Top 10+10 Prospects Post-July 4 Edition

Before I'm going to start this top 10+10, I would like to thank everybody for the warm and really positive remarks on my Lucius Fox blog post as well as in my previous. I thought I am who I am there as I shared my thoughts in a fun but informative manner. Once again, thank you so much for reading my blog and supporting me as I continue to write more things about the Giants!

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The 4th of July is over and after all of the fireworks, the backyard boozing and barbecue, the oozing patriotism, and some of the worst Independence Day uniforms I have ever seen, it is time for another Top 10+10 Prospect list. I have made a previous top 10+10 prospect list last month to highlight the prospects that are with us before the Giants' draft picks had signed. Now that all of the top 10 rounds selections had signed and are now playing in either AZL or in Salem-Keizer, and we signed one of the top July 2 prospects in Lucius Fox for $6,000,000 (but I bet for Bruce Wayne and him, it's just nothing), I feel that it is the right time to update my Top 10+10 Prospects list as you'll see the new guys in the list. 

This Top 10+10 list is not related to any of the Top 10 lists did by other people and dogs that are in front of the computer screen. I based the rankings on their performances, their age, their talent level, their development or the learning curve so to speak, as I did my best to balance those things out. The other 10 that you're going to see after the top 10 are the prospects that I personally like and there might be some bias from yours truly in terms of the other 10 but I am sure that those will be the guys that you'll love if you take a look at it. Just like the previous posts, you can see the FanGraphs profiles of the players when you clicked on their name. Less talk and more work, let's get this going. 

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1. Tyler Beede  RHP  (AA)

The Young Beedah is easily the number one prospect in the Giants organization right now. After his stellar stint in San Jose that earned him an All-Star Selection in the Cal League and a ticket to the Futures Game, he seems to be adjusting to new environments in Richmond where his BB/9 spiked to 3.56, 2 more than his 1.55 BB/9 in the supposedly "hitter-friendly" Cal League while we're still seeing the lack of Ks. His last start though is something to note where I wrote my thoughts of him in Something Extra that in innings 2 to 5, he's the Young Beedah of the SJ before running out of gas. He's still effectively pitching to contact in Richmond and making hitters to pound the dirt with groundballs especially in his last two starts where he posted 21-4 GO-AO ratio. I'll take what MLB.com's prospect guru Jonathan Mayo said on his latest Pipeline Inbox about him, he just needs to keep doing what he's been doing.

2. Phil Bickford  RHP  (ROK)

The first of the new kids on the block, Bickford's potential is immense even though his stuff particularly his fastball velocity has been pretty all over over the place from as low as 88 MPH to as high as 97 MPH. He's really young (turning 20 on July 10), projectable (6'4" with more room to fill but unsure whether it will translate to more stuff), and not a Dodgers fan (he's a Red Sox fan). I have high hopes for Bickford as his pro career is going to start really soon and I have high hopes that the Giants will make him the top-of-the-rotation arm. First, they need to build off his plus fastball command and his potentially plus slider. He might add a cutter which is a Giants specialty as well as refining his changeup. 

3. Christian Arroyo  SS  (A+)

Arroyo's early hot start was derailed by an oblique injury and performed pretty meh but he kicked it up a notch in the past week, raising his average from the .280s to as high as .330s in just a few weeks. Much of it can be credited to his work with the coaches about getting back to his forte, squaring up the ball, using his plus eye-hand coordination to get base hits. I'm still pretty concerned by the Ks with 3 more Ks in his latest game but as I have said before, it's easier to make an aggressive hitter to be a more patient one than vice versa. He's in here because a 20 year old performing this well in High-A is something to respect and even though hitting is the only great tool that he has, he got a good chance to play better than what the other persons project him to be.

4. Lucius Fox  SS/CF  (?)

I have already said my adoration and my hidden man crush for him in my last blog post and this is a pretty good place for him to be placed in the prospect list because even though he's 18 and advanced, he's still yet to post numbers that will make himself worthy of advancing him ahead but make no mistake, he got the same talent level as Tyler Beede and possibly more and I just need some reps from him to make me move him higher this point. Think of a Francisco Lindor with less defensive potential.

5. Keury Mella  RHP  (A+)

Mella's been pretty wild in his last two starts, throwing 3 wild pitches and 3 hit batters. In his last start, you can blame the heat (around 100 Farenheit in his start) killing his command and stuff. But when Mella's on, he is close to unhittable with his three-pitch mix. There's still some possibilities of turning him to a reliever in my opinion and there will always be the ticking time bomb in his right arm especially his elbow and he could also be a pretty tasty trade chip come trade deadline due to the nastiness of his stuff but right now, he's starting, and he's been steady so far in his development.

6. Adalberto Mejia  LHP  (AA)

I haven't covered Mejia's last start but I saw that he was over 100 pitches for the first time this year but he struggled with his command, allowing 5 walks but didn't allow a run in 6 innings pitched. He struck out 3 and just allowed 2 hits. That showed that he can make a lot of good pitches when it really counts. So far this season, he is sitting on a 1.21 ERA and he's really pitching to contact really well and his weight issue should be forgotten already. He's pitching great, his changeup flashes really good potential as well as his slider, and I will expect him to be sooner to the Majors than I projected him to. I am thinking whether he's going to be a trade chip come trade deadline because teams will look at pitchers who are performing really well and still got that stuff.

7. Jalen Miller  SS  (ROK)

The 2015 3rd round selection lands here thanks to his 5 good tools and the chance to stick at shortstop but most are expecting that he'll move to 2B in the future. In 8 games in the AZL as the starting SS and the leadoff hitter, he is swinging a really good bat so far, batting .394 with a double to boot and has shown that he can work counts and be patient (4 BB vs 6 K) plus he's shown also his speed (3 SB vs 0 CS). Defensively, he more raw than I have thought with his 5 errors. It proves that his bat is ahead of his glove right now and he needs more reps defensively and more coaching on it. The good news is he's still a long way away and still very young to turn him into the Brandon Phillips that everybody thought he would be.

8. Chris Shaw  1B  (A-)

You might already know him as the Best Twitter handle IMO (@SHAWSOME24) but Chris Shaw got easy plus power with a smooth and compact hitting stroke that could be an above-average hit tool if fully developed. He didn't play in the last 2 games and I saw CoveChatter asked if he's injured because I don't know either. Based on the 6 games that he played so far, he showed a good patience at the plate with equal walks and Ks and as I listen to Volcanoes radio broadcasts often, he works the count well although his good bat isn't really translating to good numbers so far. He hit is first HR in his latest game which makes me excited how much he'll hit for the Giants. He isn't a slouch defensively and I hope he can pin down first base for the future in 2 years time.

9. Kyle Crick  RHP  (AA)

To my delight, the Giants finally converted Crick into a reliever after almost four years of rough outings, high pitch counts, high walks as a starter. His first outing as a reliever came on June 25 where he pitched 2/3 of an inning and allowed 4 walks and 3 ER. His second outing isn't really friendly to him either, allowing 3 walks and allowing a run in 2/3 IP. In his latest outing though, it might be his best outing all season, as he allowed no walks while throwing 11 of his 16 pitches for strikes. I have been into the idea of turning Crick into a reliever and I have been trying to buy other persons to the idea with my blog post about Crick. I think that it's a great idea for him as it makes things much simpler for him because he will not think about saving bullets for later. Why save your best bullets later when you can fire it now? And his bullets are high-90s fastball with tons of movement in it and a plus slider. Crick should think and be confident that he doesn't need to throw a fastball on the black 100% of the time because he can get hitters out pretty easily as long as he pound the strike zone with his fastball and make hitters chase with his slider. Sounds easy, right? When Yankees superstar reliever Dellin Betances realized that, he just burst into the biggest stage. Crick could be into the same Betances path and I am really excited for this new chapter in his career. 

10. Mac Williamson  OF  (AAA)

Mac's been hovering just below .300 in Richmond before being promoted to AAA and after his 4-4 game, he's been hitless (0-11). His return from Tommy John has been successful and I love how Cove Chatter put his pretty down performance so far as he "probably feels the pressure to hit the ball out of the park from time to time." He doesn't need to think home run every swing because as far as I know regarding hitting slumps, it starts with hitting on a tee, then hitting singles and just keep on hitting because that home run will come naturally as long as you can square up the baseball often. Once the Giants see that he got over that hump, he's going to be called up and he's a mentally tough guy so I expect that he'll get over it sooner than later and to be in the Majors this year because the talent level in the PCL is a good enough environment to judge a hitter's development.  

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10 notable prospects outside the Top 10 in no particular order

Ty Blach LHP (AAA)- In the top 10 last time, now outside not because of regression of performance but due to the other 10 being better in their raw talent and as with Mac, he's recovered enough to be considered a top 10 talent again. Chris Capuano all the way.

Kelby Tomlinson 2B (AAA)- Hitting machine Kelby has been promoted to Sac-town and hit 5-6 in a recent game. Defense should allow him to be a serviceable bench bat in the Majors as soon as two weeks time as he's slowly figuring out the tricks in the PCL.

Johneshwy Fargas OF (A)- Best name in the Giants minor league system has been good in the Sally this year and he's been hit by pitch 11 that leads the Sally as he crowds the plate and gets on base in every way he can even if it takes to take one for the team, literally. I want to see how he'll fare in a better hitting environment in the CAL.

Rodolfo Martinez RHP (A)- From Kiley McDaniel of FG on June 27 "Giants Low-A right reliever Rodolfo Martinez threw every heater 96-98 last inning and mixed in a slider that flashed average potential". He's been hittable due to lack of plus offspeed but not allowing BBs since May 10.

Hunter Cole OF (AA)- Been red-hot since promoted to SJ and wrote my thoughts on the changes in his swing here. He's versatile defensively but not just average overall but it's his bat that's been carrying him. Matt Duffy story incoming.

Andrew Suarez LHP (ROK)- 2nd rounder who made his pro debut and pitched 1 inning with a BB and K and hovered at 91-91 on FB and good spin on his breaking ball. He should move quickly once he keeps on putting good performances thanks to his advanced feel for pitching.

Josh Osich LHP (MLB)- Thanks to his mid-90s FB up to 98, low-90s cutter, mid-80s breaking ball and great AA performance, he got called up in the MLB and showed he's a part of the future bullpen plans for us. Might've passed Steven Okert as the best lefty reliever in the system right now.

Ronnie Jebavy OF (A-)- 5th rounder showing off his five tools in Salem-Keizer so far and he is also a runner-up in the best Twitter handle (@RonBonJebavy). Could be something really good once he keeps up.

Ray Black RHP (A+)- Hardest throwing guy in the Giants system recently turned to a starter due to him not getting enough game time action that I should expect to be over at the end of the season. Should be reliever again next year because his 102 MPH FB & plus slurve will lose their effectiveness once the hitter saw him for the 3rd or 4th time in the order.

My overall assessment for our minor league system is that it has improved at the top thanks to the development of the Young Beedah, the selections of Bickford, Shaw and Miller, plus the addition of Lucius Fox makes our system deeper and more respectable on the top. Recently, the Giants doesn't only develop good pitchers, they can also develop good hitters nowadays. Just ask Panik, Duffy, and Crawford. After the top 10+10, there's still some respectable guys to watch like Aramis Garcia, Joe Biagini, Clayton Blackburn, Steven Okert, and a lot more. It's not as barren as it seems right now. Take that "experts"! If we ever add Eddy Julio Martinez, this system will be deeper that in my own assessment, we'll be in the top 10-15 range if he ever signs with the Gigantes. Go develop well Thy prospects. Thy Bam-Bam's and the Pitching Whisperer's teachings reach on to all of you.

This is will be the end of the Top 10+10 Prospect list and expect some movement here if ever Eddy Julio Martinez signs with the Giants. I hope you'll going to enjoy this one. Cheers!

P.S. Captain America is really Captain Puerto Rico