Minor League roundup, 4/30: The return of Kyle Harrison, elite pitching prospect

Yesterday’s action on the farm.

After a one-day hiatus, the Minor League Baseball roundup is back in action today, just as all four of the San Francisco Giants affiliates were in action on Wednesday. So let’s dive into it!

Link to the 2025 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

All listed positions in the roundup are the positions played in that particular game.

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News

We went a few days without a roundup, since I didn’t write one for Tuesday’s games and Monday was an off-day for the Minor Leagues. So a bit of news to catch up on.

Most notably, the Giants signed third baseman Devin Mann and outfielder Cal Mitchell to Minor League contracts, and assigned them both to AA Richmond. Mann, a 28-year old right-handed hitter, was a 5th-round pick by the Dodgers in 2018, and had a 103 wRC+ for the Royals’ AAA affiliate last year (and a 132 wRC+ for the Dodgers AAA team in 2023). Mitchell, a 26-year old left-handed hitter taken in the 2nd round of the 2017 draft by the Pirates, had a 105 wRC+ for the Padres’ AAA affiliate last year.

RHP Cameron Pferrer was was promoted from Low-A San Jose to High-A Eugene, while San Jose catcher Drew Cavanaugh was given the emergency promotion to AAA Sacramento to provide some depth for the River Cats, who placed veteran Max Stassi on the 7-Day Injured List.

Unfortunately, the Giants also let a handful of players go: Eugene RHPs Cody Tucker and Daniel Blair, Eugene LHP Tommy Kane, and AA outfielders Matt Higgins and Rodolfo Nolasco were all released.

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AAA Sacramento (14-15)

Sacramento River Cats lost to the Reno Aces (D-Backs) 16-6
Box score

Wednesday wasn’t a good day for the River Cats, but it was a very good day for a pair of former No. 1 prospects in the system who are waiting for their opportunity to prove that they can still be large parts of the Major League team: LHP Kyle Harrison and left fielder Marco Luciano.

Harrison got the start and continued his trend of looking too good for AAA … not surprising given that he was recently the top southpaw prospect in all of baseball and spent the entirety of the 2024 season in the big league rotation. The 23-year old overpowered Reno’s batters, striking out 7 hitters in 5 innings, without allowing a single walk. He did give up 6 hits and 1 run, but those are perfectly acceptable numbers.

Harrison’s velocity has been one of the primary storylines of the season and … well … Reno’s radar guns might run a little hot, so take this with a grain of salt, but the pitch data in the box score had him sitting at 95 and regularly touching 97, which would be nothing short of dreamy.

The numbers are exquisite for Harrison this year, especially when you add the context of pitching in the Pacific Coast League and starting the season still working back into shape following the injury and illness that set him back in spring. Among the 36 PCL pitchers who have thrown at least 20 innings this year, Harrison is 7th in ERA (3.46), 2nd in FIP (3.00), 1st in strikeouts per 9 innings by a massive margin (13.2), and 10th in walks per 9 innings (2.8).

I’m very curious to see how the Giants view Harrison right now. Is there a chance that he is ahead of Hayden Birdsong on the rotation depth chart, and they’re happy to let Birdsong just stay in the bullpen for awhile? Either way, Harrison is Major League depth in AAA, and that’s a good problem to have.

Luciano wasn’t as dominant as Harrison, but he continued his upward trajectory as well, hitting 1-4 with a walk and a home run, though he did strike out twice.

It continued Luciano’s trend of hitting the absolute crap out of the baseball, as his dinger left the bat at 111.6 mph, which is the exact same speed as the hardest-hit ball by any Giant this season. Just as the return of Harrison’s fastball velocity is extremely exciting, so too is the return of Luciano’s exit velocity.

In the last 17 games, the 23-year old is hitting 20-66 with 4 home runs, 5 doubles, and 15 walks, which has brought his OPS up to .782 and his wRC+ to 112. It will probably take an injury to open up a spot in San Francisco for Luciano, but he’s starting to look ready for that opportunity.

The home run gave Luciano a share of the farm system lead in dingers, where he’s tied with, among other players, shortstop Brett Wisely, who hit 3-4 with both a homer and a double in a sensational day. Wisely has been hot and cold this year, and has a .756 OPS and a 100 wRC+, but he’s about to get his chance, as he’s being called up while Tyler Fitzgerald is on the IL.

Rounding out the home run party was designated hitter Hunter Bishop (No. 34 CPL), who hit 1-4 with a solo shot and 2 strikeouts.

Bishop is still a ways away from actualizing the potential that made him a 1st-round pick back in 2019, but he’s making notable gains over his performance a year ago. His batting average is down from his debut AAA stint, .245 to .235 but, notably, so too is his strikeout rate, from 27.4% all the way to 21.8%. His slugging percentage has jumped from .386 to .418, and his wRC+ from 85 to 95. He’s still got work to do, but trending in the right direction.

While Luciano had plenty of help from his fellow position players, the same cannot be said for Harrison, as the rest of the pitchers who took the mound for Sacramento struggled intensely, with RHPs Carson Ragsdale (No. 19 CPL), Justin Garza, and Miguel Díaz, and LHP Raymond Burgos combining to pitch 4 innings while allowing 12 hits, 5 walks, 2 hit batters, and 15 earned runs. Ouch!

Ragsdale’s difficult year continues, and he’s really just pitching in relief now until he figures things out. He’s sitting on an unsightly 8.10 ERA and an 8.75 FIP, and has 12 strikeouts to 13 walks in 16.2 innings.

AA Richmond (5-18)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Somerset Patriots (Yankees) 10-8
Box score

A miserable pitching performance for the Flying Squirrels, as their tough season continues. RHPs Manuel Mercedes, Nick Sinacola, and Cameron Cotter all got rocked, while RHPs Dylan Cumming and Will Bednar (No. 42 CPL) kept runs off the board but not very efficiently or effectively. Bednar pitched a shutout, no-hit inning with a strikeout, but walked 3 batters. He has 13 strikeouts in 7 innings this year, which is encouraging … but not as encouraging as his 13 walks in 7 innings is concerning.

No need to dwell on the pitching any further.

A quartet of really nice offensive days, with catcher Adrián Sugastey (No. 38 CPL) hitting 2-4 with a home run and a strikeout, center fielder Carter Howell hit 1-4 with a home run, a walk, and 2 strikeouts, designated hitter Sabin Ceballos (No. 18 CPL) went 2-4 with a double and a walk, and new signee third baseman Devin Mann hit 2-5 with a pair of doubles, albeit with a trio of strikeouts peppered in as well.

Sugastey, Howell, and Ceballos entered the season with high expectations, but each has been struggling quite a bit this year. So great to see them have some strong days.

Left fielder Jairo Pomares (No. 41 CPL) has been one of the few players in Richmond who hasn’t been struggling this year, and he had another solid game, hitting 1-3 with 2 walks and a strikeout, which boosted his OPS to .756 and his wRC+ to 118. Great to see him healthy and swinging the bat well.

High-A Eugene (13-10)

Eugene Emeralds beat the Everett AquaSox (Mariners) 7-0
Box score

Before we get to the performances, let’s cover the top story: RHP Dylan Hecht made his professional debut on Wednesday. Hecht is the one-in-a-million story that a few people have covered: he’s 31 and had, a few years ago, given up on his dream of playing professional baseball, having last pitched in indy ball four years ago. The Giants found him in a rec league game and saw something intriguing, and now he’s a professional baseball player, pitching in the Minor League system for his hometown team (he was born in Pleasanton).

And to top it all off, it was a successful one, as he tossed a scoreless inning with 2 strikeouts, though he gave up a hit and 2 walks. What an amazing story … and who knows, maybe one that’s just getting started!

The rest of the pitching was strong, as evidenced by the shutout. The best day belonged to the starter, LHP Esmerlin Vinicio, who tossed 4 scoreless innings with just 4 baserunners (2 singles and 2 walks), while striking out 6. The 22-year old is really struggling with walks this year, but everything else is going well for him, and he has a 3.57 ERA and a 4.04 FIP.

RHP Nicholas Herold made his 2nd appearance since getting promoted, and gave up just a walk, while striking out 1. After missing all of 2024 with an injury, the 2023 undrafted free agent has given up just 1 hit and 1 walk in 6 shutout innings across 2 levels, while striking out 13. What a year so far!

Some excellent days from a pair of bats we haven’t talked about much this year, as left fielder Scott Bandura hit 2-4 with a home run and a strikeout, while catcher Luke Shliger hit 1-3 with a home run, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. Bandura, who was a 7th-round pick in 2023, is quietly having a dominant season in his 2nd pass through High-A, after a late promotion last year. The lefty is up to an .840 OPS and a 142 wRC+, with a whopping 17.2% walk rate and just a 20.7% strikeout rate. Good season!

Center fielder Bo Davidson (No. 11 CPL) and designated hitter Jonah Cox (No. 26 CPL) continued their strong years at the top of the lineup, as each hit 1-3 with 2 walks. Davidson now has a .957 OPS and a 159 wRC+, while Cox has a .798 OPS and a 116 wRC+.

Low-A San Jose (14-9)

San Jose Giants lost to the Modesto Nuts (Mariners) 5-1
Box score

Not a very interesting game for the Baby Giants, but RHP Niko Mazza had a relatively nice showing, giving up just 1 run in 4 innings, with 4 strikeouts. It wasn’t the smoothest game, though. He only allowed 2 hits, but he walked 3 batters, and threw just 37 of 64 pitches for strikes. Mazza, last year’s 8th-round pick, has just a 1.15 ERA in his debut season, but has a 4.06 FIP and has walked 8 batters in 15.2 innings.

Nothing of note on offense. Center fielder Dakota Jordan (No. 8 CPL) was the only player to reach base multiple times, hitting 1-3 with a walk. Jordan now has an .813 OPS and a 125 wRC+, and has dropped his strikeout rate to 25.0% … he continues to make a lot of improvements in that area, which is very exciting, though we’re still waiting for that famed power to show up.

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Home run tracker

AAA Marco Luciano (5)
AAA Brett Wisely (5)
AAA Hunter Bishop (4)
AA Adrián Sugastey (2)
AA Carter Howell (1)
High-A Scott Bandura (1)
High-A Luke Shliger (1)

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Thursday schedule

Sacramento: vs. Reno, 6:45 p.m. PT (SP: Carson Whisenhunt)
Richmond: vs. Somerset, 3:35 p.m. PT (SP: Jack Choate)
Eugene: vs. Everett, 6:35 p.m. PT (SP: Shane Rademacher)
San Jose: at Modesto, 6:40 p.m. PT (SP: Drake George)