Out In Front: Latest Thoughts on Giants Prospects + Something Extra

Good day Giants fans! In this edition of Out In Front, I will be sharing my thoughts on many of the Giants prospects that are in the minor league camp. Roger Munter (follow him on Twitter @rog61 if you aren't) is unleashing videos and reports of several prospects on the camp, where some Dominican prospects have arrived to begin their American adventures and some draft picks last year are showing off their tools. GPT and Mr. Andrew Baggarly also has clips that I watched. I will talk about the prospects that have videos and gave my own thoughts on them. In Something Extra, it will be baseball from my home land. 

- First and foremost, I will be talking about my pick to break out this year, Steven Duggar. I said before that if Duggar fixes his swing to a point that the swing itself is a sound swing, he'll break out offensively. Last year, the swings that I saw on him are bad. Lots of unnecessary moving parts, his swing path is choppy, doesn't really incorporate his body to his swing, the swing plane's pretty bad. It's really surprising on how he put up a respectable batting average despite the that swing. This year in the videos of Mr. Munter, it's a whole different story. The swing looks cleaner, simpler, better. He's now finishing his swing two-handed, the bat path is flatter, the swing looks faster, he is incorporating his body in his swing more, etc. It's just a better swing. I think he can have an average hit tool and possibly explode and give more power numbers with the same good batting average.

- Chris Shaw got some of the best raw power in the organization and the hitter with the best hit tool to put the raw power in games. Shaw's swing is still very simple and compact, wrist is quick, and it's almost like a golf swing. He can show his power to games effortlessly. Dan Farnsworth of FG wrote that if the swing Shaw has last year is the same as this year, he can have a 60/70 hit/power tool. That's big. Legitimately big, my friend. I expect tons of mash and it will gonna be Shawsome this season.

- I finally saw Gustavo Cabrera videos! He looks small but the body's compact with muscle. He features a big load on his hands on his swing then he swings with very good bat speed. It's fast enough for me to feel that he can handle high velo pitching. I love the full body extension on the follow through but it can look like the bat head will drop and cause some holes in his swing. I feel that all of his body contributes to put his very good raw power into games. It's just very nice to see him running and looks like the injury that sidelined him last year is gone and looks like he can be better this year.

- I have watched Sandro Fabian, the player who received the highest bonus in the international market for the Giants last signing period, on a clip posted by GPT. His swing still needs work. His athleticism isn't exactly showing in his swings. His swing path looks long and big, the bat speed is just average, his lower half isn't coordinated to his upper half. His upper body looks delayed once his front leg lands. I think with some Giants seasoning, his body will synch and will be a good prospect. I feel that he got a good instinct for the game.

- I have seen some Jalen Miller videos from Mr. Munter and Mr. Andrew Baggarly. He still looks like a wiry kid last year. I got to say that I am impressed with him in the videos. In a clip on him hitting a triple, his front leg opens up before he swings and he swings "fully", meaning his bat follows through all the way and that could be pretty problematic if he needs to hustle out of the box on infield hits. That said, I think that his bat speed is slightly better this year compared to last year and he's very quick on the bases after he follows through. His time as soon as he starts to run up to sliding to 3rd base is a very impressive 11.68 seconds and his home to first time of 4.09 but with the kicker of him almost jogging to first. His time with Lucius Fox is looking great as well. If he can keep this throughout the year, I will feel more optimistic on him.

- Sandro Cabrera looks like a pretty athletic pitcher with some herky-jerky motions in his windup. There are a lot other of prospects that played in the DSL last year that are in the camp. I hope that they can have a great season this year wherever they'll be designated to. 

Something Extra

In this edition of Something Extra, I will not be talking about any Giants prospects. Instead, I'll be sharing my thoughts about our local college baseball here. While laying back on the couch doing some paperworks, I stumbled upon a college baseball broadcast on a local channel. It is the finals between two renowned universities in the country (I'm not a student on either but the university that I am studying is part of the conference).  

The game is good with some slug fiestas here and there. The starting pitchers are pretty bad in my opinion with their unimpressive stuff. One pitcher have a slider that has a slow bite on it, his fastball is slow and very hittable but he has some deception. I am surprised that the hitters stances and swings are similar to the players in the US but they are more of a slappy, line-drive types of swings. 

The game went to slug fiesta up to the 6th inning, then what I saw is something special. The team leading (which have a hat that's like a parody of the Cardinals logo) calls for a rookie pitcher, in his postseason debut. If I recall correctly, his name is Diego Lozano. The commentators said that he got some LLWS experience by being a pitcher for the Asia Pacific team of sorts. He is thin but has a flexible body and he's not the tallest person in the world. Kind of reminds me of Timmy in terms of frame. 

As soon as he throws his first pitch, it's quite a show. He throws exclusively from the stretch and he kind of got the young Randy Johnson mechanics. His fastball got zip on it with some tail and a curveball that a good prospect can throw. It's sharp breaking as he buries some on the backfoot of righty hitters and he locates it in the strike zone as well, freezing a couple of hitters. A curveball that reminds me of a Gio Gonzalez curve and a slider that tends to be slurvy maybe due to how he flips that curveball so good. He struck out like 6 of the final 9 outs. His stuff is so good and the feel that he got on his pitches especially on his curveball makes me think that he's like a Major League prospect. His competitive drive is special and for a rookie, even though there's command issues. I think he'll be the anchor of that university's rotation for years to come. I really wish he can get some invites to play in the NPB or even the MLB when his college career goes as planned. By the way, their team win.

That's the end of this edition of Out In Front. I hope that you enjoyed reading my insights on the prospects of the Giants as well as a taste of the college baseball here in my country.