Several San Francisco Giants prospects are already making noise in the early stages of their pro careers, and two names stand out this week: Broedy Poppell in San Jose and Dalton Wentz in Eugene.
Poppell put together one of his best stretches yet as a pro while the Giants kept rolling against the Lake Elsinore Storm. As of Sunday morning, San Jose had won all five games in the series, and Poppell was a major reason why. In 17 at-bats against Lake Elsinore, the switch-hitting infielder collected nine hits, with four doubles, a home run and nine RBI.
The 13th-round pick from last year’s draft out of Florida A&M is in his first full season and has shown the kind of profile the Giants expected: patient, powerful in bursts, and not afraid to let at-bats run long. Through 261 plate appearances with San Jose, he’s hitting .242/.356/.416 with a 97 wRC+, along with eight homers, 38 RBI and 49 runs. He has also walked at a 12.3 percent clip, struck out 28.7 percent of the time, posted a .174 ISO and gone 13-for-13 on stolen-base attempts.
Poppell’s game tends to live in the space between patience and damage. He works counts, takes his walks and strikes out often enough that the contact tool still has room to grow.
But when he does square one up, the ball usually comes off with purpose. He pulls the ball in the air nearly 20 percent of the time, and while the raw exit velocity numbers haven’t been eye-popping, he has found a way to turn the power he has into extra-base hits.
Wentz, meanwhile, has already checked off the first milestone of a pro career: his first hit. The Giants assigned the 16th-round pick to the Eugene Emeralds earlier this week, and he responded with four hits in 14 at-bats, including a three-game hitting streak to open his career.
The assignment was a bit aggressive for a player making his debut, but the organization clearly needed help there. Wentz, a switch-hitter out of Wake Forest, was considered a tough sign because he was eligible to return to school. San Francisco still got him into the fold with a huge signing bonus.
In college this year, Wentz put up a 1.043 OPS with 18 home runs and 52 RBI in 278 plate appearances.
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