adjustments and show they can handle AA pitchers. In the end, if they reach their ceiling, Wilson could be a solid ML UTIL player and Roby can be a platoon corner bat with some serious pop.
I thought Rincones would be an early pick in the Rule 5 draft and be able to stick with a ML team all year. His progress will be interesting to watch. If he has success he will force himself onto the 40 man roster by the end of the year. Labour most likely got pushed to AA to give PA to other OF's in Hi-A. Hopefully he is able to adjust on plus velo and tap into his power.
Eugene - https://www.milb.com/eugene/roster
Man, what a roster. You can legitimately argue there are nine potential future ML position players on the roster, plus six pitchers. I would recommend planning a trip to Eugene in September to watch this team attempt to defend their Northwest League title. You will also have the benefit of watching a Duck football game!
Corry made some strides at the end of last year after spending some time recalibrating in Arizona. He is an A+ worker and person with plus stuff. He will just need to find the strike zone with his pitches to have success.
Berroa almost pitched his way onto the 40 man roster in 2021. With another strong year in 2022, he could be a valuable trade piece at the deadline or an arm that will need to be protected in the off-season.
Swiney overmatched Lo-a hitters when healthy in 2021 (as any polished college SP should do). I would expect him to be bumped up to AA quickly if he has early success with Eugene.Randy Rodriguez will most likely pitch 2-3 innings at a time (personally, even if you know a young pitching prospect is going to be a reliever for you at the ML level, it is almost always beneficial to stretch them out in the low minors unless their stuff only holds for 1 inning or they express desire to not be extended). He should be an emergency ML option this year.Harrison is the headliner after a dominating run at San Jose. His walks got overlooked slightly last year because the rest of the numbers were so dominating. I would imagine his #1 PD goal this year is to cut down on those free baserunners because the rest of his stuff is close to ML ready.
Waites overpowers with his FB but needs to be consistent with the command of it and also show a workable breaking ball so hitters cannot cheat to the FB.
The position player side is stacked, what a fun team to watch. I'll be quick with the notes on them.
Bailey looked like a future all-star at instructs in 2020, struggled a lot in 2021 but came on strong at the end of the year and had a solid AFL. Hopefully a year of struggles helped him and he will quickly ascend to AA this season.
Luciano is the real deal. He needs to continue to refine his K zone awareness, but that should come with time. For me, I have always had him as a future 3B, but I will not be surprised if he breaks into the ML at SS and moves off after a couple of years.
Schmitt, Santos and Toribio all have ML potential. Schmitt has the best chance to be a ML regular due to his plus defense. Santos could potentially be able to play 7-8 positions as ML super utility guy. He is one of the better baserunners in the ORG and can add value in a lot of places outside of his bat. Toribio has a plus approach with pop and could work into a platoon corner bat.
Matos is a top 10 prospect in baseball for me and I am happy to die on that hill. His one weakness is swinging outside the zone (and even when he does, he tends to square the ball up). If he can lower his out of zone swing percentage and only attack strikes, he will take off.
Pomares surprised a lot of people last year with his power. However, the K/BB ratio needs to improve drastically before he can be considered a viable ML option.It is nice to see Bishop healthy. He has all of the tools in the world. Hopefully he can stay healthy and get 350+ PA this season.
San Jose - https://www.milb.com/san-jose/rosterThis pitching staff should dominate in Lo-A. It isn't surprising to see this many quality college arms start here as Farhan has always sent college pitchers to Lo-a to begin the season. It will be interesting to see who rises to the top first and gets the promotion to Eugene after 4-6 weeks.
I will not be surprised if Lonsway or Black end up having more successful careers than Bednar (that isn't a knock on Bednar, more about excitement on the stuff Lonsway and Black can flash). Those are the three names plus Mikulski I would expect to be the first moved up once the time is right.
It is great to see Winn back in full season. He will be handled carefully this year, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was quickly in AA pitching out of the pen. Him and Jake Wong went through TJ and rehab on pretty much the same schedule and it will be interesting to see how they look in 2022. Rehab is a brutal, monotonous energy drain, but it can be very beneficial. It allows players a long amount of time to focus on their body/strength and weaknesses (including areas that were not part of the injury) and come back even better than before.
Silva, Mercedes, Vinicio and McDonald are the younger arms with upside that will probably be in SJ all year and will be interesting to watch.
The hitting group is the opposite of the pitching group and mostly consists of young, unproven hitters. Sugastey is a stud. A potential future top 100 prospect with above average defense and a solid bat. I wouldn't be surprised if his name begins popping up with scouts as the year progresses.
Arteaga is also a potential future top 100 prospect who can stay at SS and provide a solid offensive profile. It will be fun to watch him and Sugastey push each other this year.
Frechette will benefit from regular playing time, hopefully he is able to refine his K zone awareness. Rosario and Layer should be able to provide above average defense at multiple positions throughout the year.
McCray and Suarez both have high potential and will benefit from getting to play everyday. If it clicks for one of them, they could take off in a hurry .
Overall, the Giants minor league system continues to improve and put exciting prospects at all levels. It will be fun to see the adjustments and improvements made this year.