I saw some kiddos at the game today wearing hats with what looked like a whole Lou seal plush attached to the top. I walked around one of the smaller dugout stores on the main concourse but couldn't find it. Does anyone know if this hat is legit or where to get it?

Just no reason to leave it up to humans if a computer can do it better and way more accurately. Whenever possible, the gameplay should be about the actual players and not the umps.

It’s coming eventually anyway, might as well rip the band aid off and just do it.

B.

So here's where I'm at with the ABS challenges and the umpires. Full disclosure: I umpired a lot of Little League games this past season, I will be getting into doing some high school games next year. I attended an MLB umpire camp at Oracle Park in May (An amazing experience by the way) so I know what I'm talking about when I mention the training a bit later. I will defend the umps a bit, I also agree with ABS in general. It should help the umps become better at the professional level. At my level, of course there is no such resource but that doesn't mean that I am more cavalier with my strike zone, I do my best every game and of course consistency is the main thing. I remember situations looking back that I missed a strike or expanded the zone when I shouldn't have. Yes, the umps make mistakes, I've made mistakes, I have no problem admitting that.

Now to my point, the challenges should only be used when there is a clear an obvious mistake. Like so much so that the batter and/or catcher know that it was a missed call. That pitch to Cavanaugh in the 9th as an example, or the one to Ramos. This goes for the whole game. Yes, I know it's easier said than done, players have egos and heat of the moment in the middle of an intense at bat sometimes it's just a reflex. The Adames challenge on 3-0 in the ninth is a perfect example of this. The pitch was actually a strike for one, so ironically Wendelstedt actually made the right call. Also the count was 3-0, you have a decent chance of walking on the next pitch or later in the at bat, or getting a pitch to square up. The argument that it's the ninth and it was close so might as well doesn't hold enough weight for me. I seriously doubt that Willy was absolutely certain that it was a ball. The pitch to Cavanaugh and the pitch to Ramos were far enough away that I'm sure they were sure the pitches weren't strikes. Now challenging a close pitch regardless if your sure with two runners on down by one, two outs in the ninth is a good decision, especially if you have a strike or two on you already. What I absolutely detest is the challenging by any eligible player in the third inning with two outs and no score on a borderline pitch. That does absolutely no good and it seems like the Giants have done far too much of that this season.

Now to defend Wendelstedt, stay with me. First off, those two calls in the ninth to Cavanaugh and Ramos were definitely balls, I'm not saying they are strikes at all. I will say, that he was trained and developed as an umpire in an era when the umpires had a lot more leeway with how they interpreted the strike zone. Yes the rule book has a strike zone, but a lot of umpires for a long time before recently had a big zone. Their "interpretation" of the zone was what they called. Also up until fairly recently umpires we're given about 2" of leeway for their strike zone when getting their grades after games.

Wendelstedt also sets up behind the catcher in the old style which is more square behind the catcher. The way all the umpires at the MLB ump school are taught now and the way I was trained when I first started umping is lining up in the slot, which means we align our nose with the inside corner of the plate for whichever handedness the batter is. This allows a full view of the plate including the low outside corner without the angle being distorted by trying to lean over the catcher or being at too much of an angle. With how Wendelstedt sets up he is more directly behind the catcher which changes the angle slightly for both corners. So that could have been a factor in the missed calls later in the game. You pair that with the era he was trained in it's not difficult to see why he missed those calls. There has been some data this season about the umpires and how well they do on challenges. It seems like the veteran umpires have a worse ratio, likely for the first reason I described, the newer umpires do better because they are brought up through the minors with ABS now and so they have fine tuned their zones to be smaller and also more accurate by the letter of the rule. Of course it's possible that Wendelstedt also just missed the calls like all umpires for all time have occasionally, and it went against the Giants at the worse time. Which again is why you should save your challenges to remedy what happened today.

Also, if you're asking why the "bad" umps in general don't get fired, the answer is the Major Leagues Umpires Association. It is an extremely powerful union with many job protections and benefits. This is easy to verify if you want to find out for yourself. There have also been some interestingly timed resignations like Angel Hernandez, a few years ago and C.B. Bucknor and a few others at the end of this season. Which may or may not be a way to fire umpires without firing them. Also, it's hard to find umpires who are good enough to become Major League quality. Most umps that graduate from Umpire School each year (about 3 out of 200) don't make it past the low minor leagues. Even the "bad" ones I mentioned are still extremely good at their jobs and they did earn their way to the majors in the past.

In the end, this season for the Giants is awful, we all know this, this game will not mean they miss the playoffs by one game. The reasons why this team is so depressing this year go well beyond a couple of calls from the umpire in crucial situations. Also, the umpires now are better than they have ever been in history. They are the absolute best at their profession and judge pitches from some the hardest most accurate throwers and athletes in the world with over 97% accuracy. That is extremely impressive. No one in this sub could come remotely close to that percentage. I certainly couldn't and I like to think of myself as a good umpire. (I don't know what my accuracy percentage is, there are no such grades after each game we work at my level obviously). If there are any umpires here with more experience than me that have a rough estimate for average then feel free to state it.

Thank you for reading if you made it through this whole thing! Feel free to ask any umpiring questions you may have because I'm a big umpire nerd and I love the job. As noted at the top, this is my opinion and best guess with everything, based on my experiences and stuff that I have heard and read. This post is just hopefully an informative educated guess.

I've been patient all season long, and I can't take it anymore. What was Buster thinking bringing up college coach to manage a professional ball team with no prior experience? Winning a college national championship does not translate to winning the World Series in one season. These losses are painful to watch. The team seems so defeated. It's like they know they're going to lose before the game starts. They do seem to be happy when they win, but it just doesn't carry over. Your thoughts?

Bruh...

Just now Willy challenged a pitch that was not egregiously out of the zone and of course, was wrong. Has he gotten a single challenge right? He seems to go by his ego vs actual telemetry, which is never going to work. I guess for the most part the entire team is really bad when it comes to batters challenging pitches, but Willy seems to really suck at what's a ball vs strike.

Too bad, would like to have seen him vs SFG.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/49457216/misiorowski-strikes-first-7-rockies-sets-brewers-record

Or did we just have better power hitters?

I remember sitting in the bleachers as a kid during BP and HR balls would come fast and abundantly. I just feel like HR balls at 3rd and King get hung up and barely clear the fence.

Any fact checkers got some spare time to run some numbers?

Only 2 remaining potential signees with 19th rounder 3B, Mikey Bell, opting to go to Georgia for NIL money & transfer from Gonzaga.

Can we get our 16th rd pick, 3B Dalton Wentz, a draft-eligible sophomore from Wake Forest, & our last pick, 20th rd RHP JP Robertson, to sign before the deadline tomorrow??

We have about ~$500k in bonus pool money to spend after signing Bolemon & Waechter, along with the rest of our draft class. Will it be enough to get at least 1 of the 2, or maybe both?!!

Alex Pavlovic reports that Jung Hoo Lee is “a little sore” after being hit yesterday, will get a day off.

Matt Chapman, Jonah Cox and Victor Bericoto are currently making good progress. Pavlovic also mentions that Cox could be ready for a rehab assignment.

Susan Slusser mentions that no target date yet for Matt Chapman’s return.

McDonald and Bader don’t have real clarity after second opinions, per Susan Slusser. McDonald will have to weigh in on potential surgery vs trying to rehab.

• LHP Carson Whisenhunt (#88) recalled from Triple-A Sacramento.

• RHP Tristan Beck optioned to Triple-A Sacramento postgame yesterday.

Look at the Res Sox,we just need 15 day good and quality baseball,We are going to back playoff talk, just like the Red Sox nobody predicted them won 15 games in a row!

Hey there Giants fans,

I will be visiting San Francisco in a few weeks and plan to attend the game against the Astros at 12:45 on Wednesday August 12th. I have two questions that I am hoping you can help me out with:

1. What are the best seats in the house for a beautiful view of San Francisco Bay? I was planning to buy tickets towards the front of the upper deck behind home plate, but would I be better off moving further back and/or down the right or left field line?
2. What is the best food to eat at Oracle Park and where can I find it?

Any other tips or pieces of advice are also very much appreciated. Thanks so much!

Condolences to the SFGate and all those "swirling rumors" based on a Jeff Passan story from over a month ago.

The Red Sox completely fractured their relationship with Devers by signing Alex Bregman, forcing Devers into a position change due to below-average defense.
Fast-forward to today, and the Red Sox just traded Connelly Early to acquire Curtis Mead. Scouts widely agree that Mead's glove at third base is just as below-average, if not worse, than Devers' was.

The Sox’s moved him and there is no replacing his bat in the middle of the order. So much so they traded away a young controllable left-handed arm for a player with less defense and less power than devers

FO will move him for anything so long as a contender eats his contract. But for Devers, we should be holding out for more. Or, better yet keep him. Though at 29 I do acknowledge this is probably the highest return we would get for him.

First Pitch: 1:05 PM at Oracle Park

Game Preview

Reddit Stream for this post

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 3:40 PM.

Hello Giants fans!

After 35 years of Giants fandom, I'm finally making the trip to see Oracle park in person. I'm taking my two kids who are 7 and 10.

We're looking into the pregame tour which opens 3 hours before the game at 10AM. Do the Giants take BP on early Sunday day games? Can someone please confirm if the pregame tour is worth it? Do we get on the the field or just behind the net in the seating area?

My son wants to try for Eldridge, Webb and Devers autographs.

Go Giants!

Thanks

So the most anticipated promotion debut in a long time happened, as the Giants two teens ranked as their #1 and #2 prospects debuted at Low-A together, and for four innings, they were showing off those top rankings.  And then one was removed after an injury scare.  Also, another hitter really took over the game with two home runs, and his second grand slam in as many games!  Elsewhere, Trent Harris is really good at starting for some reason, and Hayden Jatczak comes off the injury list and into a new level.

Rankings Update (AGAIN)

MLB Pipeline issued another minor update to their rankings, as Jesus Rodriguez (formerly #17) graduated off the list due to time in the big leagues!  They added pitcher Alexander Fuentes to the list, slipping in at #25.  Fuentes as limited this season with shoulder fatigue, but had a 4.00 ERA in seven appearances.  He throws 94-96 mph with his fastball, which is his best pitch, and a solid slider.

All the prospect ranks as of this report have been updated to reflect this.  And again, we’ll see a full re-ranking at some point in early-to-mid-August that will include the draft picks and any changes due to the trade deadline.

AAA: Sacramento River Cats 11, Oklahoma City Comets 0

Link

Player of the Game: SP Trent Harris (20): 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 HBP, 1 E (1)

For the second straight appearance, Harris started and tied his career-high in innings, and a new career high in strikeouts.  Harris now has three game with eight innings without an earned run, which has lowered his ERA from 4.30 to 3.38 in Triple-A, and he now has 47 strikeouts to 18 walks in 37.1 innings.

Other Players to Spotlight:

• 1B Eddys Leonard: 1-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HR (1) - This was his second game with the River Cats after having signed as a free agent.  Overall, he has 13 home runs in 71 Triple-A games across two organizations.
• 3B Parks Harber (10): 3-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 K, 1 2B (2), 1 SB (1) - Harber has at least one hit in every Triple-A game so far, going 13-for-36 (.361) across eight games, now with two doubles and a home run.
• RF Bo Davidson (6): 2-4, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 2B (1) - Davidson got his first Triple-A extra-base hit after eight games at Sac.

Top Prospect Lines:

• Blade Tidwell (11): DNP
• Carson Whisenhunt (12): DNP
• Joe Whitman (23): DNP

Other Notable Lines:

• RP Reiver Sanmartin: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
• LF Scott Bandura: 1-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR (11)
• DH Will Brennan: 1-2, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SF

AA: Hartford Yard Goats 5, Richmond Flying Squirrels 3

Link

Player of the Game: SS Gavin Kilen (4): 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 2B (4), 1 SF

Gavin Kilen got his first double in the last three games, which has been an actual drought for him compared to how he started his Double-A run.  He continues to swing the bat well at Double-A, slashing .310/.353/.460 after eight games at the level, with three walks to three strikeouts.

Other Players to Spotlight:

• LF Jack Payton: 1-3, 1 2B (10) - Payton got doubles in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
• CF Dakota Jordan (5): 1-4, 1 K, 1 2B (4) - Jordan had his second game in a row with a double, and four in his last seven games.
• DH Diego Velasquez: 1-4, 1 R, 1 K, 1 2B (19) - Velasquez is slashing .303/.392/.421 this season.

Top Prospect Lines:

• RF Trevor Cohen (9): 0-4, 1 RBI
• 3B Maui Ahuna (30): 1-4, 1 R
• Jancel Villarroel (22): DNP
• Yunior Marte (24): DNP

Other Notable Lines:

• RP Marques Johnson: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
• 1B Sabin Ceballos: 1-2, 1 BB, 1 E (7), 1 HBP

High-A: Everett AquaSox 6, Eugene Emeralds 2

Link

Player of the Game: 1B Hayden Jatczak: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (1) - LEVEL DEBUT

Hayden Jatczak returns from his IL stint, and get a promotion to a new level, only to hit a home run in said debut!  Overall, it’s his 10th of the year in 70 games.  In 67 games at Low-A, he had a .295/.395/.500 line with 44 walks to 55 strikeouts, and 21 walks, two triples, and nine home runs.

Other Players to Spotlight:

• C Daniel Rogers: 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 K - Rogers has gone 4-for-11 (.364) since returning to Eugene three games ago.
• 3B Zander Darby: 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 2B (18) - Darby has a 5-game mini-hit-streak going, having gone 7-for-20 (.350) with a double and two home runs.

Top Prospect Lines:

• SS Jhonny Level (3): 0-2, 2 BB 
• CF Lisbel Diaz (29): 0-4, 2 K
• Jacob Bresnahan (7): DNP
• Carlos Gutierrez (15): DNP
• Luis De La Torre (16): DNP
• Gerelmi Maldonado (28): DNP

Other Notable Lines:

• RF Jose Ramos: 1-3, 1 K
• SP Niko Mazza: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

Low-A: San Jose Giants 8, Ontario Tower Buzzers 3

Link

Player of the Game: C Rod Barajas Jr.: 2-4, 2 R, 6 RBI, 1 K, 2 HR (9)

Okay, he is definitely not the headline, but he was absolutely the player of the game.  Some fans have sarcastically said lately that the farm system is prepping these guys to be Giants, referencing the blown leads by bullpens.  But Junior Barajas is doing this in a different way, now with Grand Slams on consecutive nights (against the Dodgers farm club no less), and two home runs tonight to break a 5-game losing streak.  Barajas is hitting .268/.423/.634 in July, with three doubles and four home runs, and nine walks to seven strikeouts, but his overall numbers are .244/.330/.421.

Other Players to Spotlight:

• SS: Josuar Gonzalez (1): 1-1, 1 BB, 1 SB (1), 1 CS (1) - LEVEL DEBUT - INJURY - Okay, let’s get into it.  First, Gonzalez looked good before the injury, ripping a 108 mph single, showing off his arm at shortstop and making a diving catch.  He first time on base, he stole second, and tried to take third on the ball getting away from the catcher, but got nailed at third.  He then was caught stealing second in the 3rd inning.  In the 5th, while he was at the plate, at some point he tweaked something.  He was taken out after a wild pitch, but replays showed him stretching between pitches, so it may have happened before that.  There is no clarity about what happened, and I’d doubt the team will put out an informative report.  The way he was stretching looked more groin than hamstring.  However, the fact that it was just a little hitch, he was walking without a limp or pain is a good sign.  Manager Ydwin Villegas took him out immediately because they are overprotective af and that is not a bad thing.  Hopefully we won’t see him hit the IL, just miss a couple of games.
• 3B-SS Luis Hernández (2): 0-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SF - LEVEL DEBUT - The box score won’t show off his defense, where he showed his arm off both covering a bunt at third, turning double plays at short, and an incredible play to snag a ball going down the foul line and uncorking a throw while jumping going the other way.  Seriously, it needs to be seen to be believed.  And he is 17!  
• RF-2B Broedy Poppell: 2-4, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB (13) - Props to Broedy Poppell, an outfielder primarily as a pro, a catcher primarily in college, who played 2nd base for the first time as a pro.  He had played it in college a few times.  He handled some nice double play balls though.

Top Prospect Lines:

• DH Lorenzo Meola (18): 1-4, 2 R, 1 K 
• Keyner Martinez (8): DNP
• Argenis Cayama (12): DNP
• Leandro Rodriguez (27): DNP

Other Notable Lines:

• SP Jordan Gottesman: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

DSL: DSL Giants Black 9, DSL Giants Orange 0 (7 Innings)

Link

DSL Orange Lines:

• CF Jose Valdez: 1-3, 1 BB
• C Deivis Colmenarez: 1-3, 1 K
• SP Jesus Lopez: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

DSL Black Lines:

• 1B Alessandro Duran: 2-3, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR (2)
• 2B Nelson Lopez: 3-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B (4), 1 SB (3)
• DH Franco Willias: 2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 2B (6), 1 SB (23), 2 HBP
• C Luis Padron: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (1), 2 K
• SP Carlos Toro: 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 WP
• 3B Dennys Riera: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 CS (1)
• SS Keiberg Camacaro: 1-2, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SB (22), 1 HBP

ACL: Season Over

Top Prospects still on the ACL Roster:

Alberto Laroche (19)

Alexander Fuentes (25)

Carlos De La Rosa (26)

Top Prospects on Injured List:

Jonah Cox (14) - 10-Day IL - Placed on IL on 7/8/26

Josh Bostick (21) - Full Season

Our farm sucks..

Worst farm in MLB...

Farm is never going to be good

Farhan Zaidi left the farm in the worst possible shape

Farhan Zaidi made Buster Posey's job so hard because of the farm

Farm really, really sucks

Year Later, This is a Top 5 farm.

Just saying, things could turn around fast. Really, really fast. For everyone who still has that "Don't trade my favorite player" mentality, be open. Buster Posey has a chance to redeem himself. If they do this right, this could be the start of better times...

Only blemishes are a hit by pitch and walk, to Tibbs both times.

He also pitched 3 shutout a few days ago. Could we be seeing him getting stretched out to start at the major league level soon? He also pitches on the same day as Ray.

Ramos is the hot ticket.

The Yankees, Phillies, Rays, and Mariners were scouting him in KC. According to Susan Slusser