It wasn’t a full slate of games for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates yesterday, as AA Richmond had their game postponed halfway through. It will be finished today, which means you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about how great LHP Joe Whitman was.

Let’s jump into the other games!

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

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

News

The Giants signed catcher Andrew Knizner, who was assigned to AAA Sacramento. More on him in a moment.

AAA Sacramento (23-24)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Oklahoma City Comets (Dodgers) 8-1
Box score

So, let’s talk about catcher Andrew Knizner, a player who I very much thought had a stint in the organization over the last few years but, it turns out, did not (I think I’m conflating my “Andrew Kn____s” after last year’s rendezvous with Andrew Knapp).

Knizner, who has played in nearly 300 MLB games over six years, began the year with the Nationals AAA affiliate, and hit the absolute snot out of the baseball. But he had an opt out date that triggered, and he chose to exercise it and … went to the Giants.

That doesn’t have to mean anything. But it would seem to suggest that Knizner views his chances of making it back to the Majors as stronger in the Giants organization, which could be based on something they told him.

Then again, maybe they just offered him a better deal. And from the Giants perspective, some additional depth is helpful even if they’re not considering moving on from Sam Huff. Veteran Max Stassi went on the IL in late April, returned last week and played on May 18, and hasn’t played since.

Either way, Knizner debuted for the River Cats on Wednesday and made quite an impression, hitting 3-5 with a pair of doubles, the only extra-base hits of the day for Sacramento. That’s a nice way to endear yourself to your teammates and fanbase!

Despite the 8 runs, it was a fairly quiet offensive day save for Knizner’s contributions. Left fielder Marco Luciano had a funny day, hitting 0-2 with a strikeout but drawing 4 walks. He drew walks in each of the 1st 3 innings, falling behind 1-2, 0-2, and 0-2. Funny way to make a living!

Luciano’s bat has cooled down a bit lately, but he’s still drawing walks at an outrageous rate. (16.6%). That said, he’s down to just a .743 OPS and a 104 wRC+.

A very nice day on the mound for RHP Carson Seymour (No. 21 CPL), whose strong season continues. He went 6 innings in this one, and gave up less than a runner per inning, with 2 hits, 3 walks, and just 1 run, all while striking out 7 batters. After a brilliant start to the year, Seymour hit a little bump in the round, but has responded with back-to-back quality outings. The 3.59 ERA and 4.16 FIP paint the picture of a very successful season for Seymour, though the Giants will want to see him cut back on free passes before he sees the Majors. After walking just 3 batters in 13 innings in his 1st 3 starts of the year, Seymour has walked 20 batters in 34.2 innings since.

The bullpen was dominant, as LHP Joey Lucchesi and RHPs Joel Peguero and Justin Garza each pitched a scoreless inning with 2 strikeouts. A single given up by Garza was the only baserunner the bullpen allowed. None of those 3 has very good numbers right now, but Garza’s 18 strikeouts to just 4 walks in 14.1 innings is worth noting.

High-A Eugene (21-20)

Eugene Emeralds beat the Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays) 8-4
Box score

The Emeralds are officially cooking, as they’ve now won 5 straight games and have a winning record. Way to go, dudes!

It was the long ball that led the way for Eugene, with a trio of hitters smashing baseballs over the wall. It was right fielder James Tibbs III (No. 3 CPL) who had the most encouraging day, hitting 2-4 and bopping a solo home run.

Tibbs hit quite a cold patch for a while, spanning parts of April and May, but the 2024 1st-round pick has been heating up again lately. In his last 6 games, the lefty has gone 9-24 with 2 home runs and 3 doubles, albeit with just 1 walk against 6 strikeouts. The numbers are more good than great for Tibbs, who has a .759 OPS and a 113 wRC+, and the .229 batting average is a little bit concerning. But his contact skills have been much better than that average suggests: among the 46 Northwest League batters with at least 100 plate appearances this year, Tibbs’ strikeout rate of 15.6% is the 3rd-lowest mark (and his 16.3% walk rate is 8th-highest). The batting average is, in large part, brought down by a .245 BABIP, which is 4th-lowest among those 46 hitters.

Another big name prospect homered, as a solo shot to lead off the 1st inning was the lone hit of the day for designated hitter Bo Davidson (No. 11 CPL), who went 1-5 with 2 strikeouts.

First pitch SHOT! Bo Davidson starts off Allan’s last game as GM with a BANG!

Davidson continues to show crazy pop, going opposite field at 109 MPH!#Ems70 pic.twitter.com/W2aE27EXHd

— Eugene Emeralds (@EugeneEmeralds) May 22, 2025

Davidson has simply refused to slow down this year, after his breakout 2024. The undrafted 22-year old left-handed hitter is doing whatever he wants in Eugene. Among those aforementioned 46 hitters in the league, Davidson is 1st in batting average (.323), 10th in on-base percentage (.388), 2nd in slugging (.564), 3rd in isolated slugging (.241), 19th in strikeout rate (21.1%), 2nd in OPS (.952), and 3rd in wRC+ (157). A damn fine year.

Also getting in on the fun was first baseman Jack Payton, who had the best day of any hitter, going 2-4 with his 1st home run of the year, a double, and 4 runs batted in. After making Low-A look easy last year, Payton struggled following a late promotion to Eugene, and that struggle has carried over to this year, where he has a .646 OPS and an 84 wRC+. Hopefully Wednesday is the start of things turning around for him.

Welcome to the Jack Payton show! His first HR of the season gives the Ems at 5-2 lead.

In his first two ABs tonight, Payton now has a 2B, a HR, and 4 RBI. Already a career night!#Ems70 pic.twitter.com/XqPcI1G5cN

— Eugene Emeralds (@EugeneEmeralds) May 22, 2025

Speaking of struggles, RHP Josh Bostick (No. 27 CPL) had another tough game, giving up 9 baserunners and 4 runs in 5 innings of work, with 5 strikeouts. If you want to find some encouragement in that start, Bostick had given up just 7 baserunners and 2 runs through 5 innings, a respectable line, but came out for the 6th and promptly allowed a walk and a home run, which ended his night. It can all turn around in a hurry, and hopefully it can turn back in a hurry, because it’s been a difficult season for him.

Excellent bullpen performances from RHPs Ryan Vanderhei, Elijah Pleasants, and Dylan Hecht. That was much needed for Vanderhei and Pleasants, who have been having difficult seasons. For Hecht, it was just the 6th appearance in the 31-year old’s career. He’s been struggling with walks (he has 7 in 6.1 innings) but has done a good job limiting hits and runs.

Low-A San Jose (22-19)

San Jose Giants beat the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies) 4-3
Box score

Not a super interesting game for the Baby Giants, but a win is a win. The star was the piggybacking starter, LHP Charlie McDaniel. McDaniel has been having a solid debut season after going undrafted a year ago, and Wednesday was perhaps his best work yet. He tossed 5 scoreless innings in which he gave up just 1 hit (a single), while striking out 6 and walking 2. After getting his feet wet in April, McDaniel is figuring things out in May, in a big way. Just look at his splits:

April: 4 appearances, 15.1 innings, 17 hits, 5 walks, 11 runs, 6 earned runs, 12 strikeouts
May: 3 appearances, 13.1 innings, 9 hits, 3 walks, 0 runs, 13 strikeouts

Love to see it! McDaniel’s big day came after a not-great start by RHP Niko Mazza who, fresh off winning California League Pitcher of the Week, gave up 5 hits (including 3 doubles) and 3 runs in 4 innings, with 2 hit batters and 3 strikeouts.

On offense there were nice games for left fielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 18 CPL) and catcher Fernando Gonzalez. Diaz, who is still just 19 years old, hit 2-5 with a double and 2 strikeouts, and now has a .661 OPS and an 80 wRC+ on the year. Gonzalez, a 23-year old who was taken in the 13th round last year, went 2-4 with a double, boosting his OPS to .693 and his wRC+ to 101 in his debut season.

Shortstop Walker Martin (No. 14 CPL), who has been hotter than hot lately, had a rough game, hitting 0-3 with a walk, 2 strikeouts, and 2 errors. He already has 10 errors on the year, and hasn’t done too much to beat the “not a future shortstop” allegations.

Arizona Complex League (8-6)

ACL Giants beat the ACL Cubs 4-0
Box score

An absolutely sensational pitching performance for the ACL Giants. It began with the starter, RHP Alexander Fuentes (20 years, 2023 IFA). Fuentes is off to a much better start in his stateside debut than in his professional debut in the DSL last year, and he was excellent on Wednesday, giving up 5 hits in 4 shutout innings, with 0 walks and 4 strikeouts. That will play 8 days a week!

Through 3 outings, Fuentes has yet to give up a run this year, and has 13 strikeouts against 5 walks in 11.1 innings. A great beginning to the year.

But, while good, he was quickly one-upped by his teammate. When Fuentes departed he was replaced by RHP Jose Bello (No. 44 CPL, 19 years, 2023 IFA). Bello entered with 2 runners on and no outs, and proceeded to walk the 1st batter he faced.

And then? Strikeout, strikeout, strikeout to get out of the inning unscathed.

The next inning? Strikeout, groundout, strikeout.

The next inning? Strikeout, groundout.

Bello was lifted after those 2 outs, ending a dominant performance.

We knew the Giants were high on Bello when they brought him over from the DSL at the end of last season — that’s not a promotion they make with regularity. And so far this year he’s showing why they were so excited about him. Through 4 appearances and 9 innings, Bello has allowed just 5 hits, 1 walk, and 0 runs … while striking out 14 batters. Amazing.

And finishing it off was High-A Eugene LHP Dylan Carmouche, who is on a rehab assignment. Carmouche, a 15th-round pick in 2023 who has yet to play for Eugene this year, but showed on Wednesday why he’s only in the ACL for rehab, as he retired all 7 batters he faced, 5 by way of strikeout. It was his 5th rehab appearance, so hopefully he’s back in A-Ball soon.

The offense was less interesting, but full of rehabbing players. AAA center fielder Wade Meckler (No. 13 CPL) hit 1-3 with a strikeout, High-A designated hitter Maui Ahuna (No. 23 CPL) went 0-2, and AA left fielder Turner Hill hit 1-3 with a double and a strikeout. Right fielder Rayner Arias (No. 4 CPL, 19 years, 2023 IFA) had a nice game, hitting 1-3 with a double and a stolen base. It hasn’t been a very fast start to the year for Arias, as he has a .700 OPS and a 94 wRC+, but hopefully more nice days are on the horizon.

Home run tracker

High-A Bo Davidson (6)
High-A James Tibbs III (5)
High-A Jack Payton (1)

Thursday schedule

Sacramento: at Oklahoma City, 5:05 p.m. PT (SP: Mason Black)
Richmond: Resumption doubleheader at Binghamton, 1:30 p.m. PT (G2 SP: John Michael Bertrand)
Eugene: vs. Vancouver, 6:35 p.m. PT (SP: Cesar Perdomo)
San Jose: at Fresno, 6:50 p.m. PT (SP: Drake George)