Minor League roundup, 7/23: Bryce Eldridge walks it off in style

Yesterday on the farm.

Just four games for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates on Wednesday, as their Arizona Complex League and Dominican Summer League teams had the day’s off. But much excitement was present nonetheless!

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.

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News

Low-A San Jose outfielder Jose Ortiz (No. 22 CPL), who had recently started a rehab assignment in the ACL, has been activated off the Injured List. It will be great to see him out there again.

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AAA Sacramento (49-49)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Las Vegas Aces (A’s) 3-2
Box score

Some excitement came to Sacramento on Wednesday night, in the form of the most exciting play in baseball from the most exciting player on the farm: yep, a walk-off home run from first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL).

Eldridge homered for the 2nd consecutive day, and it salvaged what had been a poor game (0-3 with 2 strikeouts) to that point. But no one will remember your earlier at-bats when you take the field with a tied game in the 9th inning and launch a no-doubter deep into the Sacramento air.

Lord, what a swing!

Eldridge is definitely putting the pieces together. Over his last 10 AAA games, the 2023 1st-rounder has hit 12-36 with 3 home runs, 4 doubles, and 3 walks. Pretty darn good! I’d say we’re still a ways away from him getting called up, but if he keeps putting up numbers like these, the talks will intensify…

The other nice offensive day belonged to second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald, who had his best day since being optioned, hitting 2-4 with a solo home run to open the game, and knocking in 2 of the team’s 3 runs. It sure would be great to see him start to figure some things out after his difficult start to the year.

Uninteresting performances from the 40-man position players: center fielder Grant McCray and designated hitter Jerar Encarnación both hit 0-3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts, with McCray also getting caught stealing; right fielder Daniel Johnson and left fielder Marco Luciano both went 0-3.

A fantastic outing on the mound for the starter, RHP Mason Black (No. 7 CPL). The audition to start Sunday’s game for the Giants is coming in too late, but it would have been a helluva audition, as he threw 6 shutout innings, ceding just 4 hits and 0 walks while striking out 5 batters, and throwing just 71 pitches. What an impressive performance!

Black’s season has been pretty tough — he has a 4.45 ERA, a 5.25 FIP, just 8.8 strikeouts per 9 and 4.8 walks per 9 — but his story is far from finished. Here’s to more games like this one.

AA Richmond (34-56)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Portland Sea Dogs (Red Sox) 6-5 (10 innings)
Box score

Not a very interesting game for Richmond, as is their custom. But my goodness, the hits just keep coming for third baseman Sabin Ceballos (No. 18 CPL), who is finding his stride in a huge way. The young righty had a nearly perfect day, hitting 3-3 with a double and a walk, though he committed an error (I’d say defense is the last thing to worry about with him, though). Funnily enough, his hitting line is the exact same one that he put up the day before, too! He also left the game late, but hopefully that was just to facilitate playing time for others, as Richmond does that a bit.

It’s been a rough season for Ceballos since a standout spring, though you wouldn’t know it based on his July. Since July 3, Ceballos has hit 17-51 with 2 home runs, 4 doubles, 10 walks, and just 7 strikeouts. After just a .415 OPS in June, he’s sported a .924 OPS this month, and looks much more like the player the Giants were stoked to acquire in the Jorge Soler trade. He’s inching nearer to league average, with a .605 OPS and an 87 wRC+.

Also a nice day for right fielder Carter Howell, who hit 2-4 with a hit by pitch and 2 strikeouts, and center fielder Turner Hill, who went 1-3 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout. Howell has a .607 OPS and an 84 wRC+, while Hill has a .738 OPS and a 123 wRC+.

Nothing much for the newbies to the level. Left fielder Scott Bandura went 0-5 with a strikeout, while Bo Davidson (No. 11 CPL) struck out in a pinch-hit appearance.

On the mound, it was another outing with poor command for LHP Joe Whitman (No. 9 CPL), whose up-and-down season continues. Whitman struggled to find the zone, throwing just 38 of 72 pitches for strikes, which led to 3 walks in just 3.2 innings. On the good side of things, though, he only gave up 2 hits, though 1 was a home run. In all, he got tagged for 3 earned runs while striking out 4 batters.

On the one hand, Whitman’s ERA has ballooned all the way up to 5.26 in a pitcher-friendly league — it’s the 5th-highest ERA among the 50 Eastern League pitchers with at least 50 innings thrown this year. And his ERA has been accompanied by his worst groundball rate, by a large margin. On the other hand, his walk rate has been better than the lack of strikes would suggest, and he’s getting a modest amount of strikeouts, which has led to a much-better 3.85 FIP — 25th out of those 50 pitchers.

Arguably the biggest concern with Whitman right now is that he just doesn’t seem to have a kill pitch, in part because his velocity has dropped off. There are 88 pitchers in the Giants farm system who have thrown at least 20 innings this year, and Whitman’s swinging strike rate (11.4%) ranks just 55th. That’s not a death sentence (it’s higher than a handful of players who are on the 40-man roster), but it definitely makes a path to success harder for Whitman, especially with a low groundball rate (he’s 72nd among those 88 pitchers at 38.6%). A funny profile.

Speaking of funny profiles, in very different ways, the player who replaced Whitman was RHP Will Bednar (No. 42 CPL). Bednar thankfully had one of his best games of the year, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings with just 1 hit and 1 walk allowed, while striking out 5 batters. Bednar, who, if you’re new to prospecting, was the team’s 1st-round pick in 2021 (and the brother of Pirates All-Star closer David Bednar) is having a wild ride of a season. He’s striking out a staggering 14.5 batters per 9 innings, which is 2nd among those aforementioned 88 pitchers in the system. He’s also walking 7.8 per 9 innings, which is 6th-highest. He’s faced 151 batters this year and a truly hilarious 80 of those batters have failed to put the ball in play, either striking out, walking, or getting hit by a pitch. Because of the high strikeout rate, opposing batters are hitting just .240 against Bednar, despite his comical .408 BABIP, which is 3rd-highest amongst those pitchers. The result is a discrepancy for the ages: a 6.39 ERA and a 2.93 FIP.

High-A Eugene (52-39)

Eugene Emeralds beat the Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays) 4-1
Box score

A fantastic pitching performance for the Emeralds, led by one of their newest arms. LHP Greg Farone made the start, with the 2024 7th-rounder pitching for the 4th time since a recent promotion. It was his best start at the new level, as he tossed 4 shutout innings while allowing just 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 hit batter, and striking out 5. What a performance! Farone had really been struggling — not just in Eugene, but in San Jose, too — ever since a brilliant 5-game outing to start the season. The 6’6 23-year old is a highly intriguing arm though, so hopefully he can find some good rhythm before his debut season is up.

Following Farone was RHP Brayan Palencia, who allowed 2 hits in 2 shutout innings. It hasn’t been the cleanest year for Palencia, who has a 4.68 ERA, a 5.12 FIP, and just 29 strikeouts in 42.1 innings. But this was his 4th consecutive scoreless outing, so it seems like he’s trending in the right direction.

RHP Ben Peterson, a UDFA in his debut season, finished things off with a hot-and-cold outing. Peterson, appearing in his 9th game since getting promoted, gave up 3 hits, a hit batter, and a run in just 2 innings, but also struck out 4 batters. He had been struggling with strikeouts since the promotion, so nice to see a quartet of them … and he still hasn’t walked a batter in High-A!

It was a day that ends in “Y,” so you know it was a great day for catcher Drew Cavanaugh, who hit 3-5 with a double and 2 strikeouts. All he’s done this year is hit, hit, and hit some more (while also playing some nice defense). It was Cavanaugh’s 3rd consecutive game with at least 3 hits, and it bumped his OPS all the way up to 1.143 and his wRC+ to 206. Whatever his offseason regiment was, I would like to try it! My goodness!

Left fielder Quinn McDaniel hit 2-3 with a walk and a strikeout, while center fielder Jonah Cox (No. 26 CPL), second baseman Zane Zielinsi, and designated hitter Dayson Croes all hit 1-3 with a walk. McDaniel has a .698 OPS and a 93 wRC+; Cox also had a stolen base and a strikeout, and now has a .726 OPS and a 99 wRC+, with 39 stolen bases in 45 attempts; Zielinski had a stolen base and was caught stealing, and saw his OPS move to .623 and his wRC+ to 81, with 25 stolen bases in 31 attempts in his debut season; and Croes added a double and a strikeout, bumping his OPS to .858 and his wRC+ to 137 in his 1st season.

Low-A San Jose (60-32)

San Jose Giants beat the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels) 9-6
Box score

Holy smokes what a baseball game! If good performances are what you’re craving, then I do believe you have arrived at the right place. I hope it was worth the wait of wading through the preceding 1,700 words.

There were many stars, but the brightest was shortstop Jean Carlos Sio, who had one of the best games of any Giants prospect this year. Sio went a brilliant 4-6, bopping a single, smacking a double, hitting a triple, and bashing a 3-run home run, giving the recently-turned 21-year old the coveted cycle. That’s a day the lefty won’t soon forget!

Speaking of forgetting, some have done exactly that with Sio, but forget him at your own peril! He’s up to a .793 OPS and a 123 wRC+ on the year, while playing the middle of the infield (and some outfield), stealing 13 bases, and posting a tiny 13.1% strikeout rate. There’s not a lot of power in his game (though you wouldn’t know it from Wednesday’s hit, which weren’t cheap), but there’s a lot of everything else!

He wasn’t the only player with a 4-hit, 3 extra-base hit day, though, as center fielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 17 CPL) absolutely showed out, hitting 4-6 with 3 doubles, a stolen base, and an outfield assist (though he also had an error).

Diaz entered the year with tons of hype, but had a hard time living up to it in the early going. He’s been making up for it in a big way lately, though: since June 26, the righty is 33-96 with 5 home runs, 10 doubles, and 3 walks. That hot streak has brought the Cuban, who turned 20 over the weekend, up to a .717 OPS and a 94 wRC+, with 16 stolen bases in 19 attempts, and a 19.9% strikeout rate. Moving strongly in the right direction.

Sio hit leadoff and Diaz 3rd, and the man in the middle had a damn fine game too, as third baseman Walker Martin (No. 14 CPL) hit 2-5 with a walk, 2 stolen bases, and a strikeout. Don’t look now, but Martin’s batting average — which was hovering around the Mendoza Line for most of the year — is up to .246, while his strikeout rate is down to 27.2% (still a high number for a 2nd-round pick repeating Low-A, but much better than last year’s catastrophic 46.3%).

Other good days abounded. Catcher Nomar Diaz, the team’s 14th-round pick in 2022, hasn’t had a lot of playing time or a lot of success, but on Wednesday hit 1-4 with a home run, a walk, and a strikeout. Great to see him have a good day at the plate. Right fielder Ryan Reckley (No. 35 CPL), who continues to look much better following a reset in the ACL (and a position change), hit 2-5 with a triple, though he also struck out 3 times.

The pitching was poor, with the exception of RHP Evan Gray, who handled the 9th and retired all 3 batters he faced, with 1 strikeout. Gray, the team’s 15th-round pick last year who is in his debut season, is up to 48 strikeouts in 35.2 innings, though he also has 22 walks and a 4.04 ERA.

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Home run tracker

AAA Bryce Eldridge (12) [5 in AAA, 7 in AA]
AAA Tyler Fitzgerald (4) [3 in MLB, 1 in AAA]
Low-A Jean Carlos Sio (4)
Low-A Nomar Diaz (2)