We have almost a full plate of winter league baseball at our disposal. Every league I have committed to covering here has begun, except for the Colombian League. Team Renteria updated the league page, saying that Play Ball! is scheduled for November 18. None of the rosters have been updated yet, but now we know when Opening Day is. I’ll… Read more →
I apologize for dropping the ball on last week’s update. I had to study for midterms and polish a series of articles I wrote for my internship here. I come bearing gifts from the Arizona Fall League as well as the Dominican and Venezuelan leagues. First, here’s a handy chart of who is playing where this fall and winter, at… Read more →
You can imagine my surprise last night when I turned on the game and lo and behold, Brandon Belt was in the starting lineup. Belt, who has seemed more like a stranger in the past few series, got a rare start in left field — his first start since September 5th against the Padres. Belt ended up going 1-4 with… Read more →
“Cabrera, sure, he’s made some errors,” Bochy said. “But you’ve got an experienced guy out there. I know he’s dropped a couple of popups. I think he’s as shocked as anybody he didn’t catch the ball, and he made some nice plays today coming in.” Bruce Bochy, quoted in Hank Schulman’s recap: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/07/SP4G1L1FOD.DTL#ixzz1XKvKDrir Let me start by saying that I am… Read more →
Here is the culmination of our State of the System address. rank Name position 2011 team 21 Steven Harrold RHP Augusta (A)/San Jose (Advanced-A) 22 Jake Dunning RHP San Jose 23 Brett Krill OF Salem-Keizer (short season rookie) 24 Joan Gregorio RHP AZL (rookie) 25 Ari Ronick LHP San Jose 26 Jose Casilla RHP San Jose 27 Charlie Culberson IF… Read more →
Here’s another feature I will provide on the blog: scouting reports for the minor league games I attend. I went to the San Jose Giants v. Bakersfield Blaze game Monday night. I stayed for six innings as I had to get up early for my day job the next day. Barry Zito made a rehab start for the Giants and… Read more →
Hello, everyone. Thanks for the warm welcome on Bay City Ball. I’m bringing you a post today that will become a regular feature on the blog: the prototype prospect mailbag. Today’s post contains responses to questions left on the blog by two fellows, Curtis and Liem (if you don’t mind me using your names, gents). Curtis asked about Eric Surkamp’s… Read more →
The Giants, having already played 108 games, have 54 to go. They currently have a two-game lead on the Arizona Diamondbacks, and that lead will be up for grabs over the next three days as the Snakes come to Third and King to attempt to wrest the divisional grasp from Bochy’s Giants. With Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Ryan Vogelsong… Read more →
The San Francisco Giants’ ‘pen is pretty good. Actually, it’s excellent. They have the second best ERA in in the National League at 2.86 (behind the Padres at 2.85). They have the second best FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) at 3.13 (behind the Braves at 3.06). They also lead major league bullpens with a 52.6 percent ground ball rate… who knew? I… Read more →
Usually, through the beginning of June, a team with exceptional starting pitching — including a two-time Cy Young award winner, a lefty that’s tossed a no-no and… whatever the really good Matt Cain is — isn’t anchored by a sophomore and a journeyman. Usually. Yet it is the case of the Giants, at least so far this year. Win-loss records… Read more →