The Dominican Summer League is still a few weeks away from starting, but the other five levels are all in action, and all five of the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates were playing on Tuesday.

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 (19-21)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 5-3
Box score

The story in Sacramento was supposed to be about Tyler Fitzgerald and Casey Schmitt, but LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 2 CPL) had other plans. Whisenhunt made sure he was the story by putting forth one of the top performances by a Giant prospect this season, throwing 7 shutout innings with just 3 hits allowed (all singles), no walks, and a delicious 9 strikeouts.

That, my friends, is what we call thorough dominance.

Interestingly, Whisenhunt didn’t live in the strike zone as much as you would expect for someone with a 9-to-0 strikeout-to-walk ratio, with a modest 67 of his 94 pitches being strikes. But he clearly knew what he was doing, and controlled the Bees lineup all night.

A year after posting 141 strikeouts against 56 walks, Whisenhunt has K’d 47 batters in 44 innings … and walked just 6. In has last 3 games, he has 23 strikeouts and just 1 walk in 21 innings.

There have been 21 pitchers in the Pacific Coast League this season who have thrown at least 30 innings, and Whisenhunt ranks 3rd in ERA (3.48), 2nd in FIP (3.89), 1st in xFIP (3.50), 6th in strikeouts per 9 innings (9.6), and 1st in walks per 9 innings (1.2). It’s been nothing short of a brilliant season for him, and if the Giants didn’t already have Hayden Birdsong and Kyle Harrison twiddling their thumbs waiting for an opportunity to start, Whisenhunt would probably be knocking on the door of the MLB team. As it is, he’ll probably have to hang around in Sacramento for quite a while longer. But my goodness, what a show he’s putting on.

Unfortunately, it was another tough outing for RHP Tristan Beck, who gave up a double, 3 walks, and 3 runs without recording an out. After an exceptional start to the year, Beck has now ceded 10 baserunners and 5 runs in his last 3 outings.

Now, back to Fitzgerald and Schmitt. They had identical days in their rehab debuts, playing second and first base, respectively, with each hitting 1-3 with a strikeout before getting replaced in the game. Jerar Encarnación, who began his rehab over the weekend, did not play.

Recently-signed right fielder Daniel Johnson had the best offensive day, as he hit 1-3 with a 2-run home run, a walk, and a strikeout. He has a Schwarber-esque batting line through 9 games with the River Cats: .194/.237/.500.

Another nice game for center fielder Grant McCray, who hit 2-4 with a strikeout and his 8th stolen base of the season. He’s had a few good games lately, so hopefully he’s starting to turn his season around.

AA Richmond (10-24)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Erie SeaWolves (Tigers) 3-1
Box score

My goodness are the Flying Squirrels in a serious funk right now. After winning their 1st 3 games of the month, Richmond has 2-6 since … and in the last 7 games, they’ve been outscored 45-9. My goodness.

As you might expect, it was a pretty uneventful game. LHP Jack Choate (No. 29 CPL) was solid in the start, tossing 5 innings and giving up 4 hits, 1 walk, and 2 runs, while striking out 7. Choate has really bumped up his strikeouts this year, to 12.6 per 9 innings, and it’s led to a delightful 3.07 ERA and a 3.65 FIP. It’s been a very nice year for him.

The best offensive day belonged to second baseman Diego Velasquez (No. 16 CPL), who hit 2-4 with a double. Velasquez had been a little quiet lately, but the young switch-hitter is still sitting on a .731 OPS and a 119 wRC+. Definitely a successful season for him.

High-A Eugene (18-16)

Eugene Emeralds lost to Spokane (Rockies) 3-1
Box score

Also a fairly uninteresting game for the Emeralds. Their offense did next to nothing, with 5 hits, no extra-base hits, and 14 strikeouts. Second baseman Quinn McDaniel and third baseman Cole Foster were the only Emeralds to reach base multiple times: McDaniel hit 2-4 with a strikeout and now has a .763 OPS and a 112 wRC+, while Foster with 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout, and has a .428 OPS and a 26 wRC+ on the year. Hopefully better days area ahead for him.

On the mound, RHP Shane Rademacher had a mediocre game, which is absolutely awful relative to how he has been pitching. Rademacher made it through 5.2 innings and gave up 8 baserunners and 3 runs, while striking out 4. Here’s hoping Rademacher can find the form he recently had, because his ERA (2.02) and FIP (3.60) are normalizing quickly. Check out the splits:

First 5 games: 24 innings, 11 hits, 1 walk, 1 run, 23 strikeouts
Next 2 games: 11.2 innings, 14 hits, 3 walks, 7 runs, 8 strikeouts

The bullpen was elite, though, as RHPs Brayan Palencia and Ian Villers combined for 3.1 perfect innings. Palencia, who pitched 2.1 innings, has a 5.59 ERA and a 4.38 FIP, while Villers, who handled the 9th, has a 2.50 ERA and a 3.33 FIP.

Low-A San Jose (19-15)

San Jose Giants beat the Stockton Ports (A’s) 10-2
Box score

Finally, a good game! It was a well-rounded offensive performance for the Baby Giants, with all 9 players in the lineup recording a hit, and 8 of those 9 players reaching base multiple times.

But there were a trio of stars who stood out in particular: right fielder Carlos Gutierrez, first baseman Jakob Christian (No. 30 CPL), and shortstop Walker Martin (No. 14 CPL). Each of those 3 had absolute superstar days.

Gutierrez, who led off, continued his surprisingly awesome season, hitting 4-6 with a home run and a stolen base. It’s been such an awesome season for the 20-year old lefty, who was limited by injuries to 3 games last year. Gutierrez will likely never be a power hitter — this was his 1st homer of the year, and just his 2nd in 239 career plate appearances — but the small-ball part of his game is shining. With his great day, he now has a .345 batting average and just a 14.7% strikeout rate, and has stolen 13 bases in 14 attempts, all while playing quality outfield defense. What a fun player!

Christian, last year’s 5th-round pick, continued to be one of the team’s best hitters, as he went 3-6 with a 3-run home run and 2 strikeouts. Christian, a right-handed hitter, has impressively been both a contact and power hitter: among the 51 Cal League hitters with at least 100 plate appearances this year, Christian is 10th in batting average (.302) and 3rd in isolated slugging percentage (.233). With an .895 OPS and a 134 wRC+, Christian has looked incredibly comfortable in San Jose, as he did last year in a short stint.

Play of the game: In the top of the eighth, Jakob Christian blasted a three-run homer to left, putting the game out of reach. With another multi-RBI performance, Christian is now leading the entire California League with 32 RBI. pic.twitter.com/gx6bHKRZBd

— San Jose Giants (@SJGiants) May 13, 2025

As for Martin? Well, the 2023 2nd-round pick just might be the hottest hitter in the system right now. He went 2-4 on Tuesday, with a solo home run, a double, 3 runs batted in, and a strikeout.

Martin’s overall numbers are still mediocre — he has a .744 OPS and a 93 wRC+ — but he’s been on fire lately. In his last 4 games, the 21-year old lefty is 6-16 with 4 home runs, 1 triple, 1 double, 4 walks, and 12 RBI. My goodness! That’ll turn a season around in a hurry! He’s shown dramatic improvements in strikeout rate and isolated slugging this year. If he can get his batting average up (it’s .214), then he could start to have himself a mighty fine season.

An excellent start for RHP Hunter Dryden, who gave up just 1 hit in 5 scoreless innings, though he had 3 walks and just 3 strikeouts. Dryden has been the model of consistency since making his debut at the start of the season: he’s given up 0 runs in 3 of his 6 starts, and has yet to allow more than 2 earned runs in a game. That’s led to a 1.37 ERA, though the averageish strikeout and walk numbers give him a 3.40 FIP.

Dryden was taken in the 17th round last year, and 2 rounds earlier, the Giants selected RHP Evan Gray. Gray closed out Tuesday’s game with 2 shutout innings in which he gave up just hits and struck out 4 batters. Gray now has 19 strikeouts to 5 walks in 16.2 innings, and hasn’t walked a batter this month, lowering his ERA to 2.16 and his FIP to 3.36. It’s been a lot of fun seeing the late 2024 draft class shine on the mound in San Jose this year.

Arizona Complex League (4-4)

ACL Giants beat the ACL Guardians 6-1
Box score

A really fun game for third baseman Dario Reynoso (20 years, 2023 IFA), who led the way by hitting 2-3 with a walk and a strikeout. The fun part? Both of his hits were triples! You don’t see that every day. It’s extremely early days in Arizona, but Reynoso has more than doubled his batting average (.421) and wRC+ (220), and more than tripled his isolated slugging (.368) over his ACL. That’s called starting a season strong!

Left fielder Oliver Tejada (No. 39 CPL, 18 years, 2024 IFA) also had a nice game, hitting 2-4 with a double, though he also struck out twice. He’s still trying to find his footing in the ACL, so nice to see him have a good game.

A pair of players were rehabbing, with center fielder Jose Ortiz (No. 22 CPL) and designated hitter Maui Ahuna (No. 23 CPL) both going hitless with a strikeout. They should be back in San Jose and Eugene, respectively, soon.

LHP Ricardo Estrada (22 years, 2021 IFA) lacked control but still put up decent numbers. Estrada only threw 40 of 68 pitches for strikes, and walked 3 with a hit batter in 4 innings, but also gave up just 2 hits and 1 run, while striking out 4. After spending 4 seasons in the DSL, it’s go time for Estrada.

LHP Jose Rengel (19 years, 2023 IFA) pitched 3 shutout innings, with 2 hits and 2 strikeouts. A very nice bounce-back performance after a brutal season debut.

Home run tracker

AAA Daniel Johnson (2)
Low-A Jakob Christian (5)
Low-A Walker Martin (5)
Low-A Carlos Gutierrez (1)

Wednesday schedule

Sacramento: vs. Salt Lake, 6:45 p.m. PT (SP: Trevor McDonald)
Richmond: vs. Erie, 3:35 p.m. PT (SP: Seth Lonsway)
Eugene: vs. Spokane, 6:35 p.m. PT (SP: Josh Wolf)
San Jose: at Stockton, 7:05 p.m. PT (SP: Niko Mazza)