It’s only August, but it’s time to look ahead to perhaps the least surprising news you’re going to read today.

The Giants are sending Joey Bart to the @MLBazFallLeague this year where he'll face some of the best young talent in baseball.



Could this be where he experiments playing a different position? (via @DaltonJ_Johnson) https://t.co/0dWQXwxgM2 pic.twitter.com/FNyUJkUmR9 — SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 20, 2019

Yes, Joey Bart is headed to the Arizona Fall League, which is no surprise at all. He lost significant time to a broken hand, and has seemed to struggle to find himself after that. I think everyone expected Bart to get sent to the AFL. The full rosters are not announced yet, but I think we’ll see the most exciting Giants contingent in the AFL that we’ve seen in years.

Highlights: Jaylin Davis and Mauricio Dubon hit home runs for Sacramento; Armani Smith was 4-for-4 in Salem-Keizer.

Jaylin Davis got back to his form as post-trade Superman, hitting his ninth home run with the River Cats and 34th overall this season. Davis has been on fire since getting traded to Sacramento, and is still hitting home runs even when he’s not in Reno. In fact, that was his first home run in Sacramento as a River Cat. Davis is now batting .347/.428/.770 as a River Cat.

Jaylin “Infinity Gauntlet” Davis pic.twitter.com/Fj15fztWXt — Sacramento River Cats (@RiverCats) August 21, 2019

Meanwhile, Mauricio Dubon also continued to heat up from the cold spell after the trade that brought him to the Giants. He hit his third home run with Sacramento, and is 13-for-28 (.464) with two home runs and a double over that span. Dubon is now batting .319/.388/.500 as a River Cat, with an .888 OPS that’s better than the .809 he had with San Antonio.

GET OFF MY BAT, BALL pic.twitter.com/ykLxp2Lyvu — Sacramento River Cats (@RiverCats) August 21, 2019

Shaun Anderson made his first Triple-A appearance since early May, and looked good in his return. The 3.1 innings was one of his shortest starts, but he did well, remaining unscored upon while allowing four baserunners.

Playoff Position: 1st place, 8 games ahead of Reno. Magic Number is 6 with

Richmond and Erie Suspended in the 8th inning, tied 1-1

Tonight's game has been postponed due to severe weather.



The remaining 2 innings of tonight's game will be played at 5:05pm tomorrow (4:30pm gates). Tomorrow's game will be played at 6:35pm as scheduled.



Tickets from tonight's game may be used for any remaining 2019 home game. pic.twitter.com/eYoSnaS62m — Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) August 21, 2019

Despite the big graphic, the game was suspended, not postponed. Richmond was on their way to being 1-hit, but the one hit was Peter Maris’ first home run of the season, keeping the game tied.

This ball was CRUSHED. pic.twitter.com/l6eEubAqZW — Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) August 20, 2019

The game will be completed on Wednesday.

Playoff Position: Out.

Johnny Cueto made his second rehab appearance with San Jose, and got hit a little bit. Cueto gave up four hits and a walk. He wasn’t scored upon in his first two inning, but then allowed five runs, four earned, across four-plus innings. It was Cueto’s first time getting hit hard in four rehab appearances.

Cueto’s rehab will be moving to Sacramento next.

Johnny Cueto will get up to 55-60 pitches tonight for San Jose at Modesto. Then two rehab starts planned for Sacramento. In the big leagues around Sept. 8 if all goes well. — Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) August 20, 2019

Matt Frisbee worked the final few innings in relief. The regular starter did not give up any runs, and just one hit in his time. He now has 118 strikeouts against 19 walks in 105.1 innings with San Jose. Jesus Tona also worked in relief, and gave up two runs on two hits and two walks. Tona’s ERA is up to 6.23 in San Jose in 11 appearances at the level.

In a bad offensive day, Sandro Fabian picked up a pair of hits, for the fourth time in five games. Fabian got his third double in San Jose, and is batting .311/.365/.444 in 39 games with the Giants.

Playoff Position: 2 games behind Stockton for the North Division Wild Card.

With Augusta taking on the first place Tourists, they did not show much fight in the first game of the series.

The only extra-base hit was off the bat of Logan Wyatt, his second double in Augusta. He’d had a 3-game hitless streak before that double broke it. Franklin Labour was one of the other four hitters who got a single. He’s batting .217/.299/.283 in his 18 games at Augusta since his callup.

Adam Oller had the start for Augusta, and was hit early while giving up four runs. Oller only gave up five hits and two walks, but he’s struggled with giving up hits all season. Oller has allowed 86 hits in 77 innings, leading to a .293 batting average allowed. Matt Seelinger struck out the side working the ninth inning. In 36.1 innings at Augusta, he’s got a 61:15 K:BB ratio, but a 5.70 ERA.

Playoff Position: 2nd Place, 2.0 Games behind Asheville. Elimination Number is 12 with 13 games back.

Armani Smith had a huge day as a part of this Volcanoes win. Smith was perfect, collecting his first 4-hit game, and boosted his batting average above .300 for the first time since August 4th. He also added his sixth double in his 33rd game.

Alexander Canario got his 13th double at the level as well, as his 2-hit game raised his batting line to .292/.364/.500 in Salem-Keizer. Beicker Mendoza added his second home run of the season. The 21-year old has a .250/.315/.381 batting line in S-K over 24 games.

Conner Nurse had one of his best games of the season, going a season-high 6.1 innings, and also set his season-high (matching his career high) with nine strikeouts. Nurse has been whittling down his ERA since giving up seven runs to start August, and this got him under 5 to 4.55.

Playoff Position: 3rd place, 4.0 GB behind Hillsboro. Elimination Number is 10 with 12 Games remaining.

The AZL had a scheduled day off

The AZL will pick up again on Wednesday, and maybe with a new player.

Rayner Santana continued a recent power mini-spree, hitting his fourth home run in the last eight games played. The 17-year old catcher has nine total on the season now, and has a .537 slugging percentage. He’s struck out 55 times to 35 walks in 46 games.

Jose Hernandez picked up three hits to raise his batting average to .238. It had dipped briefly under .200 before going 5-for-8 over his last two games. The 19-year old outfielder is batting .238/.425/.275 in his second DSL season.

Jorge Garcia’s late season slide continues, as he allowed at least three runs for the fourth straight game. In his first nine appearances, he’d allowed more than one earned run only once, but since then, his ERA has grown from 1.95 to 3.46 with his latest appearances.

Of note, Luis Matos was out for his second straight game…and that might mean something…

Confirmed. Matos is heading to AZL https://t.co/mmpAI6Et3w — LMR (@TheMcBlack) August 21, 2019

do not remember a player promoted out of the DSL midseason before, but Matos has been having a heck of a season in the DSL. If this report is true, it’s quite a move and an achievement for the 17-year old.

Playoff Position: Out.

Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento (Carlos Torres) vs. Albuquerque (Rico Garcia), 7:05 pm PDT

Richmond (TBA) vs. Erie (TBA), 5:00 pm EDT (Completion of Tuesday’s Game; plus Wednesday’s)

San Jose (TBA) at Modesto (TBA), 7:05 pm PDT

Augusta (Kai-Wei Teng) vs. Asheville (Frederis Parra), 7:05 PM pm EDT

Salem-Keizer (TBA) vs. Boise (TBA), 6:35 pm PDT

With that, we’re on to Wednesday. But here’s a little reading material as Heliot Ramos got named the Giants Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America.