One of the conversations that has circled around the Giants’ 2019 season (from the development standpoint) is what influence Farhan Zaidi may have brought to a development staff that is largely held over from previous years. Among other things, this interview with Matt Yourkin pulls back a little bit of the curtain on the process of grafting the old development team with new techniques and tools. It’s a great listen:

Pregame interview with #SJGiants pitching coach Matt Yourkin on his early impressions of newcomer Tristan Beck, Sean Hjelle's development this season, Jose Marte, the emergence of Matt Frisbee + how the tech staff is helping Giants pitchers. https://t.co/KR14LZPfph — Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) August 7, 2019

HIGHLIGHTS: Jaylin Davis has another Multi-hit game; Matt Frisbee has his third shutout start for San Jose.

Newcomers galore! Today, the Sacramento River Cats featured a lot of newcomers that might be the future of the Giants...or at least, the recent past of the trade deadline.

Jaylin Davis bounced back from his worst day as a River Cat (only one hit!), and now has gotten a hit in each of his five games with Sacramento, and four with multiple hits. Although they were both singles, Davis now is batting .588/.667/1.118 with four walks and four strikeouts. With a possible Duggar injury, maybe Davis gets his chance with the team after the year he’s had? He’d need a 40-man roster spot, though, and the Giants have already made some hard decisions in that area...(okay, it’s a long shot.)

Meanwhile, Mauricio Dubon had his best game as a River Cat, picking up multiple hits for the first time, and his first double in seven games as a Cat (23rd overall not he season). Dubon is batting .240/.345/.280 in his first week in the Giants organization, but still has a .294/.334/.464 batting line in Triple-A overall.

And to keep with the theme, Dan Winkler made his Giants organization debut, after having cleared waivers. He walked one and hit a batter but kept the Redbirds off the plate.

Dereck Rodriguez made the start and had one of his best starts in the minors. It was his first start without a walk this season, and has 37 strikeouts and 11 walks in 34.1 innings in the minors this season. Travis Bergen also made an appearance in his rehab, with a walk allowed in one inning. Bergen has 18 strikeouts and 11 walks in 18.1 innings in his minor league rehab this season.

Let’s talk about the first reliever. Logan Webb has been limited in his innings as of late, but had his longest start since coming back from his suspension, right as the Flying Squirrels needed him to in a double header.

Logan Webb gets things (re)started with a strikeout!



Scoreless game heading to the third inning. pic.twitter.com/HHSTzFZH22 — Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) August 7, 2019

Count 'em!



Six strikeouts for Logan Webb in five innings today. #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/bHGv51ZH4z — Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) August 7, 2019

Webb’s ERA has jumped to 2.18 after having given up a pair of earned runs in two of his last three starts (and ten unearned runs), but Webb gave the Squirrels a chance to win in his first relief appearance at Double-A this season.

Bryce Johnson picked up a pair of hits in the lead off spot of game 1. After a hot start, Bryce has cooled off a bit, picking up just his second multi-hit game in the last ten games. His batting average has dipped back down to .274 after going hitless in the second game.

Game 2 was a nearly silent affair, offensively. The only two hits of the game came from Johneshwy Fargas, who also stole his 44th base, and scored on a throwing error on a hit by Ryan Howard. But that held up. Carlos Navas made his first start in Double-A this year. The 26-year old had a 5.58 ERA in a mixed role in Triple-A, but has returned to Double-A working as a reliever.

But hey, we get at least one great defensive replay to watch. Peter Maris helped keep a pitcher’s duel in Game 2 a duel.

❗❗ PETER MARIS ❗❗



His full-extension catch to start a double play is worth the Slo-Mo look pic.twitter.com/oTQcgKzohp — Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) August 8, 2019

San Jose defeated Lake Elsinore (Padres), 2-0

Matt Frisbee keeps impressing in San Jose.

Frisbee set a new season high with 11 strikeouts in his third straight game without allowing a run. Frisbee’s ERA has dropped from 4.24 to 3.36 in his last three starts, and now has 107 strikeouts against 18 walks in 96.1 innings at San Jose. Frisbee now has a 3.28 ERA in his first full season. The 15th round pick from 2018 has put up good peripherals for as long as he has been a pro.

With Frisbee being what he was on the mound, Heath Quinn led the way on a day without much offense. He picked up his second home run in his 30 games with San Jose, which leaves him perfectly balanced: two home runs in San Jose (30 games), two home runs in Richmond (32 games), and two home runs in the AZL (seven games).

That home run was San Jose’s only extra-base hit, but it ended up being all the team would need. Sandro Fabian got up one of those singles, now with a 4-game hit streak after having had a 4-game hitless streak before that.

Oh, and Heliot Ramos played. Sure, he was 0-for-4, but he was back in the lineup after his X-Ray was negative after getting hit on the hand. That in of itself is good news.

Augusta and Salem-Keizer had the days off.

The Volcanoes continue to enjoy their All-Star Break. Augusta just enjoyed an August day off.

AZL Black lost to the Cubs 2, 6-2

It was a quiet day for the Black squad, with not much in the way of offense and a bad ninth inning.

Jairo Pomares picked up both of the team’s RBI with his only hit of the game, his 10th double of the season. The hit extends his hitting streak to 10 games. Amazingly, his batting average has actually dropped by 20 points over that ten games, which is more of a testament to the amazing hot start that Pomares had more than him going cold. The double, however, was his first extra-base hit in the last seven games.

Matt Malkin also extended a hit streak, his to six games. The 23 year old is very old for the league, but comes to the Giants as an undrafted free agent with no expectations. In 23 games, Malkin is batting .341/.349/.463, and has two walks with 14 strikeouts.

Freddery Paulino walked a fine line starting the game, allowing just one run despite giving up eight hits. The 18-year old has a .275 batting average allowed, and has a 3.71 ERA with a 1.44 WHIP. Ben Strahm was the one who wore the loss, his first appearance in over a week, and it continues a very rough streak. Strahm has allowed 13 runs over his last three appearances, including an appearance in which he gave up six runs without any outs. Strahm‘ s ERA is up from 0.93 to 9.69 in this bad stretch.

AZL Orange defeated the Brewers Blue, 7-2

Even with Marco Luciano taking a day off, it was a good day for the Orange squad.

Najee Gaskins had an interesting game, going 1-for-3, getting hit by a pitch, and collecting two steals on three attempts. Gaskins is up to 18 steals, which puts him one steal off of the 3-way tie atop the AZL. But Gaskins has done it in 27 games, whereas the competition has done it in 34-38 games.

Luis Toribio picked up his 10th double, and is now just three doubles shy of his total last season. Toribio has seen a drop in his power, with just three home runs this season in 38 games, against the 10 he had in 64 last season. However, his slugging percentage is just a tick off of last season (.475 versus .479) thanks to an uptick in singles and doubles. Aaron Bond is in his seventh game of rehab, picking up a pair of doubles to give him three in the AZL.

Jesus Gomez had one of his strongest starts of the season. The 18-year old set a new career high with ten strikeouts in a season-high 5.1 innings, getting one more out than he had previously. It was his first shutout start in the last six games.

The Giants got a 3 run homer and a Grand Slam in back to back innings — which is an excellent approach to winning. That was part of a three-homer day — all from rather unusual sources, with Diego Verbel and Eduardo Jaramillo each hitting their first of the year.

Luis Matos had a well rounded game. He reached base twice on a hit and a walk, stole two more bases (giving him 17 SB against just 1 CS) and even found time throw a runner out at home. Kid can play!

And hey, we have some helpful action images coming out of the academy. Here’s action shots of Jose Peralta, starter Marvin Brown, and Rayner Santana respectively.

DSL Giants at DSL Mariners pic.twitter.com/IdVjNukUsL — SFGProspects (@SFGProspects) August 7, 2019

And when the morning game is over, it’s time to hit the classroom. Wonder what they’re learning in there? Anyone want to take a shot at identifying some of the kids in these shots?

Meeting with all of our new Giants at our Felipe Alou Academy. pic.twitter.com/7NsmaGcZin — SFGProspects (@SFGProspects) August 7, 2019

Today’s Scheduled Starters:

Sacramento (Enderson Franco) vs. Memphis (Genesis Cabrera)

Richmond (Garrett Williams) @ Altoona (TBD)

Augusta (Adam Oller) @ Rome (William Woods)

Salem-Keizer (TBD) vs. Hillsboro (Drey Jameson)

AZL Giants Orange (Nick Avila) vs. AZL Padres2 (TBD)

AZL Giants Black (Jasier Herrera) @ AZL Royals

DSL Giants (Jorge Garcia) vs. DSL Mariners (TBD)

Back to a full slate for Thursday. We’ll see you then!