Shaw among top prospects invited to SF camp

January 25th, 2018

The Giants extended non-roster invitations to 16 players for Major League Spring Training, the club announced Thursday. Among those invited was outfielder Chris Shaw, the club's No. 1 prospect per MLB Pipeline.
Six pitchers, three catchers, five infielders and an additional outfielder will join Shaw and the rest of the big league club in Scottsdale, Ariz., for a chance to earn a spot on the Opening Day 25-man roster.
Left-hander Andrew Suarez and right-handers Tyler Cyr, , Dereck Rodriguez, and have all received invitations.
The catchers include , and , while the outfielders include Steven Duggar and Shaw. , , , and Josh Rutledge are the infielders.
Shaw, the Giants' first-round selection in 2015, batted .301/.390/.511 with six home runs and 29 RBIs in 37 games for Double-A Richmond before being promoted to Triple-A Sacramento, where he hit .289/.328/.530 with 18 homers and 50 RBIs in 88 games. The 24-year-old is considered to be the organization's best power-hitting prospect.

Duggar, the club's No. 5 prospect, batted .270/.361/.470 with four homers and 20 RBIs in 29 games for Class A Advanced San Jose last season before hitting .261/.370/.413 with two homers and six RBIs in 13 games at Triple-A. Despite the recent acquisition of veteran , Duggar is going to get an extended look in center field during Spring Training as the club searches for a long-term answer at the position.
Suarez, the Giants' No. 9 prospect, went 10-10 with a 3.30 ERA in 26 games (24 starts) split between Richmond and Sacramento in 2017. The 25-year-old is expected to compete for a back-end spot in San Francisco's rotation.

Brown and Sanchez have both served as the backup catcher for at times over the past few seasons. Brown, 26, is a career .236/.282/.354 hitter with five home runs in parts of two seasons with San Francisco. Sanchez, 28, previously played for the club in 2015, when he batted .179/.207/.304 with one home run and five RBIs in 28 games. He has batted .238/.273/.367 with 21 homers and 120 RBIs in 347 games over the course of his seven-year MLB career.