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SF Giants minor league notes: De La Salle alums impress in San Jose, shortstop on the verge of Giants’ debut?

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SF Giants minor league notes: De La Salle alums impress in San Jose, shortstop on the verge of Giants’ debut?

De La Salle baseball coach David Jeans appears to have participated in his own doubleheader over the weekend.

After seeing his Spartans defeat Acalanes 7-4 in Lafayette on Saturday afternoon, Jeans made the trek down to San Jose for the evening to watch a pair of his former players star for the Low-A San Jose Giants.

Jeans tweeted a photo postgame of former Spartans stars Armani Smith and Kyle Harrison, who each played a big role in a 3-1 win over the Fresno Grizzlies.

Jeans has plenty of reason to be proud as Smith is swinging a hot bat early in the season while Harrison racked up seven strikeouts over three innings in his professional debut on Saturday.

Smith, the Giants’ seventh round draft choice out of UC Santa Barbara in 2019, is 7-for-17 to begin the year as he hit a double, triple and home run in San Jose’s season-opening series against Fresno. Despite being one of the only minor leaguers in the starting lineup who isn’t ranked among the Giants’ top 30 prospects, Smith possesses impressive power and could follow a similar minor league trajectory to Steven Duggar and Austin Slater, who both ascended to the majors despite being drafted outside the top five rounds.

Harrison, the Giants’ third round pick out of De La Salle in 2020, signed an over-slot bonus with the Giants and passed up a chance to pitch at UCLA to join the organization. Since turning pro, the lefty has packed on muscle and added to his fastball velocity, which has turned him into one of the Giants’ top pitching prospects.

Harrison walked three over three innings against the Grizzlies, but only gave up one hit and didn’t allow a run as he set the tone for a pitching staff that finished with 15 strikeouts against Fresno on Saturday.

Other notable performances from the first week of San Jose Giants games include Alexander Canario, who peppered the outfield wall at San Jose Municipal Stadium with extra-base hits and Carson Ragsdale, who was acquired in the trade that sent Sam Coonrod to the Phillies this offseason. In his organizational debut, Ragsdale struck out seven Grizzlies hitters and allowed just one hit over five innings.

Triple-A notes

After losing his right eye in a suicide attempt last April, Drew Robinson returned to the field with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats in his hometown of Las Vegas.

Robinson struck out nine times in 13 at-bats, but picked up his first hit of the season with a single through the left side of the infield on Saturday. A utility player who is expected to appear all over the diamond for the River Cats, Robinson’s best moment of the weekend came in the same game when he made a full-extension diving grab in left center field to take away a hit in the gap.

Several River Cats hitters are off to impressive starts at the plate including a pair of newcomers to the organization, Thairo Estrada and Mitchell Tolman. Estrada, who is a member of the Giants’ 40-man roster after being acquired in a trade with the Yankees earlier this season, caught Giants manager Gabe Kapler’s attention by going 4-for-5 with a three-run home run on Thursday in his debut with the organization.

Kapler mentioned Estrada’s performance on the Giants’ pregame show on Saturday on KNBR, noting that he’s also done a nice job at shortstop. With the Giants light on infield depth due to injuries to Donovan Solano and Tommy La Stella, it’s possible Estrada could be the next Sacramento position player to get a look at the major league level.

The top River Cats hitter from the team’s weekend series was outfielder Bryce Johnson, a late addition to the Giants’ alternate site roster this spring who hit two home runs and added three doubles and three walks to his stat line from the weekend. A sixth round draft choice in 2017, Johnson has stolen at least 25 bases in all three of his full minor league seasons.

Double-A notes

The Richmond Flying Squirrels are off to a fantastic start as they went 5-1 in their season-opening series against the Hartford Yard Goats.

It should come as no surprise that Heliot Ramos had an excellent weekend at the plate as the Giants’ top outfield prospect went 9-for-21 with two home runs, three doubles, four walks and a pair of stolen bases.

Third baseman David Villar, who drew rave reviews from top catching prospect Joey Bart when the duo played together in San Jose in 2019, hit two home runs and added two doubles this weekend.

The Flying Squirrels’ pitching staff is filled with several of the organization’s top starting pitching prospects, but it wasn’t the easiest weekend for that group. Right-hander Sean Hjelle gave up five hits (three home runs), three walks and four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings in his outing while lefty Sam Long, a spring training standout, gave up five hits and three earned runs over three innings.

The best pitching performance of the weekend in Richmond belonged to right-hander Matt Frisbee, a 15th round selection in 2018 who tossed five innings of two-hit ball with five strikeouts to earn a win on Saturday.

High-A notes

The High-A Eugene offense pummeled the Spokane Indians’ pitching staff, scoring at least six runs in all six games last week en route to a 5-1 record.

Will Wilson, one of the organization’s top infield prospects, went 9-for-22 with four extra-base hits and five walks as the power surge he showed during spring training and at the Giants’ alternate site carried into the season.

Three of the more underrated position player prospects in the organization, outfielder Franklin Labour, outfielder Diego Rincones and third baseman Sean Roby, also got off to hot starts as each player hit multiple homers against Spokane.

First baseman Logan Wyatt, who has drawn comparisons to Brandon Belt for his offensive profile and plate discipline, went 7-for-17 with eight walks to produce a .600 on-base percentage.

The Emeralds’ pitching staff wasn’t lights-out, but right-hander Caleb Killian was among the farm system’s top performers from the first week of minor league games as he made two starts and picked up 14 strikeouts without allowing a walk in nine innings against Spokane.

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