Heliot Ramos should be getting ready for the prom. At 18 years old, the Giants' top prospect is the age of a high school senior. In the real world though, Ramos is facing his first form of failures on a baseball field.
Playing way above his age for the Class A Augusta GreenJackets, the immensely talented teenager is batting just .114 over his last 10 games with 15 strikeouts. But on Thursday, Ramos reminded us what he's capable of.
In Augusta's 15-1 thrashing of Rome, Ramos went 1-for-3 with a two-run homer to left-center field, a walk and no strikeouts. His two-run shot was part of a 10-run seventh inning for the GreenJackets.
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As the third batter in the bottom of the seventh inning, Ramos was hit by a pitch. Nine batters later, with Augusta sending 13 to the plate in the hitting barrage, Ramos knocked in the 10th run of the inning with his third home run of the year.
That same inning, Jacob Gonzalez, the Giants' second-round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, one-upped Ramos. Coming to the plate two batters after Ramos was beaned, Gonzalez blasted a grand slam, also his third long ball on the year.
No one was happier for Gonzalez than Ramos, too.
Through 30 games, Ramos has played one less, the second-round pick is seeing more success than the first. Gonzalez is slashing .252/.315/.391 with three home runs and seven doubles compared to Ramos' .212/.294/.345 with three home runs, one triple and four doubles. Both are extremely young for their level of play and it will take patience with the ups and downs of these prospects who will be a big part of the Giants' future.
Beede searches for the strike zone
San Francisco Giants
Tyler Beede couldn't get out of the second inning on Thursday despite only allowing two hits. In the River Cats' 7-2 loss, Beede walked six batters in 1 2/3 innings. He also allowed three earned runs and struck out two.
Finding his command has been Beede's big problem at both the minor league and major league level. Between six starts with Sacramento, one with San Jose and two with San Francisco this season, Beede has walked 29 and hit six batters in 36.2 innings.
Along with the walks, Beede has also racked up 39 strikeouts. He has the stuff to make batters whiff, but none of that will matter in the present or the future if Beede can't find his command.