Who is the 38th-best prospect on the farm?
Honest to goodness San Francisco Giants baseball has returned to our lives. And while there’s no debate that the 2025 Giants are a flawless baseball team headed for an undefeated season, there’s still plenty of debate to be had when it comes to ranking prospects. But those debates are nearing an end, as we’re getting close to wrapping up the 2025 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List, which will see us rank the top 44 prospects in the system.
The latest chapter brought about a fierce debate, however, as the winning name received just 22% of the vote on the seven-player ballot. But when the dust settled, it was catcher Onil Perez who stood tallest, earning the distinction as the No. 37 prospect in the system. It’s a drop of 13 spots for Perez, who was No. 24 in last year’s CPL.
Perez, who signed with the Giants in 2019 as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic, spent the entire season with High-A Eugene, though he only appeared in 79 games. It wasn’t a particularly fruitful offensive season for the right-handed hitter, as he slashed .236/.334/.303 for a .637 OPS and an 87 wRC+. His control of the strike zone was impressive — he rocked an 11.1% walk rate and just a 16.6% strikeout rate — but he was almost entirely devoid of power: in 350 plate appearances, Perez had just one home run, and he sported a .067 isolated slugging mark.
That’s been the standard in his career, so it wasn’t as concerning as the .236 batting average. Perez has always had strong contact skills: in 2023, between Low-A and High-A, he had a .299 average and an 11.5% strikeout rate, so 2024 was a notable step backwards in the contact department. He made up for it a little bit by stealing 20 bases in 24 attempts, marking his second year in a row with at least 20 swiped bags … no small feat for a catcher!
But, like so many backstops, Perez’s calling card is his defense. He’s an excellent receiver, something Giants fans became aware of this time last year, when Blake Snell was very complimentary of Perez after a Spring Training bullpen session. The Giants have also praised him for his leadership and his ability to work well with pitchers.
It certainly seems like Perez has the defense and intangibles to make the Majors if his bat can even come close to playing. And the contact skills certainly seem to be there … they just might be in need of a little bit of tweaking.
Now let’s add to the list!
The list so far
- Bryce Eldridge — 1B
- Carson Whisenhunt — LHP
- James Tibbs III — OF
- Rayner Arias — OF
- Josuar de Jesus González — SS
- Jhonny Level — SS
- Mason Black — RHP
- Dakota Jordan — OF
- Joe Whitman — LHP
- Reggie Crawford — LHP
- Bo Davidson — OF
- Aeverson Arteaga — SS
- Wade Meckler — OF
- Walker Martin — SS
- Trevor McDonald — RHP
- Diego Velasquez — SS/2B
- Lisbel Diaz — OF
- Sabin Ceballos — 3B
- Carson Ragsdale — RHP
- Trent Harris — RHP
- Carson Seymour — RHP
- Jose Ortiz — CF
- Maui Ahuna — SS
- Victor Bericoto — OF/1B
- Robert Hipwell — 3B
- Jonah Cox — CF
- Josh Bostick — RHP
- Argenis Cayama — RHP
- Jack Choate — LHP
- Jakob Christian — OF
- Jacob Bresnahan — LHP
- Cole Waites — RHP
- Juan Sánchez — LHP
- Hunter Bishop — OF
- Ryan Reckley — 2B
- Gerelmi Maldonado — RHP
- Onil Perez — C
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
No. 38 prospect nominees
Will Bednar — 24.8-year old RHP — 7.71 ERA/6.93 FIP in AA (32.2 IP); 3.18 ERA/4.06 FIP in High-A (11.1 IP); 3.60 ERA/3.97 FIP in Low-A (10 IP)
Jose Bello — 19.8-year old RHP — 7.71 ERA/4.27 FIP in ACL (2.1 IP); 2.49 ERA/2.36 FIP in DSL (25.1 IP)
Spencer Miles — 24.6-year old RHP — 4.91 ERA/2.79 FIP in ACL (7.1 IP)
Yohendry Sanchez — 18.3-year old C — .937 OPS/164 wRC+ in DSL (45 PA)
Adrián Sugastey — 22.3-year old C — .545 OPS/54 wRC+ in AA (191 PA)
Oliver Tejada — 18.2-year old OF — .893 OPS/139 wRC+ in DSL (205 PA)
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 2024 season.