In early July, Eugene Emeralds manager Dennis Pelfrey said he wanted to set the team apart from the rest of the High-A West. He wanted to show everyone that the Emeralds are “the gold standard of baseball.”
The Emeralds did just that in their first year as a full-season team and as the High-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. They finished the regular season with a record of 69-50, vaulting them to first place atop the High-A West. They went on to win the High-A West Championship Series, taking three out of four games over the Spokane Indians.
It was a rollercoaster of a season. But, with contributions from a variety of players, timely hitting and a heap of strikeouts on the mound, Eugene proved victorious.
The roster was a revolving door
The Emeralds saw a lot of different faces through the course of the season. Waves of talent passed through Eugene, but they had enough depth within the organization to piece together a successful season.
First-rounders Hunter Bishop, Patrick Bailey and Will Wilson were a big sell entering the year. Of those three, only Wilson had the campaign Giants fans were hoping for. He posted an .837 OPS and hit 10 home runs in 49 games in his time in Eugene before his promotion to Double-A Richmond.
Bailey struggled in his first professional season, hitting .185/.290/.296 in 33 games with the Emeralds. After a quick detour to Rookie ball to iron some things out, the catcher thrived in Low-A with a .322/.415/.531 batting line.
Bishop had the most disappointing season, playing in just three games with Eugene and missing most of the year with injuries.
But the Emeralds had plenty of backup. Tyler Fitzgerald led the Emeralds in games played, alternating between shortstop and second base as necessary while posting an .837 OPS. He had one of the most memorable moments of the season too, when he hit for the cycle.
Speedster Ismael Munguia was a mainstay in the outfield. He was also the High-A batting champion, leading the entire High-A level among qualified players with his .336 average.
Utility man Brett Auerbach also filled in nicely down the stretch run. Standing at 5-foot-9, he played primarily catcher while also seeing a lot of time at second base and center field. He was no slouch at the plate either, hitting 15 homers in 53 games. He won the fans’ hearts with his hustle, homers, versatility and goofy antics — such as playing football with his baseball glove before games.
Sean Roby and Franklin Labour were two relatively quiet but consistent contributors, each playing around 100 games and posting OPSs in the high-.700’s range. Ricardo Genoves filled in at catcher; he cooled off after a hot stretch in Low-A, but still hit seven homers in 65 games and provided quality at-bats.
Emeralds fans got a nice surprise in early August when shortstop Marco Luciano was promoted to Eugene. Luciano — just 19 years old at the time — was dominating in Low-A San Jose. He’s the consensus top prospect in the Giants’ farm system, and is ranked by MLB.com as the No. 5 prospect in all of baseball.
High-A was more of an adjustment for him, as he posted a .577 OPS and struck out nearly 40% of the time in 36 games. But Emeralds fans still got a glimpse of the future, as he showed flashes of being an electric player with his raw power and speed around the bases.
Joining Luciano with a late season promotion was Jairo Pomares, the No. 9 prospect in the Giants’ system. He adjusted to the High-A level quicker than Luciano, although a glaring red flag was his single drawn walk in 26 games.
Despite all the different faces in the lineup, the offense was able to get it done. Certainly helping matters was the fact that they posted the highest team OPS in the High-A West in late and close situations. Talent replaced talent, and the Emeralds had a deep lineup regardless of what the roster looked like at any given moment.
Pitchers collected a ton of strikeouts
One of the biggest storylines of the season was the Emeralds’ strikeout numbers. They started off absurdly strong and cooled off a bit in the middle of the season, but finished strong.
They led the High-A West with 1,311 strikeouts — the third-highest mark in all of Minor League Baseball. The team with the most strikeouts was none other than the San Jose Giants, the affiliate one level below the Emeralds.
Of those strikeouts, 695 came from Emeralds relievers, who posted the fewest bullpen losses (nine) of any team in Minor League Baseball. Chris Wright and Austin Reich were particularly dominant as a one-two punch out of the bullpen, especially near the end of the season.
The Emerald with perhaps the strangest season was starting pitcher Seth Corry, who began the year as the Giants’ No. 5 prospect. He racked up 100 strikeouts and only allowed 53 hits in 67 2/3 innings, but he walked a ghastly 63, while hitting 15 batters. He was put on a developmental assignment in early August, and his control looked improved when he came back in the final weeks of the season.
The Giants’ No. 27 prospect, Kai-Wei Teng, led Eugene with 142 strikeouts, while Conner Nurse struck out 114. That duo, along with every pitcher in the Emeralds’ rotation, had their ups and downs, but the bullpen locked things down all season long.
It wasn’t a smooth ride as the Emeralds found themselves in a three-team race in the final weeks of the season. The Everett AquaSox led the High-A West for most of the year — and even by a large margin at one point — but they experienced a brutal collapse and ended in third place, seven games behind the Emeralds.
The Spokane Indians climbed their way out of the trenches, leapfrogging over Everett and finishing just a half game behind Eugene The Emeralds were able to take down the scalding hot Indians in the High-A West Championship Series.
All told, there were plenty of positives and a fair amount of negatives, but it was a successful season for the Emeralds in their jump from short-season to full-season ball. They showcased some of the top talent in the Giants’ organization and all of baseball; the Emeralds also provided a glimpse into the future of what’s to come for Giants fans.
