Minor League roundup, 6/4: Bryce Eldridge is fitting in

Yesterday’s action on the farm.

Just four games for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates on Wednesday, as the Arizona Complex League and Dominican Summer League teams all had the day off.

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

A few minor bits of news. With Andrew Knizner getting called up to the Majors, AAA Sacramento was shy on catchers, so Low-A San Jose backstop Fernando Gonzalez — a 2024 draftee in his debut season — has been moved to the River Cats for a little extra depth until they get something figured out there. Sacramento also activated LHP Helcris Olivárez off the 7-Day IL.

The most interesting bit of news is that RHP Jose T Perez was promoted from the DSL to the ACL, a promotion you rarely see in-season. Perez was a 2021 signee, but didn’t pitch in 2022, 2023, or 2024 due to injury. He appeared in 1 DSL game this year and dominated, and then was sent to Arizona. That’s exciting!

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AAA Sacramento (28-31)

Sacramento River Cats lost to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros) 4-2
Box score

The big story for Sacramento was that first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL) was making his 2025 AAA debut. In many ways, it felt like his 1st AAA game, given the nature of his late 2024 promotion. This time he was up because he earned it, and the next stop is, without question, 24 Willie Mays Plaza.

Eldridge handled the assignment very comfortably. His 1st at-bat was a 9-pitch battle that resulted in a walk. His 2nd at-bat was a 7-pitch battle that ended in a walk. He grounded out in his 3rd at-bat, then lined a single into right field on his 4th and final at-bat, all while playing solid, mistake-free defense.

That’s a pretty good day!

Otherwise, it was unexciting offense for the River Cats. The 40-man players struggled, with designated hitter Wade Meckler (No. 13 CPL) hitting 0-3 with a walk and a strikeout, center fielder Grant McCray hitting 0-3 with a walk, 2 strikeouts, and a stolen base, third baseman Brett Wisely hitting 1-4 with 2 strikeouts, and left fielder Marco Luciano hitting 0-4 with 2 strikeouts. Outfielder Luis Matos has yet to make his season debut with Sacramento after getting optioned on Monday.

RHP Carson Ragsdale (No. 19 CPL) had another very tough outing, as he continues to struggle to find the strike zone. He threw just 22 of his 53 pitches for strikes in this one, which will never get the job done. That resulted in 5 walks in just 2.1 innings, though he only allowed 1 hit and 1 run, while striking out 2. It was a bummer of a regression from Ragsdale, who had been much better in May at avoiding walks, after having more of them than strikeouts in April. He now has 20 walks in 28 innings, which is certainly keeping him off the MLB radar for the time being.

But RHP Juan Mercedes piggy-backed and was fantastic, tossing 4.2 shutout innings and allowing just 1 baserunner, a single. while striking out 4. It’s been a very tough season for the 25-year old so far, so great to see him have a dominant outing.

RHP Trent Harris (No. 24 CPL) made his AAA debut and found out the hard way that the hitters are better than in AA. Harris, who only gave up runs in 1 of his 13 AA appearances this year, was given the 8th inning but couldn’t make his way out of it, giving up 2 hits, 1 walk, and 3 earned runs, while recording just 2 outs.

AA Richmond (15-38)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Erie SeaWolves (Tigers) 7-6
Box score

A bit of a chaotic game, as the Squirrels came from behind in the 9th inning to take the lead, then blew that lead and got walked off in the bottom half of the inning.

Despite scoring just 6 runs, it was a dinger fest for Richmond, as they bopped 4 balls over the fence. Impressive!

The big one came off the bat of right fielder Thomas Gavello. The 23-year old lefty entered the game as a pinch-runner for center fielder Carter Howell and, in his only at-bat, smashed a 2-run bomb with Richmond trailing 5-4 with 2 outs in the 9th inning. Incredible!

The 2022 13th-round pick wasn’t hitting particularly well in High-A when he was promoted a few weeks ago, but has been dominant through 15 games with the Squirrels, where he has a .991 OPS and a 185 wRC+.

Speaking of Howell, he hit a solo home run in the 1st inning as part of a 2-4 day, in his 2nd game since returning from the IL. Hopefully Howell is okay, as he’s not someone who should need to be pinch-run for. Perhaps his injury flared up again.

But the most exciting performance belonged to right fielder Jairo Pomares (No. 41 CPL), who hit 2-3 with a home run, a double, and a walk. The lefty, once considered one of the top prospects in the system, had an excellent start to the season, but then went ice cold. Lately he’s been breaking out of his slump though, as he’s gone 8-16 over his last 5 games, with 3 extra-base hits and 3 walks, with only 2 strikeouts. Hopefully this is the start of a take off!

Rounding out the home run party was designated hitter Cal Mitchell, who finished the day 1-4 with 2 strikeouts. Mitchell hasn’t been having a very strong season since being recently signed by the Giants, but every homer helps!

A pretty poor pitching performance. LHP John Michael Bertrand didn’t have his best stuff, though he went deep in the game, giving up 7 baserunners and 3 runs in 5.2 innings, with 3 strikeouts. He has a 3.88 ERA and a 4.69 FIP, and while that former number is still nice, it’s a little hard to see how he’ll have success in AAA — let alone the Majors — without a better kill pitch. On the year the 2022 10th-round pick has just 34 strikeouts in 55.2 innings.

RHPs Tyler Myrick and Michael Stryffeler both got rocked, while LHP Raymond Burgos managed to allow 4 baserunners in just 1 inning, but technically kept earned runs off the board since some of them occurred after inheriting a Bertrand mess.

High-A Eugene (26-27)

Eugene Emeralds lost to the Everett AquaSox (Mariners) 6-1
Box score

Not a good game. Eugene had basically no offense, with just 4 hits and 1 walk on the day. Designated hitter Scott Bandura provided what little offense the team did have, going 1-3 with a strikeout but bashing a solo home run for the team’s only scoring. Bandura now has an .850 OPS and a 138 wRC+ on the year, so it’s been a strong 2025 for the lefty.

The pitching wasn’t good either, but it was another great outing in relief from RHP Sadrac Franco, who pitched 1.2 perfect innings with 2 strikeouts. Franco now has a 1.45 ERA and a 2.59 FIP, and has only allowed runs in 2 of his 13 appearances this year. RHP Liam Simon also had a nice game as he starts to work off the rust after a lengthy injury absence, as he allowed just a walk in a scoreless inning, with a strikeout.

Low-A San Jose (32-21)

San Jose Giants beat the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Dodgers) 8-3
Box score

The pitching starred in this one, with RHP Niko Mazza getting the start and leading the way. Mazza gave up just 2 hits (both singles) and a walk in 5 shutout innings, while striking out 5 batters. It’s been a super impressive debut season for last year’s 8th-round pick, as he has 1.98 ERA and a 3.94 FIP. He’s starting to go a little deeper in games, as this was his 2nd start where he went 5 innings.

And RHP Ryan Slater brought it home with a perfect 9th inning that featured 2 strikeouts. Slater, taken in the 18th round a year ago, now has a glistening 21-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 24.2 innings. That’s led to a 1.46 ERA and a 2.96 FIP.

Some nice offensive performances. Right fielder Carlos Gutierrez continues to show that he should be considered one of the organization’s better prospects, as he went 2-4 with 2 walks and a stolen base. Gutierrez, if you’re unfamiliar with his story, played 22 games in the DSL in 2023, and was limited to just 3 games in the ACL last year yet, despite being just 20, drew an opening assignment with San Jose this year.

And, among the 55 qualified hitters in the California League, the lefty is 1st in batting average (.344), 3rd in on-base percentage (.443), 5th in slugging percentage (.452), 20th in walk rate (13.1%), 3rd in strikeout rate (14.5%), 4th in OPS (.895), 4th in wRC+ (152), and 6th in stolen bases (21). What a season!

Catcher Drew Cavanaugh and second baseman Jose Ramos had identical games, each hitting 1-2 with 2 walks and a hit by pitch. Reaching base 4 times is always a nice game, and for Cavanaugh it continued a stellar breakout season.

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Home run tracker

AA Jairo Pomares (6)
AA Carter Howell (4)
AA Thomas Gavello (4 total, 2 in AA)
AA Cal Mitchell (3)
High-A Scott Bandura (4)

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Thursday schedule

Sacramento: at Sugar Land, 5:05 p.m. PT (SP: Carson Whisenhunt)
Richmond: at Erie, 3:05 p.m. PT (SP: Manuel Mercedes)
Eugene: vs. Everett, 6:35 p.m. PT (SP: Shane Rademacher)
San Jose: at Rancho Cucamonga, 6:30 p.m. PT (SP: Jacob Bresnahan)