Yesterday’s action on the farm.
We’ve gotten into quite a rhythm with the Minor League Baseball season already. Like most days, the San Francisco Giants affiliates played four games on Thursday. They’ve been doing that a lot lately.
Let’s dive into the action.
Link to the 2025 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)
All listed positions in the roundup are the positions played in that particular game.
AAA Sacramento (9-9)
Sacramento River Cats lost to the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 5-1
Box score
Another dismal offensive performance by the River Cats, who scored just 1 run for the 2nd straight game. Their offense has been pretty stuck lately, and all season, really. Of their 11 position players with at least 20 plate appearances, only 1 of them (David Villar) has hit better than league average this season, per wRC+ (Jake Lamb is exactly at league average).
That was on display Thursday when Villar, playing third base, was Sacramento’s only player with multiple hits, going 2-4 to bump his OPS to .896 and his wRC+ to 137. The next-best hitters on Sacramento’s roster this year — Lamb and Brett Auerbach — were, fittingly, the only other players to reach base multiple times, as both went 1-3 with a walk. Lamb, playing first base, now has a .747 OPS and a 100 wRC+ while Auerbach, playing second base, has a .741 OPS and a 90 wRC+.
More brutal games from the higher-profile players in Sacramento at the top of the order, as center fielder Grant McCray went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts, left fielder Marco Luciano hit 0-3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts, and shortstop Brett Wisely finished 0-4 with a strikeout.
Excitement on the mound, though, with RHP Mason Black (No. 7 CPL) showing off his K stuff. Black struck out a whopping 10 Bees in his 5 innings of work, while allowing 3 hits, 2 walks, and 2 earned runs. After a rough Spring Training, Black has been fantastic in AAA this year, sporting a 3.00 ERA and a 3.37 FIP, with 19 strikeouts in just 12 innings. Black has never been a huge strikeout artist but, to my amateur eye, he looks more athletic this year, and with more life on his pitches. Let’s hope he keeps this up.
LHP Helcris Olivárez got tagged for an earned run for the first time this year, while LHP Raymond Burgos, fresh off the Development List, made his season debut and faced 2 batters, issuing a walk while recording a strikeout.
AA Richmond (2-10)
Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Chesapeake Baysox (Orioles) 4-3
Box score
Offering a different approach to Black’s was Richmond’s starter, LHP John Michael Bertrand. The southpaw is never going to be a big strikeout artist, and we saw that on Thursday when he struck out just 2 batters in 5 innings. The contact approach did get to him a bit, though, as he gave up 7 hits which, when paired with 2 walks, tagged him for 3 runs, just 2 of which were earned. A pair of starting pitchers both giving up 2 earned runs in 5 innings, but in very different ways!
RHP Michael Stryffeler had a nice appearance after Bertrand, giving up 2 baserunners in 2 scoreless innings, with a strikeout. He has a 3.86 ERA but a 6.06 FIP on the year, but it’s mostly just great seeing him back on the field after he missed all of 2024, and only pitched 7 innings in 2023.
Not much going on in the batter’s box, where nearly everyone reached base but no one had a notable game. The best day belonged to designated hitter Zach Morgan, who hit 1-3 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout, bumping his OPS to .777 and his wRC+ to 131 through 6 games. A nice start to the year for the 2022 7th-round pick.
First baseman/right fielder Victor Bericoto (No. 24 CPL) continued his strong start to the year, hitting 1-3 with a walk, a strikeout, and an outfield assist.
High-A Eugene (5-7)
Eugene Emeralds lost to the Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays) 13-5
Box score
Not a lot of standout games here, either, as Eugene played a very sloppy game. They struck out 17 times, committed 5 errors, and issued 11 walks. Not a recipe for success!
A trio of Emeralds hitters reached base 3 times, though: left fielder Jonah Cox (No. 26 CPL) hit 2-4 with a walk and a stolen base, his 9th of the year in as many attempts, raising his OPS to .729 and his wRC+ to 90; first baseman Guillermo Williamson smacked 3 hits in 4 at-bats with a double and a strikeout in one of his best games of the year, bumping his OPS to .693 and his wRC+ to 93; and center fielder Quinn McDaniel went 1-3 with 2 walks and a strikeout, which saw his OPS rise to .628 and his wRC+ to 78. While all 3 had nice days on offense, they each committed an error, too.
It was a very bad pitching day, with the 5th and final pitcher, RHP Ian Villers, the only arm who didn’t give up damage, as he allowed just 2 walks in 1.1 no-hit, no-run innings, with 2 strikeouts. RHP Josh Bostick (No. 27 CPL) got dinged up a bit in the start, as he struggled to find the strike zone. He needed 78 pitches to get through 4 innings (and threw just 48 strikes), while allowing 2 hits, 3 walks, a hit batter, and 2 earned runs, but with 4 strikeouts. Certainly not his best stuff.
LHP Tommy Kane and RHPs Ryan Vanderhei and Daniel Blair all got beat up pretty badly in relief.
One note of concern: outfielder James Tibbs III (No. 3 CPL), who left in the middle of Tuesday’s game, still hasn’t played since. Haven’t heard anything, but that’s surely an injury. Hopefully a minor one.
Low-A San Jose (7-5)
San Jose Giants beat the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Dodgers) 13-6
Box score
Finally, a win! And hey, if you’re only going to have 1 win, might as well have it be against a Dodgers affiliate!
And finally we found some awesome offense, as well. It was a balanced attack, with the Baby Giants knocking 13 hits, drawing 8 walks, and benefitting from 2 Rancho Cucamonga errors plus a hit batter.
But, despite that balance, it was the heart of the order where the damage was really done. Hitting 2nd was arguably the most exciting player in the system, center fielder Dakota Jordan (No. 8 CPL), and he was sensational, hitting 3-6, finishing a home run shy of the cycle, and striking out just once.
Strikeouts remain a big concern for Jordan, who has a 30.8% rate in what is essentially his debut season. But they haven’t been as big of an issue as we might have expected given how much he struck out in college, and they certainly haven’t slowed him down, as his 1.023 OPS and 175 wRC+ will attest to. What an awesome start to the year he’s having.
Batting cleanup was one of the most surprising performers this year, designated hitter Drew Cavanaugh. He continued his awesome start to the year, going 1-2, stealing his 1st base of the season, and drawing a whopping 4 walks. The 2023 17th-round pick now has a 1.119 OPS and a 193 wRC+. How fun is that!
But the biggest day belonged to the player that Jordan and Cavanaugh sandwiched: first baseman Jakob Christian (No. 30 CPL). He had an absolute superstar day, hitting 2-3 with a home run, a walk, a hit batter, 2 stolen bases, and 6 runs batted in. It is hard to play better baseball than that!
Last year’s 5th-round pick looked comfortable in his short stint in A-Ball last year, and he looks equally comfortable this year.
A pair of other players reached base 3 times: left fielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 17 CPL), who went 1-4 with 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, and a stolen base, and shortstop Jean Carlos Sio, who hit 3-6 but had a strikeout hat trick.
On the mound, the star was RHP Nicholas Herold who was beyond sensational. An undrafted player who missed all of 2024, Herold faced 7 batters … 1 reached by way of an error, and the other 6 all struck out. Yeesh!
That came after the day’s starter, RHP Drake George, struggled to find the strike zone, issuing 4 walks in as many innings, while also giving up 2 hits and 2 runs, though he did strike out 5. Last year’s 13th-round pick is off to a strong start in his debut season, though he’ll need to find a way to cut back on the walks at some point.
And very strong relief appearances from RHPs Evan Gray and Junior Flores, who drove the ship home after RHP Cameron Pfferer struggled.
Home run tracker
Low-A Jakob Christian (3)
Friday schedule
Sacramento: vs. Salt Lake, 6:45 p.m. PT (SP: Kyle Harrison)
Richmond: vs. Chesapeake, 3:35 p.m. PT (SP: Manuel Mercedes)
Eugene: at Vancouver, 1:05 p.m. PT (SP: Cesar Perdomo)
San Jose: at Rancho Cucamonga, 6:30 p.m. PT (SP: TBD)
Reminder that most MiLB games can be viewed on MLB TV.