Note: Today is nomination day! Head to the comment section to nominate the next group of prospects for the CPL.

It’s time for one more chapter in the 2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List, before we take a short holiday hiatus. But this chapter is an important one: it will feature us selecting the player who takes us to the halfway mark in our quest to rank the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization!

The latest election was our closest one yet. There were 64 votes tallied and a winner emerged by a single vote: right-handed pitcher Gerelmi Maldonado, who has been voted as the No. 21 prospect in the organization. It’s a rise of 15 spots for Maldonado, who climbs from his spot at No. 36 a year ago.

2025 wasn’t a great statistical year for the Venezuelan, who celebrated his 22nd birthday yesterday, but it was an encouraging year. He spent the entire season with Low-A San Jose, where he amassed a 3.97 ERA and a 4.65 FIP, with a strong strikeout rate (10.53 per nine innings) but a very bloated walk rate (6.71 per nine).

Those numbers don’t paint the greatest picture, but they come with a lot of context: 2025 was Maldonado’s return to action after missing the entire 2024 season following Tommy John surgery. There’s always a question as to how a pitcher will perform after Tommy John, and for Maldonado the answer seems to be this: similarly to before the surgery. Comparing his 2025 performance to 2023, when he was at the same level, Maldonado dropped his FIP modestly and his ERA dramatically, while only seeing a slight drop in strikeouts (his walk rate, always a weakness, grew a bit, as one expects following elbow surgery). Interestingly, the powerful righty saw a leap in his groundball rate, from 47.1% in 2023 (then a career high) to a staggering 57.4% this season.

Most importantly, however, is that Maldonado’s electricity remained. In a system that is lacking in loud pitcher tools, Maldonado looks the part of a modern arm, with a fastball that regularly tickles triple digits. Even post-Tommy John, he brings velocity that the Giants are sorely lacking in, up and down the organization.

The Giants continued developing Maldonado as a starter this year, as 20 of his 23 appearances came at the beginning of games. Not surprisingly, though, he shouldered more of a reliever’s workload so as not to aggravate his elbow … those 23 appearances resulted in just 59 innings, and he maxed out at 3.2 innings.

That would seem to set up Maldonado to get a more honest starer’s experience in 2026 with High-A Eugene. Although, given his Rule 5 eligibility and his issue with walks, it might be a short leash for Maldonado before the Giants shift their focus to using him as a power reliever. Either way, 2026 figures to be a critical season for the electric fastball/slider hurler.

Now let’s add to the list! As a reminder, voting is now held in the comments and it’s nomination day. So head to the comment section for instructions on how to do both of those things!

Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.

Josh Bostick — 24.1-year old RHP — 3.71 ERA/4.59 FIP in High-A (119 IP)

Trent Harris — 26.10-year old RHP — 5.44 ERA/4.69 FIP in AAA (41.1 IP); 1.69 ERA/1.73 FIP in AA (16 IP)

Lorenzo Meola — 21.11-year old SS/2B — .784 OPS/109 wRC+ in Low-A (70 PA)

Joe Whitman — 24.2-year old LHP — 5.29 ERA/3.61 FIP in AA (117.1 IP)

Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page. All stats are from the 2025 season.