Giants headline Prospect Team of the Week
MLBPipeline.com's Prospect Team of the Week honors the best performances from the previous seven days. Any player currently on an organization Top 30 Prospects list on our Prospect Watch is eligible, including big leaguers.
The San Francisco Giants are red hot at the big league level, winners of six in a row, bringing them closer to the Dodgers in the National League West. Evidently, there's some trickle-down effect.
Richmond is over .500 in the Double-A Eastern League, San Jose is 9-1 in its past 10 games in the California League and Augusta is playing .500 ball in the second half in the South Atlantic League. Throw in the Salem-Keizer club in the short-season Northwest League, and the Rookie-level Arizona League Giants (both playing at least .500), and it's clear that winning is contagious.
It should come as no surprise that this week's Prospect Team of the Week (July 13-19) is headed by a pair of Giants prospects. The Giants and the Rays are the only organizations with multiple representatives on this week's squad.
C: Aramis Garcia, Giants, No. 14 prospect
5 G, .476/.455/.952, 3 R, 1 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBIs, 3 SO
Garcia, the Giants' second-round pick in 2014, began his week with a bang. On Tuesday, the backstop banged out four hits, including two home runs, while driving in four. He had three more two-RBI games on the week, including one on Thursday in which he hit his third homer. Garcia is now tied for second in the South Atlantic League in home runs (13) and is tied for fourth in RBIs (52).
1B: Jake Bauers, Rays, No. 22 prospect
6 G, .500/.538/.625, 4 R, 1 HR, 8 RBIs, 2 BB, 1 SO
Bauers picked up at least one hit in all six games he played last week -- he has a 10-game hitting streak going. He started the week on Monday with a perfect 4-for-4 performance. Bauers, who moved up to Double-A in late June, had two other multihit games, finishing the week with a three-hit, five-RBI game on Sunday that included his second Southern League home run.
2B: Micah Johnson, White Sox, No. 4 prospect
4 G, .500/.524/.750, 7 R, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 RBIs, 1 BB, 5 SO, 4 SB
Someone's trying to get back to the big leagues. In a week shortened by the Triple-A All-Star break, Johnson made the most of four games, with two three-hit performances and two two-hit games. He has 10 multihit games in 17 July contests, notching his stats line at .395/.434/.645 performance this month to date.
3B: Christian Villanueva, Cubs, No. 21 prospect
4 G, .533/.500/1.267, 4 R, 2 2B, 32 HR, 9 RBIs, 3 SO
Another week shortened by an All-Star break, though the numbers don't look like it. That's because Villanueva picked up two hits in all four games, with at least one extra-base knock in each. He hit two homers on Friday -- the first of three games to close out the week in which he drove in three runs.
SS: Franklin Barreto, A's, No. 2 prospect
6 G, .357/.367/.857, 5 R, 2 2B, 4 HR, 8 RBIs, 1 BB, 6 SO
Barreto's week started with a four-hit game Monday, including a homer and three RBIs. But he was far from done. Barreto homered again on Thursday, then closed out his week with a three-hit, two-homer game. He's now hit .387/.405/.733 in July, with six homers and 12 RBIs in 18 games. Oh, and Barreto is only 19 years old and playing in the Class A Advanced California League.
OF: Yeison Asencio, Padres, No. 27 prospect
6 G, .458/.480/.833, 5 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 12 RBIs, 1 BB
Starting off your week with a two-homer, six-RBI game is a good way to make sure you're in contention for Prospect Team of the Week honors. Throw in three more multihit games, including a four-hit, three-RBI game on Saturday, and that might clinch it.
OF: Clint Frazier, Indians, No. 2 prospect
7 G, .462/.464/.731, 4 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBIs, 1 BB, 1 SO, 4 SB
Is the 2013 first-rounder starting to figure things out? Frazier now has an eight-game hitting streak going and had two three-hit games this past week, homering in both of them. Frazier is now hitting .379/.441/.534 in 16 July games, and he picked up his first four stolen bases for the month, giving him double digits in home runs and steals on the season.
OF: Tyler Horan, Giants, No. 24 prospect
6 G, .412/.450/1.059, 6 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBIs, 2 BB, 3 SO
Horan drove in at least one run in the first five games he played last week, starting with a three-hit game (two doubles) on Monday. He homered in three straight games Thursday to Saturday, which turned things around for him after a rough month of June.
LHP: John Means, Orioles, No. 29 prospect
2 G, 2-0, 11 IP, 13 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 15 SO
For a guy with a 6.6 K/9 ratio this year, Means sure did miss a lot of bats. On Tuesday, he went six innings and struck out eight, then followed that up on Sunday with a five-inning, seven-strikeout performance. As usual, the southpaw didn't hurt himself with walks (he's walked just 1.8-per-nine this season). The 2014 draftee now has a 2.75 ERA over four July starts.
RHP: Brent Honeywell, Rays, No. 5 prospect
1 G, 1-0, 9 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO
Honeywell may have turned in the most dominant performance of the week, and it was certainly his best start since getting promoted to the Florida State League at the end of June. On Saturday, he turned in the first complete game of his career, using his screwball effectively, perhaps for the first time since his promotion.