Kevin Goldstein, currently of Fangraphs, formerly of the Houston Astros front office, joins me on this week’s episode to talk about an industry in transition, how big data has changed the game, why developing pitchers is easier in some ways than hitters, and what the next frontiers are for development staffs. You can follow Kevin on Twitter @Kevin_Goldstein and read his work or listen to his own podcast, Chin Music at Fangraphs.com. You can also follow me on Twitter @rog61 and keep up with all o...
Dec 02, 2021•47 min
Fangraphs ’ Eric Longenhagen joins me to talk about Giants’ prospects playing in the Arizona Fall League as well as a little chatter on the kids who played in rookie ball in Scottsdale this summer. Eric is one of the very best prospect writers and analysts around and it’s always a huge pleasure when he stops by to talk Giants’ prospects with me. Follow Eric on Twitter @longenhagen and make sure you check out the great Prospects Board he’s created on Fangraphs’ site. And, of course, you can follo...
Nov 24, 2021•49 min
Kerry Crowley stops by this week to talk about Buster Posey’s legacy with the Giants and how they fill his mighty shoes going forward. Buster was a transformational figure in Giants history — there will most likely be a statue of him standing outside Oracle Park one day — and it’s hard to imagine how they’ll replace everything he gave this organization and its fans. You can follow Kerry on twitter @KO_Crowley, reads his Giants-related coverage for the Bay Area News Group, and listen to him eveni...
Nov 18, 2021•36 min
Everyone’s favorite Giants twitter-related follow @GiantsProspects joins me for a listener requested conversation in which GPT and I talk about some players who we evaluate somewhat differently. It’s a fun conversation where we go back and forth on some guys and, hopefully, learn some things in the process! Follow GPT on Twitter and, of course, follow me as well @rog61 to find all my work. You can also subscribe to ThereRGiants.com to read all of my Giants prospect writing including my upcoming ...
Nov 11, 2021•51 min
MLB.com’s Sam Dykstra joins me fresh off a two-week visit to Arizona to talk Arizona Fall League. Sam and I talk robo-ump, Statcast data, the pleasures of prospect watching in the desert, and he gives us his impressions of the various Giants’ prospects participating in the AFL. You can follow all of Sam’s work on Twitter @SamDykstraMiLB and, of course, follow the entire MLB prospect team @MLBPipeline. And you can follow my work @Rog61 and make sure you get all of my Giants prospect work delivere...
Nov 04, 2021•34 min
The Athletic’s Grant Brisbee joins me to parse through the pain of Giants’ seasons past. We share our mutual love of ‘70s era Giants baseball, and discuss why we’ll always remember 2021 with more fondness than sadness. With some side discussions into the current playoff format, the Dodgers’ playoff troubles, the Giants winter plans, and the importance of major league baseball supplying housing for minor league players. What was the most painful Giants season: 2002, 1993, or 1962? (3:10)How does ...
Oct 28, 2021•47 min
Marc Delucchi stops by to talk about the choices the Giants will face going forward and which prospects we might expect to see them protect from the Rule 5 draft. Follow Marc on twitter @maddelucchi to catch all of his Giants-related thoughts (you can also read his work on the 49ers and Warriors @NinersNation and Golden State of Mind ( @ unstoppablebaby). And, of course, you can follow me on twitter @rog61 and join ThereRGiants.com to read all of my Giants’ prospects writing. Intro/Outro: “The S...
Oct 21, 2021•51 min
Tonight, the Low-A West Championship Series begins pitting the San Jose Giants against the Fresno Grizzlies. The Giants will be trying to win their first championship since the 2010 season, which ended their Cal League dynasty of the first decade of this century. To get you all set for the championship match, Joe Ritzo stops by today to discuss the changes on this San Jose roster, how they look heading into the playoffs, and whether this is the best San Jose team Joe’s ever seen. Joe will be cal...
Sep 21, 2021•38 min
Long time voice of the Sacramento River Cats Johnny Doskow joins me on the latest edition of There R Giants podcast. Johnny and I talk about the difficulties of being an “extended” part of the Giants roster, how long players need to stay at minor league levels, and the difficulties of developing into a big leaguer. And we talk lots and lots of players, too! It’s a great conversation that I’m sure you’ll enjoy. You can follow Johnny on twitter @JDoskow and, of course, follow all of my work @rog61...
Sep 14, 2021•52 min
Richmond Flying Squirrels’ leadoff hitter, middle infielder, and new center fielder Simon Whiteman is my guest on this week’s There R Giants podcast. Simon talks about his journey to Yale and when he began thinking about a career in pro baseball. He also discusses the value of analytics for him, and his approach to playing and thinking about the game he loves. Simon is just a tremendously thoughtful and articulate young man, who you can follow on twitter @thespeedkillz. And, of course, you can f...
Sep 02, 2021•31 min
MLB’s Jim Callis stops by once again to talk Giants farm system on the pod. MLB Pipeline has rolled out its midseason updated rankings including a new Giants Top 30 , organizational rankings , new Top 100 and more! It’s always a great episode when Jim stops by to talk Giants. You can (and should!) follow all of Jim’s work on Twitter @jimcallisMLB. And you can follow my work on Twitter @rog61 or subscribe to There R Giants for my full coverage of the Giants system. Intro/Overall play in minorsSta...
Aug 26, 2021•45 min
My friend and fellow Giants prospects’ blogger Wrenzie Regodon stops by to discuss our respective Giants Top 30 mid-season rankings. Wrenzie’s work can be found in many places, he’s a prospect writer for Around the Foghorn and he also publishes his own work for Patreon subscribers. You can follow Wrenzie on Twitter to find all his work @giantprospectiv. My Top 30 can be found in last week’s Week in Review post . If you like the There R Giants podcast, you can get more great There R Giants conten...
Aug 24, 2021•1 hr 3 min
In this week’s edition of the There R Giants podcast, Richmond reliever R.J. Dabovich stops by to talk about the work he’s done at Push Performance Gym, his search for the perfect breaking ball, and his first full season in pro ball. If you like There R Giants podcast, you might also enjoy subscribing to There R Giants newsletter, bringing all of the action in the SF Giants farm system straight to your Inbox, M-F. Intro/Outro: “Origins” by Tennis This is a public episode. If you'd like to discus...
Aug 19, 2021•20 min
For my 50th episode of the There R Giants podcast, I got to speak with Armani Smith and Ricardo Genovés of the Eugene Emeralds. Both of these were recorded outdoors at PK Park in Eugene, so excuse the occasional noises of a ballpark coming to life for the night’s game! Armani Smith (2:45)Ricardo Genovés (22:20) And as always, if you like this podcast, you may want to become a There R Giants subscriber to get daily roundups of all the action on the SF Giants’ farm. Intro/Outro: “Hang on Little To...
Aug 12, 2021•37 min
My guests on this week’s There R Giants podcast are two of San Jose’s top prospects, LHP Kyle Harrison and 3b Casey Schmitt . Both were members of the Giants’ 2020 draft and both are having excellent first pro seasons. I think you’ll enjoy both of these short interviews! I did have a few technical issues here while I was on the road with a different recording setup, so apologies for some of the sound issues in this episode — especially all my typing noises! If you like There R Giants podcasts, y...
Aug 05, 2021•25 min
Once again I’m joined by The Athletic’s Melissa Lockard to get a mid-season report card on the Giants’ farm system. Melissa talks about the Giants’ draft class, the pleasant prospect surprises of the year, and some of the less pleasant ones. She also gives her insight on what kinds of prospects we might see traded at the deadline this year. It’s always a great pod when Melissa comes by to say hello! To keep up with all of the prospect related deadline news, make sure you follow Melissa on Twitte...
Jul 22, 2021•38 min
My friend and fellow podcaster Marc Delucchi takes over hosting duties for a special There R Giants/Sound the Foghorn cross-over podcast spectacular! A few of my fellow Giants prospectors and I dreamed up a special event in the wake of the MLB draft — Brian Recca (SF Draft Talk), Kevin Cunningham (Giant Futures), Marc and his site co-expert Wrenzie Regodon (Around the Foghorn) and myself teamed up to draft our own teams out of the Giants’ farm system. And we forced, ahem, ALLOWED you to listen t...
Jul 20, 2021•1 hr 44 min
The great Jim Callis joins me to talk about the Giants’ 2021 draft, and on the way we take some side trips to remember Dick Tidrow, discuss Allan Simpson’s efforts to create the draft coverage we know today, and reminisce over the advertisements one used to find in the back of The Sporting News. It’s a pretty great conversation! If you’re not already, you should definitely follow @jimcallisMLB on Twitter and please follow me as well to keep up with my work @rog61. Speaking of which, if you’re en...
Jul 15, 2021•47 min
My good friend Brian Recca, who you might know from Twitter as “SF Draft Talk” stops by again to talk about the MLB Draft, which begins with the 1st round this Sunday night! You should definitely be following @Brian_Recca for all your draft-related info, and check out his tremendous spreadsheet primer. It’s a resource I use all the time! Brian will be live chatting the draft on Twitch as well, if you want to check that out. Brian and I talk various scenarios for the 1st round and try to hone in ...
Jul 08, 2021•44 min
On today’s edition of There R Giants podcast, Richmond 3b David Villar talks to me about getting through 2020, how he’s seeking to improve his game, and how all the many connections between players in the baseball world. David is currently one of just three players in the Giants’ system with 10 HR and is coming off a June in which he slugged .506. After David, I talk with Richmond hitting coach Doug Clark about how he and the Giants development staff seek to support and help players through thei...
Jul 01, 2021•50 min
It’s a Eugene Emeralds two-fer on this week’s edition of the pod. First up, one of the Giants top prospects, Eugene starting shortstop Will Wilson stops by to talk about what it’s like to get traded so early in his career, getting to work with Brandon Crawford, life at the alternate site, and how his first full season is going so far. Following Will, his manager Dennis Pelfrey visits me to dig pretty deep into the Emeralds roster, breaking down what’s so special about this group of players. As a...
Jun 24, 2021•58 min
My guest this week is the Giants Director of International Scouting Joe Salermo and this is one I’m really excited to share with you. Joe and his staff are responsible for bringing so much talent into the Giants organization over the last few years. You’re going to hear Joe talk about names you know very well and are already excited about, and you’ll hear him talk excitedly about names you might not know at all! If you care about the future of the San Francisco Giants then this edition of There ...
Jun 17, 2021•44 min
Richmond starting pitcher Caleb Kilian joins me to talk about adjusting to Double A, how he spend the 2020 pandemic (it’s pretty incredible!), and how he works to improve himself in the days between starts. It’s a great conversation with one of the rising pitching stars in the system. For those of you wondering about the slightly odd timing — I was originally planning to include this interview in last week’s podcast, but weather and scheduling changed my plans. And I have another interview comin...
Jun 14, 2021•22 min
This week I’m joined by Phil Goyette. Phil writes prospect-based fantasy content for Rotoballer, Baseball Farm and other outlets. And lately he has created a formula, working with Matt Eddy of Baseball America , to estimate “Barrel” percentages and xwOBA for minor league hitters — these are the kinds of “batted ball” stats we’ve come to rely on major league baseball, but the public data is sadly lacking at the minor league level. For Baseball America, Phil is just using the formula to look at th...
Jun 10, 2021•41 min
Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen joined me for a deep dive into the Giants system with a side discussion of project valuation in general. Eric also gave me insights from his trips to the Giants new Extended Spring Training site at Papago Park with first-hand observations of youngsters like Manuel Mercedes, Adrian Sugastey, Aeverson Arteaga, and much more! Near the end of the pod, Eric talks a lot about the Giants young right-hander Manuel Mercedes, and refers to this video that he posted on Fangraphs...
Jun 03, 2021•49 min
Today’s podcast is a little different as I have two different interviews to share with you in this podcast. First up is LHP Joey Marciano who is off to a fantastic 2021 in the Richmond Flying Squirrels bullpen. You may recall that I spoke with Joey a year ago when he talked about his work to come back from retirement . Now that he’s back I wanted to know how it felt to return the game and what is working well for him. And then secondly I talk with the Voice of the Flying Squirrels, Richmond Dire...
May 27, 2021•58 min
Alex Stimson who handles radio duties for the Giants new High-A affiliate the Eugene Emeralds is my guest this week. Alex and I talk about the Emeralds roster in depth and he shares observations on Will Wilson, Patrick Bailey, Kai-Wei Teng, Logan Wyatt and many more. Follow Alex on Twitter @AlexStimson — he wants to hear from Giants fans listening in so let him know you’re out there. You can also contact Alex @EugeneEmeralds. And, of course, you can follow my work on twitter @Rog61 and read my d...
May 20, 2021•41 min
The Voice of the San Jose Giants Joe Ritzo joins me in this week’s There R Giants podcast to discuss the exciting talent on the 2021 San Jose club. Joe has been the full time play by play announcer on San Jose broadcasts since 2007 and has watched generations of talent come through the Giants system, so he’s the perfect guest to discuss this year’s crop of Low-A Giants prospects. Comparing 2021 and 2009 rosters (1:30)San Jose OF: Canario, Matos, and Smtih (7:05)Lenn Sakata and Mix of Age and You...
May 13, 2021•36 min
My friend and former fellow blogger Conner Penfold joins me to talk about the Alternate Site scrimmages that took place in Sacramento over the last month and look forward to the Sacramento River Cats season, which opens tonight in Las Vegas. You might know Conner from his days writing Giant Potential , or follow him on Twitter @@giant_potential. But he’s now the Media and Baseball Operations Coordinator for the River Cats and got to watch all of the scrimmages that took place at Sutter Field thi...
May 06, 2021•40 min
The 2021 Minor League Season is just days away and NBC Sports Bay Area’s own Dalton Johnson joined me to celebrate the coming year. We talked sleepers, pop ups, and of course, lots of Heliot Ramos, Joey Bart, Will Wilson, and Hunter Bishop content as well! Follow Dalton all season on Twitter @DaltonJ_Johnson or at NBCSports.com/bayarea. Standouts from Camp: Grant McCray and Garrett Frechette (1:30)San Jose Outfield (7:45)Luis Matos: (9:30)Will Wilson and Hunter Bishop (12:00)Are Alt Site reps th...
Apr 29, 2021•36 min
