Well, there’s a whole lot of San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball to get to! I wasn’t able to get up a Saturday morning roundup, so we have not just the Saturday and Sunday games to get to, but the Friday ones as well. And on top of that, the Arizona Complex League kicked off its season on Saturday, so a fifth team has entered the villa!

We better get to cracking!

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

AA Richmond LHP Joe Whitman (No. 9 CPL) was named Pitcher of the Week in the Eastern League. You’ll learn why when you get to those games in the roundup! And High-A Eugene RHP Shane Rademacher was named the Pitcher of the Month in the Northwest League after putting up truly staggering numbers all through April.

AAA Sacramento (16-17)

Friday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Reno Aces (D-Backs) 3-2 [box score]
Saturday: Sacramento River Cats lost to the Reno Aces 5-1 [box score]
Sunday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Reno Aces 3-2 (10 innings) [box score]

The big news of the weekend was that one of Sacramento’s former top prospects got called up on Sunday, with LHP Kyle Harrison cashing in on his excellent start to the season and heading back to San Francisco (or Chicago, as the case may be). The River Cats’ other former top prospect is still waiting for that opportunity, but he keeps making a case, as left fielder/designated hitter Marco Luciano has pretty comfortably become Sacramento’s best hitter.

It wasn’t the most electric weekend for Luciano, but he was the team’s best offensive performer, hitting 1-8 with a home run, 3 walks, and a stolen base, though he also had 3 strikeouts and committed his 4th error of the year, a high number for an outfielder.

Luciano keeps hitting the ball hard, and he has a .776 OPS and a 112 wRC+ on the year, despite a BABIP that’s still comfortably below league average. There’s still just no way to get him on the Major League roster, especially after Luis Matos had a fantastic weekend that surely buys him some time. But Luciano is looking like he’ll be ready whenever his name is called.

There really weren’t other notable offensive weekends. Shortstop Sergio Alcántara played well, hitting 2-8 with a double, 2 walks, a hit by pitch, and 3 strikeouts, though he also had an error. Recently signed outfielder Daniel Johnson played his 1st 3 games with the organization, covering all 3 outfield positions, but he hit just 1-12 with a triple, 5 strikeouts, and an error. Center fielder Grant McCray had a very tough go of it, hitting just 1-12 with 5 strikeouts, lowering his OPS to .616 and his wRC+ to 68.

Some nice pitching performances, especially from Sunday’s starter, RHP Mason Black (No. 7 CPL). Black went 7 strong innings and needed just 84 pitches to do so, giving up only 3 hits, 0 walks, 1 hit batter, 2 runs, and 1 earned run, while striking out 7. His only earned run came on a home run he allowed in the 7th inning — and it was his 1st time pitching in the 7th inning this year (or the 6th inning, for that matter).

It’s very hard to know what Black’s path back to the Major League roster is. But with Harrison now back in San Francisco, and a few other players scuffling, you can certainly make the case that Black is Sacramento’s starter who is pitching the best right now. His overall numbers are good, not great — he has a 4.13 ERA and a 4.36 FIP — and he got rocked his last time out, but he’s pitching solidly.

RHP Trevor McDonald (No. 15 CPL) also had a good start, with his coming on Friday, when he pitched 6 innings and allowed 6 hits, 0 walks, and 2 runs, with 3 strikeouts. Like Black, it was McDonald’s longest outing of the year. And while he’s at times felt like the forgotten man in Sacramento’s talent-stacked stable of arms, he’s quietly sitting on a 3.49 ERA, albeit with a 4.96 FIP, and a divine 58.1% groundball rate.

Unfortunately the struggles continued for RHP Carson Seymour (No. 21 CPL) on Saturday, when he gave up 4 hits, 4 walks, and 5 runs in just 4 innings of work, though he did strike out 7 batters. After a brilliant start to the year, Seymour has been struggling a bit with control and hard contact. In his last 3 games, he’s pitched 14 innings and allowed 15 hits, 10 walks, and 9 runs. All that said, he has just a 3.09 ERA, a 3.79 FIP, and a 57.1% groundball rate, so it’s still been a very successful 2nd pass through AAA for the powerful righty.

A fantastic weekend for the bullpen, as 7 arms combined to throw 11 shutout innings. As has been the case most of the year, it was more excellence from RHPs Tristan Beck and Sean Hjelle, a pair of players I thought would be candidates to replace Lou Trivino before Harrison got that nod. Beck pitched 2 perfect innings on Friday with 4 strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 1.89 and his FIP to 2.56, while Hjelle threw 13 of 16 pitches for strikes on Sunday, giving up just 1 hit in 2 scoreless innings with a strikeout. The super tall right-hander now has a 0.93 ERA and a 2.48 FIP.

AA Richmond (8-19)

Friday: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Somerset Patriots (Yankees) 8-7 (10 innings) [box score]
Saturday: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Somerset Patriots 4-1 [box score]
Sunday: Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Somerset Patriots 5-4 [box score]

Richmond’s weekend was defined by 2 things: a whole lot of dingers, and a dose of perfection.

The perfection came from LHP Joe Whitman (No. 9 CPL) who had the best start on the farm this year. The 2023 compensation-round pick got the start on Saturday and faced 18 batters. He retired all 18 of them, with 10 coming by way of strikes. It’s really hard to top double-digit strikeouts without allowing a single baserunner!

It’s been a bit of a disappointing season for Whitman, but sometimes you just need 1 outing to remind other people — or maybe yourself — of what you’re capable of. And while his ERA still sits at an unsightly 5.13, his FIP is all the way down to 3.18. And among the 37 Eastern League pitchers with at least 20 innings thrown this year, Whitman’s 12.39 strikeouts per 9 innings ranks 7th, while his 2.66 walks per 9 innings is 16th. Here’s hoping Saturday’s dominance is the start of Whitman going on a run.

The rest of the pitching was pretty poor over the weekend, though LHP John Michael Bertrand had a 0-earned run start, though it wasn’t his sharpest, as he gave up 9 baserunners and an unearned run in just 4.2 innings, with only 3 strikeouts. So let’s move on to the dingers, because there were a whole lot of them.

Right fielder/center fielder Carter Howell had himself a weekend, hitting 6-13 with 2 home runs, a double, and a walk, though he also had 4 strikeouts and was caught stealing.

If Carter Howell was in Star Wars he’d have a green lightsaber. We don’t make the rules.

Three homers in five games‼️ pic.twitter.com/q2NMck2caA

— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) May 4, 2025

The undrafted right-handed hitter had a slow start to the year after arriving on people’s radars in 2024, but he’s been on fire lately. He has a 6-game hitting streak going, and during that time is 11-26 with 3 home runs, 2 doubles, and 3 walks, which has boosted his OPS to .720 and his wRC+ to 115, numbers that are right in line with his strong AA debut last year. Gotta think he’s next in line should Sacramento need an outfielder.

He wasn’t the only player with multiple homers over the weekend, though, as designated hitter/second baseman/first baseman Devin Mann, quite new to the system, hit 4-12 with 2 home runs, a walk, and 3 strikeouts. He’s been fantastic through 5 games with the Squirrels, though he is a 28-year old with tons of AAA experience, so that context is important.

Left fielder Jairo Pomares (No. 41 CPL), who has been having an awesome bounce-back season, had a hot-and-cold weekend. On Friday he hit 3-5 with a home run, a double, and a stolen base, but on Saturday and Sunday went a combined 0-8 with 5 strikeouts. It’s been an encouraging year for the 24-year old lefty, who has a .759 OPS and a 117 wRC+.

Catcher Zach Morgan and third baseman Justin Wishkoski also homered, and it was the 1st dinger of the year for each batter.

Top prospect update: first baseman/designated hitter Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL) hit 5-13 with a double, a walk, and 4 strikeouts. He has an .869 OPS and a 153 wRC+ through 10 games this year, though he also has a 34.9% strikeout rate.

High-A Eugene (14-13)

Friday: Eugene Emeralds lost to the Everett AquaSox (Mariners) 7-3 [box score]
Saturday: Eugene Emeralds lost to the Everett AquaSox 10-2 [box score]
Sunday: Eugene Emeralds lost to the Everett AquaSox 10-8 [box score]

A trio of losses through the weekend for the Ems. Whoops!

The pitching was what did in the Emeralds and, my goodness, it was grim. It’s not so much that the pitching was awful for Eugene (though it was), so much as that it was consistently bad. They gave up 34 hits, 11 walks, 27 runs, and 26 earned runs in 27 innings of work. 14 different pitchers took the mound for the Ems and only 3 of them had scoreless outings: RHP Sadrac Franco, who struck out a batter in a perfect inning on Friday; RHP Austin Strickland, who struck out a batter in a perfect inning on Saturday; and RHP Nicholas Herold, who struck out the only 2 batters he faced on Sunday. It’s hard to be more dominant than Herold, who has split time between Eugene and Low-A San Jose this year: he’s pitched 6.2 innings and allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk, with 15 strikeouts. My goodness!

But most notable on the pitching front was that RHP Josh Bostick (No. 27 CPL) made an appearance on Sunday out of the bullpen. The 2023 8th-round pick started the 6th inning and gave up 2 hits, 3 walks, and 2 runs in 2 innings, while striking out 3. Bostick hadn’t pitched in a few weeks, and is still listed on the IL on Eugene’s website, so I’m guessing this was just easing him back into action.

The offense was much better. Center fielder Bo Davidson (No. 11 CPL) continues to make light work of High-A: after sitting on Friday, he went 4-9 with a home run and a strikeout over the rest of the weekend. It’s a relatively small sample size for Davidson, who missed a few weeks in April with an injury, but it’s a thoroughly dominant one, as he has a 1.002 OPS and a 171 wRC+ through 18 games. He’s been especially dominant if you make the small sample size smaller: over his last 11 games, the lefty is 21-49 with 2 home runs, 1 triple, 3 doubles, 4 walks, and 7 strikeouts. He sure seems legit!

Designated hitter/second baseman Quinn McDaniel is having a year that reminds me of last season, which is to say his numbers are more decent than great, but it seems like every time I look up he’s smashing an extra-base hit. He played twice over the weekend and hit 3-8 with a home run, 2 doubles, a walk, and 2 strikeouts.

McDaniel now has a .761 OPS and a 111 wRC+, and while those numbers are very, very similar to what they were last year at the same level, it’s very encouraging that he’s dropped his strikeout rate from 32.5% to 24.5%.

Also homering was right fielder/designated hitter James Tibbs III (No. 3 CPL), who hit 3-11 with a solo bomb, 3 walks, and just 1 strikeout. After a red-hot start, Tibbs has really quieted down lately, and has settled into a .742 OPS and a 111 wRC+. It was great to see him homer, as the power had evaporated in recent games: his dinger on Sunday was his 1st extra-base hit since smashing a pair of doubles on April 24, and his 1st home run since April 19.

His batting average has dipped to just .227, in part due to an unsustainably-low .236 BABIP, but the story of his season has been the discipline and bat control — which helped make him a 1st-round pick last year — have shown up after being mostly absent in his debut. His year-over-year walk rate has jumped from 6.9% to 16.5%, while his strikeout rate has been slashed from 31.0% to 12.8%. Fantastic improvements!

Low-A San Jose (16-11)

Friday: San Jose Giants beat the Modesto Nuts (Mariners) 4-1 [box score]
Saturday: San Jose Giants lost to the Modesto Nuts 12-4 [box score]
Sunday: San Jose Giants lost to the Modesto Nuts 5-4 [box score]

A relatively uninteresting weekend for the Baby Giants, who were lacking in standout performances. But it does seem that every time I check a box score, first baseman Jakob Christian (No. 30 CPL) is bashing an extra-base knock. Last year’s 5th-round pick added a pair of them over the weekend, hitting 4-12 with 2 doubles and a walk, though he also had 4 strikeouts and an error. The powerful righty has a .932 OPS and a 142 wRC+, and has 14 extra-base hits in 22 games. His .264 isolated slugging percentage is 3rd-highest among 60 California League hitters with at least 50 plate appearances this season. You need a lot of power to survive as a first baseman, and so far, so good for Christian.

Surprisingly, power has not been the name of the game for center fielder Dakota Jordan (No. 8 CPL), even though he has as much raw power as anyone in the system. But last year’s 4th-round pick has been an on-base machine, and added to that this weekend, hitting 3-11 with 3 walks and a stolen base, albeit with 6 strikeouts.

Jordan has really flipped the script this year, for better and for worse. He’s built like Patrick Willis and his scouting report is what you would expect of such … yet he’s rocking a .290 batting average, a .397 on-base percentage, and a lower strikeout rate than he had in college, with a .110 isolated slugging percentage that ranks below average in the Cal League. He’s also stolen 10 bases without getting caught stealing, after going just 7-for-11 in his entire college career.

Whenever the power shows up … watch out.

Speaking of power, designated hitter/third baseman Elian Rayo flashed some for the 1st time this season, hitting 2-4 with a 3-run home run and a double on Friday, though he also struck out. The weekend started spiraling after that … on Saturday he hit 0-2 with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts, and on Sunday he went 0-4 with a strikeout hat trick.

Play of the game: Elian Rayo with the decisive three-run moonshot that gave the Giants a 4-1 lead in the top of the sixth. pic.twitter.com/P7TGCv56BX

— San Jose Giants (@SJGiants) May 3, 2025

Not too much of note on the pitching side of things. LHP Greg Farone, a 7th-round pick in 2024 who is in his debut season, had a great start on Friday, tossing 4 shutout innings with 3 hits, 0 walks, and 7 strikeouts, while throwing 44 of 68 pitches for strikes. After giving up a run in his debut, Farone has now gone 4 straight outings without allowing anyone to score. That’s given him a 0.42 ERA and a 1.98 FIP, and he has 33 strikeouts to just 6 walks in 21.2 innings. What a debut!

Speaking of low ERAs from 2024 draftees, RHP Ryan Slater gave up 2 hits in 1.2 shutout innings on Sunday, though he allowed inherited runs to score which tagged him with a blown lead. Slater, an 18th-round pick, has a 0.73 ERA and a 2.81 FIP in his 1st season as a pro.

Otherwise, not much pitching to take note of. LHP Jacob Bresnahan (No. 31 CPL) and RHP Gerelmi Maldonado (No. 36 CPL) continued their tough starts to the season. They’re both so electric, but still trying to find both rhythm and results.

ACL (0-1)

Saturday: ACL Giants lost to the ACL Athletics 5-4 [box score]

The short season started down in the Arizona Complex League on Saturday, and fun was had, even in a loss. It was the stateside debut for a handful of exciting Giants prospects, and a few of them really showed out.

None shone brighter than shortstop Jhonny Level (No. 6 CPL) who was nothing short of spectacular, hitting 3-5 with a triple, 2 doubles, and a strikeout. Level, a switch-hitter who just turned 18 years old, was a star in his debut season in the DSL a year ago. He’s a must-watch player this year, and hopefully he’ll play well enough to end the year in A-Ball.

Right fielder Oliver Tejada (No. 39 CP) also made his stateside debut, and hit 1-4 with a triple and a hit by pitch, though he did strike out twice. Tejada opened a lot of eyes in the DSL last year, and hopefully he can do the same in the ACL this year.

And on the mound, RHP Argenis Cayama (No. 28 CPL) made his American debut following a tremendous 2024, and the 18-year old was sensational, allowing just 2 hits, 1 walk, and 1 unearned run in 4 strong innings, while striking out 4 batters, and inducing 7 groundballs.

Some players who weren’t making their stateside debuts also shined. RHP Liam Simon relieved Cayama and struck out all 3 batters he faced. Simon still has some magic in his arm, but the 2022 5th-round pick is really just trying to get healthy: this is his 4th season in the pros, and he’s sitting on just 43.2 innings pitched.

Third baseman Ramon Peralta and second baseman Dario Reynoso filled up the hit column. Peralta, a 21-year old left-handed hitter in his 3rd pass through the ACL (he also spent time in San Jose last year) went 4-5 with a strikeout, while Reynoso, a 20-year old right-handed hitter repeating the level went 3-5 with a double and an error. Left fielder Rayner Arias (No. 4 CPL), who is trying to get back on track, hit 1-4 with a walk, a stolen base, and a strikeout.

Great to have the ACL back!

Home run tracker

AAA Marco Luciano (6)
AA Jairo Pomares (5)
AA Carter Howell, 2 (3)
AA Devin Mann, 2 (2)
AA Zach Morgan (1)
AA Justin Wishkoski (1)
High-A Bo Davidson (4)
High-A James Tibbs III (3)
High-A Quinn McDaniel (3)
Low-A Elian Rayo (1)

Injury report

Here are all the Minor League players listed on an injured list, or any other unable-to-play list. And a reminder that the bookkeeping in the Minors is very poor, so this isn’t a completely accurate reflection of who is and isn’t healthy.

Sacramento

LHP Enny Romery — Restricted List
RHP Juan Mercedes — Development List
LHP Reggie Crawford (No. 10 CPL) — 60-Day IL
RHP R.J. Dabovich — 60-Day IL
LHP Juan Sánchez (No. 33 CPL) — 60-Day IL
RHP Joel Peguero — 7-Day IL
LHP Ethan Small — 7-Day IL
C Max Stassi — 7-Day IL
RHP Cole Waites (No. 32 CPL) — 7-Day IL
RHP Keaton Winn — 7-Day IL
LHP Chris Wright — 7-Day IL

Richmond

2B Nate Furman — 60-Day IL
RHP Ryan Murphy — 60-Day IL
RHP Mat Olsen — 60-Day IL
CF Turner Hill — 7-Day IL
LHP Nick Zwack — 7-Day IL

Eugene

RHP Elijah Pleasants — Development List
OF Alexander Suarez — 60-Day IL
LHP Dylan Carmouche — 7-Day IL (on a rehab assignment)
LHP Hayden Wynja — 7-Day IL

San Jose

RHP Sam Bower — 60-Day IL
C Ty Hanchey — 60-Day IL
RHP Spencer Miles — 60-Day IL
SS Maui Ahuna (No. 23 CPL) — 7-Day IL
RHP Junior Flores — 7-Day IL
INF Jeremiah Jenkins — 7-Day IL
OF Jose Ortiz (No. 22 CPL) — 7-Day IL