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Alexander Canario

Cubs Injury Notes: Canario, Davis, Amaya

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Cubs outfield prospect Alexander Canario suffered a badly fractured ankle and a dislocated shoulder during a Dominican Winter League game on Thursday, according to multiple sources (including reporter Arturo Bisono).  While trying to beat out a grounder, Canario awkwardly stepped on the bag and then fell to the ground in obvious pain.

It would seem like Canario will face a substantial amount of recovery time, though no timeline has yet been announced by the Cubs.  This is the second notable shoulder injury of Canario’s short career, as he also had surgery to fix a torn labrum in November 2020.  Between the canceled 2020 minor league season and then the recovery from his surgery, it isn’t surprising that Canario had modest numbers in 2021, playing with both the Giants’ A-ball affiliate and the Cubs’ high-A team.

Acquired from San Francisco as part of the Kris Bryant trade in 2021, the 22-year-old Canario hit .252/.343/.556 with 37 homers and 23 steals (from 26 chances) over 534 combined plate appearances at the high-A, Double-A, and Triple-A levels last season.  This excellent performance sent Canario within the top 10 of Chicago prospects, as per both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline.  It also put Canario on the radar of several rival teams scouting the Cubs as possible trade partners, according to The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma, but Canario’s status as a trade chip or as a possible difference-maker in Wrigleyville is now on hold until his recovers.

Brennen Davis has also been sidelined by injury, as lower back tightness limited him to just five games in the Arizona Fall League before the Cubs shut him down.  Sharma writes that the club hadn’t determined the nature of this new injury, but it doesn’t seem similar to the problem (a vascular formation on his sciatic nerve) that required Davis to undergo back surgery in June.

A consensus pick as Chicago’s second-best prospect and a top-50 prospect in all of baseball, Davis has hit .255/.363/.444 over 906 professional PA since being selected in the second round of the 2018 draft.  Multiple injuries have slowed Davis’ progress, as beyond his back surgery, Davis has also had to recover from a concussion and broken nose (after being hit by a pitch during Spring Training), as well as finger injuries in 2019.

Despite all these setbacks, Davis was still moving up the minor league ladder and playing well, before his back problems led to a down year in 2022 and a probable promotion to the majors.  Sharma notes that the Cubs are still expected to place Davis on the 40-man roster this winter, since even with the back concerns, he would surely be taken in the Rule 5 Draft.

Miguel Amaya was placed on the 40-man back in November 2019, yet the catching prospect has barely played in the following three years.  Beyond the canceled 2020 minors season, Amaya was limited to 23 games in 2021 and then 40 games in 2022 due largely to a forearm strain that resulted in Tommy John surgery.  Once Amaya made it back this season, he was limited to DH duty, and then his path back to catching was halted when he suffered a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot in mid-September.

“My offseason focus is to be the best version of me for 2023, and whatever happens, happens,” Amaya told Mark Gonzales of The Chicago Sun-Times.  “I just want to be healthy to show everyone who Miguel Amaya is and just have fun and play the baseball I know.”

Amaya has been limited to shoulder and elbow exercises while his foot heals, and while he hasn’t much recent contact with Willson Contreras, Amaya also cited the veteran catcher as an important mentor during his development.  In theory, Amaya might’ve already established himself as Contreras’ replacement if healthy, as Contreras is headed into free agency this winter.  A top-100 prospect prior to his Tommy John surgery, Amaya might be a factor for the big league roster later in 2023, though he has only 51 games at the Double-A level and nothing in Triple-A.

Giants’ Farhan Zaidi On Gausman, Offseason, Belt, Injuries

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Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi discussed several topics with reporters (including the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea and NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic) earlier this week.  Some notable highlights…

  • Kevin Gausman returned to San Francisco after accepting the one-year, $18.9MM qualifying offer, though the two sides also had some negotiations about a multi-year contract.  However, Zaidi said those talks are “on the back burner right now” while the Giants explore other offseason business.  “We’ve obviously got other things that we’re looking to accomplish….I could see that being something we revisit, but I don’t think anything there is imminent,” Zaidi said.
  • In terms of what else the Giants are working on, pitching continues to be a focus.  According to Zaidi, “we’re in a better position to role the dice on additional pitching moves now that we have Gausman in the fold, bringing us veteran certainty to the front of our rotation.”  Position player additions aren’t as much of a priority given how well the Giants lineup performed in 2020, though in the wake of that success and the more hitter-friendly renovations made to Oracle Park, Zaidi said that free agent batters and their representatives have shown more interest in coming to San Francisco.
  • While Zaidi’s first two years running the Giants’ front office have been defined by his many acquisitions of rather unheralded or under-the-radar players, the team is looking to expand that scope this winter.  As Zaidi said with some humor, “it’s not a prerequisite to be injured or come off a down year for us to sign somebody….I wouldn’t limit our opportunities to just bounce-back guys.”
  • There isn’t any new information on Brandon Belt’s recovery from heel surgery, as Zaidi “it’s a little too early to tell right now” if Belt will be ready by the time Spring Training camp opens.  “Everything we’re hearing is positive, but I don’t think that we have a firm timetable or target date yet,” Zaidi said.  As Pavlovic noted, Belt’s heel problems caused him to miss most of Summer Camp but it didn’t hurt him during the season, as Belt hit an outstanding .309/.425/.591 over 179 plate appearances.
  • In other injury updates, Zaidi said star prospect Heliot Ramos (oblique) and outfielder Austin Slater (right flexor strain) are both expected to be healthy for the start of Spring Training.  Outfield prospect Alexander Canario, however, will miss the start of the minor league season as he recovers from recent shoulder surgery.

Giants Designate Chris Shaw, Aramis Garcia, Jordan Humphreys

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The Giants have designated first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw, catcher Aramis Garcia and right-hander Jordan Humphreys for assignment. They added outfielder Alexander Canario and righties Kervin Castro, Camilo Doval and Gregory Santos to their 40-man roster in corresponding moves.

Shaw was once a well-regarded prospect for the Giants, but the 27-year-old hasn’t gotten an extensive look in the majors yet. He’s the owner of a .153/.244/.222 line in 82 plate appearances as a Giant. Like Shaw, Garcia was seen as a promising farmhand in the past, but he stumbled to a .229/.270/.419  mark in 111 trips to the plate in San Francisco from 2018-19.

Humphreys was the return the Giants received from the Mets for outfielder Billy Hamilton last August. The deal could go down as a wash for both sides, as Hamilton is now a free agent after making little impact with the Mets and Humphreys hasn’t contributed to the Giants. The 24-year-old barely pitched at all from 2018-19 because of arm problems.

Giants’ Prospect Alexander Canario Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

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Giants prospect Alexander Canario dislocated his shoulder in the final week of the instructional league and underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum, per MLB.com’s Maria I. Guardado (via Twitter). The surgery was performed on his left shoulder by Dr. Ken Akizuki, notes Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). The timetable for his return is unspecified at this time.

Canario was fifth on Baseball America’s midseason assessment of the Giants’ prospects. Josh Norris of BA wrote:

One of the team’s many talented Latin American prospects, Canario made a big impression in 2019 by getting to short-season Salem-Keizer and producing a 1.000 OPS as a teenager. He was added to the Giants’ player pool as a teenager this season and has the offensive tools to profile in a corner outfield spot.”

Though Canario had the opportunity to train at their alternate site as part of the 60-man player pool, he’s likely a few years from the majors, especially after this injury. The right-handed outfielder spent 2019 split between the Arizona League and Low-A Salem-Keizer, where he was close to two years younger than the average player. His total line comprised of 265 plate appearances over 59 games. He slashed an impressive .318/.377/.623 with 16 home runs.

Canario is part of an excited young group of San Francisco prospects, with Joey Bart, Marco Luciano, Hunter Bishop, Patrick Bailey, Luis Matos, and Heliot Ramos, among others. With Bart reaching the Majors this season and Ramos a year or two ahead of Luciano and Canario, the Giants plan to be competing by the time Canario arrives in the bigs. At the very least, Canario has the chance to be part of a finishing wave of prospects that the Giants hope can turn them back into first-class contenders.

Giants Add Three To 60-Man Player Pool

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The Giants announced Wednesday that they’ve added lefty Caleb Baragar, outfielder Alexander Canario and right-hander Sam Wolff to their 60-man player pool. They still have one vacancy if they wish to make another addition. Of the bunch, Canario is the most highly regarded prospect, but his inclusion is surely just for developmental purposes, as he is just 20 years old and has yet to play above short-season Class-A.

Baragar, 26, was the Giants’ ninth-round pick in 2016. He’s pitched in three Triple-A games but spent the vast majority of the 2019 campaign in Double-A, where he pitched to a 3.45 ERA with 8.0 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and 0.9 HR/9 in 120 innings as a starter. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher, evidenced by a tiny 28.7 percent ground-ball rate in those 120 frames.

Wolff, 29, is a pure reliever who came over to the Giants organization in the 2017 trade that sent Matt Moore to the Rangers. Despite his age, he’s scarcely pitched in Triple-A (28 1/3 innings), but he posted strong numbers in Double-A last year when he compiled a 1.78 ERA and a 42-to-11 K/BB ratio in 35 1/3 innings of work.

Canario signed as a 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic in the 2016-17 international class, and the Giants look to have found something of a gem (relative to his meager $60K signing bonus, at least). He ripped through opposing pitchers in Rookie ball and Low-A, posting a combined .318/.377/.623 batting line with 16 home runs, 20 doubles and a pair of triples in just 265 trips to the plate.

Canario ranks in the club’s top 10 prospects at Baseball America (fifth), MLB.com (sixth) and FanGraphs (ninth) thanks to considerable raw power, average or better speed and a plus throwing arm. FanGraphs Eric Longenhagen notes that he needs a lot of work on his approach at the plate but has a “huge ceiling if the hit/approach component improves.”

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