SF Giants’ prospects gear up for playoff run of their own

The Giants soon will make their first playoff appearance in five years, but before that, some of San Francisco’s top prospects will be getting postseason experience of their own.

Bolstered by some of the highest-profile talent in the team’s minor league system, including former De La Salle ace Kyle Harrison, the San Jose Giants enter the final days of the low-A West (formerly the California League) regular season battling for the best record in the league and will open the best-of-five league championship series on Tuesday in Fresno.

Guiding San Jose back to the postseason is a face very familiar to the organization — Lenn Sakata. This is Sakata’s fifth different stint managing in San Jose, a role he’s held off and on since 1999.

The 67-year-old Hawaii native was last seen in San Jose in 2014. But this spring he came out of retirement as a favor to San Francisco’s director of player development Kyle Haines. Haines played three seasons for Sakata, including Cal League title-winning teams in 2005 and 2007. Sakata’s Giants were also co-champions in 2001.

These Giants are seeking the franchise’s 10th league championship and its first since 2010 — when San Jose won the title with a third baseman named Brandon Crawford.

Here’s a look at who these San Jose Giants are and how they find themselves in the hunt for another title:

Future watch

San Jose has had its share of prospect-laden teams over the years, but this one ranks near the top. Shortstop Marco Luciano, the organization’s top-ranked prospect, and outfielder Jairo Pomares (No. 9) left their marks before earning promotions to High-A Eugene (also headed to the playoffs), but the current roster includes eight of the top 17-ranked players in the system and five of the top eight.

COVID-19 wiped out the minor league season a year ago, so some of the Giants, like Harrison, are making their pro debuts. Harrison, a third-round pick in the 2020 draft and the Giants’ top-rated pitching prospect (No. 5 overall), leads the league with a 3.19 ERA  and is averaging more than 14 strikeouts per nine innings.

Outfielder Luis Matos, 19, made his full-season debut and was named the team MVP. Matos rated the Giants’ No. 3 prospect (between No. 2 Joey Bart and No. 4 Heliot Ramos) recently had a hit in nine consecutive at-bats — one shy of the league record.

The team also benefitted from the mid-season arrival of catcher Patrick Bailey, the Giants’ first-round pick in 2020 and the organization’s No. 9 prospect, who has been batting well over .300 with power. The organization’s most recent No. 1 draft pick and No. 7 ranked prospect, right-hander Will Bednar, joined the team for the playoff run.

Right man for the job

San Jose was a Cal League power, winning five titles from 2001-2010 and reaching the playoffs 14 times since 2001. This is the seventh time in eight seasons in San Jose that Sakata has led Giants to the playoffs. His teams reached four straight years from 2004-07, winning two titles.

So why would Sakata, a member of the California League and Hawaii Sports halls of fame, want to come out of retirement after six years to ride buses from San Jose to Visalia, Rancho Cucamonga and other league outposts?

“I did this because of my relationship and friendship with the player development coordinator (Haines) – he’s an ex-player of mine,” Sakata told the Hawaii Herald recently. “So I came back to see what baseball was about now in modern times and just to help him out.”

It has been just like old times for Sakata and the Giants. Sakata, a former big league infielder, prides himself on being an instructor, and his former players swear by him. He’s also the winningest manager in San Jose history, and hasn’t lost his touch there, either. The team improved to 74-42 with an extra-inning win Wednesday night. His only Giants team that failed to make the playoffs, in 2014, still finished six games over .500. This year’s squad has battled Fresno for the best record in the league all season and after Wednesday night was 32 games over .500.

How they did it

Similar to the big league Giants, San Jose does a lot of things well. But the backbone of this team is power and pitching.

San Jose broke the franchise single-season home run record with about a week to go, and, like the parent club, it wasn’t just one big bopper doing the damage. Five Giants have reached double-digits and six more have hit at least seven, including Bailey, who swatted seven in his first 44 games with the team.

The Giants haven’t needed a lot of run support because the pitching has been so dominant. Harrison, Prelander Berroa and Wil Jensen (who went on the IL Wednesday) rank 1-2-3 in the league ERA race, and reliever Randy Rodriguez hasn’t allowed a run in his past 25 innings, striking out 44 and walking just three during that stretch. The team ERA of 3.61 is more than a run lower than every other team except Fresno. The Giants also lead the league in shutouts (11) and opponents’ batting average (.227).

What’s next

The Giants on Wednesday pulled within a half-game of Fresno for first place with four to play in the regular season. Both teams already clinched spots in the best-of-five championship series that begins with games Tuesday and Wednesday in Fresno. The series shifts to San Jose on Friday for Game 3, and remains at Municipal Stadium until the title is decided. Tickets are available on the San Jose Giants website.

These teams are very familiar with each other. The Giants end the regular season with four more games at Fresno, and will have played the Grizzlies 30 times heading into the playoff series. To cut down travel because of pandemic concerns, San Jose played its closest opponents — Fresno and Stockton — in 60 of its 120 regular-season games.

The Grizzlies lead the regular-season series, 14-12, but San Jose is ending the regular season on a hot streak, riding a seven-game winning streak into Thursday night’s game and winning 11 of the previous 14 games overall.