Minor League Thread

[love_that_reefer]

Eugenio Velez, currently hitting .310/.358/.554 for low Single-A Augusta, was named the South Atlantic League's MVP.
He's also swiped 60 bases in 75 attempts. Velez turned 24 back in May, so he is quite old for the league. The Giants will need to bump him up to Double-A next year in order to see what they have in him. He's probably a future utilityman at best.

[love_that_reefer]

http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/N...t=.jsp&c_id=sf

I hope Anderson keeps it up. He will be a possible closer in 2 or 3 years.

[jrichordieflyin]

What's going on with Valdez? Are we ever going to see this guy other than a September call-up?

[love_that_reefer]

Valdez is our for the entire 07 season after shoulder surgery. He never quite got his control down and might never see him in a Giants uni again.

[love_that_reefer]

Tim Lincecum pitched five shutout innings and struck out eight Saturday to win in his debut for Triple-A Fresno. He allowed two hits and walked three while throwing 50 of his 83 pitches for strikes. If Lincecum keeps pitching like this, the Giants are only going to be able to wait so long before calling him up. They're probably going to need him if they want to contend this year.

If things keep up, we might have to bring him in the bullpen. Great debut for the kid!!!

[love_that_reefer]

Tim Lincecum pitched seven shutout innings and struck out nine Thursday for Triple-A Fresno. The Giants aren't going to be able to resist calling on Lincecum if he keeps outting together peformances like this. He allowed four hits and walked two yesterday, throwing 87 pitches in seven inings. In two starts, he's struck out 17 in 12 scoreless innings for Fresno. Eddy Martinez-Esteve went 5-for-9 with a walk in a doubleheader for Double-A Connecticut on Saturday. Martinez, limited to 92 at-bats last year by a shoulder injury, was off to a 1-for-15 start before his big day. The 23-year-old is still one of the Giants' top position prospects. He could be the long-term replacement for Barry Bonds in left field.

Lincecum is just a stud and will be with the big club this summer. It's also nice to hear Martinez is getting his stroke back.

[love_that_reefer]

2006 35th-round pick Adam Cowart threw six scoreless innings for low Single-A Augusta on Sunday to improve to 3-0. Cowart lost his final decision of 2006, the only blemish on his 13-1 record as a pro. He has a 1.06 ERA in three starts this year. The sidearming 23-year-old isn't viewed as a prospect as a starter because of his lack of velocity. However, the possibility exists that he'll have a career as a reliever. He should be in high-A ball or maybe even Double-A right now. Tim Lincecum, the Giants' top pick in the First-Year Player Draft last June, was named the Pacific Coast League's pitcher of the week after throwing 12 scoreless innings in two starts for Fresno. Lincecum, picked 10th overall, allowed only six hits while striking out 17 and holding opponents to a .146 batting average.

I see a lot more awards for Lincecum in his future. The Giants should move Cowart up the ladder and put him in the bullpen to get him familiar although it might now be a bad idea to keep him at starter just to get innings.

[love_that_reefer]

Tim Lincecum struck out 11 in 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball Tuesday for Triple-A Fresno. He allowed three hits and walked none. Lincecum has given up nine hits, walked five and fanned 28 in 18 2/3 scoreless innings in the PCL. The Giants just aren't going to be able to keep him in Triple-A for much longer.

28 K's to 5 BB's is just what we need at the big league level. Ortiz better be looking over his shoulder.

[love_that_reefer]

Entering Thursday, the Giants' Minor League clubs owned a collective 33-16 record, best among the 30 organizations. Augusta, San Francisco's lower Class A affiliate, led the way at 13-1. One of Augusta's top performers has been right-hander Adam Cowart, who was named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week after posting a 3-0 record with a 1.06 ERA.

The Giants continue to have good teams in the mionrs. The have been the best overall for two years now. We might ot have the top prospects but we are very underrated when it comes to our farm system.

[love_that_reefer]

Pitching around six walks, Tim Lincecum threw 6 1/3 hitless innings in another win for Triple-A Fresno on Monday. The poor command did result in the first run of the season scored against Lincecum. He threw 53 of his 97 pitches for strikes, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch. Lincecum is 3-0 with a 0.36 ERA, 9 H and 32/11 K/BB in 25 IP.

A poor outing just by looking at the walks but the fact he gave up just that one run is impressive.

[love_that_reefer]

Top prospect Tim Linecum struck out 14 batters in six innings to lead Triple-A Fresno to a 3-0 victory on Sunday. Linecum is 4-0 with an 0.29 ERA, allowing 12 hits with 46 strikeouts in 31 innings for Fresno. "We're keeping track of what's going on down there," manager Bruce Bochy said. "We know how well he's throwing, but our pitching has been fine." Brian Wilson has been temporarily shut down at Triple-A Fresno because of arm soreness. Wilson, who entered the spring as a possible candidate to supplant closer Armando Benitez, had been throwing side sessions to work on his breaking pitches. Giants prospect Adam Cowart moved to 5-0 for low Single-A Augusta by throwing six scoreless innings Thursday. It's ridiculous that the 23-year-old Cowart is still in low-A ball when he's been so dominant since being drafted out of Kansas State last year, but the Giants seem to be dedicated to putting together a powerhouse Sally League team. Augusta is now 18-3, but that's with a total of two players on the roster born in 1986 or later. The Greenville team Augusta beat yesterday has 10 players born after the start of 1986. The first-place team in the SAL Northern division, West Virginia, has 11.

Lincecum continues to mow down hitter at a ridiculous rate.

Cowart is doing no one any good by staying in A ball.

[love_that_reefer]

The Giants' Minor League clubs finished the 2007 season with the second-best organizational winning percentage at .575.

Last year the Giants were #1. The Giants have good Minor League coaches and that shouldn't be overlooked.