I don\u2019t know about you, but I sure am happy that Minor League Baseball is back. It\u2019s probably easier to be excited about the Minors since the San Francisco Giants aren\u2019t worth being excited about, but it\u2019s also just great having so much baseball around, and optimism in the air.<\/p>\n
All four of the Giants A-ball affiliates started a new series on Tuesday night, so let\u2019s dive into the exciting action. Spoiler alert: they all won!<\/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 Sacramento River Cats beat the Las Vegas Aviators (A\u2019s) 5-3 In case you missed the Major League news, catcher Daniel Susac (No. 20 CPL) is apparently the best hitter in baseball. He\u2019s 6-7 with a triple and a walk to start his career!<\/p>\n That will probably calm down at some point, but if it doesn\u2019t \u2014 and especially if San Francisco\u2019s offense keeps struggling \u2014 then the Giants will look for ways to get his bat in the lineup more. But it\u2019s hard to do that, because there are only a pair of ways to get Susac more at-bats: start him at catcher more often, or play him at DH. The former means regularly benching the best defensive baseball player on the planet, and the latter is a very risky move with a backup catcher.<\/p>\n One potential solution down the road? Add catcher Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez (No. 16 CPL) to the Major League roster.<\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez was the favorite to win the backup catcher position before the Giants acquired Susac in the Rule 5 Draft, and the dude can absolutely hit. After a slow start to the year, the righty has been turning it on lately, and had his best game of the season on Tuesday, when he hit 2-4 with a home run, 3 runs batted in, and a walk.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a mighty impressive swing for someone who isn\u2019t associated with a lot of power!<\/p>\n If Susac and Rodr\u00edguez play as well as the Giants expect them to, then the team will have a very good problem on their hands. It helps that Rodr\u00edguez can also competently play the non-shortstop infield positions, and can even fake it in the corners of the outfield. And it helps that he has 2 option years remaining, and that Susac will have 3 if he can make it through this year on the roster.<\/p>\n That\u2019s putting the cart ahead of the horse, but the Giants are very high on Rodr\u00edguez, who is already on the 40-man roster and who still has a few weeks left of being a 23-year old. If he has more days like this, the team will start looking for ways to get him an MLB debut.<\/p>\n Speaking of contact hitters acquired in deadline deals whom the team is high on, second baseman Nate Furman (No. 39 CPL) also had himself a day, hitting 1-3 with a home run and a walk.<\/p>\n Get used to the hits and get used to the walks, as Furman will rack up both of them in huge quantities. The home runs? Probably don\u2019t need to get used to those, but they\u2019re fun when they arrive.<\/p>\n Furman impressed at his first Spring Training this year, and the 24-year old, who was a 4th-round pick by the Guardians in 2022, got an opening assignment in AAA despite just 22 career games in AA due to injuries. So far he\u2019s making the Giants look very smart there, with a .989 OPS and a 191 wRC+ in 10 games with Sacramento. That\u2019ll play!<\/p>\n In less happy news, it was a rough day at the office for first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL), who went 0-4 with a strikeout hat trick. Fans have been clamoring for the Giants to call up Eldridge to save the offense and, well, that talk requires a few chill pills.<\/p>\n It\u2019s pretty clear that the Giants optioned Eldridge with the intention of having him work on his swing-and-miss struggles, and it\u2019s equally clear that there\u2019s still work to be done. Eldridge is up to a 33.3% strikeout rate which, for context, is 9th-highest out of 78 qualified PCL hitters. And while some of that is coming from a slightly passive approach \u2014 which has also led to a sky-high 18.8% walk rate \u2014 much of it is due to having some exploitable zones.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure whether this is the good news or the bad news, but Eldridge has been doing a good job staying in the zone this year, and just is missing hittable pitches (though that passivity is also showing, as he\u2019s 25th percentile in zone swing rate). His chase rate is in the 75th percentile in AAA this year, which is great \u2026 but it makes his 9th-percentile whiff rate a little terrifying. His in-zone contact rate is just 19th percentile, while his swinging strike rate is 32nd percentile.<\/p>\n I would stop short of calling any of that concerning \u2014 it\u2019s only 10 games \u2014 but it certainly paints a picture of a prospect who has a lot of development to do before making the Majors, which isn\u2019t a knock for a 21-year old. Hopefully it all comes together for Eldridge, as the combination of passivity and lack of contact has also brought down his good underlying metrics: he\u2019s just 33rd percentile in average exit velocity and 54th percentile in maximum exit velocity, while still searching for his 1st home run of the season.<\/p>\n The other 40-man hitters: left fielder Drew Gilbert hit 2-4 with a walk, raising his OPS to .824 and his wRC+ to 141; right fielder Will Brennan hit 1-4 with a double, putting his OPS at .861 and his wRC+ at 125; and center fielder Grant McCray went 0-3 with a walk, a strikeout, and his 1st stolen base of the year, and now has a .639 OPS and a 90 wRC+.<\/p>\n There was great news on the pitching front: RHP Joel Peguero (No. 27 CPL) made a rehab appearance. Peguero, who was a Minor League journeyman before making his MLB debut last season, figures to play a key role in the bullpen this year, though it may or may not be as soon as he\u2019s back into game shape and in a rhythm. The Giants could certainly use his 100-mph heat out of the bullpen though, and on Tuesday he looked the part, pitching a perfect 6th inning with 2 strikeouts. A very welcome sight.<\/p>\n Speaking of people who will help the bullpen this year, RHP Spencer Bivens had a quality outing as well, tossing 2 scoreless innings while giving up 2 hits (both singles), and striking out 1. He\u2019ll certainly be back in the bigs at some point; he perhaps doesn\u2019t have the nastiness or the upside as the players currently in San Francisco, but he\u2019s a very trustworthy bit of bullpen depth.<\/p>\n While the bullpen shined (that pair, plus RHPs Braxton Roxby and Michael Fulmer combined for 4.1 shutout innings), it was a tough start for LHP John Michael Bertrand, who struggled with command. Bertrand issued 4 hits (including a home run) in 4.2 innings, but more concerning was the 4 walks he issued, against just 1 strikeout. All of that combined for a 3-run outing, which raised his ERA to 5.40 and his FIP to 6.34 through a pair of starts. The funky southpaw, who recently turned 28, will never be a big strikeout guy, but he gets enough ground balls that, if he can keep the walks in check, he could provide value at the next level in some capacity.<\/p>\n Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Altoona Curve (Pirates) 3-2 Richmond kept their strong start to the season going, though it was a fairly uninteresting game for the air-bound rodents. The offense only had 6 hits on the game, but half of them belonged to second baseman Dayson Croes, who hit 3-4 with a double and a strikeout. That was the only extra-base hit of the game for Richmond.<\/p>\n Croes, who has a 1.055 OPS and a 183 wRC+ through 4 games, was one of the more fun stories on the farm last year. The left-hander from Aruba was signed last year \u2014 as a 25-year old \u2014 out of indy ball, which is something the Giants have been doing a fair amount of lately. The Giants moved him quickly from the Complex League to High-A, to AA, and finally to AAA, and he hit very well at every stop. Despite an .882 OPS and a 137 wRC+ in 14 games with Sacramento, the Giants opted to have the now-26 year old begin the year back in Richmond.<\/p>\n The reasoning there is probably as simple as wanting to prioritize AAA at-bats for fellow second baseman Nate Furman (No. 39 CPL), and honestly, they\u2019re very similar players. Both make a ton of contact (Croes had a .300 average last year, and just a 15.1% strikeout rate), but don\u2019t have a lot of power (Croes had 3 home runs in 90 games), and have suspect defense at second base. Really, it\u2019s a similar profile in AA, AAA, and the Majors for the Giants at second!<\/p>\n While Croes had the best game, the best news was that center fielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) made his season debut. Davidson missed the first series of the year while on paternity leave (congrats!) but returned on Tuesday, and fit right in, hitting 1-3 with a walk. He\u2019s one of the most must-watch prospects in the farm this year \u2026 not just because he\u2019s one of the organization\u2019s top prospects, but because he held his own in a 42-game sample in Richmond last year \u2026 meaning he could be promoted to AAA fairly early if he plays well.<\/p>\n Right fielder Jonah Cox only hit 1-3 with a strikeout, but my goodness did he make an impact on the other side of the ball.<\/p>\n The pitching featured piggy-backing starters, and the player who actually started was the star on that front. LHP Cesar Perdomo, a recently-turned 24-year old from Venezuela made his AA debut and it went quite well, as he gave up just 4 hits and 0 walks in 3.2 innings, while striking out 4 batters. Perdomo allowed just 1 run, and it was unearned following a passed ball by catcher Adri\u00e1n Sugastey.<\/p>\n Perdomo has always had good control, and last year walked just 2.7 batters per 9 innings in High-A, so it\u2019s great to see that carrying with him up a level. He threw 48 of his 66 pitches for strikes.<\/p>\n The other \u201cstarter\u201d was RHP Darien Smith, who pitched innings 5-8. Smith, a 26-year old who signed as an undrafted free agent in 2024 and made his debut in 2025, wasn\u2019t quite as clean as Perdomo in his introduction to AA. He only gave up 2 hits in 4 innings, but 1 of those hits was a home run, and he walked 3 batters with just 2 strikeouts. Still, he did a good job limiting damage, as that solo home run was the only run he allowed.<\/p>\n
Box score<\/a><\/p>\n
Box score<\/a><\/p>\n