SF Giants prospects: Four standouts in the lower minors receive late-season promotions

Four SF Giants prospects, including a pair of right-handed pitchers and infielders were rewarded for their impressive seasons with promotions.

Marc Delucchi | Sep 7, 2022

SF Giants prospects: Four standouts in the lower minors receive late-season promotions /

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San Francisco Giants

The SF Giants promoted four minor leaguers on Tuesday, rewarding several prospects who have been productive this year in the lower minors with late-season promotions. They promoted infielder Andrew Kachel and right-handed pitcher Mikell Manzano from Rookie Ball to Single-A San Jose and promoted infielder Damon Dues and right-handed pitcher Spencer Bivens from San Jose to High-A Eugene.

Manzano was one of the best starting pitchers in the Arizona Complex League this year, helping one of the Giants affiliates win the league title with a fantastic appearance in the postseason. A 19-year-old righty, Manzano has an advanced feel for command his pitches and has an intriguing breaking ball. In 14 appearances, Manzano has a 3.93 ERA with 81 strikeouts against just 17 walks in 55 innings pitched.

The Giants drafted Kachel in the 16th round of this year's draft out of Fresno State. A San Jose native, Kachel played all over the infield in college and was incredibly productive, hitting .314/.406/.582 with 22 homers in 443 plate appearances from 2021-22.

After he turned pro, Kachel was assigned to one of the Giants rookie-ball affiliates and like Manzano, made a late-season contribution in their championship run. While he did not show off any pop across 11 games, he hit .323 with five walks and just two strikeouts in 37 plate appearances.

SF Giants prospect Damon Dues fielding a throw at second base during college career at Wright State. — Hannah Saad via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Dues' promotion marks his second promotion of the year. He was signed as a nondrafted free agent last summer after four productive seasons at Wright State. Dues was fantastic in his second stint at the complex this year, hitting .378/.439/.514 in 12 games before he was promoted to San Jose. In 13 games, Dues looked too good for Single-A competition. He hit .368/.579/.500 with an incredible 19-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio. While Dues is older for a prospect, recently turning 24, he will receive opportunities if he can hit like that.

Bivens was an unheralded prospect out of Rogers State and played in several Independent Leagues over the past four years before the Giants signed him to a minor-league deal earlier this year. Besides a brief callup to Triple-A Sacramento, Bivens has spent the entire season at Single-A San Jose where the 28-year-old has a 2.70 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 18 walks in 30 innings of work (21 appearances).

Published Sep 7, 2022

MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).