The San Francisco Giants had an awful day on Tuesday, but there was more enjoyable action for their Minor League Baseball affiliates. So let’s talk about those teams instead!

Link to the 2025 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

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

A few small pieces of news. Notably, the organization swapped a pair of catchers, with Drew Cavanaugh moving from High-A Eugene to AA Richmond, and Onil Perez (No. 37 CPL) flying the other way across the country. I’m not entirely sure what to make of that move. Cavanaugh has been having a brilliant season and Perez hasn’t been great since a recent promotion, but it still doesn’t feel like the move is merit-based. My guess is it’s more about trying to get consistent playing time behind the dish for Perez, who hadn’t been catching much in Richmond due to the presence of Adrián Sugastey (No. 38 CPL).

The Giants assigned a pair of recent draftees to Low-A San Jose: middle infielder Lorenzo Meola, their 4th-round pick, and outfielder Cameron Maldonado, their 7th-round pick. To make space for those two, utility player Ryan Reckley (No. 35 CPL) was assigned to the ACL (which is playing unofficial post-season games), while catcher Nomar Diaz, the organization’s 14th-round pick in 2022, was released.

AAA Sacramento (63-58)

Sacramento River Cats beat the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres) 4-3 (10 innings)
Box score

The Giants and Padres faced off at both the Major League and AAA levels on Tuesday, and while we all would preferred that it was the MLB team winning, we’ll have to settle for their affiliate instead.

It was an exciting walk-off as well, with the River Cats tying the game in the bottom of the 9th inning, and walking it off in the 10th when, after they loaded the bases, shortstop Osleivis Basabe (who hit 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout) smacked a sacrifice fly to send the crowd home happy.

It wasn’t the only big swing of the bat for Sacramento, as right fielder Luis Matos had a lovely day, hitting 2-5 with a pair of doubles and a strikeout, with one of his doubles tying the game and sending it to extra innings.

Matos has been swinging the bat well lately, and you’ve got to think the Giants are considering bringing him back to the Majors at some point soon. The all-lefty “platoon” of Drew Gilbert and Grant McCray seems a little meaningless, and a waste of potential development time for McCray, who is rarely playing. Matos has been benefitting from playing every day in AAA, and now has a 4-game hit streak going, during which time he’s gone 7-18 with a home run, 3 doubles, and just 2 strikeouts. Maybe that’s given him the rhythm he needs.

Designated hitter Jesus Rodriguez and catcher Sam Huff both had nice games, with the former hitting 2-4 with a walk, and the latter 1-3 with a double and 2 walks. Rodriguez hasn’t been lighting the world on fire since coming over in the Camilo Doval trade, but has certainly shown flashes of his tremendous bat and zone control. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Rodriguez, who has operated solely as a DH since the trade deadline due to a minor injury, is scheduled to make his Sacramento catching debut on Saturday. Huff has been on a tear since returning from injury, hitting 10-36 with 6 extra-base hits, 8 walks, and 9 strikeouts since re-joining Sacramento. He would seem a logical choice should the Giants choose to run with 3 catchers when rosters expand next month, though he’ll need to be added back to the 40-man roster.

First baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL) didn’t do too much, as he hit 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout, while also getting picked off. The walk he drew was intentional, to set up a force play late in the game.

And some bad news: left fielder Marco Luciano, who hit 0-1 but drew 2 walks, left the game with a limp. You hate to see that, especially since he seemed in play to get a look at some point soon.

It was a good game on the mound, with a decent start from RHP Trevor McDonald (No. 15 CPL). McDonald labored through the 1st inning, when he allowed all 3 runs that El Paso would score. But he settled in after that, pitching 5 shutout innings to end with a very respectable line: 6 innings, 5 hits, 1 walk, 1 hit batter, 3 runs, and 7 strikeouts. McDonald only has a 5.25 ERA and a 5.43 FIP on the year, but he’s been much batter lately. In his last 4 starts, the 24-year old has thrown 23.2 innings and allowed 19 hits, 9 walks, and 7 earned runs, with 27 strikeouts. He’s on the 40, so don’t be shocked if he gets a look in September.

After McDonald came veteran RHP JT Brubaker, who made his organizational debut and tossed 2 shutout innings, giving up 2 walks while striking out a batter. And then it was the pitching star, RHP Miguel Díaz, who tossed 2 perfect innings with 2 strikeouts, which included stranding the Manfred Man in the 10th inning and setting up the walk-off win. The 30-year old has been utterly lights out lately: in his last 11 appearances, he’s thrown 14.2 innings and allowed a mere 10 hits, 6 walks, and 1 run, while striking out 13.

AA Richmond (44-68)

Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Chesapeake Baysox (Orioles) 4-0
Box score

A shutout for the Flying Squirrels, so you know it was a good pitching day. It was certainly a group effort, though, with 4 pitchers combining to put up the donut, and getting a fair amount of help from their defense as well.

Kicking things off was RHP Shane Rademacher, who had his best start since getting promoted to AA. An undrafted free agent from 2023, Rademacher had a dominant season with High-A Eugene, but had gotten blown up in his 1st 3 starts with Richmond. His 4th went very differently, as he allowed 5 hits and 1 walk in 4.2 shutout innings, while striking out 3.

There are certainly concerns about how well Rademacher can maintain success at this level, and especially at the 2 higher ones. For as majestic as his walk rate (1.9 per 9 innings) has been this year, there aren’t many players who succeed at the highest levels with his strikeout rate (6.2 per 9 innings). And the ones who do succeed are normally groundball pitchers, which Rademacher most certainly is not.

That’s not to put an ugly spin on what has been a really fantastic season for the 24-year old. Just a reminder as to how much needs to go right for a prospect to make the show.

Rounding out the shutout was LHP Chris Wright and RHPs Cameron Pferrer and Tyler Vogel. Wright has been pitching really well lately, as he seeks to return to AAA after missing all of the 2024 season — and much of 2025 — due to injury. As for Vogel, the team’s 12th-round pick in 2022, he’s now up to 6 games in AA and still hasn’t allowed a run!

A handful of decent games in the batters box. Catcher Drew Cavanaugh made his AA debut and hit 1-3 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout.

And with that, he earns the remarkable distinction of playing for all 4 of the organization’s A-Ball affiliates in the same season without any of them being rehab assignments (though his time in AAA was as an emergency fill-in, but still). What an amazing and cool year it’s been for the 2023 17th-rounder, who has an .879 OPS and a 140 wRC+ across the 4 levels. It will be interesting to see how much catching he does in AA as the season winds down, as that will give us a little more intel into what went behind the move for he and Onil Perez to swap places.

Third baseman Dayson Croes is also fairly new to the level, and he hit 1-3 with a double and a sacrifice fly. It was his 10th game with Richmond and he’s been absolutely fabulous, with a .970 OPS and a 178 wRC+. What an awesome debut season for the 25-year old.

Designated hitter Bo Davidson (No. 11 CPL) continues to both show why he’s emerged as one of the top prospects in the system and why the move from the Northwest League to the Eastern League is so hard, as he hit 1-4 with a triple but struck out 3 times. He’s showing a lot but also having a fair amount of struggles since a recent promotion, and I recommend reading Roger Munter’s latest mailbag for a little deeper dive into what that transition has been like for Davidson.

A really nice day for center fielder Turner Hill, who hit 3-4 and added an outfield assist. He has a .760 OPS and a 126 wRC+ this year, which constitutes a very successful season.

All in all, a game that was a reminder as to how much the Giants have excelled at finding diamonds in the rough lately. Look at all the players we just mentioned: Davidson, Hill, Rademacher, Croes, and Pferrer were all undrafted free agents, Cavanaugh was a 17th-round pick, and both Wright and Vogel were 12th-round picks. Impressive!

High-A Eugene (68-47)

Eugene Emeralds beat the Hillsboro Hops (D-Backs) 7-2
Box score

Not the most eventful game, despite the 7 runs, 6 of which came in the 7th inning. The most impressive swing of the bat came much earlier, though, when first baseman Charlie Szykowny (No. 43 CPL) launched a solo homer in the 1st inning to get the party started.

Szykowny, who finished the day 2-4 and knocked in 3 runs, has been on quite a power tear lately, which is to say over the whole summer. His big 2024 didn’t translate into a strong start to the 2025 season, as through April and May he hit just 37-167 with 4 homers. But since the start of June? The 25-year old lefty has hit 77-265 with 13 big flies, and has seen his OPS rocket up to .785 and his wRC+ to 111. Add in a sub-20% strikeout rate, and it seems all but certain that the 2023 9th-round pick will begin 2026 in AA.

Third baseman Parks Harber was the only other Emerald with a multi-hit game, as he went 2-4 with a strikeout. Since coming to the Giants in the Camilo Doval trade, Harber, a 2024 undrafted free agent who hits right-handed, has hit 8-27 with 3 extra-base hits, 7 walks, and 8 strikeouts.

A tough day for catcher Onil Perez (No. 37 CPL) in his return to High-A, as he went 0-4 with a strikeout and an error.

A solid day on the mound, which began with a nice start from LHP Charlie McDaniel, who continued Tuesday’s theme of quality games from undrafted players. The 24-year old Presbyterian product pitched 5 strong innings, allowing just 3 hits, 0 walks, 1 hit batter, 2 runs, and 1 earned run, while striking out 4. This is McDaniel’s debut season, and he was awesome to begin the year with Low-A San Jose, where he accumulated a 2.59 ERA and a 3.27 FIP. The transition up a level has proven quite difficult for him, understandably, as he allowed 16 earned runs in 11.2 innings in his 1st 3 games with Eugene. But Tuesday was his 4th game and it was a massive step in the right direction.

Speaking of steps in the right direction, RHP Liam Simon relieved McDaniel and tossed 2 shutout innings, allowing just 1 hit while striking out 1. Simon, the team’s 5th-round pick in 2022, started the year late after yet another injury setback … and he began the year having thrown just 42.2 innings in the 1st 3 years of his career. It’s been a slow process to try to wash the rush away, but Tuesday was a big step forward, and also just the 2nd time that Simon has thrown 2 innings in a game since May 2023.

Low-A San Jose (75-40)

San Jose Giants lost to the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies) 8-5 (11 innings)
Box score

A bit of a funny game for the Baby Giants. They lost in extra innings, but provided some silly excitement in the 9th inning, when they tied the game with not 1, but 2 bases-loaded walks.

The excitement in San Jose was that a pair of players made their professional debuts, and that’s always so exciting. Second baseman Lorenzo Meola, the team’s 4th-round pick in July, took the field for the 1st time, and has plenty of room to play now that 1st-round pick Gavin Kilen suffered an injury.

It was a successful debut for the right-handed hitter from Stetson, who was viewed by many as a very underrated pick by the front office. He hit 1-5 with a double (the team’s only extra-base hit) and also drew a walk, though he struck out twice. Really looking forward to seeing how he performs over the rest of the season.

Right fielder Cameron Maldonado also made his professional debut, though the recent 7th-round pick was held hitless, going 0-4 with a walk. Welcome to professional baseball to both of them!

A 3rd and 4th player from July’s additions also played, though it wasn’t a debut for either. Undrafted catcher Daniel Rogers played in his 8th game with San Jose and this was a pretty rough one for the young backstop, who hit 1-4, struck out once, and allowed 6 stolen bases, without catching a runner. But hey, if any of the youngsters need reminders that the transition to professional baseball isn’t easy, they need only look to the shortstop playing for their opponent, as young phenom Ethan Holliday hit 0-5 with 4 strikeouts and an error. It’s a hard game!

Things went much, much better for center fielder Trevor Cohen, the Giants’ 3rd-round pick in July’s draft. Cohen had arguably his best game as a pro, hitting 3-4 with a strikeout, drawing 2 walks, stealing a base, and making a highlight play on the grass. The lefty from Rutgers has looked so comfortable in A-Ball, where he now has a .319 batting average and a .450 on-base percentage, with just 5 strikeouts in 60 plate appearances.

Nice games in the batter’s box for a pair of young prospects who had breakout 2024s and are among the top prospects in the organization, as shortstop Jhonny Level (No. 6 CPL) hit 3-6 with a strikeout, while left fielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 17 CPL) went 2-5 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Level, who opened eyes in the ACL this year, has a .701 OPS and a 104 wRC+ in 17 games since getting promoted, while Diaz has a .726 OPS and a 97 wRC+ in a full season at the level (and if those numbers seem uninspiring, a reminder that he just turned 20, is a quality defensive player, has stolen 20 bases, has just a 19.6% strikeout rate, and has been much better in the 2nd half of the season).

Not a great day on the mound, especially for the starter, RHP Hunter Dryden. It was an excellent strike-throwing performance for the 2024 17th-round pick, as he threw 51 of 71 pitches for strikes, and recorded 6 strikeouts with neither a walk nor a hit batter. But when batters hit the ball, Dryden was in trouble: he gave up 7 hits in 5 innings, which tagged him for 5 runs. And after those batters hit the ball, Dryden was still in trouble, as he was the pitcher responsible for 4 of the 6 stolen bases that Fresno recorded.

Dryden has really been struggling as the season goes on, which shouldn’t be surprising for a debuting player. He gave up just 6 earned runs in his 1st 10 starts, but has ceded 19 earned runs in 9 starts since. He has a 2.73 ERA and a 3.98 FIP on the year.

RHP Ubert Mejias has also been pitching worse as the season goes on, but you wouldn’t know it on Tuesday, when he threw 3 no-hit innings, allowing just 1 walk while striking out 3. What a great game in an otherwise difficult season for the 24-year old, who has a 5.80 ERA and a 4.58 FIP.

Dominican Summer League Black (33-23)

DSL Giants Black lost to the DSL Arizona Red 2-1 (7 innings)
Box score

The Giants Black team lost, but they did exactly what you want otherwise: had their best performances come from their best prospects. On offense, it was shortstop Josuar González (No. 5 CPL, 17 years, 2025 IFA), who is not just the DSL Giants Black’s best prospect, but the DSL’s best prospect and, I reckon, soon will be the organization’s best prospect.

He had yet another fantastic game, hitting 1-2, drawing a walk, and stealing 3 bases. The switch-hitter, who has seen his OPS rise to .859 and his wRC+ to 129, has been on absolute fire lately. Since July 31, the phenom has hit 19-47 with 2 home runs, 2 triples, 2 doubles, 9 walks, and 9 strikeouts. He’s also up to 33 stolen bases in just 52 games, which ranks 7th in the league. What a player!

And the star on the mound was LHP Carlos De La Rosa (17 years, 2025 IFA), who made his 3rd appearance with the organization since joining the Giants in the Camilo Doval trade. The 5’11 southpaw from the DR gave up just 1 hit and 2 walks in 3.2 shutout innings. Want to know why the Giants are so excited in seeing what he could develop into? He now has 51 strikeouts against 10 walks in just 32.1 innings.

Dominican Summer League Orange (35-19)

DSL Giants Orange lost to the DSL NYY Yankees 3-2 (7 innings)
Box score

Not much to highlight in this game. Shortstop Anthony Marquez (18 years, 2024 IFA) had a nice game, hitting 2-4 with a double, the team’s only extra-base hit. Marquez’s numbers, which include a .785 OPS and a 118 wRC+, are very similar to what they were in his debut last year. That may be a little disappointing, but when you add in the strong middle infield defense and the 14.0% strikeout rate, it seems quite likely he’ll be in Papago next year.

Right fielder Carlos Concepcion (19 years, 2023 IFA) reached base in both of his plate appearances, but it was painful, as he was hit by pitches both times, and the 2nd one took him out of the game. Hopefully he’s not too hurt, as he’s been ending the season on a tear: since July 25, the right-handed hitter has gone 15-45 with 4 home runs and 6 doubles. In all, it’s an .869 OPS and a 117 wRC+ for Concepcion in his 3rd professional season, though his strikeout rate (27.0%) is still cause for plenty of concern for a bat-first player.

Home run tracker

High-A Charlie Szykowny (17)

Wednesday schedule

Sacramento: 6:45 p.m. PT vs. El Paso (SP: Hayden Birdsong)
Richmond: 3:35 p.m. PT at Chesapeake (SP: John Michael Bertrand)
Eugene: 6:35 p.m. PT vs. Hillsboro (SP: Cesar Perdomo)
San Jose: 1:00 p.m. PT vs. Fresno (SP: Niko Mazza)