Tuesday was a thrilling day for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates, with all 6 of the teams that are still playing (the ACL season is over) in action. Let’s dive into it, because there’s a lot to discuss!

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

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

The notable news on the farm is that a few debuting players were assigned to levels to begin their careers. Shortstop Gavin Kilen (a 1st-rounder), outfielder Trevor Cohen (a 3rd-rounder), and catcher Daniel Rogers (undrafted) were all assigned to Low-A San Jose, while outfielder Damian Bravo (a 15th-rounder) drew an assignment with High-A Eugene.

Infielder Jean Carlos Sio and LHP Tyler Switalski were promoted from San Jose to Eugene, while infielder Dayson Croes was promoted from Eugene to AA Richmond, where infielder Devin Mann was released.

AAA Sacramento (55-54)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros) 10-9 (10 innings)
Box score

For most teams in Sacramento’s situation, you would expect that the biggest news and the brightest excitement would come from the new toys who have joined the roster following the trade deadline. And, indeed, a pair of exciting new prospects populated both the leadoff and cleanup spots of the lineup, while a third started the game on the mound.

Those players had awesome performances, and we’ll get to them soon. But for Sacramento, the news and excitement is constantly being stolen by first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL), and Tuesday was far from an exception. It was yet another superstar performance from the team’s superstar prospect, who hit 3-4 with a walk and a strikeout. That, in and of itself constitutes a good day, but Eldridge also had a home run in that mix. That, in and of itself constitutes a great day, but Eldridge’s home run wasn’t just any home run: it was a game-tying 3-run blast in the 9th inning, showing he has not just ability, but timing.

Buster Posey keeps throwing cold water on the idea of Eldridge debuting soon, but Posey has also publicly requested that prospects knock down the door, and it’s hard to view Eldridge’s recent play as anything other than that. This was his 4th home run in the last 3 games, and in his last 13 contests he’s gone 17-51 with 8 home runs, 1 double, and 7 walks. All of that has brought his OPS up to .899 and his wRC+ to 118, while giving him a fairly staggering 1 home run every 11 at-bats. Still and all, the Giants might want to see the first base defense improve, the batting average (.264) go up, and the strikeout rate (28.5%) go down before he gets the call to San Francisco, but … if he keeps doing this, he just can’t wilt away in Sacramento.

Now, to those exciting new additions. Eldridge wasn’t the only player to provide theatrics. After he tied the game in the 9th, the River Cats scored the walk-off run in the 10th when right fielder Drew Gilbert bopped a 2-out double to end the game.

Gilbert finished the game 2-5 with a triple, a double, a walk, and a strikeout, and has now had multi-hit games in all 3 of his appearances since the trade. The 2022 1st-round pick — who was playing against the organization that drafted him — really seems to be putting all the pieces together. Since the start of July, he’s hit 30-92 with 6 home runs, 3 triples, 6 doubles, 11 walks, and just 17 strikeouts. It’s also notable that he started in right field for this game, as that’s his likely path to playing time in San Francisco this year.

The other new hitter in Sacramento, Jesus Rodriguez, went 0-3 in this game but drew 2 walks. He’s only been playing at DH since the trade, but that seems to be due to a minor injury that has put a short hiatus on his catching work.

While it was Eldridge and the shiny new toys that drew your attention, one of the biggest moments of the day belonged to catcher Logan Porter. The backstop hit 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout, and got Sacramento back in the game in the 5th inning, when he launched a game-tying grand slam. We love those around here!

A quick rundown of the 40-man hitters: second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald hit 1-5 with a strikeout; shortstop Brett Wisely was 2-4 with a walk, a stolen base, and a strikeout; left fielder Marco Luciano hit 0-2 with 3 walks and a strikeout, while being picked off; and center fielder Wade Meckler (No. 13 CPL) went 0-4 with a walk, 2 strikeouts, a stolen base, and a caught stealing.

For all the offensive theatrics, it was also an exciting game on the mound, as RHP Blade Tidwell made his organizational debut. Tidwell who, along with Gilbert, highlighted the return that the Giants got in the Tyler Rogers trade, immediately made his presence felt by striking out the side in the 1st inning. In all, it was an overpowering display for the 2022 2nd-round pick, who struck out 9 batters in just 5 innings. It wasn’t always smooth — Tidwell walked a pair of batters, and all 4 hits he gave up were doubles, resulting in 2 runs — but it was a very exciting performance.

Tidwell instantly becomes one of the top pitching prospects in the system — arguably the 2nd-best behind Carson Whisenhunt (No. 2 CPL). And while he got absolutely destroyed in his short stint with the Mets this year, the 24-year old could be in San Francisco sooner rather than later. It seems like the Giants view him as someone who could be plugged into the rotation soon, and they’ll probably want to get a look at him before the year ends. So don’t be surprised if he’s taking the mound for the 1st inning at Oracle Park someday soon, especially if Landen Roupp suffers an injury setback, or just gets shut down for protection.

The pitching then fell off the rails, as RHP Keaton Winn — who is still trying to get back on track after a 3-month injury absence — and RHP Joel Peguero both struggled. But the bullpen came through when Sacramento needed it most, with RHP Ryan Watson, LHP Helcris Olivárez, and RHP Miguel Díaz all pitching scoreless frames as the River Cats completed their comeback.

AA Richmond (38-62)

Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Erie SeaWolves (Tigers) 1-0
Box score

Needless to say, this nail-biter was all about the pitching … save for 1 swing of the bat, which we’ll get to shortly.

LHP Nick Zwack was the starting pitcher, and continued his recent run of excellence. Zwack was mostly unhittable, ceding just 2 hits in 5 shutout innings, though he only had 2 strikeouts (and also 2 walks). Zwack, who was part of the Darin Ruf/J.D. Davis trade, has been working his way back after losing the entirety of the 2024 season. And while there have been some bumps in the road along the way, it’s been smooth sailing since arriving in Richmond recently. In 3 starts with the Flying Squirrels, the 27-year old has pitched 14.1 innings and allowed just 10 hits, 3 walks, and 2 runs, though he has just 9 strikeouts. Hopefully he can stay healthy the rest of the year, and join Sacramento for 2026.

Zwack was replaced by a fellow southpaw who is working his way back after losing 2024 due to injury, as reliever Chris Wright pitched 0.2 no-hit innings, with 1 walk and 1 strikeout. At the time of his 2023 injury, Wright was in AAA, where he was putting up gaudy strikeout numbers but terrifying walk numbers. It’s great to see him back on the field.

Speaking of gaudy strikeout numbers and terrifying walk numbers, it was another such outing for RHP Will Bednar (No. 42 CPL). Bednar had another nice outing, giving up neither a hit nor a run in 1.1 innings, while walking 1 batter and striking out 2. That’s been the year for Bednar, who has a sensational 55 strikeouts in 34.2 innings, with a concerning 30 walks. Bednar has been particularly excellent over the summer. Since June 12, Bednar has made 12 appearances, and 9 of them have been scoreless. During that time he’s struck out 30 batters in 18.2 innings, with a very-much improved 8 walks. The former 1st-round pick really has been reinventing himself as an intriguing reliever. And hey, that made his brother a lot of money!

RHPs Tyler Vogel and Tyler Myrick finished off the shutout with perfect innings. Well done, pitchers!

On offense, all the scoring — for both teams — came on a single clutch swing of the bat. In the 9th inning, with 1 out and the bases empty, recently-promoted left fielder Scott Bandura stepped up to the plate and crushed a ball over the wall, providing the only score and the final score.

Bandura, who finished the day 2-4 with a strikeout, is now up to a .707 OPS and a 116 wRC+ in 15 games with Richmond. His batting average and slugging percentage have dropped quite a bit from what he had in High-A — no surprise given the increase in competition and the more pitcher-friendly environment of the Eastern League — but, encouragingly, his strikeout rate has lowered. It’s been a highly impressive season for the 2023 7th-round pick out of Princeton.

Otherwise, it was a poor offensive showing, as Bandura’s teammates hit just 5-29 with no extra-base hits and 1 walk.

High-A Eugene (60-43)

Eugene Emeralds beat Spokane (Rockies) 2-0
Box score

The Emeralds won their 4th consecutive game, and they did it the same way their big brothers in AA did, with excellent pitching and just enough offense. For Eugene, it was a dominant performance on the mound, as LHP Dylan Carmouche put on a control clinic. The soon-to-be-24-year old — who improved to 7-0 in Eugene this year — threw 61 of 85 pitches for strikes, which resulted in a Webb-esque 7 strikeouts against 0 walks in 7 shutout innings. Living in the strike zone did result in the ball being in play a fair bit, as Spokane got 6 knocks against Carmouche, but you can live with that when the contact is soft and there are no free passes.

After a midsummer blip, Carmouche has returned to his excellent form. This was his 2nd consecutive outing without allowing a run, and in his last 3 starts he’s given up just 12 hits, 4 walks, and 1 run in 18 innings, while striking out 15. The 2022 15th-rounder is down to a 2.47 ERA, though he has a 3.74 FIP, and it’s an intriguing, if not overpowering profile. He’s walked just 2.6 batters per 9 innings, while sporting a 53.4% groundball rate.

Finishing the 2-pitcher performance was RHP Austin Strickland, who gave up 2 hits in 2 scoreless innings, while striking out 3 batters. Strickland, the return from the Joey Bart trade, has struggled a bit this year, and was coming off of back-to-back tough outings. So a very nice recovery performance.

On offense, the excitement was the debut of left fielder Damian Bravo. The Giants opted to send July’s 15th-round pick straight to High-A, and while that was probably more about roster logistics than talent evaluation, he made it look more like the latter, as he hit a perfect 3-3 in his professional debut. The right-handed hitter from Texas Tech also added an outfield assist, with the lone blip on his debut radar being that he was caught stealing in his only attempt. What an introduction!

Right fielder Jack Payton had a nice game as well, hitting 2-4 with a double, boosting his OPS to .746 and his wRC+ to 105. Shortstop/second baseman Jean Carlos Sio (who was just promoted) and second baseman Nate Furman (a AA player who moved his rehab up a level) made their Eugene debuts, and both hit 0-3, Sio with a pair of strikeouts and Furman with 1.

Low-A San Jose (68-35)

San Jose Giants beat the Visalia Rawhide (D-Backs) 13-0
Box score

There were a whole lot of similarities between Tuesday’s games for the Giants pair of NorCal affiliates. Both games featured debuts from players new to the system, and a lineup full of new talent. And both games featured arguably the best power hitter in the system stealing the thunder of that new talent with his 4th home run in the last 3 games en route to a very fun victory.

Center fielder Dakota Jordan (No. 8 CPL) isn’t the same level of prospect as Eldridge is (very few players are, and none of them are in the Giants system), but reasonable minds can disagree over which of the two is a better pure power prospect. Jordan stated his case on Tuesday, hitting 2-5 with both a 3-run and a 2-run blast, while also striking out once.

Jordan, last year’s overslot 4th-round pick, looked like he might be in line for a promotion around the All-Star break, before he suffered an injury. He only just returned, and in his 4 games since getting back on the field has hit a truly absurd 11-19 with 4 home runs and 12 RBI. I spent the 1st half of the season praising Jordan for making massive improvements to his contact, boosting his average and dramatically dropping his strikeout rate, which was a terrifying 29.0% last year at Mississippi State. The power seemed to be put on hold while those adjustments were made, but now Jordan is re-integrating it, and it’s not even coming at the expense of the contact improvements. He’s up to a .317 batting average and down to a 22.6% strikeout rate, all while sporting an .893 OPS and a 141 wRC+. An absolutely sensational (essentially debut) season for someone who has arguably the highest ceiling of any player in the system (Jordan vs. Eldridge vs. Josuar González for title of “highest ceiling in the system” is a fun debate topic for anyone wanting to start a prospect conversation!).

Now we can talk about the new players. A trio of players from the 2025 draft made their professional debut on Tuesday for San Jose, and while the performances weren’t notably good, we still need to highlight them with great excitement! Most notably, the team’s first-round pick, Gavin Kilen made his debut while playing shortstop. He kicked off the 1st inning by getting hit by a pitch, but then went 0-4 with a strikeout the rest of the way, though that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Trevor Cohen, the team’s slightly-controversial 3rd-round pick, made the start in right field (it looks like the Giants are prioritizing Jordan in center field, but don’t be surprised if Cohen moves to the middle whenever Jordan is promoted). The 21-year old grabbed his 1st professional knock, hitting 1-4 with a walk. And finally, catcher Daniel Rogers, a 23-year old undrafted free agent from Iowa, also debuted, and hit 1-4 with 2 strikeouts. Welcome to the pros, all of you!

Really nice games for a trio of non-debuting hitters: third baseman Walker Martin (No. 14 CPL) hit 2-5 with a double, 3 RBI, and a strikeout, raising his OPS to .800 and his wRC+ to 121; first baseman Jeremiah Jenkins went 2-4 with a double to boost his OPS to .762 and his wRC+ to 110; and designated hitter Robert Hipwell (No. 25 CPL) hit 1-3 with a double and a walk, increasing his OPS to .911 and his wRC+ to 148, though his strikeout rate still sits at 30.6%.

Oh, and an interesting tidbit: Kilen (who most prospect analysts think won’t stay at shortstop) started at short and pushed Jhonny Level (No. 6 CPL) to second base, where he played for just the 3rd time in his career. It’s unclear if the Giants view Kilen as more of a shortstop than they do Level, or if it’s just to try and keep the former comfortable in his debut. Either way, it didn’t hurt Level’s offense, as the 18-year old hit 1-3 with 2 walks in his 5th A-Ball game.

The hitting was so special that it makes it easy to not even notice that the Baby Giants pitched a shutout. Suffice to say, the performances were pretty exciting! It started with … well … the starter, which was RHP Hunter Dryden, the team’s 2024 17th-round pick. After a brilliant start to the year, Dryden had been limping through the summer months, but perhaps he just needed to move the calendar to a month that didn’t begin with a “J,” because he was back to his dominant stuff on Tuesday, allowing just 2 hits and 2 walks in 5 shutout innings, while striking out 7 batters. What a performance!

Dryden is down to a 2.33 ERA, though his FIP is at just 4.07, thanks in part to 4.5 walks per 9 innings. Still, for a debuting 17th-round pick from a D3 school, it’s been a highly successful year.

After Dryden came a pair of exciting rehabbing arms from the 2020 draft. The 6th inning was handled by RHP R.J. Dabovich, the team’s 4th-round pick in that brilliant, truncated draft, which produced Patrick Bailey, Casey Schmitt, and Kyle Harrison. Dabovich, who was limited to just 7 innings over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, combined, made his 6th rehab appearance of the year and struck out all 3 batters that he faced. He left and was replaced for the 7th inning by RHP Ryan Murphy, the team’s final pick in the 5-round draft 5 years ago. Murphy was pitching for the 1st time since June 1, 2024, when his excellent bounce-back season with Richmond came to an injured close. Like Dabovich, Murphy retired all 3 batters he faced, with 2 of his coming by way of strikeout.

For both pitchers, just getting them back on the field is the good news. But being dominant when back on the field sure is nice, too!

And finally, it was RHP Fernando Vasquez, who has had one of the more fascinating stories on the farm. Vasquez, a 23-year old from the Dominican Republic, was signed in February of 2020. The pandemic canceled the Dominican Summer League season that year, so he didn’t get to debut until a year later, when he pitched in 16 DSL games but had a bloated 5.59 ERA. Then he lost 2022 to injury. And he lost 2023 to injury. And he lost 2024 to injury. He returned to the mound in 2025, pitching for the DSL Giants Black team more than 5 years after being signed, and nearly 4 years since his last professional appearance. After 5 dominant games, the Giants decided it was time to move him to the states. And after 8 excellent games in the Arizona Complex League, which then came to an end, the Giants decided to keep the line moving for Vasquez, and sent him to San Jose.

It’s very rare to see a player promoted from the DSL to the states during the season, and much rarer still to see them then play in A-Ball. But Vasquez looks the part: he tossed 2 shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk while striking out 2, keeping his Low-A ERA at 0.00 through 2 outings. Across the 3 levels this year, he has 30 strikeouts to 10 walks in 22.2 innings.

Dominican Summer League Black (28-18)

DSL Giants Black lost to DSL Arizona Red 16-0
Box score

Youch! That’s a painful loss. The offense hit 2-29 with 13 strikeouts. The pitching gave up 16 hits and 10 walks, with 6 of the 7 arms ceding runs, and no one recording 3 outs without a run on their ledger. They allowed runs to score in 8 of the 9 innings.

Dominican Summer League Orange (29-16)

DSL Giants Orange lost to the DSL Mets Orange 13-10
Box score

Like the DSL Giants Black squad, the DSL Giants Orange team had an awful day on the mound. They only had to pitch 8 innings, but still managed to give up 10 hits and 8 walks, while only striking out 6. All 5 of their pitchers gave up runs.

But unlike the Giants Black team, the Giants Orange crew put together a fine offensive showing, and a quartet of players deserve to be highlighted for their contributions in the batter’s box.

Catcher Miguel Caraballo (16 years, 2025 IFA) hit 2-4 with a triple, a walk, and 2 strikeouts, raising his OPS to .911 and his wRC+ to 140 in an exceptional debut campaign; second baseman Yulian Barreto (17 years, 2025 IFA) went 3-5 with a caught stealing and a strikeout, bumping his OPS to .841 and his wRC+ to 130, in what is also a fantastic 1st season; center fielder Djean Macares (17 years, 2025 IFA) hit 2-4 with a triple and a walk, as he continues to turn around his debut year, and now has a .679 OPS and an 88 wRC+; and designated hitter Fernando Pena (18 years, 2024 IFA) went 2-4 with a double, a walk, and 2 strikeouts, moving his OPS to .817 and his wRC+ to 126 as he keeps showing great improvements in Year 2.

Home run tracker

AAA Bryce Eldridge (18) [11 in AAA, 7 in AA]
AAA Logan Porter (5)
AA Scott Bandura (9) [2 in AA, 7 in High-A]
Low-A Dakota Jordan x2 (14)

Wednesday schedule

Sacramento: 6:45 p.m. PT vs. Sugar Land (SP: Trevor McDonald)
Richmond: 10:05 a.m. PT at Erie (SP: Trystan Vrieling)
Eugene: 6:35 p.m. PT vs. Spokane (SP: Josh Bostick)
San Jose: 1:00 p.m. PT vs. Visalia (SP: Niko Mazza)