Yesterday’s action on the farm.
Another full day of Minor League Baseball games, as all four of the San Francisco Giants A-Ball affiliates were in action. And guess what? A fifth team will enter the mix in just nine days, when the Arizona Complex League kicks off its season.
But that’s a worry/excitement for another day. Let’s dive into Wednesday’s 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 (11-12)
Sacramento River Cats lost to the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres) 7-5
Box score
The River Cats were cruising until the end of the game. They looked headed for a win, but LHP Helcris Olivárez and RHP Justin Garza ran into serious trouble, and combined to give up 5 runs in the 8th inning.
But it was some good pitching that got them to that point. It started with RHP Mason Black (No. 7 CPL), who overcame not having his best stuff to have a very productive outing. Black had a hard time locating the strike zone all game long, throwing just 41 of his 76 pitches for strikes, and walking 3 batters in 5 innings, while only striking out 2. But he kept El Paso from making hard contact, as the Chihuahuas only had 2 hits — both singles. That tagged him for 2 runs, but 2 runs in a PCL game where you don’t have great command is impressive. Black has quietly been having an awesome season, with a 3.18 ERA, a 4.01 FIP and 21 strikeouts in 17 innings.
He was followed up by RHP Sean Hjelle, who continues to be awesome following his surprising optioning to start the year. Hjelle handled 2 innings of relief, and gave up just 1 hit and 1 walk with no runs, while striking out 1. In his last 6 appearances, Hjelle has thrown 9.1 shutout innings, and has allowed just 5 hits and 3 walks, with 10 strikeouts. He has certainly kept himself in the mix to return to San Francisco.
A very balanced offensive attack, with all of the team’s hitters reaching base, and the top 8 batters in the lineup all recording a hit. But it was the 2 highest-profile hitters — and the 2 at the top of the lineup — that had the best days. Center fielder Grant McCray went 2-4 with a walk and a strikeout, while left fielder Marco Luciano hit 2-5 and bashed a pair of doubles to go with a pair of strikeouts.
Luciano, whose 1st double was hit at 106.4 mph, has quietly been turning his season around. Over his last 11 games, the former top prospect is hitting 15-44 with 2 home runs, 5 doubles, and 9 walks, albeit with 13 strikeouts. He’s still K’ing a bit too much and watching too many hittable pitches come into the zone without offering at them, but it’s been a good 2-week stretch in the batter’s box. With a .747 OPS, a 104 wRC+, and David Villar back in the bigs, Luciano is now right there with Brett Auerbach for the title of best hitter on Sacramento’s roster currently.
AA Richmond (4-13)
Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Akron RubberDucks (Guardians) 4-0
Box score
Well, a bust of a game for the Flying Squirrels who, unfortunately, have had a lot of those this year. We weren’t even given the excitement of watching Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL) play, as he is getting eased back into action and had the day off after making his season debut on Tuesday.
Offensively it was mostly a nothing burger, though second baseman Diego Velasquez (No. 16 CPL), designated hitter Matt Higgins, and first baseman Zach Morgan all hit 2-4 with no strikeouts, with Higgins adding a double.
LHP John Michael Bertrand got the start and had a strong game, pitching 5 innings while allowing just 6 baserunners (4 singles, a double, and a walk), and 2 runs, with 5 strikeouts. It’s been a little bit of a slow start to the year for the 2022 10th-round pick, who has a 4.42 ERA in 4 starts, but a 3.52 FIP. I’d expect his numbers to come around as he gets back to his groundball ways: his groundball rate is just 35.1% this year, compared to a (career-low) 52.0% last season.
RHP Trent Harris (No. 20 CPL) continues to dominant from the back of the bullpen, retiring all 5 batters he faced and striking out 2 of them to keep his flawless 0.00 ERA in check (he also has an elite 1.15 FIP). He has 9 strikeouts against just 1 walk in 6.1 innings, and has been living up to the hype this year.
High-A Eugene (8-9)
Eugene Emeralds lost to Spokane (Rockies) 10-5
Box score
The best news of the day in the system came at the top of Eugene’s lineup, where center fielder Bo Davidson (No. 11 CPL) was spotted. When Davidson left a game 10 days prior and needed help walking off the field, there was concern that he had suffered a serious injury. Thankfully that wasn’t the case — he was back out there on Wednesday, not just hitting but playing the field. He also hit well, going 2-5 with a double and a strikeout, which pushed his OPS to .894 and his wRC+ to 138. With every nice game, it looks more and more like Davidson’s breakout 2024 was the real deal, and not a mirage.
Right fielder James Tibbs III (No. 3 CPL) and catcher Luke Shliger both reached base a trio of times, with Tibbs going 2-4 with a hit by pitch and Shliger hitting 2-3 with a double and a walk. Tibbs continues to make his rough stint with Eugene in 2024 a distant memory, as July’s 1st-round pick has an .847 OPS and a 142 wRC+. Most importantly, he’s slashed more than 20 percentage points off his strikeout rate, which is highly encouraging.
But the big hit belonged to first baseman Charlie Szykowny (No. 43 CPL), who went 1-4 and smacked a leadoff home run in the 2nd inning to jump-start a 4-run inning. The lefty, who was a 9th-round pick in 2023, is off to a little bit of a slow start to the season, with a .714 OPS and an 86 wRC+.
A very tough pitching day, with the Emeralds opting for a bullpen game. RHPs Cody Tucker and Marques Johnson, and LHP C.J. Widger all got rocked, but RHPs Sadrac Franco and Ian Villers were sensational. Franco, a Minor League Rule 5 draftee in December, gave up just a walk in 1.2 no-hit innings while striking out 1, lowering his ERA to 3.86 and his FIP to 3.96. Villers, the team’s 8th-round pick in 2021 who has had trouble staying on the field, allowed 2 hits in 2.1 shutout innings, with 3 strikeouts, dropping his ERA all the way to 1.00 and his FIP to 2.52.
Low-A San Jose (9-8)
San Jose Giants lost to the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies) 9-5
Box score
Not a good pitching game for the Baby Giants, but the offense sure impressed, with standout days from right fielder Carlos Gutierrez, catcher Drew Cavanaugh, and left fielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 17 CPL).
Gutierrez was an on-base machine, hitting 2-4 and drawing 2 walks, while striking out once and stealing a base. The 20-year old has been such a fun story: he only played 22 games in the DSL in his debut season in 2023, and was limited by injuries to just 3 games in the ACL in 2024. The Giants fairly surprisingly gave him an A-Ball assignment to start the year and he has ran with it. He’s not hitting for much power — he has just 2 doubles, 2 triples, and 0 home runs in 69 plate appearances — but he’s rocking a .295 batting average and just an 18.8% strikeout rate. That’s given him a .770 OPS and a 113 wRC+, with 5 stolen bases in 6 attempts and some quality defense to go with it. Pretty impressive, if you ask me!
Diaz hit 2-5 with a triple and a strikeout, as he continues to start to turn his season around following a slow start. He only has a .731 OPS and a 95 wRC+ but, like Gutierrez, the combination of batting average (.279), strikeout rate (20.8%), and age (19) is highly encouraging.
As for Cavanaugh, he hit 2-3 with a triple, 2 walks, and a strikeout, continuing an absurdly hot start to the season. The 23-year old left-handed hitter is now up to a 1.042 OPS and a 164 wRC+ on the season … where is this coming from???
RHP Niko Mazza got the start, and was the only pitcher of note. He struggled a bit with control, as he threw just 49 of his 79 pitches for strikes, walked 1, and hit a pair of batters. But he also limited Fresno to just 2 hits (both singles) and 1 run, while striking out 5. That lowered the reigning 9th-round pick’s ERA to 0.77, albeit with a 4.09 FIP in his debut season.
Home run tracker
High-A Charlie Szykowny (2)
Thursday schedule
Sacramento: at El Paso, 5:35 p.m. PT (SP: Kyle Harrison)
Richmond: at Akron, 3:35 p.m. PT (SP: Manuel Mercedes)
Eugene: at Spokane, 6:35 p.m. PT (SP: Cesar Perdomo)
San Jose: vs Fresno, 6:00 p.m. PT (SP: Drake George)