I went to San Jose, Calif., to see the most prospect-laden team in the minor leagues this year, the Giants' Cal League affiliate, only to be more impressed by two players on visiting Modesto, which is in the Rockies' system.Modesto right-hander Bruce Billings shut down one of the minors' best lineups Saturday night by throwing mostly fastballs. San Jose's hitters -- including Buster Posey, Conor Gillaspie, Angel Villalona and the streaking Brandon Crawford -- could not pick the ball up out of his hand, and only Villalona hit anything very hard for the Giants' lone hit off Billings in seven innings. Billings' fastball was 90-93 mph and had just a little bit of sinking life, but San Jose's hitters couldn't square it up, and several of their hitters, including Crawford and Darren Ford, were flat-out late on it. Billings' arm action is not pretty -- it's long and kind of uncoordinated -- and he has no second pitch that would even grade out at 45, but the solid-average fastball and hitters' inability to square it up make him a prospect, at least as a reliever. He doesn't currently throw a changeup, but he gets on top of the ball, and I've seen plenty of pitchers who have their pitching hands up early behind their bodies and couldn't throw breaking balls still throw adequate changeups.• Modesto shortstop Hector Gomez homered twice, and both were rockets. Gomez missed all of 2008 with a pair of injuries, including Tommy John surgery, but his arm has clearly recovered and is at least a 60 at short. He has great bat speed, accelerating his wrists late and swinging hard every time; he's on his front foot early but keeps some of his weight back, and then swings with everything he's got. He's a plus runner and got down the line in four seconds flat on a bunt for a hit, but in his last at-bat showed little regard for whether or not each pitch was near the strike zone. He's an exciting talent and has the tools to be an impact player in the majors; he belongs in the Futures Game this year on the World Team.• Posey was 0-for-4 but did have some good at-bats. He's got about as good a setup and swing as you're going to find: hands in good position, short to the ball, good extension, keeps his weight back and transfers it with the swing with great hip rotation. I imagine he'll be in Class AA or even Triple-A by the second half of the season, putting him in line for an August or September callup.• I was asked in chat last week if I thought Crawford's hot start was for real, but ran out of time before I could answer. With what I saw Saturday, I'd say no; he has some bat speed, but his approach is rough; he was all over pitches in the zone, but Billings got him to expand even on 0-1, with Crawford chasing fastballs down, down and away, and up and away.• Villalona smoked a 90 mph fastball from Billings to left for a single, and later showed zero effort whatsoever on a hard ground ball two feet to his right. He's going to make someone in player development go gray prematurely.• Former first-round pick Craig Whitaker threw three-plus innings of effective relief for the Giants after starter Oliver Odle was knocked out. He tops out at 88 from a near-sidearm angle, but he was very tough on Modesto's right-handed hitters and actually threw strikes, something he had trouble doing before San Francisco dropped his arm slot. There's some hope for him as a specialist in the back of a major league bullpen.
