He spent the season with the Shreveport Captains of the Texas League. At the age of 21, he was the same age as many of the players in rookie leagues, but he went 10-9 with an ERA of 3.30 and 130 strikeouts in 158 innings in the Class AA Texas League. This earned him a promotion to the Class AAA Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League in . Although he again went 10-9 at Fresno, his ERA in 27 games was 5.07; nevertheless, he was still called up to the MLB and made two relief appearances for the Giants in 2001.