O'Neill, Beede, Arroyo sent to Minors camps
Tyler O'Neill's time at Major League Spring Training may be over, but the Mariners' second-ranked prospect left a lasting impression.MLB.com's No. 36 overall prospect, O'Neill was assigned to Minor League camp on Sunday after batting .310 with a homer and eight RBIs, including five in his last four Cactus League
Tyler O'Neill's time at Major League Spring Training may be over, but the Mariners' second-ranked prospect left a lasting impression.
MLB.com's No. 36 overall prospect, O'Neill was assigned to Minor League camp on Sunday after batting .310 with a homer and eight RBIs, including five in his last four Cactus League games. The homer was a towering two-run blast off Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw on Friday.
O'Neill was named Southern League MVP last season after hitting .293/.374/.508 with 24 homers and a circuit-leading 102 RBIs in his first Double-A campaign. He helped Jackson win the championship, then played for Canada earlier this month at the World Baseball Classic.
In other player moves, Christian Arroyo said a loud and clear goodbye to Major League Spring Training.
The Giants' No. 2 prospect belted his first homer of the spring on Sunday, a two-run shot in the ninth inning, before he and top prospect Tyler Beede were sent to Minor League camp.
Arroyo hit .278 with a homer and four RBIs in 16 Cactus League games. He batted .274/.316./373 with a career-high 36 doubles in 119 games at Double-A Richmond last season. The 25th overall pick in the 2013 Draft, he's a .294 hitter in four Minor League seasons.
"I got an extra week this year, so that was fun, but it's time for me to get some more consistent at-bats and go back over to the Minor League side," he told CSN Bay Area. "Hopefully, I left the people here with a smile on their face."
A teammate of Arroyo's at Richmond last year, Beede vaulted to the top of the Giants' prospect list after posting a 2.81 ERA with 135 strikeouts over 147 1/3 innings in 24 starts for the Flying Squirrels. He had a 0.96 ERA in five Cactus League appearances, including one start.
"I'm happy with it," Beede said. "It went way better than I expected in terms of comfortability and how sharp I felt. For the most part, you want to make sure you leave a good impression so they know what they've got if there is the possibility of being called up."
Giants manager Bruce Bochy was impressed with the 23-year-old right-hander.
"He's a four-pitch guy. We have the confidence to use him at any point," he told MLB.com. "I'm not saying [relieving] is what he's going to do, but it keeps his options open and ours, if we need some help in the 'pen."
San Francisco also assigned left-hander Kraig Sitton to Minor League camp and optioned infielder Orlando Calixte to Triple-A Sacramento.
Right-hander Jesus Liranzo, the Orioles' No. 16 prospect, was assigned to Triple-A Norfolk.
Michael Avallone is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @MavalloneMiLB.