Nine Former SJ Giants Make MLB Debuts In 2016
By Joe Ritzo
The 2016 season saw nine former San Jose Giants make their major league debuts. Highlights included Derek Law establishing himself as a top bullpen arm in San Francisco during his rookie year and Ty Blach making a significant late-season contribution after a September call-up. Steven Okert and Chris Stratton also debuted with the SF Giants this season while Joe Biagini excelled as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen.
Over the 29-year history of the team, 190 former San Jose Giants have reached the major leagues.
Law was the first former San Jose Giant to debut in San Francisco this season as the right-hander earned a call-up from Triple-A less than two weeks into the campaign. He impressed early yielding just one run over his first 10 relief appearances and would stay in San Francisco for the remainder of the year. Overall, Law fashioned a 2.13 ERA in 61 games working primarily in the seventh and eighth innings. He struck out 50 and walked just nine over 55 innings while limiting the opposition to a .215 batting average. His earned run average after the All-Star break was a stellar 1.13.
Late-inning success for Law should come to no surprise to San Jose Giants fans. During his lone season in the California League (2013), Law was a perfect 11-for-11 in save opportunities and boasted an incredible 45-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his 25 innings pitched. He was limited for significant portions of the 2014 and 2015 seasons due to Tommy John surgery, but regained his top form this year and appears headed for an even bigger role in the San Francisco ‘pen next season.
Blach was another former San Jose standout who earned his first big league call-up this year. After leading the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in wins during the minor league regular season, Blach was summoned to San Francisco during the first week of September. He dazzled in his major league debut firing three scoreless innings of relief at Colorado on September 5 before three no-hit innings two weeks later at Dodger Stadium. Blach’s first major league start then came in San Francisco’s penultimate contest of the regular season and the rookie lefty outdueled former Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw as the Giants earned a key 3–0 victory over the Dodgers at AT&T Park. Blach twirled eight scoreless innings during his magnificent start allowing just three hits while notching six strikeouts. One day later, San Francisco clinched a playoff berth.
Blach possessed an outstanding 1.06 ERA over 17 regular season innings in San Francisco. He then continued his surge in the playoffs with a memorable performance in Game 3 of the NLDS versus the Chicago Cubs tossing two scoreless frames over the 12th and 13th innings in a win-or-go-home scenario. And when the Giants rallied for a run in the bottom of the 13th, it gave Blach the win in what turned out to be San Francisco’s only victory of the postseason.
Blach was a teammate of Law’s on San Jose’s 2013 North Division championship squad earning All-Star honors. Blach finished the year with a Cal League-best 2.90 ERA and posted a 12–4 record over his 20 starts. Blach and Law are two of an incredible 12 players from the 2013 San Jose club that have already reached the major leagues. Other notable future big leaguers off that team include Matt Duffy, Mac Williamson, Trevor Brown, Kelby Tomlinson, Josh Osich and Hunter Strickland.
Blach’s terrific September and October in “The Show” this year has now undoubtedly put him in a position to open next season on San Francisco’s roster, perhaps as a member of the starting rotation.
Okert and Stratton were also former San Jose Giants to debut in San Francisco this season. Both played in the California League during the 2014 season with Okert receiving All-Star recognition that year as a top relief pitcher prospect (1.53 ERA, 19 saves).
Okert had three separate stints in San Francisco this year initially debuting in mid-April after beginning the season in Triple-A. He notched a 6.35 ERA over five April appearances with the SF Giants before two brief outings in mid-June. He then returned for good as a September call-up and pitched in several key late-inning spots as San Francisco fought for a playoff spot. Over nine appearances during the final month of the regular season, Okert owned a 1.13 ERA allowing just one run over eight innings while collecting eight strikeouts. His strong finish to the season should put Okert in the conversation for an opening day spot in next year’s bullpen.
Stratton has worked as a starting pitcher throughout his entire minor league career (including 18 starts with San Jose in ‘14), but saw action exclusively out of the bullpen during his five-week stint with San Francisco in May and June. Over 10 big league innings, Stratton surrendered just four runs (3.60 ERA) and struck out six. The bulk of his season was spent in Sacramento where Stratton won 12 games overall and logged an excellent 2.09 ERA in 10 starts after the All-Star break.
The former first round draft pick is now currently pitching in the Arizona Fall League with an eye towards an increased role in San Francisco next season.
The majority of 2016 major league debuts though occurred with teams other than San Francisco as Biagini and Tommy Joseph had the most significant contributions of this group.
Biagini, a former San Jose starting pitcher, made Toronto’s opening day roster and spent the entire season pitching out of the Blue Jays bullpen. A Rule 5 draft pick-up last December when San Francisco left him off the 40-man roster (and thus unprotected), Biagini compiled a 3.06 ERA in 60 relief appearances for Toronto this year working primarily over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. He struck out 62 batters and walked only 19 over 67 2/3 innings while also allowing just three home runs.
Biagini made only three relief appearances during his four seasons in the Giants farm system (2012–15), but looks to have found a home in the Toronto bullpen. His lone season with San Jose came in 2014 as Biagini led the Giants with 10 wins and posted a 4.01 ERA. He was an All-Star at the Double-A level the next season before the Blue Jays gobbled him up in the Rule 5 draft. His impact in the big leagues this year was significant to help Toronto reach the playoffs and advance to the ALCS.
Joseph, who hit 22 home runs as a top prospect for the 2011 San Jose Giants, debuted in mid-May with Philadelphia and saw significant action at first base for the Phillies throughout the remainder of the year. In 315 big league at-bats this season, Joseph hit .257 with an impressive 21 home runs and 47 RBI’s. His 21 homers ranked third among National League rookies trailing only Colorado’s Trevor Story (27) and Los Angeles’ Corey Seager (26).
Joseph was primarily a catcher during his season in San Jose. A year later, he was one of three players (along with Nate Schierholtz and Seth Rosin) who was traded to Philadelphia in exchange for Hunter Pence.
Other former San Jose Giants to debut in the major leagues this season included Adalberto Mejia, Kelvin Marte and Jake Smith. Mejia was pitching in the Sacramento starting rotation before he was traded to Minnesota in late-July for Eduardo Nunez. Less than a month after the deal, Mejia was called up to the Twins and made one relief appearance on August 20 (two runs in 2 1/3 innings) before returning to the minor leagues. As a 20-year old in the California League in 2013, Mejia was 7–4 with a 3.31 ERA over 16 starts.
Meanwhile, Marte showed great perseverance as the left-hander spent nearly 10 years in the minor leagues, including parts of four seasons with San Jose, before a call-up to “The Show”. Marte pitched for the SJ Giants for the entire 2011 and 2013 seasons, in addition to parts of 2010 and 2012. His 20 wins in San Jose rank tied for fifth on the franchise list. He signed with Pittsburgh as a minor league free agent last offseason before receiving a September call-up. In two relief appearances with the Pirates, Marte surrendered five unearned runs over 3 1/3 innings with one strikeout.
Finally, Smith was the last former San Jose Giant to debut in the major leagues this season. A dominant late-inning reliever on San Jose’s 2015 team (2.35 ERA, 16 saves), Smith had been pitching for Double-A Richmond this year before he was designated for assignment in August to clear space on San Francisco’s 40-man roster. The Giants likely would have preferred to keep Smith, but the San Diego Padres jumped at the opportunity to claim him. And after three weeks in the Padres farm system, San Diego called up Smith in early-September. He made four relief appearances with the Padres allowing two runs over four innings with three strikeouts. Smith’s first major league win came against his former organization as he tossed a scoreless bottom of the eighth against the Giants at AT&T Park on September 13 before San Diego rallied to take the lead in the top of the ninth.
Smith joins Ryan Lollis as one of two players from the 2015 North Division champion San Jose Giants to have already reached the major leagues.
The nine former San Jose Giants who debuted in the major leagues this season:
1. Joe Biagini, April 8, Toronto Blue Jays
2. Derek Law, April 15, San Francisco Giants
3. Steven Okert, April 19, San Francisco Giants
4. Tommy Joseph, May 13, Philadelphia Phillies
5. Chris Stratton, May 30, San Francisco Giants
6. Adalberto Mejia, August 20, Minnesota Twins
7. Kelvin Marte, September 3, Pittsburgh Pirates
8. Ty Blach, September 5, San Francisco Giants
9. Jake Smith, September 7, San Diego Padres
The record for former San Jose Giants to debut in the major leagues in one season is 15 (2008). Eight former SJ Giants debuted in the big leagues in 2015.
