Prospects, Invitees, & a Shark; 1st Week Impressions

Picture via Mercury News

In the competition to secure one of the final few spots on San Francisco’s Opening Day roster, prospect Mac Williamson and new additions Kyle Blanks, Gorkys Hernandez, and Grant Green have been doing an excellent job of getting their foots in the door.

Blanks (.571 BA, .667 OBP, 2 HRs), Green (.429 BA & OBP), Hernandez (.385 BA, .500 OBP), and Williamson (.417 BA, .500 OBP, 2 HRs) are having an excellent spring and are making their case to crack the roster. With the Giants looking to find their fifth outfielder and/or a utility infielder, these four are making their case. These numbers obviously come from a tiny sample size, but it’s nice to wonder how these four could shake up San Francisco’s roster for the better in 2016.

On the other side of the ball, newly acquired Jeff Samardzija gave Giant fans a glimpse as to what he can bring to the table. Although he struggled against the Angles, the Shark bounced back against the Dodgers, striking out five over three innings. Samardzija did allow five singles and one run in the start.

Along with Samardzija, several prospects in the stacked Giants’ farm system made their spring debuts and performed well. Over the course of 7.1 innings, prospects Ty Blach, Ray Black and Mike Broadway had a combined ERA of 0.00, while only allowing four hits. Fellow prospect and possible 5th starter Clayton Blackburn showed promise as well in his two starts.

The Giants have had a history of refurbishing players who have they become key cogs in their title runs, such as Andres Torres, a former track and field star turned top-tier lead-off man. With San Francisco’s uncanny ability to turn unknown players into serviceable backups and Blanks, Green and Hernandez overachieving early on in the spring, the problem of a lack of depth come April may be solving itself.

The Giants have one of the most underrated farm systems in all of the baseball. Since 2011, San Francisco’s farm system has been rated 23rd, 21st, 28th, 19th, and, this year, 26th, despite producing home-grown talents such as Joe Panik, Matt Duffy, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, and Kelby Tomlinson in that timespan. Now, with prospects such as Blach, Black, Broadway, Blackburn, and Williamson having excellent springs, the future in San Francisco looks bright.

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