Giants MiLB: Arenado’s Baby Bro is Raking in the SAL
By Wayne Cavadi
Everyone is enthralled with Nolan Arenado these days. He is either making an awe-inspiring catch to add to his Gold Glove resume or he is smashing home runs out of ballparks across the nation. Well, Arenado the Younger in the San Francisco Giants system wants some of the attention his way.
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Jonah Arenado, Nolan’s younger brother, took home this week’s South Atlantic Player of the Week Award. The 20-year old San Francisco Giants’ prospect had a huge week slashing .455/.520/.773 over 6 games. He belted four extra base hits, including one home run, and drove in five. He is arguably the Augusta GreenJackets best player, and right now, he is certainly the hottest.
Arenado was draft in the 16th round of the 2013 draft at just 18-years of age. He struggled the past few seasons at Rookie level ball for the Giants, but they still saw something in him. Despite a subpar 2014, a season in which he was still left searching for his first professional home run, the Giants promoted him to Low-A Augusta.
The right-handed third baseman has suddenly found his groove. He looks every bit the part of a potential third baseman of the future, and should be moving up the Giants’ prospect rankings quickly.
Arenado mustered 11 extra base hits over the first 222 at bats over his first two seasons and none were home runs. This season, Arenado is hitting .326. He has three doubles, one triple and four home runs.
What Arenado couldn’t accomplish as a teenager over his first two professional seasons, he has suddenly started to put together in his first year of his 20s. The Giants lost their beloved third baseman this offseason, and with no third base prospects in their top 30, could Arenado be next in line?
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Defensively, his brother he is not, but to be fair, most Major Leaguers are not as good at the hot corner as Nolan. Still, Jonah has been struggling mightily in the field this season. He has a range factor of 2.77 with a fielding percentage of .910. In his 67 total chances at third base, he has already made 6 errors. Still only 20, he has time to work it out, but if his defense doesn’t pick up down the road, a shift to first base wouldn’t be out of the question.
Joining Arenado with Players of the Week Awards:
International League: Carlos Sanchez (you can see what he did in our IL Week in Review right here)
Pacific Coast League: Ronny Cedeno
Eastern League: Josh Bell
Southern League: Byron Buxton
Texas League: Balbino Fuenmayor
California League: Jordan Patterson
Carolina League: Sam Travis
Florida State League: Andrew Knapp
Midwest League: Mott Hyde