Weekend Minor League roundup, July 5-6: Marco Luciano is on fire

The weekend on the farm.

It’s been a few days since I wrote a roundup for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates, what with the long weekend. But let’s see what happened on Saturday and Sunday.

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 hardware to hand out, as AAA Sacramento swept the weekly awards, with left fielder Marco Luciano earning Player of the Week and RHP Kai-Wei Teng Pitcher of the Week in the Pacific Coast League. Teng struck out 11 batters in 5 shutout innings in his only appearance, while Luciano … well … read on for a few paragraphs and you’ll see what he did!

LHP Luis De La Torre, who has impressed mightily in Papago, was promoted from the ACL to Low-A, while Sacramento RHP Keaton Winn is headed to the ACL to begin a rehab assignment. Sacramento catcher Logan Porter, who was recently designated for assignment, cleared waivers, elected free agency, and re-signed with the Giants on a Minor League deal.

Baseball America updated their prospect lists, and there’s a little movement for the Giants. Shortstop Josuar Gonzalez (No. 5 CPL) has surpassed LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 2 CPL) as the 2nd-best prospect in the system in BA’s eyes … and has snuck into the Top 100 list, where he comes in at No. 100. You can see the entire Giants Top 30 list here.

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AAA Sacramento (44-43)

Saturday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Reno Aces 8-4 (D-Backs) [box score]
Sunday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Reno Aces 15-13 (11 innings) [box score]

The River Cats are officially cruising. A strong weekend propelled them to a 6-game series sweep, which pushed their winning streak to 7 games. And gave them a winning record!

There were plenty of good performances, but one super, duper, superduperduperstar performance, which belonged to left fielder Marco Luciano on Sunday. Luciano clinched his Player of the Week honors with a game he won’t soon forget, hitting 3-5 with 2 home runs, a double, a walk, 2 strikeouts, and 7 runs batted in.

His 2nd homer of the night was a grand slam that was part of an 8-run 11th inning for Sacramento, which was almost matched when they gave up 6 runs in the bottom half of the frame.

I’ve been banging the “Marco Luciano is hitting the ball hard again” drum since the start of Spring Training, and this feels like a good day to re-up it: Luci’s double left the bat at 101.6 mph, while his grand slam took on dead center at a clean and cool 107 mph. It seems like Luciano, who didn’t play on Saturday, is posting 100+ exit velos every day. And, in his last 8 games, the former top prospect is 10-28 with 4 home runs, 2 doubles, and 9 walks.

The red flags remain — he has just a .229 batting average and a 30.4% strikeout rate, which have led to just a .785 OPS and a 104 wRC+ — and it’s entirely unclear where he would play if he got called up, what with Heliot Ramos holding down left field and Rafael Devers at designated hitter. But, given that the Giants are starting to churn a little bit and have been scuffling at the plate, you do wonder if he might get a chance someday soon.

Plenty of other hitters had strong Sundays, as you would expect when a team scores 15 runs in a game. Right fielder Wade Meckler lived up to his reputation as a tremendous contact hitter, going 4-6 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base. Meckler, who went 0-3 with 2 walks and a strikeout on Saturday, is up to a .295 batting average with just a 15.5% strikeout rate, which has led to a .772 OPS and a 115 wRC+, despite showing virtually no power in the PCL this year. He hasn’t played at second base in a while, which might mean the Giants are canning that experiment (again), or it might just be because Casey Schmitt was rehabbing at the position over the weekend (Schmitt hit 1-5 with 3 walks).

Shortstop Osleivis Basabe only hit 1-4 on Sunday, but his hit was a solo home run in the 11th inning (off a position player, admittedly), and he still managed to drive in 3 runs, thanks to a hit by pitch and a sac fly. He’s been hitting the ball much better as of late, though he did go 0-5 with 4 strikeouts on Saturday.

Also homering on Sunday was second baseman Thomas Gavello, who replaced Schmitt and went 1-2 with a 9th-inning bomb and a sac fly. It was the 1st AAA homer for Gavello, who doubled in his only at-bat on Saturday. So far (it’s only been 4 games), the 2022 13th-round pick, who began the year in High-A, has been excellent in Sacramento.

The pitching was less exciting. On Saturday, LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 2 CPL) once again struggled, though he did decently well from a run-prevention standpoint, ceding just 2 runs in 5 innings. But the lefty allowed 12 baserunners in those 5 innings, walking 3 while giving up 9 hits, though 8 of them were singles. As has been the case for most of the year, Whisenhunt, who only struck out 3 batters, struggled to find the zone, with just 57 of his 93 pitches going for strikes.

Whisenhunt, who fell out of the top 100 in this week’s Baseball America prospect update, has been in quite a midseason slump. Here’s the updated line on his performance since his brilliant stretch in early-mid May:

8 starts, 43 innings, 53 hits, 21 walks, 30 earned runs, 30 strikeouts

Not good! Hopefully he can find a fix soon, because the Giants sure look like they could use some help in the Major League rotation.

Sunday’s starter, RHP Trevor McDonald (No. 15 CPL) was a bit better, but also not the sharpest. While also giving up 2 runs in 5 innings, McDonald allowed 7 hits, 1 walk, and 1 hit batter, and struck out 7, while throwing 61 of 93 pitches for strikes. They remain 2 of the best pitching prospects on the farm, but neither has great numbers right now (4.50 ERA/4.83 FIP for Whisenhunt; 4.85 ERA/5.31 FIP for McDonald).

RHP Braxton Roxby made his 2nd appearance since a recent promotion and was great, giving up just a walk in 1.1 shutout innings, with 1 strikeout. No hits allowed through 2 AAA outings for the offseason pickup. RHP Miguel Díaz was forced to pitch on consecutive days, a rarity in the Minors, after LHP Raymond Burgos was unable to record an out in the 11th inning. He allowed a walk and recorded a strikeout in an otherwise clean inning on Sunday, after facing 2 batters and getting 3 outs on Saturday.

AA Richmond (27-52)

Saturday: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Chesapeake Baysox (Orioles) 3-2 [box score]
Sunday: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Chesapeake Baysox 12-2 [box score]

A 3-game winning streak for Richmond! You don’t see that often for a team with nearly twice as many losses as wins.

A good weekend of hitting for the catchers, who have quietly been hitting very well lately. On Saturday it was Adrián Sugastey (No. 38 CPL), who hit 2-3 with a home run and a walk, and on Sunday it was Onil Perez (No. 37 CPL), who hit 2-4 with a double and a walk.

Both catchers are known more for their work behind the dish than standing next to it, but each has been showing some serious signs of life with the bat. Sugastey’s overall number (.640 OPS, 87 wRC+) aren’t eye-popping, but after showing limited power in his career prior to this year, he’s starting to access his pop. The 22-year old from Panama entered this year with 12 career home runs across his 4-year career, yet despite playing in the pitcher-friendly Eastern League, he already has 8 dingers this year before the All-Star break. He’s been on a tear to start July — through 4 games, he’s 7-15 with a home run, a double, and 2 walks. As for Perez, he hasn’t shown too much in the power department, but his contact skills have been paying dividends. After conquering High-A in his 2nd pass through the level, the 22-year old from the DR has been showing off in Richmond through 9 games, with a .259 average, a tidy 9.4% strikeout rate, a .745 OPS, and a 126 wRC+.

Speaking of players starting to find their rhythm on offense, shortstop Aeverson Arteaga (No. 12 CPL) had a dynamic Sunday, hitting 2-3 with both a home run and a double, while also drawing a walk (on Saturday he went 0-3 with a walk and a strikeout).

Arteaga’s overall numbers are still quite bad — he has a .537 OPS and a 60 wRC+ — but the rust from a year on the sidelines is starting to rinse away. Over his last 11 games, the righty is 11-34 with 2 home runs, 3 doubles, and 2 walks.

And let’s finish off the offense with another player trying to turn things around, as center fielder Vaun Brown — you haven’t heard that name a lot this year! — had a great Sunday, hitting 3-3 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base, after not playing on Saturday. Since returning to the Squirrels following a stint on the Development List, Brown is 8-26 with 2 doubles, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 4 stolen bases. We’re certainly all rooting for him!

Oh, and designated hitter/left fielder Turner Hill hit 2-8 with his 1st home run of the year, along with a hit by pitch and a strikeout. Welcome to the dinger board, Turner!

Saturday featured a rarity on the mound: strikeouts from RHP Manuel Mercedes! The 22-year old entered the game with one of the lowest strikeout rates in all of the Minor Leagues, having K’d just 31 batters in 60.1 innings. But you wouldn’t know it from his Saturday start, when he got 8 batters to strike out in 5.2 innings. It was just the 2nd time this year that he had more than 4 strikeouts in a game!

He also only allowed 4 hits (although 3 went for extra bases), plus 2 walks and a hit batter, while allowing just 1 run. That goes down as a great start for him given how much he’s struggled this year … the 7.61 ERA he posted in June was his best month of the season.

Sunday’s starter was a little cleaner, as LHP Jack Choate (No. 29 CPL) also gave up 4 hits (just 1 extra-base hit) and 1 run in 5 innings, with 1 walk, 1 hit batter, and 6 strikeouts. Choate only needed 66 pitches to get through 5 innings, and 42 of them were strikes. It’s been an up-and-down season for the 6’8 Choate, who has a 4.02 ERA and a 4.78 FIP on the year.

RHP Will Bednar (No. 42 CPL) regressed a bit … after struggling with command all year long, he went through a nice stretch without any walks, but issued 2 in 1.2 innings on Saturday, while also hitting a batter. Bednar, who also allowed a hit and a run, did strike out 3 batters, bringing his total to 42 in just 25.1 innings. He needs to figure out the command (he has 24 walks), but there’s a lot of electricity that is showing up this year for the 2021 1st-rounder.

High-A Eugene (44-36)

Saturday: Eugene Emeralds beat the Hillsboro Hops (D-Backs) 10-5 [box score]
Sunday: Eugene Emeralds beat the Hillsboro Hops 7-4 [box score]

The Emeralds are officially rolling! The swept the series, and have won 8 games in a row, and 11 of their last 12. Hot dang!

Despite the good team performance, there aren’t a lot of individual performances to highlight. They really won these games as a team.

It was a great weekend for third baseman Dayson Croes, though, as he hit a blistering 5-8 with 3 doubles and 2 walks, while also committing an error. Croes, a left-handed hitter, is a bit of an anomaly, as the 25-year old from Aruba was signed this year out of an independent league, and is making his professional debut. So far it’s gone swimmingly, as he has a .969 OPS and a 165 wRC+ with Eugene, and might be ready to see what Virginia is like this time of year. He’s been hitting in all phases of the game, with a slash line of .347/.439/.531, and just a 13.0% strikeout rate. What a fun story he’s becoming!

Shortstop Jose Ramos also had a nice weekend. He only appeared as a pinch-hitter on Saturday, but on Sunday went 1-3 with a double, 2 walks, a stolen base, and 2 strikeouts. He’s been having a really solid year, and his hit well in Eugene since a recent promotion.

LHP Dylan Carmouche picked up his 5th win of the year for Eugene on Sunday, throwing 5 innings and giving up 7 hits, 3 runs, and 2 earned runs, while walking none and striking out 3. He has some very interesting stuff, even if he’s not the most electric, and it’s given him a 2.63 ERA and 3.76 FIP on the year, with 40 strikeouts against 10 walks in 37.2 innings. It’s easy to see the 2023 draftee making the Majors some day, which is impressive for a 15th-round pick.

RHP Liam Simon pitched a perfect inning with 2 strikeouts on Saturday. The rust is starting to come back in a hurry for Simon, who is trying to actualize his exciting potential and put a career of injuries behind him. It was the 7th time in his last 8 outings that he hasn’t allowed a run, and the 8th time in his last 10 outings that he hasn’t given up a hit. Excellent!

Low-A San Jose (54-27)

Saturday: San Jose Giants beat the Stockton Ports (A’s) 11-8 [box score]
Sunday: San Jose Giants beat the Stockton Ports 6-5 [box score]

It wasn’t the series sweep that Sacramento and Eugene had, but San Jose came close, winning their series 5-1 and ending it with 4 straight victories. And they capped it off in dramatic fashion, with a 3-run 9th inning on Sunday to turn a 2-run deficit into a walk-off win at the wire.

The hero was shortstop Walker Martin (No. 14 CPL) who singled with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 9th inning, scoring the tying and winning runs.

It was part of a 3-4 day with a walk and a strikeout for Martin, who is starting to improve the hit tool a little bit after being a no-hit, all-power guy earlier in the year (though he did go 0-4 with 3 strikeouts on Saturday). It’s still just a .239 batting average and a 28.5% strikeout rate, which isn’t ideal for a player who was drafted in 2023 in Single-A, but it’s certainly a big improvement over last year at the level, when those numbers were .202 and 46.3%, respectively. And, when you combine it with the high walk rate (13.4%) and delightful isolated slugging (.190), it makes for a solid season (.780 OPS, 115 wRC+).

A pair of players showed off the power with home runs. On Saturday it was designated hitter/first baseman Robert Hipwell (No. 25 CPL), who hit 1-3 with a walk, a home run, and a 2-run blast (on Sunday he hit 0-4 with 2 strikeouts and an error, though). And on Sunday it was third baseman Zander Darby (who didn’t play on Saturday), who had a dynamic showing, going 2-3 with a solo bomb, a walk, and a strikeout.

The corner infielders from the 2024 draft have hit quite well this year. Hipwell, the team’s 6th-round pick, has an .860 OPS and a 135 wRC+ while Darby, the team’s 12th-round pick, has a .917 OPS and a 151 wRC+ (and just an 18.0% strikeout rate).

Left fielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 17 CPL) continues to heat up after a slow start to the year. The 19-year old had a pair of 2-hit days, finishing the weekend 4-9 with a double and 2 strikeouts. Diaz now has a 10-game hit streak going, during which time he’s gone 21-46 with 1 home run, 5 doubles, 1 walk, and just 6 strikeouts. He’s a hit machine suddenly, and it’s brought his OPS up to .712 and his wRC+ to 93.

Not the most interesting weekend on the mound for the Baby Giants, as there really aren’t any performances to highlight. But LHP Chris Wright, who spent 2023 racking up strikeouts in AAA before losing all of 2024 to injury, moved his rehab from the ACL to San Jose, and pitched a scoreless inning on Saturday, with a hit allowed. Great to see him healthy!

Arizona Complex League (32-15)

Saturday: ACL Giants beat the ACL Padres 2-1 [box score]

RHP Keyner Martinez (20 years, 2023 IFA) has spent all season opening eyes and popping up on scouts’ radars — most people were probably unfamiliar with his game entering this year, but he showed up to Papago with so much electricity that he’s created buzz — in fact, he’s 17th on the latest Top 30 list from Baseball America, ahead of AAA arms like Trent Harris, Carson Seymour, and Carson Ragsdale.

He showed off the hype on Sunday, starting the game and pitching 5 thoroughly dominant innings. Martinez only allowed 3 baserunners — all singles — while keeping runs off the board and striking out 7 batters. His 2.15 ERA and 2.92 FIP are worth drooling over, but not as much as his 50 strikeouts to 8 walks in just 37.2 innings … numbers that accurately reflect just how nasty his pitches are. He’ll surely be ticketed for San Jose when the ACL season ends, if not sooner.

Center fielder Andy Polanco (20 years, 2024 11th-round) continues to shine in his debut season, as he hit 1-1 and drew 2 walks. With that performance, Polanco now has a .756 OPS and a 106 wRC+, with 15 stolen bases in 18 attempts. The numbers aren’t eye-popping at all, but he struggled quite a bit at the start of the year, and has really impressed since.

Dominican Summer League Black (19-6)

Saturday: DSL Giants black beat DSL Arizona Black 17-14 (8 innings) [box score]

Gotta love rookie ball. Where else are you going to find an extra-innings game that went 8 innings and featured 31 runs?

And where else will you see the game that Dennys Riera (20 years, 2022 IFA) had? Riera started the game at third base, where he hit a cool 2-4 with a triple, a walk, and a hit by pitch, raising his OPS to .810 and his wRC+ to 115. And then, after the Giants Black squad took a 5-run lead in extra innings, Riera was called on to take the mound in the bottom of the 8th and bring the win home … which he did, ceding 3 hits, 2 runs, and 1 earned run while getting the 3 outs necessary for victory. Gotta love it! Riera was one of the top prospects in the Giants 2022 signing class, but so far things haven’t quite panned out for him. Maybe that will change with this fun game.

A pair of home runs, one each from shortstop Keiberg Camacaro (18 years, 2023 IFA) and first baseman Evan Estevez (17 years, 2024 IFA). Camacaro, who hit 1-4 with a 2-run blast, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, and a stolen base, hasn’t really been able to improve on his 1st passes through the DSL … he has a .704 OPS and a 108 wRC+, after posting a 107 wRC+ in 2024, and a 105 wRC+ in his debut season. Estevez, who hit 1-3 with a 2-run shot, 3 walks, and a strikeout, has been a bit better, sporting an .885 OPS and a 134 wRC+ in his 2nd pass through the DSL, though his strikeout rate (27.1%) likely still gives the organization pause.

Second baseman Yeison Oviedo (17 years, 2025 IFA) only played half the game after being a mid-game replacement, but he made the most of it, hitting 2-2 with a double and a walk. It’s been a tremendous debut season for the righty, who has an .866 OPS and a 143 wRC+, with just an 18.2% strikeout rate … and he doesn’t turn 18 until December!

The pitching was bad, as you probably expected from a game in which they allowed 14 runs.

Dominican Summer League Orange (17-7)

Saturday: DSL Giants Orange lost to the DSL Mariners 8-1 (7 innings) [box score]

There really weren’t any good performances in this one. So let’s just shout out center fielder Djean Macares (17 years, 2025 IFA), who hit 1-3 with a walk and a stolen base. He entered the year with a bit of hype that he hasn’t yet lived up to, as he has just a .696 OPS, a 95 wRC+, and 6 stolen bases in 9 attempts, but there’s a lot to be impressed by (most notably, the 12.5% strikeout rate … not bad for one of the youngest players in the system!).

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Home run tracker

AAA Marco Luciano x2 (16)
AAA Osleivis Basabe (6)
AAA Thomas Gavello (6) [1 in AAA]
AA Adrián Sugastey (8)
AA Aeverson Arteaga (4)
AA Turner Hill (1)
Low-A Robert Hipwell (8)
Low-A Zander Darby (4)
DSL Evan Estevez (3)
DSL Keiberg Camacaro (1)