{"id":659330,"date":"2026-04-02T18:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/659330\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T18:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:50:16","slug":"sf-giants-minor-league-baseball-roundup-4-1-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/659330\/","title":{"rendered":"SF Giants Minor League Baseball roundup, 4\/1\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"

Great news, prospect fans. Yesterday was the last day (off days notwithstanding) that only one San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliate was in action. Today there will be two affiliates playing baseball, and on Friday we get four. As summer rolls closer, we\u2019ll get seven!<\/p>\n

For now though, it\u2019s just one team and a lot of news. Let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n

Link to the 2026 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)<\/a><\/p>\n

All listed positions in the roundup are the position played in that particular game.<\/p>\n

Wednesday brought a lot of news to the farm, because of the release of rosters. But before we get to that, a small amount of transactions came across the wire. Most notably, the Giants re-signed veteran catcher Eric Haase to a Minor League deal. Haase was signed over the offseason as a Minor League free agent with an invite to camp, but lost the backup catcher battle to Daniel Susac (No. 20 CPL). Rather than being reassigned to Minor League camp, he was released, presumably due to an opt-out in his contract. But with no better situations calling his name, Haase has returned to San Francisco\u2019s system, which is huge. While the Giants have an intriguing prospect in Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez (No. 16 CPL) in AAA, he\u2019s still a little bit of a question mark with the glove. They\u2019ll need a third-string catcher at some point \u2014 either injury or Susac struggles will mandate it \u2014 and having a veteran in Sacramento is very important.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the only transaction for now, but there\u2019s probably another coming down the pipeline. During Wednesday\u2019s loss to the San Diego Padres, San Francisco reliever Jos\u00e9 Butt\u00f3 exited the game with arm discomfort, which usually means a trip to the Injured List. AAA Sacramento\u2019s game followed San Francisco\u2019s, so the coaching staff already had that information. Despite that, RHPs Tristan Beck and Michael Fulmer both pitched in the game, which would suggest that RHP Spencer Bivens is the player the Giants will call up if Butt\u00f3 does, indeed, hit the IL.<\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s get to the rosters! AA Richmond, High-A Eugene, and Low-A San Jose all released their rosters on Wednesday. Check them out:<\/p>\n

A few things to note here. While not surprising, the team\u2019s top two draft picks from last year \u2014 first-round infielder Gavin Kilen (No. 7 CPL) and third-round outfielder Trevor Cohen (No. 15 CPL) both got the aggressive assignment to High-A. That\u2019s not shocking for early-round college bats who have polished skillsets, but it\u2019s certainly notable, especially since Kilen had just 43 plate appearances in Low-A last year, and really struggled (though he was playing through an injury), while Cohen had 130 plate appearances in Low-A (he played quite well).<\/p>\n

Kilen should get everyday reps at shortstop for now, due in part to a mildly surprising assignment: shortstop Maui Ahuna (No. 33 CPL) is opening the year in AA Richmond. On the one hand, it makes sense, as Ahuna, a 4th-round pick in 2023, is entering his third full season in the Minors, just turned 24, and is a defensive wizard. On the other hand, he has a massive hole in his contact tool, and injuries have limited him to just 11 games in High-A \u2026 after just 60 in Low-A. Whether this assignment is due to the Giants being confident in Ahuna\u2019s ability to shine in AA, or due to roster logistics, it\u2019s an exciting show of faith in Ahuna, who played for Tony Vitello at Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Another exciting assignment is LHP Luis De La Torre (No. 14 CPL) getting to front High-A Eugene\u2019s rotation. De La Torre had a breakout 2025 which started in rookie ball, but ended with Low-A San Jose. He only made 8 starts with the Baby Giants, but shined. An aggressive, but well-deserved assignment.<\/p>\n

You might notice that LHP Jacob Bresnahan (No. 11 CPL) and infielder Jean Carlos Sio (No. 44 CPL) are absent from the rosters, along with RHP Josh Bostick (No. 22 CPL). Bresnahan (who will definitely be in High-A), and Sio (who will probably be in High-A, but possibly in AA) are seemingly a little behind on the health front, though neither seems to have a serious issue. Bostick, as has been reported, tore his Achilles in the offseason and will likely miss the entire season.<\/p>\n

And those are the rosters! What stands out to you?<\/p>\n

Sacramento River Cats beat the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 10-5
Box score<\/a><\/p>\n

Just as the Giants did on Tuesday, the River Cats\u2019 offense finally broke through on Wednesday, with a performance much more befitting the Pacific Coast League environment than their earlier games. Despite miserable weather \u2014 which ended the game in the middle of the 9th inning, costing the Bees a chance for a 5-run comeback \u2014 the River Cats exploded for 14 hits, 6 extra-base hits, and 10 runs.<\/p>\n

Leading the charge was the fill-in at shortstop, Thomas Gavello, who hit 2-5 with a pair of RBIs and a strikeout, while becoming Sacramento\u2019s first player to hit a ball over the fence this year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a wildly exciting time to like shortstops and follow the Giants farm. Josuar Gonz\u00e1lez (No. 2 CPL) and Luis Hern\u00e1ndez (No. 6 CPL) will be splitting reps in the ACL; Jhonny Level (No. 3 CPL) and Lorenzo Meola (No. 23 CPL) will be doing the same in San Jose; Gavin Kilen (No. 7 CPL) and Maui Ahuna (No. 33 CPL) will be anchoring Eugene and Richmond\u2019s respective rosters. But there\u2019s a hole in AAA, where shortstop has really just been a spot for emergency depth. Osleivis Basabe figures to get the bulk of the reps there when he returns from the Injured List, and starting the year at the six was Tyler Fitzgerald, until he was DFA\u2019d a few days ago.<\/p>\n

So now it\u2019s Gavello who gets to fill in, and the utility player did an admirable job on Wednesday, though he committed an error.<\/p>\n

While Gavello had the 4-bagger, the most runs batted in went to right fielder Grant McCray, who bounced back from a rough series opener to have an utterly dynamic game, hitting 2-5 with 2 doubles and 3 RBIs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s extremely early days, but one thing to watch with McCray this year is his swing-and-miss. He\u2019s always had a lot of whiff in his game, and last year in AAA had a 27.1% strikeout rate, while carrying a career 42.9% rate in 156 MLB plate appearances. He made some significant changes to his setup this offseason, and struck out just 15.0% of the time in Spring Training. So far that number is a tidy 16.7% in AAA though, again, we\u2019re only 5 games into the season. Something to watch.<\/p>\n

Joining McCray in the double-double category was catcher Eric Haase, who made his Sacramento debut after re-signing with the organization on a Minor League deal. Haase jumped straight into the lineup, and hit 3-5 with 2 doubles, while also striking out twice. It\u2019s always good to see players have great days, though Haase \u2014 a 33-year old who has spent parts of 8 seasons in the Majors \u2014 is a known entity at this point. He\u2019s not really going to play his way onto the MLB roster \u2026 he\u2019s just there to be a quality veteran fill-in whenever it\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n

First baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL) had his best game of the season, which will certainly go noticed given San Francisco\u2019s rough offensive start and Casey Schmitt\u2019s difficult defensive day at first base yesterday. Eldridge went 2-4 in this game, smacked a double, and reached base 4 times total, as he also drew a walk and was hit by a pitch, without striking out.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve yet to see Eldridge\u2019s transcendent power \u2014 he doesn\u2019t have a home run this year, and that double was his first extra-base hit \u2014 but he\u2019s showing a polished offensive game in the early going. In 5 games he\u2019s already drawn 5 walks, and, painfully enough, has also been hit on 3 different occasions. He\u2019s also had an encouraging 23.1% strikeout rate though, again, extremely early and small sample size.<\/p>\n

A pair of other players reached base thrice: third baseman Buddy Kennedy, who has been the team\u2019s hottest hitter so far this year, went 1-4 with a walk, a hit by pitch, 2 strikeouts, and an error, while designated hitter Nate Furman (No. 39 CPL) hit 1-3 with a walk, a hit by pitch, and a strikeout. In all, 4 River Cats were hit by pitches, while 0 Bees were. Rude, though I guess not surprising \u2026 cats are significantly easier to hit with baseballs than bees are.<\/p>\n

The pitching was less exciting, but reasonably effective against a Salt Lake offense that is full of players with MLB experience, including former Giant Wade Meckler, who drew a walk off the bench.<\/p>\n

LHP John Michael Bertrand got the start and gave up a lot of baserunners, but limited the damage. In just 4 innings, Bertrand allowed 6 hits and 2 walks, but thanks to a combination of sequencing and soft contact \u2014 all of the hits were singles \u2014 he only allowed 2 runs, just 1 of which was earned. He also struck out 4 batters.<\/p>\n

Bertrand, a 28-year old who was taken in the 10th round of the 2022 draft, is in a bit of an odd spot. He\u2019s certainly a low-profile starter compared to some of the other arms in Sacramento, and he doesn\u2019t have the nasty stuff that makes an MLB career inevitable. But he just gets outs wherever he goes, and has some funk from the left side. One would think there will be a role for him in the Majors some day.<\/p>\n

RHP Tristan Beck continued to show off some serious electricity, as he seems notably nastier than in past years. He entered the game in the 6th inning with 2 outs and a runner on, and promptly gave up a single and a 2-run double (which gave an earned run each to himself and RHP Marques Johnson), the latter to Vaughn Grissom, a rehabbing Major Leaguer. But after that, Beck struck out the next\/last 4 batters that he faced, and he did it in phenomenally dominant fashion, needing just 14 pitches \u2014 only 2 above the minimum – for those 4 Ks. Nasty!<\/p>\n

RHP Michael Fulmer also got into the game, as he continues to audition for a role in San Francisco\u2019s bullpen. The rain got to him a bit as he walked 2 batters in his inning of work (he came out for the 9th as well, before the inning was cancelled), but he didn\u2019t allow any hits or runs, and struck out 2 batters.<\/p>\n

1 \u2014 Thomas Gavello \u2014 [AAA]<\/p>\n

Sacramento: 5:35 p.m. PT at Salt Lake (SP: Carson Whisenhunt)
Richmond: Season starts Friday
Eugene: Season starts Friday
San Jose: 7:05 p.m. PT at Stockton (SP: TBD)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Great news, prospect fans. Yesterday was the last day (off days notwithstanding) that only one San Francisco Giants…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2408],"tags":[5,162,4,378,66,81426,4343,4340,4344,4341,4342],"class_list":{"0":"post-659330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-giants","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-san-francisco","12":"tag-san-francisco-giants","13":"tag-san-francisco-giants-prospects","14":"tag-sanfrancisco","15":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","16":"tag-sf","17":"tag-sf-giants","18":"tag-sfgiants"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116336618575822025","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}