Just four games for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates on Wednesday, as the A-Ball teams all were in action but the Rookie Ball teams had the day off. Let’s dive into the action!

Link to the 2025 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

All listed positions in the roundup are the positions played in that particular game.

AAA Sacramento (45-44)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 13-6
Box score

An explosive performance by the River Cats, up and down the lineup. A whopping 5 different players had 3-hit days, as the team totaled 19 hits, and a stunning 11 extra-base knocks.

If you’re worried about San Francisco’s outfield, then Sacramento provided some hope that reinforcements might be ready. Even with reigning PCL Player of the Week Marco Luciano getting the day off, all 3 members of the outfield — with each being on the 40-man roster — shined.

Center fielder Grant McCray was clearly channeling the Giants. A day after Patrick Bailey’s magic, McCray hit 3-5 with a walk, a triple, and an inside-the-park home run. Seeing McCray (one of the fastest players in the organization) hit an inside-the-parker isn’t quite as wild as seeing Bailey (one of the slowest players in the organization) do so, nor were the stakes as high in the 6th inning of a Minor League game as they were in the bottom of the 9th in a Major League game. But still! Inside-the-parkers are always fun.

That said, this one was extra silly, and quite a Minor League inside-the-parker. So often inside-the-park dingers are like Bailey’s … they’re nearly hit over the wall, but then ricochet off of it funnily. But this one? Well, it was a bit more amateur and comical, as the Salt Lake left fielder simply never saw McCray’s fly ball, and planted himself about 50 feet in front of where it landed, acting as though it were a routine catch.

the Giants organization has itself ANOTHER INSIDE-THE-PARK HOMER

Grant McCray earns this one a lil differently ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/AMuX0RGBKV

— Sacramento River Cats (@RiverCats) July 10, 2025

Hey, they all look the same on the back of the baseball card!

Right fielder Daniel Johnson, who was recently optioned, has been finding his groove again, and hit 2-6 with both a home run and a double. Always good to see players hit well after being optioned (on that note, second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald went 2-5 with a walk).

Left fielder Wade Meckler (No. 13 CPL) had the quietest day of the bunch, but still showed off his contact skills by hitting 3-6, which raised his batting average to a clean and cool .300. It’s been a solid, if not outstanding year for Meckler, as he has a .774 OPS and a 115 wRC+, and, thankfully, seems fully healthy at long last (the Giants appear to have scrapped the second base experiment, though). But, even in his success, he’s offered a painful reminder to take PCL stats with a grain of salt. Last year, when Meckler made it back to AAA, he came into a burst of shocking power, bopping 8 home runs in 196 plate appearances … matching his career total in 714 prior plate appearances across all levels. That might have led some to believe that the all-contact, no-power hitter had suddenly figured out how to access his power, but this year has been a reminder that silliness abounds in the PCL. After those 8 homers in 196 plate appearances in AAA last year, Meckler has gone dingerless in 165 plate appearances at the level this year, as his isolated slugging has tumbled from .220 to .071, a more standard figure for his profile.

So, with that in mind, let’s talk about shortstop Osleivis Basabe. It was another masterful day for the recently-outrighted infielder, who hit 3-5 with a home run and a pair of doubles.

When the Giants acquired Basabe in the offseason, he was viewed as the all-glove, no-bat option, and the bat he did have was focused on contact, not power. But so far in July he’s 14-33 with … wait for it … a whopping 12 of his 14 hits going for extra bases (3 homers and 9 doubles). Just a casual .970 slugging percentage in July for a player who on Wednesday matched his career-high with his 7th home run of the season.

As with Meckler, that will likely come tumbling down soon. But let’s enjoy it while it lasts, though with Basabe outrighted, his hot streak is less likely to earn him a shot in the Majors.

Somehow, we’re still not done highlighting the great offensive days. Designated hitter Hunter Bishop (No. 34 CPL) may not have needed his glove on Wednesday, but he wanted to make sure that the outfield trio was actually a quartet, and so he hit 3-5 with 2 triples, a double, and a strikeout.

Bishop, the team’s 1st-round pick back in 2019, has really turned his season around. Look at his slash lines by month!

April: .241/.327/.437
May: .226/.271/.258
June: .302/.362/.528
July: .375/.444/.833

Excluding a game where he entered as a pinch-runner and didn’t have an at-bat, the lefty has a 9-game hit streak currently, and during that time is hitting 15-34 with 2 home runs, 3 triples, 4 doubles, and 4 walks, which has boosted his OPS to .771 and his wRC+ to 98. Could we see him make the Majors this year? And if not, will he re-sign with the Giants, as he’ll be eligible for Minor League free agency for the first time this offseason? It certainly helps his case that his hits aren’t empty calories, as he had a pair of hits at 109+ mph.

And finally, joining Basabe on the “just outrighted and now heating up” train, catcher Logan Porter hit 3-4 with a home run and a walk.

Well that was a whole lot of offense, wasn’t it? Thankfully we can mostly wrap up the River Cats here, as it was a mostly uneventful day on the mound. RHP Juan Mercedes got the start and once again got rocked, giving up 6 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings (the ball sure does fly in Salt Lake, as evidenced by the 2 homers Mercedes gave up and the 4 that the Giants hit). But Mercedes pitched better than the raw results. He threw a blissful 53 of 76 pitches for strikes, which led to a very impressive 5 strikeouts and 0 walks. That’s what the Giants are looking for from their pitchers!

LHP Matt Gage made his 3rd appearance for the River Cats since being signed recently, and he threw a perfect inning. So, too, did RHP Braxton Roxby, who was pitching for the 3rd time since getting promoted. He’s yet to allow a hit! And RHP Ryan Watson continued his strong season with a scoreless inning, walking 1 and striking out 2. He’s pitched well, and could be a bullpen option in the 2nd half of the season for the Giants.

AA Richmond (29-52)

Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Akron RubberDucks (Guardians) 2-1
Box score

It was all about the pitching in this one, and my goodness was it a delightful game on that front. The star was the starter, LHP Joe Whitman (No. 9 CPL), who had one of his best outings of the year. The 2023 comp-round southpaw pitched 6 strong innings with just 4 hits, 0 walks, and 1 run allowed, while striking out 6 batters.

He didn’t live in the strike zone quite as much as those numbers might suggest, as 48 of his 70 pitches went for strikes, but still: needing just 70 pitches to get through 6 innings, and having a 6-to-0 strikeout-to-walk ratio is a thing of beauty.

Whitman’s overall ERA this year remains poor, as it sits at 5.15. But his FIP has dropped to 3.71 and, just as importantly, he’s had a lot of games this year like this one, where he is excellent and shows off just how good he can potentially be. He needs to clean up the consistency, although, admittedly, the drop in electricity may be contributing there.

RHPs Evan Gates, Cameron Cotter, and Tyler Myrick all pitched scoreless, walkless innings, with each pitcher allowing 1 hit (Myrick also struck out a batter). Gates has quietly had an awesome year, with a 2.50 ERA, a 3.28 FIP, and 49 strikeouts against 10 walks in 39.2 innings.

A very poor offensive game. Center fielder Carter Howell had the best day, hitting 1-3 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout. It’s been a tough year for Howell, who has a .601 OPS and an 81 wRC+ a year after putting up really nice numbers at the same level. But he’s been hitting the ball better lately.

High-A Eugene (45-37)

Eugene Emeralds lost to Spokane (Rockies) 5-4
Box score

A day after taking a 5-0 lead into the 9th inning and surrendering 4 runs in the frame before holding on for victory, the Emeralds took a 4-3 lead into the 9th and couldn’t hang on, getting walked off.

How did it happen, you ask? Well, I’m so glad you did.

RHP Liam Simon entered to pitch the 9th. Simon, a 5th-round pick in 2022, has so much talent in his arm, but has been struck horribly by injuries … he’s at just 58.1 innings for his career, in his 4th season. He’s still trying to shake the rust off after missing the start of the season.

He walked the 1st batter he faced, and then the 2nd. He walked the 3rd batter he faced, to load the bases. He walked the 4th batter he faced, tying the game. And he walked the 5th batter he faced, ending the game.

Not sure I’ve ever seen a pitcher face 5 batters and walk all 5 of them, let alone to walk it off. According to the box score data, Simon threw just 3 of 23 pitches for strikes. Sometimes that’s how returns from injury go!

On the bright side, it kept Simon’s no-hit streak going: he’s yet to allow a hit in July, and hasn’t allowed a hit in 9 of his last 11 outings. This is a funny way to do that!

The starting pitching was much better, as RHP Shane Rademacher had a lovely — and long! — outing. The 2023 UDFA went 7 innings into this one, allowing 6 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs, while striking out 3. He did get bit a little by some hard contact though, as 4 of his 6 hits went for extra bases … including 2 home runs.

Rademacher continues to have a funny season, based on impeccable command. His ERA (2.83) and walks per 9 (1.5) are both elite, but his FIP (4.32) and strikeouts per 9 (6.8) are fairly poor. It’s probably safe to say that he’ll need to find a way to strike out more batters if he’s able to find success at higher levels, but excellent command is at least a good place to start!

There was a fantastic offensive day from an unlikely source: designated hitter Cole Foster. The switch-hitter, who was taken in the 3rd round in 2023, had an utterly dismal start to the season, and in mid-June was placed on the Development List to try and fix some things. He returned last week for a few games in the ACL, before re-joining Eugene on Wednesday.

And the first impression of the work he put in while away? Excellent! Foster, who had hit just 19-135 with 51 strikeouts when he went on the Development List, returned with a vengeance, hitting a perfect 2-2 with a solo home run, while also drawing a walk and getting hit by a pitch. Welcome back, Cole!

Low-A San Jose (55-28)

San Jose Giants beat the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies) 3-1
Box score

Center fielder Dakota Jordan (No. 8 CPL) just keeps on turning up the power that made him such an enticing prospect when the Giants stole him in the 4th round a year ago. Jordan only went 1-4 on the day, but he made the “1” count by smashing a home run for the 2nd consecutive day.

I’m just gonna steal a blurb I wrote in yesterday’s roundup and update the numbers:

In April and May, Jordan — who has arguably the most raw power in the system — played in 46 games and hit just 2 home runs, 2 triples, and 7 doubles. Since then, Jordan has appeared in 31 games and hit a whopping 7 home runs, 4 triples, and 8 doubles.

Here he comes, folks!

The powerful righty is up to an .842 OPS and a 130 wRC+ on the season, and his strikeout numbers keep plummeting. That was the real knock on him entering the season, and it’s hard to overstate how well he’s done in that category. After posting a 29.0% strikeout rate last year in college, Jordan is all the way down to 22.8% this year. Really remarkable stuff.

He wasn’t the only power hitter from the 2024 draft to hit a ball over the fence, though, as first baseman Robert Hipwell (No. 25 CPL) went 2-4 with a solo blast and a strikeout.

Hipwell has a 29.9% strikeout rate, which isn’t great, and his profile is pretty reliant on walks (he has a 16.3% walk rate and a .246 batting average), but thanks to those walks and a .246 isolated slugging, he has an .877 OPS and a 139 wRC+ on the year, and those are mighty fine numbers!

Shortstop Maui Ahuna (No. 23 CPL) bounced back following an atrocious game on Tuesday, and hit 1-3 with a double and a walk. Most importantly, he’s been playing the field almost every day, so he seems to finally be healthy.

RHP Niko Mazza made a really nice start, even though he threw just 47 of 76 pitches for strikes. The 2024 8th-rounder went 6 innings in this one, allowing just 4 hits (all singles), 2 walks, and 1 run, while striking out 4. It was the 6th time in his last 7 starts that Mazza had allowed 0 or 1 runs, and the 11th time in his 14 starts this season that he’s allowed 0 or 1 earned runs. His strikeout-to-walk ratio remains poor (58 to 29 in 61 innings), which has given him a 4.01 FIP, but he has a 2.36 ERA and that’s a very nice thing.

RHP Cole Hillier struck out 4 batters in 2 shutout innings of relief, though he gave up a hit and 2 walks. RHP Cade Vernon struck out 2 in a perfect inning. Hillier, a 2023 UDFA, has a 3.19 ERA and a 4.33 FIP while Vernon, last year’s 10th-round pick, has a 1.85 ERA but a 4.64 FIP.

Home run tracker

AAA Grant McCray (12)
AAA Daniel Johnson (8) [7 in AAA]
AAA Osleivis Basabe (7)
AAA Logan Porter (4)
High-A Cole Foster (4)
Low-A Dakota Jordan (9)
Low-A Robert Hipwell (9)

Thursday schedule

Sacramento: 6:05 p.m. PT at Salt Lake (SP: Mason Black)
Richmond: 3:35 p.m. PT at Akron (SP: John Michael Bertrand)
Eugene: 6:35 p.m. PT at Spokane (SP: Greg Farone)
San Jose: 6:50 p.m. PT at Fresno (SP: TBD)

Reminder that almost all MiLB games can be watched on MLB TV.