Giants Minor League Update: Part II

I ran out of steam yesterday and wasn’t able to tell you about all the great young arms the Giants have at class A Augusta in the Sally League. 

Here goes

20-year-old Nicaraguan Jorge Bucardo, who caught my attention with a fine 2009 season in the short-season Northwest League, has a 2.53 ERA after six starts with 30 Ks in 32 IP, with a slightly better than 2-to-1 Ks-to-BBs ratio.

20-year-old starter, Bryan Salsbury, has an unimpressive 4.19 ERA but excellent ratios.

22-year-old starter, Kyle Vasquez, is 3-0 with a 2.54 ERA and good ratios.

18-year-old Zack Wheeler, the sixth player selected in last year’s Draft, has a 4.50 ERA and has command issues in his first professional season. 

However, with 24 Ks in 18 IP, he’s obviously got stuff. Everyone will be keeping an eye on him to see what he does as the season progresses.

21-year-old reliever, Jose Casilla, has a 1.89 ERA and good ratios.

22-year-old reliever and spot starter, Devan Kline, has a 1.96 ERA and 19 Ks in 18.1 IP.

21 year old reliever Jose Valdez has a 2.60 ERA and 20 Ks in 17.1 IP.

22-year-old reliever, Jason Jarvis, has a 3.07 ERA with 13 Ks and only two walks allowed in 14.1 IP.

That’s what you want to see at this level, a lot of young pitchers who are striking out lots of class A hitters. 

Most of them won’t make it to the majors, so the more of them you have the better your chances that a few will have what it takes to reach the majors one day.