Weekend Minor League roundup, 4/18-20: Victor Bericoto promoted, Carson Whisenhunt dazzles

The weekend action on the farm.

It might have been a painful weekend for the San Francisco Giants but, down on the farm, excitement was abounding. We’re only a few weeks away from the start of the Arizona Complex League season but, until then, a massive collection of weekend games in A-Ball will have to suffice.

Here’s everything that happened on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates.

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

Some big news came down over the weekend, as outfielder/first baseman Victor Bericoto (No. 24 CPL) was promoted from AA Richmond to AAA Sacramento. It was a need-based promotion, but one that Bericoto earned as well. When David Villar had his contract purchased and returned to San Francisco, the River Cats were in need of another first baseman, and Bericoto, a 23-year old right-handed slugger, was the obvious choice.

Bericoto, who was a 2018 international signing out of Venezuela, had been in Richmond since the end of 2023, when he earned a midseason promotion during a dynamic year in which he led the organization with 27 home runs. He spent all of 2024 with the Flying Squirrels, but saw his numbers drop off across the board, particularly in the power department. That earned him a repeat assignment to start the year, and he wasted no time proving that he was too good for the level. After going hitless in his first 2 games of the year, Bericoto went on a tear over the next 11 games, hitting 15-40 with 7 extra-base hits, 8 walks, and just 4 strikeouts. The roster situation might have helped the promotion come earlier than it otherwise would have, but Bericoto is deserving of a chance in AAA, and I would assume he’s there to stay, with his next move more likely being to San Francisco than to Richmond.

In other transactional news, Low-A San Jose infielder Jose Ramos was assigned to AAA Sacramento over the weekend, but didn’t play. It’s almost surely because Brett Wisely was a late scratch on Friday, and the River Cats needed some emergency depth. Wisely returned to the lineup Sunday.

A pair of prospects took home awards this week, with AAA Sacramento LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 2 CPL) and High-A Eugene RHP Shane Rademacher being named the Pacific Coast League and Northwest League Pitchers of the Week, respectively. For Rademacher, it’s the 2nd week in a row that he’s taken home those honors!

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AAA Sacramento (11-10)

Friday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 11-8 [box score]
Saturday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Salt Lake Bees 5-0 [box score]
Sunday: Sacramento River Cats lost to the Salt Lake Bees 5-2 [box score]

Well, Sacramento’s weekend against the Angels affiliate sure went better than San Francisco’s did, even if it ended in disappointing losses for both squads.

Since we’re on the topic, let’s start with Victor Bericoto, who played first base on Sunday in his AAA debut. And it went swimmingly! Bericoto went 2-4 with an RBI and no strikeouts. He made exceptionally hard contact, with his singles sporting exit velocities of 108.4 and 104.2 mph, with one of his outs leaving the bat at 105.7 mph. Very exciting stuff!

Speaking of exciting stuff, center fielder Grant McCray and left fielder Marco Luciano appear to be finding their stride after slow starts to the season. McCray quadrupled his extra-base hit total over the weekend, hitting 4-14 with a home run, 2 doubles, a walk, and just 1 strikeout.

After a brilliant spring, McCray has been struggling in AAA this year, with a .649 OPS and a 76 wRC+, and a double was his lone extra-base hit entering the weekend. So great to see him flash his power.

As for Luciano, he continues to turn things around in the batter’s box, hitting 5-9 with 2 doubles and 2 strikeouts on Friday and Saturday, before getting a day to rest on Sunday. He’s turning things around, and now has a .722 OPS and a 96 wRC+. That’s still below average, but it’s trending in the right direction: over his last 9 games, Luciano is hitting 13-37 with 2 home runs, 3 doubles, 7 walks, and 10 strikeouts. Keep it up, Marco!

Right fielder/left fielder Hunter Bishop (No. 34 CPL) also had a nice weekend, hitting 3-10 with a home run, a walk, a hit by pitch, and no strikeouts.

Bishop, the team’s 1st-round pick in 2019, is looking a lot more comfortable in AAA this year, where he has slashed his year-over-year strikeout rate from 27.4% to 19.7%, while sporting a .732 OPS and a 97 wRC+. That’s great to see.

The biggest hit of the weekend, though, came from second baseman/third baseman Osleivis Basabe, who had a very strong showing, hitting 3-10 with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. And that big hit? A huge grand slam on Friday night.

On the pitching front, LHP Kyle Harrison took the mound on Friday and had a so-so showing. The electric young southpaw struggled mightily with command, throwing just 49 of 84 pitches for strikes while walking 2 and hitting 2 more in 4 innings. That, combined with 5 hits allowed, tagged Harrison for 3 runs and 2 earned runs. But his velocity was once again encouraging, and Harrison struck out 7 batters. Harrison only has a 5.40 ERA in AAA this year, but he has a 4.09 FIP, and the Giants are surely thrilled with the 94-95 velo and the 23 strikeouts against 6 walks in 15 innings of work. It’s only a matter of time before he’s back in San Francisco.

It’s a harder route to the city for LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 2 CPL), given that he’s not yet on the 40-man roster. But it’s hard to nail an audition more than he did on Saturday, when the 2022 2nd-round pick was borderline unhittable, giving up just 1 hit and 1 walk in 6 shutout innings, while striking out a whopping 9 of the 20 batters he faced. Absolutely electric and dominant! It’s only a matter of time for Whisenhunt, who has a 2.70 ERA and a 2.62 FIP this year, with 23 strikeouts and just 2 walks in 20 innings. Elite stuff!

It was less elite for Sunday’s starter, RHP Trevor McDonald (No. 15 CPL), and Friday’s piggybacking starter, RHP Carson Ragsdale (No. 19 CPL). McDonald made it through 4.2 innings, but threw just 45 of 75 pitches for strikes, while allowing 9 baserunners (including 2 home runs) and 3 runs, with 4 strikeouts. It’s great to see him healthy, but he just hasn’t been able to make things click this year.

As for Ragsdale, he once again was bit by the walk bug. He threw a mere 23 of 45 pitches for strikes, which resulted in a quartet of walks in just 1.2 innings, with only 1 strikeout. He did hold Salt Lake hitless, but all those walks added a run to his ledger. Walks have been a huge issue for Ragsdale in the early goings, as he’s issued 11 of them in just 11.2 innings, with only 8 strikeouts.

But RHPs Tristan Beck and Sean Hjelle continue to excel in their bullpen roles after the disappointment of being optioned to start the year. Beck retired all 5 batters he faced on Friday, and struck out 4 of them, while Hjelle gave up 3 baserunners in just 1.2 innings but kept runs off the board, with a strikeout.

Both pitchers have been lights out since a blowup performance. Here’s Beck’s line over his last 5 appearances: 7.2 innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts, and 0 runs, which has lowered his ERA to 1.64 and his FIP to 2.55. And Hjelle’s line over his last 5 games: 7.1 innings, 4 hits, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts, and 0 runs, dropping his ERA to 1.59 and his FIP to 2.06.

RHP Kai-Wei Teng also pitched brilliantly, striking out 4 batters in 2 perfect innings on Saturday.

AA Richmond (4-11)

Friday: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Chesapeake Baysox (Orioles) 10-0 [box score]
Saturday: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Chesapeake Baysox 1-0 [box score]
Sunday: Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Chesapeake Baysox 3-2 [box score]

We’ve started the last 2 sections with Victor Bericoto, so let’s start this one with him, too. On Friday the righty, playing in right field, played what he hopes will be his final AA game. He went out with a bang, hitting 2-4 with a walk and smashing a solo home run in his final Flying Squirrels at-bat. Onward and upwards, Beri!

It wasn’t a great offensive weekend for Richmond, though. Second baseman Diego Velasquez (No. 16 CPL), who had been slumping a little bit lately, had a nice go of it, hitting 4-11 with 2 walks, a hit by pitch, 2 strikeouts, and a stolen base. He hasn’t been forcing the issue this year, but he certainly looks comfortable … no small feat given that the switch-hitter is still just 21 years old.

His middle infield partner, shortstop Aeverson Arteaga (No. 12 CPL) also hit well, hitting 5-6 with a strikeout and a stolen base on Friday and Saturday, before an 0-4 with 2 strikeouts on Sunday.

He’s still rounding into form after missing nearly the entirety of the 2024 season due to injury, and you can already see him shaking off the rust. Just check out the splits:

First 8 games: 2-26, 0 extra-base hits, 0 walks, 11 strikeouts, 0 stolen bases
Next 7 games: 10-25, 2 extra-base hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, 2 stolen bases

That’s great to see! And also hitting well was catcher/designated hitter Adrián Sugastey (No. 38 CPL), who went 4-11 with a walk and a caught stealing. It’s a very small sample size but, a year after having a .545 OPS, a 56 wRC+, and a 19.9% strikeout rate, Sugastey is up to a .728 OPS and a 117 wRC+, with just a 7.5% strikeout rate. Looks like he’s adapting to AA well in his 2nd pass through.

But the weekend was all about the pitching, as Richmond only gave up 3 runs across the 3 games. There were plenty of bright spots, but none brighter than Saturday’s starter, LHP Jack Choate (No. 29 CPL). Like so many pitchers we’ve discussed today, Choate struggled with the strike zone, throwing just 43 of 75 pitches for strikes, while walking 3 batters and hitting another. But the 2022 9th-round pick ceded just 1 hit in 4.2 shutout innings, while striking out 7 batters.

It’s still a little bit of a mystery as to how Choate keeps missing bats without much velocity, but keep missing them he does. He’s up to a whopping 21 strikeouts in just 11.1 innings this year, which has led him to have a tidy 2.58 FIP next to his 3.97 ERA. Could he force his way into Sacramento’s rotation at some point in the near future?

Friday’s starter was no slouch either, as RHP Manuel Mercedes had far and away his best start of the year (which makes it his best start at the level), tossing 5.2 scoreless innings while needing just 74 pitches. Mercedes only threw 44 of those pitches for strikes, yet only issued 1 walk on the day, to go along with 3 hits and 3 strikeouts. What a fantastic outing for the 22-year old out of the DR, in his 3rd ever AA start.

Lots of great relief appearances as well, starting with the piggybacking starter behind Mercedes, RHP Nick Sinacola. The team’s 7th-round pick in 2021, Sinacola finished off the game with 3.1 shutout innings, allowing just 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3. That saw his season ERA drop all the way to a very nice 1.69, with just a 2.52 FIP.

RHP Evan Gates was similarly dominant in relieving Choate, allowing just 2 baserunners in 2.1 scoreless innings, while striking out 4 batters. And earning the save Saturday was none other than RHP Trent Harris (No. 20 CPL), who continued his bullpen dominance with 2 strikeouts in a perfect inning of work. Through 4.2 innings this year, Harris has allowed a mere 2 hits, 1 walk, and 0 runs, with 7 strikeouts. He is good. He is very good.

High-A Eugene (8-7)

Friday: Eugene Emeralds beat the Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays) 5-3 [box score]
Saturday: Eugene Emeralds beat the Vancouver Canadians 5-2 [box score]
Sunday: Eugene Emeralds beat the Vancouver Canadians 8-3 [box score]

A weekend sweep! Delightful!

The pitching stole the show, and no one shined brighter than Saturday’s starter, RHP Shane Rademacher. No one is perfect, but perfection can still be achieved in the baseball sense of the word. And that was the case for Rademacher, who went 5 innings during Saturday’s victory, and retired all 15 batters that stepped into the box. He only struck out 3, but 15 batters and 15 outs is not something that should prompt nit-picking.

Rademacher, a 24-year old undrafted free agent in his 3rd season, isn’t a strikeout artist but he is about as dominant as is possible this year. Look at the lines on his three appearances this season:

Game 1: 4 innings, 3 hits, 0 walks, 1 run, 2 strikeouts
Game 2: 5 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 0 runs, 3 strikeouts
Game 3: 5 innings, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 runs, 3 strikeouts

Yeesh!

It wasn’t the only great starting pitching performance of the weekend, though, as LHP Cesar Perdomo put on quite a show on Friday night. Perdomo struggled quite a bit in his first 2 games of the year, but the 23-year old southpaw showed out on Friday, tossing 5 shutout innings while allowing just 5 baserunners and striking out 5. That’s more like it!

It was mostly an uneventful weekend for the bullpen, though RHPs Austin Strickland and Ian Villers continued their excellent seasons with dominant outings, one after the other on Sunday. Strickland went first and not only pitched 3 perfect innings, but needed just 19 pitches to do so. My goodness! Villers went next and needed just 10 pitches for a perfect frame of his own. Strickland, the incoming piece in last year’s Joey Bart trade, now has a 1.04 ERA and a 3.84 FIP, while Villers, the team’s 8th-round pick in 2021, has a 1.35 ERA and a 2.97 FIP.

On offense, the most notable performance came from right fielder James Tibbs III (No. 3 CPL), who continued his strong start to the year, hitting 3-11 with a home run, 4 walks, 2 strikeouts, and an outfield assist.

A year after hitting just 9-67 with 3 extra-base hits, 7 walks, and 25 strikeouts in a brief High-A debut, the team’s 2024 1st-round pick has gone 11-43 with 4 extra-base hits, 13 walks, and just 7 strikeouts, resulting in an .870 OPS, a 148 wRC+, and a 12.5% strikeout rate that is much more in line with the excellent reputation for contact that he entered the organization with.

Center fielder Jonah Cox (No. 26 CPL) continued hitting well, going 4-8 with a double, a strikeout, and 2 stolen bases before getting Sunday off. Cox is more than holding his own with the bat, sporting a .782 OPS and a 112 wRC+ so far this year. Holding his own is all he needs to be able to do with the bat, too, as he’s gets so much value with his defense (where he plays a beautiful center field) and his legs (where he has 11 stolen bases in as many attempts in just 14 games).

Shortstop Zane Zielinski didn’t have a particularly good weekend, but he did have a notably painful one, as he got plunked by not 1, not 2, but 3 pitches during Sunday’s game alone. Hope he was able to spend the off day with a whole lot of ice!

Low-A San Jose (8-7)

Friday: San Jose Giants beat the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Dodgers) 2-0 [box score]
Saturday: San Jose Giants lost to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 4-0 [box score]
Sunday: San Jose Giants lost to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 11-10 [box score]

A great pitching performance in the Cal League, too, though not the player you would expect. San Jose’s highest-profile pitchers both made starts over the weekend — LHP Jacob Bresnahan (No. 31 CPL) on Saturday, and RHP Gerelmi Maldonado (No. 36 CPL) and Sunday, and each struggled, with the former allowing 8 baserunners and 3 runs in 3 innings, and the latter getting tagged for 6 baserunners and 5 runs (2 earned) in a mere 1.2 frames.

But on Friday? It was another night of LHP Greg Farone stealing the show. The 7th-round pick last year, who made his debut this season, has been nothing short of sensational to start his career, and Friday was just another sign of it. The 22-year old southpaw pitched 5 shutout innings, giving up just 1 hit and 2 walks, while striking out a whopping 9 batters. Through 3 starts, he’s pitched 12.2 innings and allowed only 8 hits and 1 run, with a staggering 23-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio, good for a 0.71 ERA and a 2.02 FIP.

Large school college players performing well against Single-A talent should always be taken with a grain of salt, but Farone is handling the assignment as well as you could hope for. I’ll be curious to see how quickly he moves if this dominance continues. Hopefully we find out!

The highlight from the bullpen came with the names that followed Farone on Friday: RHPs Cade Vernon and Ben Peterson, fellow members of the 2024 draft cohort that are making their debuts this season. Vernon, the team’s 10th-round pick, allowed just a hit and a hit batter in 2 shutout innings, while striking out 3, to lower his FIP to 4.27 and keep his pristine ERA at 0.00. Peterson, who was an undrafted free agent, gave up 3 baserunners in 2 scoreless innings, with 2 strikeouts, dropping his ERA to 4.76, albeit with a 6.94 FIP.

Plenty of exciting games on the offensive side, most of which came on Sunday. First baseman/left fielder Jakob Christian (No. 30 CPL) continues to mash the baseball. After hitting just 1-8 with 4 strikeouts on Friday and Saturday, he took off on Sunday with a spectacular day, going 4-5 with a home run, a double, a stolen base, and a strikeout. The 2024 5th-round pick, who was strong in a brief San Jose appearance last year, is doing even better this year, with a .949 OPS and a 141 wRC+. The combination of his sky-high isolated slugging (.309) and his reasonable strikeout rate (23.8%) is very exciting, though I’ll again tap the sign about big-conference college players in Low-A.

Catcher/designated hitter Drew Cavanaugh continued his surprising assault on baseballs on Sunday. He didn’t play Friday, and went 0-4 with a strikeout hat trick on Saturday, but on Sunday mashed 2-5 with yet another home run, albeit with 3 more strikeouts. The 2023 17th-round pick entered the season with just 2 career home runs in 253 plate appearances, and already has 4 this year in just 50 plate appearances. What a fun year!

It wasn’t a superstar weekend for center fielder Dakota Jordan (No. 8 CPL), but it was an interesting one, as the 2024 4th-round pick hit just 1-10 with 5 strikeouts, but smacked a double, drew 2 walks, was hit by a pitch, stole a base, and logged an outfield assist. That brought his numbers down, but he’s still rocking a .921 OPS and a 150 wRC+, albeit with a 32.3% strikeout rate.

And catcher/designated hitter Fernando Gonzalez, the team’s 20th-round and final pick in last year’s draft, made his professional debut this weekend! The 23-year old right-handed hitter also picked up his 1st career hit, going 1-7 with a double and 3 strikeouts. Welcome to the pros, Fernando!

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Home run tracker

AAA Hunter Bishop (2)
AAA Osleivis Basabe (2)
AAA Grant McCray (1)
AA Victor Bericoto (3)
High-A James Tibbs III (2)
Low-A Jakob Christian (4)
Low-A Drew Cavanaugh (4)

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Upcoming schedule

Sacramento: Off-day on Monday, Tuesday 5:35 p.m. PT vs. El Paso
Richmond: Off-day on Monday, Tuesday 3:35 p.m. PT at Akron
Eugene: Off-day on Monday, Tuesday 11:05 a.m. PT at Spokane
San Jose: Off-day on Monday, Tuesday 11:00 a.m. PT vs. Fresno

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Injury report

Here’s the weekly rundown of what players are on the Minor League Injury List.

Sacramento

LHP Enny Romero — Restricted List
RHP Juan Mercedes — Development List
LHP Reggie Crawford (No. 10 CPL) — 60-Day IL
RHP R.J. Dabovich — 60-Day IL
LHP Juan Sánchez (No. 33 CPL) — 60-Day IL
LHP Ethan Small — 7-Day IL
RHP Cole Waites (No. 32 CPL) — 7-Day IL
RHP Keaton Winn — 7-Day IL
LHP Chris Wright — 7-Day IL

Richmond

2B Nate Furman — 60-Day IL
RHP Ryan Murphy — 60-Day IL
RHP Mat Olsen — 60-Day IL
1B Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL) — 7-Day IL
OF Turner Hill — 7-Day IL
LHP Nick Zwack — 7-Day IL

Eugene

OF Alexander Suarez — 60-Day IL
LHP Dylan Carmouche — 7-Day IL
CF Bo Davidson (No. 11 CPL) — 7-Day IL
LHP Hayden Wynja — 7-Day IL

San Jose

RHP Sam Bower — 60-Day IL
C Ty Hanchey — 60-Day IL
RHP Spencer Miles — 60-Day IL
SS Maui Ahuna (No. 23 CPL) — 7-Day IL
INF Zander Darby — 7-Day IL
INF Jeremiah Jenkins — 7-Day IL
SS Walker Martin (No. 14 CPL) — 7-Day IL
OF Jose Ortiz (No. 22 CPL) — 7-Day IL
RHP Darien Smith — 7-Day IL