Minor League roundup, August 29: Bryce Eldridge is hitting his way out of High-A

Yesterday’s action on the farm.

All four of the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball A-Ball affiliates were in action on Thursday, and we were even treated to five games between those four teams! Let’s dive into the action.

Link to the 2024 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

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

---

News

A lot of small bits of news to get to. Most noteworthy, though, is that outfielder Dakota Jordan has been assigned to Low-A San Jose. Jordan, the Giants 4th-round pick in July (who was graded more as a late-1st/early-2nd pick), has about as much power potential as you’ll find in baseball, and tremendous speed as well. He also has an absurd amount of strikeouts in his game, so it’ll be interesting to see what he does in San Jose after not getting a chance to play in any of the official ACL games. Lord knows if he strikes out a bunch he won’t be the only exciting Giants prospect to do so!

Joining him with the San Jose assignment is outfielder Jakob Christian, the organization’s 5th-round pick, and catcher Juan Perez, a 2022 international signing who played in the ACL this year. Perez takes the spot of catcher Jack Payton, who was moved up to High-A Eugene. Joining Payton in Eugene is RHP Mikell Manzano, who moves up from the ACL, and LHP Hayden Wynja, who was activated off the IL.

Sadly, the ultra-hot Bo Davidson, who hasn’t played in a while, was officially placed on the IL for San Jose. Heal up, Bo!

The DSL season is over, but a little nice news to come out of there. First baseman/catcher Jesus Alexander was rewarded for his phenomenal season by being named a DSL All-Star, while Juan Ciriaco has been named Manager of the Year after leading the DSL Giants Black team to the best record in the league. Congrats to both!

---

AAA Sacramento (69-60)

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

Whiz is fully back! Taking the mound to start the game for the River Cats was LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 4 CPL), who made his 2nd appearance for Sacramento since a stint on the IL (and a rehab stint in San Jose). While Whisenhunt’s return last week marked that he was “back,” his performance in this game marked that he’s back.

It was a swell day for the 2022 2nd-round pick, who struck out 6 batters in 4.2 innings, while allowing just 5 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run. He did a pretty good job living in the strike zone, throwing 53 of 77 pitches for strikes, and didn’t give up any home runs to an Aviators team that’s stacked with players who have MLB experience.

While some people went into the season thinking Whisenhunt making his MLB debut was inevitable — understandable given his high prospect status and the fact that he began the year in AAA — I feel the need to remind everyone that it isn’t a disappointment that he didn’t (and almost surely won’t). Just because he got moved extremely quickly early in his career doesn’t mean he’s behind schedule for spending a fairly standard amount of time in AAA! I think it’s safe to say that, health permitting, we should expect Whiz to debut in 2025. If he doesn’t, then we can talk about disappointments.

RHP Clay Helvey had a dominant relief outing, giving up 2 hits in 2 shutout innings with 4 strikeouts, and throwing 18 of 23 pitches for strikes. Helvey had really been struggling in August, so very nice to see that performance from him.

Only 1 player had a notable offensive day: second baseman Donovan Walton, who hit 2-3 with a triple, a double, and a hit by pitch. Walton has had a decent enough season, with an .809 OPS, a 102 wRC+, and just a 12.0% strikeout rate, but he’s very much just emergency depth at this point for an organization that has a lot of young and intriguing infielders on the 40-man roster.

Speaking of players on the 40-man roster, here’s their Thursday roundup: center fielder Brett Wisely went 0-3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts; left fielder Wade Meckler (No. 11 CPL) went 0-4 with a strikeout; designated hitter David Villar went 0-3 with a walk and a strikeout; shortstop Marco Luciano (No. 2 CPL) went 1-4 with 2 strikeouts; catcher Blake Sabol went 1-3 with a walk; and outfielder Luis Matos didn’t play. Luciano also made a nice defensive play, which was great to see.

AA Richmond (55-67)

Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Erie SeaWolves (Tigers) 8-7
Box score

After scoring just 1 run in each of their 1st 2 games to start the series, the Squirrels finally broke through with some offense.

It was a very balanced attack, with 6 different batters having multi-hit games. None shined more brightly than the leadoff hitter, left fielder Ismael Munguia (No. 35 CPL), who hit 2-4 with a walk and a home run to open the game.

Just as he did when he opened the season with a fantastic Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, Munguia is ending the year strong. He’s up to an .817 OPS and a 137 wRC+, with a sensational 7.3% strikeout rate. That’s certainly good enough that we should expect him to start 2025 in AAA, where he began this year (presuming he’s re-signed).

A quick run-through of the other multi-hit days, because why not: right fielder Carter Howell hit 3-5 to push his OPS to .760 and his wRC+ to 119; first baseman Matt Higgins hit 2-5 with a double and a strikeout, rising his OPS to .679 and his wRC+ to 101 following a promotion; second baseman/shortstop Diego Velasquez (No. 21 CPL) hit 2-5 with a strikeout, and now has a .714 OPS and a 108 wRC+ in 30 games since getting promoted; catcher Zach Morgan hit 2-5 with a stolen base and 3 strikeouts, moving his OPS to .663 and his wRC+ to 89 in his 14 games with the Squirrels; and designated hitter Andrew Kachel hit 2-3 with a walk, and now has a .693 OPS and a 105 wRC+ in a brief Richmond stint.

On the mound, it was another struggle with command for LHP Jack Choate (No. 31 CPL). Choate has been finding the move up from High-A to AA a challenge, which shouldn’t be shocking or concerning. He pitched 4.2 innings in this one, with 4 hits, 2 walks, 3 hit batters, and 5 runs, while striking out 5. After sporting just a 2.90 ERA in 19 games with Eugene, Choate is sitting on a bloated 6.97 ERA in 5 games with Richmond, and the command has been doing him in: he had just 19 walks and 7 hit batters in 77.2 High-A innings, but already has 14 walks and 7 hit batters in a mere 20.2 AA innings.

Again: these bumps are very normal when moving up a level! Hopefully Choate can find a little rhythm to take into the offseason in his final starts.

Scoreless relief outings for RHPs Julio Rodriguez (2 hits and 2 strikeouts in 1.1 innings) and Will Bednar (1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout in 1 inning). It was Bednar’s 2nd consecutive scoreless appearance, after 6 straight games allowing runs. Hopefully he ends the season on a high note, as Richmond has really stymied him to this point after an encouraging start to the season.

High-A Eugene (56-67)

Eugene Emeralds split a 7-inning doubleheader with the Everett AquaSox (Mariners), winning 5-3 and losing 7-5
Game 1 box score
Game 2 box score

It seems like every day I gush more and more about Bryce Eldridge (No. 3 CPL), who really is performing at a specularly rare level given his age and how hard to come by special hitters have been in this system.

It’s hard to imagine a better game than the one he had to open the doubleheader when, playing first base, he hit a perfect 3-3 …. with 2 home runs and a double.

Eldridge played DH in the 2nd game and went ice cold …. relatively speaking, that is. In his case, “ice cold,” means going 1-3 with a double and a walk. When your worst days are someone’s best days, you know you’re doing something special.

And special it indeed is. Eldridge now has 8 hits through the 1st 4 games of the series, and all 8 of them have been extra-base hits!!! That’s 4 homers and 4 doubles in 4 games, with half of those games being shortened. We’re watching something outrageous, folks, and I’m starting to run out of words for it.

So I’ll just update the tracker that I’ve posted for a few days in a row now. Eldridge has hit safely in 21 out of his last 24 games, and in that span has gone a blistering 40-108 with 10 home runs, 1 triple, 10 doubles, 21 walks, and 29 strikeouts. I mean … come on.

With a 1.042 OPS, a 184 wRC+, and 206 plate appearances (he was promoted from San Jose after 229), we’re officially to the point where every game that he plays in Eugene rather than Richmond is something of a surprise.

Needless to say, Eldridge had the best day for the Emeralds, but third baseman Sabin Ceballos wasn’t too far behind. Ceballos shined in both games, hitting a combined 4-7 with a home run and 2 doubles.

The 2023 3rd-round pick has been lights out since joining the system in the Jorge Soler trade, as he has an .892 OPS and a 144 wRC+ with the Emeralds. Most impressive is how much his power has leaped since joining the organization, as his isolated slugging was just .095 with Atlanta’s High-A affiliate this year … but is .227 with the Emeralds. He already has as many home runs (4) in 103 plate appearances in the Giants organization as he did during his entire Braves tenure, in 427 plate appearances. It’s always fun to see some instant excitement from a player you get in a trade!

Shortstop Aeverson Arteaga (No. 14 CPL) is slowly starting to shake the rust off after missing Spring Training and the start of the year. His return to Eugene had been very quiet, but he’s slowly been trending in the right direction, and on Thursday hit 2-6 with a double, a walk, a stolen base, and a strikeout. He also thankfully seems to be fully healthy, as he’s not only playing every day, but played in the field for both games in this doubleheader.

Even if Arteaga catches fire, it seems likely that the Giants will let him keep finding his rhythm in Eugene — where he spent all of 2023 — until the season ends, and then send him to the AFL. I’d assume he starts 2025 in AA, and I’m excited to watch him there with a fully healthy season.

More struggles for right fielder James Tibbs III as he tries to adapt to an aggressive assignment with High-A. He hit 0-5 with a walk and a strikeout, bringing his Eugene numbers to 1-31 with 5 walks and 13 strikeouts. Can’t fault a player for needing time to figure out High-A after 0 official games in the ACL and just 9 in Low-A.

A very quiet day of pitching. RHP Manuel Mercedes (No. 37 CPL) got the Game 1 start and allowed just 6 baserunners in 5 innings with 5 strikeouts, but did get tagged for 3 runs. Mercedes is still rocking a sky-high groundball rate of 56.5%, and he’s bumped his strikeout rate (never a strength of his) up a little over last year, but he’s struggled a bit with the adjustment to Eugene, where he has a 5.17 ERA and a 5.04 FIP, after those numbers were 3.64 and 4.26, respectively, in San Jose last year. Most notably, after giving up a dinger in this game, he’s allowed 12 home runs … after just 2 all of last season, in a similar number of innings pitched.

RHP Trent Harris was dominant in relief, striking out 4 batters in 2 shutout innings, with just 1 hit allowed. Harris has only given up earned runs in 1 of his last 13 outings (though he gave up 4 earnies in that outing), and in his last 6 games has pitched 14.1 innings and given up just 8 hits, 1 walk, and 0 runs, with 19 strikeouts. The undrafted 2023 signing has a 1.98 ERA and a 2.90 FIP with Eugene, and has turned into one of the best relief prospects in the system.

Low-A San Jose (70-52)

San Jose Giants lost to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Dodgers) 9-1
Box score

A rough game, but don’t blame RHP Josh Bostick. He was absolutely sensational in 5 innings of work, giving up just 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 unearned run, while striking out 7 batters. Bostick, the team’s 8th-round pick a year ago, had run into something of a rookie wall in late-July and early-mid-August, but he’s blown right past it the past week. This was his 2nd consecutive 5-inning, 0-earned run start, and during that time he has 13 strikeouts against just 6 baserunners.

Bostick has some of the best pure stuff in the system, and is ending the year on the right foot. He could be setting himself up for a monster 2025.

Unfortunately it all came apart in a hurry after that. RHP Ian Villers took over for the 6th inning and only recorded 2 outs … while getting tattoed for 7 runs. Ouch.

But things ended on a high note again. RHP Marques Johnson made his 4th appearance of the year (and 3rd with San Jose) following a very lengthy injury absence, and he struck out 2 batters in a scoreless inning, while giving up just a walk. The Baby Giants then turned to position player Elian Rayo to handle the 9th, and handle it he did: he allowed a pair of hits, but didn’t let any runs score.

It was a very meek offensive day. If you want to squint for things to be excited about, shortstop Walker Martin (No. 7 CPL) hit 0-2 with 2 walks and 0 strikeouts. After going 14 consecutive games with at least 2 strikeouts, Martin has now avoided Ks in back-to-back outings. Small progress is still progress!

The other Baby Giant to reach base twice was designated hitter Jeremiah Jenkins, the team’s 14th-round pick in July’s draft, who went 2-4 with a strikeout.

Jenkins has had a nice brief start to his career: in 4 games, he’s 5-16 with a home run, a double, and a walk, albeit with 6 strikeouts.

---

Home run tracker

AA Ismael Munguia (5 total, 3 in AA)
High-A Bryce Eldridge, 2 (21 total, 11 in High-A)
High-A Sabin Ceballos (7)

---

Friday schedule

Sacramento: vs. Las Vegas, 6:45 p.m. PT
Richmond: at Erie, 3:05 p.m. PT
Eugene: vs. Everett, 6:35 p.m. PT
San Jose: vs. Rancho Cucamonga, 7:00 p.m. PT

Reminder that Minor League games can be watched on MLB TV.