Prospect Reports for the 2017 Giants: Bahr, Howard, Anderson, Genoves

Hello! I know it's still very early in the season but I feel it's time to whip out my full prospect reports for the Giants prospects because I feel I'm going to run out of time while I'm doing my thesis. I have put hundreds of hours watching tons of videos of prospects from various sources, recording MiLB broadcasts from the start of the 2017 season and rewatching it, looking at the finer details, comparing past to current videos. I hope you like reading my reports that I made for you kind reader even though I'm not a real scout. I wish I can do an audio file for a better way to say what I want to say on every prospect but I don't know how to upload one here on this site.

In my second set of reports, I'm going to share my thoughts on 2017 draftee and an inspiring athlete in Jason Bahr, San Jose Giants infielder Ryan Howard, newest addition to the organization righty Shaun Anderson, and top international signee of the organization a few years ago Ricardo Genoves.

FanGraphs profiles will open upon clicking the prospect names.

Jason Bahr  RHP  A-
6'5" 190 lbs.  R/R
Videos: Credits to Roger Munter

Bahr is an interesting prospect, both on and off the mound. On the mound, the frame’s long and wiry but almost all muscle, and his frame is broad enough to see slight projection because he will need it if he will be a mainstay in the rotation, kind of a similar situation to former top Giants pitching prospect Phil Bickford.

Looking at the mechanics, first thing to like is the loose arm action. He got nice tempo on the mound, he generates good extension on his drive and it doesn’t look like he’s having some form of stiffness on the mound. He does a good job of staying closed and getting on top of pitches. He stays on top of his high ¾ arm slot, has excellent arm speed and finishes pitches very well.

In terms of stuff, I think that he does have potential for a starter’s repertoire. His fastball sits at around 92-93 MPH on multiple innings with very good spin rate but the issue that I can see moving forward is that will he be able to maintain that velocity deep into starts. His fastball has some tailing action in it and he has good feel as he doesn’t miss by much in terms of control and command. His mid-70s curveball is a nice pitch with solid 11-5 break that flashed above average. He needs to have better feel for it in terms of command and break. I haven’t seen a changeup from him but reports are saying it’s a fringy at best pitch. I think a change in grip will make it an average one because of his arm speed.

Bahr has potential to be a Major League pitcher thanks to his fastball feel, smooth mechanics and work ethic to make it work. I can see a little Chris Stratton in him in terms of the elements I said above but he does need to add a changeup and better refinement in his breaking ball to make it all work.

Grades (Current): FB 60 | CB 40+ | CH 30+ | CMD 40

Grades (Ceiling): FB 60 | CB 50+ | CH 40+ | CMD 50

Grades (Probable): FB 60 | CB 50 | CH 40 | CMD 50

Ryan Howard  SS/2B/3B  A+
6'2" 195 lbs.  R/R
Videos: Credits to Minorleaguebaseball and Baseball Census

When the Giants drafted Howard twice, they must be really high on him and it’s easy to see why: he’s a player that will stick to the dirt and can flat-out hit. The frame’s wiry but he has good strength in it to tap to average at best power. I do think he needs to improve on his durability a little bit because he’s possibly being exhausted after the grind of his first full season. I do think he’s a solid athlete with quick-twitch actions.

His standout tool is his ability to make contact, mostly nice hard contact. The Giants adjusted his hitting stance specifically that he carries his momentum forward his leg kick much more compared to his college days. He has a very good feel to put the bat on the ball and he doesn’t strike out often but he doesn’t take walks often because he makes too much contact, like Christian Arroyo. The thing that separates him from Arroyo is that Howard doesn’t have the bat speed and as strong of wrists to turn on pitches out of the park. He does have a nice bat path to lift balls but there are times that he’s getting on top of the ball and hit groundballs. He has power to hit double-digit homers at his peak but he’ll be more of a line drive, gap-to-gap hitter.

He has average raw speed that gives him potential to steal some bases but he’s running hard on the bases in what I can see. The speed gives him just average range at shortstop but he can play there with solid fundamentals and footwork with above average arm. I think he’ll move out of short once a better defensive prospect forces him out but he’s had plenty of errors on the hot corner and needs to improve there or maybe move to second base.

Grades (Current): Hit 40+ | Power 30+ | Speed 45 | Arm 55 | Glove 40+

Grades (Ceiling): Hit 55 | Power 45 | Speed 45 | Arm 55 | Glove 50

Grades (Probable): Hit 55 | Power 40 | Speed 45 | Glove 55 | Glove 50

Shaun Anderson  RHP  A+
6'4" 225 lbs.  R/R
Videos: Credits to Minorleaguebaseball and Giant Potential

There’s plenty to like about the newest Giants prospect, Shaun Anderson. First, is his build. He got a prototypical starter’s frame with a bulldog mentality on the mound, something that he’s carried since his closer days with the Florida Gators.  I think the frame should handle plenty of innings and he has nice body control on the mound.

Next is the mechanics. The mechanics is a little erratic and it is not smooth but he generates nice tempo and the good athleticism helps him harness and repeat it very well. He got a big leg kick and reaches back with a pretty big tilt in a slightly drop and drive manner where he loads on his back leg well. The rock back helps hide the ball against righties and the tilt allows him to generate so much downhill plane in his pitches with an over the top release point. He also has slight across the body feel but he stays on line with the plate well with some violence in his follow through.

Finally is the plethora of pitches in his disposal. He got all every “standard” pitches in his fastball-curveball-slider-changeup. His hardest fastball can reach up to 94-95 MPH on his four-seamer that is as straight as an arrow. But, he leans on his low-90s cutter, usually at 91-92 MPH with hard late cut that he usually throws away and middle and low. He has good feel for his fastball and cutter with flashes of command especially away to righties. He also has a two-seamer with solid running action but not a lot of sink but he likes to jam righties in with it.

He has a slider and curveball with above-average potential where the slider has very good two-plane break that is impressive given his over the top release and his curveball is more of a “show-me” pitch but has good 12-6 break when he throws it right. He tends to stay tall on his drive when he throws the curveball which might be a giveaway on hitters that he’ll throw one. He has a changeup that he throws to lefties but his feel for it is behind his other pitches but it got good sinking action and he does have good arm action with it. He has good feel for sequencing but he needs to have more confidence in throwing his changeup and his two-seamer especially against lefties because hitters will get it that most of his pitches will have some sort of break away from righties so he needs to keep tabs on it.

Anderson has all the ingredients to start where he got a starter’s body and a starter quality repertoire but his mechanics can get away from him at times and yank breaking balls out of the zone and overthrow but most of the time, he’s composed and competitive on the mound.

Grades (Current): FB 60 | CUT 55 | SL 50+ | CB 50 | CH 35 | CMD 40

Grades (Ceiling): FB 60 | CUT 55 | SL 55 | CB 55 | CH 45 | CMD 50

Grades (Probable): FB 60 | CUT 55 | SL 55 | CB 50+ | CH 40 | CMD 45+

Ricardo Genoves  C  ROK
6'2" 190 lbs.  R/R
Videos: Credits to Baseball Census 1 and 2

Genoves is a pretty intriguing prospect. Genoves is an average overall athlete where I think he’s heavier than the listed 190 pounds in his frame. What perplex me about him is that his athleticism doesn’t show in the batter’s box while behind the dish, he’s looking to be better than average.

Genoves’ calling card is his defense. I have watched plenty of videos of his catching drills and I can say that he’s pretty seasoned in terms of his age. He has a thick base that’s ideal for a catcher and he has nice balance at the crouch where the whole feet are touching the ground instead of lifting the heel. He has quick twitch actions and nice agility when blocking pitches with solid blocking technique although I would prefer for him to block pitches with his body in front of the ball and not the glove which will make him very prone to wild pitches and passed balls. He has soft hands that give him potential for framing pitches. He has good catch and throw skills with nice arm strength but I would for him to cheat a little bit when throwing in order to improve his pop time. I also like how he handles his batterymate whenever the pitcher has control issues which is a remark of a good leader.

On the batter’s box however, Genoves is a little disappointing to watch. He does have a potential for a solid pitch selection and has an idea on what the pitcher can throw in situations but the athleticism just doesn’t show in his swing. The bat is slow which will make him susceptible to high velocity pitches and good breaking balls and the swing path is also a little bit stiff with a two handed finish. I think that the stance also doesn’t allow him to generate good power in his swing although he has a nice bat to ball skills.

Genoves will probably be a defense-first catcher all the way and his offensive and defensive potential are miles apart from each other. He really needs to improve his stance, improve the bat speed by a swing overhaul in order to tap on his considerable power but in the past videos of him in Latin America, the bat speed’s his biggest weakness so he needs to compensate for him to have enough value offensively to move high in the organization.

Grades (Current): Hit 20 | Power 25 | Speed 30 | Arm 55 | Glove 40+

Grades (Ceiling): Hit 40 | Power 50 | Speed 30 | Arm 55 | Glove 55

Grades (Probable): Hit 30 | Power 40 | Speed 30 | Arm 55 | Glove 55