Today is nomination day! After voting in today’s CPL, head to the comment section to nominate a new batch of prospects for Friday’s CPL.
The 2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List keeps chugging
along, as we seek to rank the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization. And the latest chapter brings us one of the newer members of the organization: shortstop Gavin Kilen, who has been voted as the No. 7 prospect in the system is his inaugural CPL.
Kilen, a left-handed hitter who turns 22 during the Giants opening series of the 2026 season, was the team’s first-round pick in July’s draft. He was taken 13th overall, with a signing bonus in between that of the 14th and 15th slots.
A 5’11 infielder who can play on both sides of the bag, Kilen spent two years at Louisville before having his breakout campaign as a junior at Tennessee, where he played for new Giants manager Tony Vitello. While at Tennessee, he developed a reputation as one of the most well-rounded shortstops in college baseball, hitting for average (.357), showing a lot of pop (15 homers in 245 plate appearances), drawing more walks (30) than strikeouts (27), and playing excellent defense.
It didn’t immediately translate to the pros, as Kilen hit .205/.279/.282 for a .561 OPS and a 59 wRC+, with no home runs in his debut stint with Low-A San Jose, but that’s hardly cause for concern. Not only was it a small sample size (43 plate appearances), but Kilen was almost certainly laboring through an injury that ultimately shut his first pro season down early.
Kilen is viewed more as a high floor than a high ceiling player. He doesn’t have particularly loud tools, but he has high-quality tools at a critical position, and limited holes in his game. Given how polished his toolset is as a first-round pick from the SEC, he could move very quickly, and I’m curious to see whether he’s back in San Jose to start 2026 or given a more aggressive assignment with High-A Eugene. Either way, he’s certainly one of the most must-watch prospects in the farm next year, especially after we were mostly robbed of getting to watch him play in 2025.
Now let’s add to the list, and don’t forget that it’s nomination day!
The list so far
- Bryce Eldridge — 1B
- Josuar González — SS
- Jhonny Level — SS
- Bo Davidson — CF
- Dakota Jordan — CF
- Luis Hernandez — SS
- Gavin Kilen — SS
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
No. 8 prospect nominees
Argenis Cayama — 19.1-year old RHP — 8.16 ERA/6.93 FIP in Low-A (14.1 IP); 2.25 ERA/3.58 FIP in ACL (48 IP)
Parks Harber — 24.1-year old 3B — .969 OPS/174 wRC+ in High-A (260 PA); .972 OPS/169 wRC+ in Low-A (83 PA)
Keyner Martinez — 21.2-year old RHP — 2.86 ERA/3.96 FIP in Low-A (22 IP); 1.90 ERA/2.70 FIP in ACL (47.1 IP)
Carson Whisenhunt — 25.0-year old LHP — 5.01 ERA/6.91 FIP in MLB (23.1 IP); 4.43 ERA/4.77 FIP in AAA (107.2 IP)
Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page. All stats are from the 2025 season.
