Minor League roundup, 5/28: Another day, another Bryce Eldridge home run

Yesterday on the farm.

A busy Wednesday for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates, and it’ll soon get busier: the Dominican Summer League season is right around the corner! For now though, it’s just five teams. Let’s dive into what they did yesterday.

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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AAA Sacramento (25-28)

Sacramento River Cats lost to the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres) 3-1
Box score

A very uninteresting game for the River Cats, save for one fascinating wrinkle that we covered briefly yesterday: Marco Luciano started at first base, the first time in his career that he’d played the position.

NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic shined some more light on the move during today’s Giants Talk podcast, and it was about what you would expect. The Giants are nearing a point of needing to make a change at first base given how poorly LaMonte Wade Jr. (and, to a lesser extent, Casey Schmitt) has hit. Getting Luciano some familiarity and comfort there would be helpful so that he can be an option, especially with the outfield very much set right now.

When it came to the actual baseball, though, Luciano and his fellow 40-man roster position players were quite awful at the top of the lineup: center fielder Grant McCray went 0-4; designated hitter Jerar Encarnación (in his 2nd game since restarting his rehab) hit 0-4 with a strikeout; left fielder Wade Meckler (No. 13 CPL) went 1-4; and both Luciano and second baseman Brett Wisely hit 0-4 with 2 strikeouts. Hard to score runs like that!

It was, instead, the veteran Minor League free agent signings who provided the little burst of offense for the River Cats: right fielder Daniel Johnson went 1-4 with a double; catcher Max Stassi hit 1-3 with a walk; and third baseman Jake Lamb finished the day 2-3.

The lone standout performance came from RHP Mason Black (No. 7 CPL). It wasn’t an overpowering performance from Black, but it was a strong one, as he tossed 6 innings with just 4 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run allowed, though he only struck out 3 batters.

Black was, somewhat surprisingly, a strong strikeout artist to start the year, with 19 Ks in 12 innings over his 1st 3 appearances. But since then, he has just 29 strikeouts in 37.2 innings. With a 4.35 ERA and a 4.82 FIP, it’s hard to figure out where Black slots in to the organization’s plans and depth chart, but those questions get easier to answer when you pitch well, which he did on Wednesday.

AA Richmond (14-33)

Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Harrisburg Senators (Nationals) 4-1
Box score

Richmond’s roster is primarily about 1 player, and that player delivered on Wednesday. Yes, first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL) went deep with a truly gorgeous 2-run home run, as part of a 1-3 day that also featured a sacrifice fly and 2 strikeouts.

Despite an injury keeping him from his season debut until the 16th game of the season, Eldridge has 6 home runs already. Only 12 hitters in the Eastern League have more home runs than he does, even though 75 hitters have more plate appearances. That .893 OPS and 157 wRC+ look mighty tasty!

Not much else to highlight. Center fielder Turner Hill played his 2nd AA game of the year, after missing the start of the season with an injury and then rehabbing in the ACL for a while. He had an awesome day, with half of the team’s hits, and went 3-4 with a double, 2 stolen bases, and a strikeout. What a day!

It was a bullpen game, and a trio of arms really stood out: LHP Raymond Burgos, and RHPs Dylan Cumming and Trent Harris (No. 20 CPL). Burgos, who was recently reassigned to AA after started the year in AAA, gave up a hit in 1.1 scoreless innings while striking out 2. Since his demotion, he’s allowed just 3 baserunners in 3.2 shutout innings with 8 strikeouts. That works!

Cumming was lights out in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk but getting all 5 outs by way of strikes. He only has a 4.58 ERA this year, in large part because he’s walked 10 batters in 17.2 innings, but he has a 3.63 FIP and 21 strikeouts. And Harris? Well, just another dominant day at the office, as he gave up 2 hits in 2 scoreless innings, and struck out 5 batters. Harris, who has a 1.80 ERA and a 1.81 FIP, upped his dreamy strikeout-to-walk ratio to 23-to-3 in just 15 innings.

My goodness! He’s also allowed no earned runs in 11 of his 12 appearances this season. Gotta think he’ll be ticketed for Sacramento at some point this year.

High-A Eugene (24-23)

Eugene Emeralds lost to the Tri-City Dust Devils (Angels) 5-1
Box score

Not a lot in this game, either. First baseman Charlie Szykowny (No. 43 CPL) provided all the offense, with the lefty hitting 1-4 with a strikeout but smashing a solo home run.

The 2023 9th-round pick hasn’t quite been able to build on last year’s strong campaign, as he has just a .667 OPS and an 86 wRC+. But swings like that one are a reminder as to what he’s capable of.

Another strong day for right fielder James Tibbs III (No. 3 CPL), who has been on fire lately. Tibbs was an on-base machine in this game, hitting 1-2 and drawing 2 walks. That raised his OPS to .841 and his wRC+ to 135, and last year’s 1st-round pick now has drawn 33 walks while striking out just 31 times. Isn’t that a delight!

Really nothing doing on the pitching front. RHPs Tyler Vogel and Elijah Pleasants both had scoreless outings out of the bullpen, though neither had particularly notable numbers.

Low-A San Jose (27-20)

San Jose Giants beat the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels) 3-1
Box score

The most exciting news in San Jose was that shortstop Maui Ahuna (No. 23 CPL) made his return to A-Ball. Ahuna, the team’s 4th-round pick in 2023 only played 34 games in his debut season last year, and was limited to DH in most of them due to injury. He began this year injured, and recently started rehabbing in the Complex League, where he was mostly DHing.

But on Wednesday he returned to A-Ball, and and also played shortstop. How wonderful that is to see!

Ahuna also played quite well, hitting 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout, while stealing 2 bases. Welcome back, Maui!

His return creates an interesting question at the shortstop position, where he is a tremendous defensive player. With Ahuna out, Walker Martin (No. 14 CPL) was getting the bulk of the reps at shortstop. But now that Ahuna is healthy and playing the field, that’s likely to change.

So what do the Giants do? Scouts have been saying that Martin, the team’s 2nd-round pick in 2023, isn’t a shortstop long term, so maybe the Giants begin the transition to a new position (likely third base). Maybe the two split time between shortstop and designated hitter. Or maybe Martin gets bumped up to High-A sometime soon.

Speaking of which, Martin DH’d in this game and had another strong day, hitting 2-4 with 2 doubles and a strikeout. He still has just a .226 batting average and a 30.2% strikeout rate, plus 10 errors, which might keep him from that aforementioned promotion. But half of his hits this year have gone for extra bases, leading to a .776 OPS and a 105 wRC+.

But the game was won on the mound, where it was a 2-headed monster for the Baby Giants. Kicking things off was RHP Niko Mazza, who was effectively wild. Mazza needed 80 pitches to get through 4 innings, and only half of them were strikes, as he walked 4 and hit 2, while only striking out 3. But he only allowed 3 hits and 1 run, and run prevention is the name of the game. Last year’s 8th-round pick has a brilliant 2.30 ERA on the season, though his 4.20 FIP offers a cautious reminder that he’s walking a whole lot of batters.

The piggybacking starter — and reigning California League Pitcher of the Week — was utterly dominant, as LHP Charlie McDaniel could not be touched. The undrafted free agent, who is in his debut season, was superb on Wednesday, striking out 7 batters over 5 shutout innings. He also gave up less than a baserunner per inning (3 hits and 1 walk), needed just 63 pitches, and threw 40 of them for strikes.

If you want to see a sign of someone putting the pieces together in their 2nd month in the pros, look no further than McDaniel:

4 April appearances: 15.1 innings, 17 hits, 5 walks, 11 runs, 6 earned runs, 12 strikeouts
4 May appearances: 18.1 innings, 12 hits, 4 walks, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 21 strikeouts

Now that is awesome to see.

Arizona Complex League (12-7)

ACL Giants beat the ACL Rockies 7-4 (7 innings)
Box score

A very, very excellent game from second baseman Dario Reynoso (20 years, 2023 IFA), who has been spectacular to start the year. The right-handed hitter had himself A Game, hitting 3-4 with both a home run and a double, while also stealing a base (the bad: a strikeout, a caught stealing, and an error). After a mediocre year in his stateside debut in 2024, Reynoso has been tearing the stitches off of the ball this season, with power, walks, and average: he’s slashing .381/.480/.643, good for a 1.123 OPS and a 189 wRC+. Yep, that works! That said, we’ll probably need to see the 32.0% strikeout rate come down before Reynoso starts looking at apartments in San Jose.

Nothing much else on offense. AAA designated hitter Victor Bericoto (No. 24 CPL) continued his rehab but was quiet in this game, hitting 0-3 and striking out twice, though he added a sacrifice fly.

Some really nice pitching. RHP Keyner Martinez (20 years, 2023 IFA) had a strong start, giving up 2 hits and 1 walk in 3 shutout innings, while striking out 3 batters. He’s really impressed to start the year, with a stunning 19 strikeouts against just 3 walks in 12.2 innings, and a 2.13 ERA and 3.34 FIP.

But the star on the mound was RHP Jose Bello (No. 44 CPL, 20 years, 2023 IFA). Bello has been living up to the hype in a big way this year, and Wednesday was another sign of it. He faced 4 batters while earning the save, and none of them put the ball in play, as he issued 1 walk while striking out the side. Bello now has an almost comical 17 strikeouts in 10 innings, with just 2 walks. And he’s also only given up 5 hits and an unearned run during that span.

He sure seems like the real deal.

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Home run tracker

AA Bryce Eldridge (6)
High-A Charlie Szykowny (4)
ACL Dario Reynoso (1)

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Thursday schedule

Sacramento: vs. El Paso, 6:45 p.m. PT (SP: Carson Ragsdale)
Richmond: vs. Harrisburg, 3:35 p.m. PT (SP: John Michael Bertrand)
Eugene: at Tri-City, 6:30 p.m. PT (SP: Brayan Palencia)
San Jose: vs. Inland Empire, 1:00 p.m. PT (SP: Jacob Bresnahan)