Just three games on Tuesday for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates, as Low-A San Jose had the day off following their Labor Day outing. Let’s jump into all the action!
Link to the 2025 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)
All listed positions in the roundup are the positions played in that particular game.
AAA Sacramento (70-63)
Sacramento River Cats lost to the Las Vegas Aviators (A’s) 3-2
Box score
A loss, but not without some drama, as the River Cats loaded the bases in the 9th inning
for their top prospect, first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL). Eldridge, who finished the day 1-4 with a walk, has been a monster in high-leverage situations, but unfortunately couldn’t come up in this one, as he struck out to end the game.
Not a lot of offense, but a big swing of the bat for second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald, who only hit 1-4 but pulled a solo home run down the line in his 1st at-bat of the day.
It’s been a tough season for Fitzgerald after his breakout in 2024. He had just a .606 OPS and a 72 wRC+ in the Majors, and those numbers are only .697 and 84, respectively, in nearly 200 plate appearances in AAA this year. After beginning the year as the starting second baseman in the Major, he’s become a piece of the Quad-A utility depth, and he’ll enter next year with just 1 option year remaining. It will be interesting to see what the Giants have him work on this offseason, and what positions he’s playing when Spring Training rolls around.
2 of the hottest hitters in Sacramento continued to hit well, as catcher Jesus Rodriguez went 3-5, and left fielder Marco Luciano hit 2-4, with neither player striking out. For Rodriguez, it was his 3rd consecutive 3-hit game, and he’s 9-14 with 1 home run and just 1 strikeout during that time. And with that, he’s up to an .825 OPS and a 123 wRC+ with Sacramento, which is virtually identical to his stats with the Yankees’ AAA affiliate. As for Luciano, he’s been doing a much better job hitting for average lately, and since returning from a small injury he’s hit safely in 6 of 7 games, going 12-29 with 3 home runs, 2 doubles, 6 walks, and just 5 strikeouts, which has brought his average up to .232, his OPS to .811, and his wRC+ to 111.
The other 40-man hitters: center fielder Wade Meckler (No. 13 CPL) hit 0-3 with a walk, a hit by pitch, and a strikeout, and now has a .734 OPS and a 104 wRC+; and shortstop Brett Wisely had a tough day, hitting 0-4 and striking out 3 times, dropping his OPS to .717 and his wRC+ to 88.
A dynamic bullpen game following a so-so start from LHP Seth Lonsway. It was definitely a good bounceback for Lonsway, who pitched 5 innings after getting knocked out in the 1st inning of his last game. He was fairly heavy in the strike zone, with 58 of 88 pitches for strikes, though he still walked 3 batters. That, paired with 7 hits, tagged him for 3 runs. Lonsway, who also had 5 strikeouts, now has a 4.00 ERA and a 4.45 FIP in 6 starts since getting promoted. Like most pitchers when they first make it to the Pacific Coast League, Lonsway has a lot of work to do on the walk-suppression front, as he’s issued 6.3 free passes per 9 innings so far. But the 2021 6th-round pick is certainly showing some interesting stuff as well, most notably the 57.3% groundball rate.
But after Lonsway’s night ended came the pitching dominance. It started with a name we hadn’t heard in quite a long time: LHP Ethan Small! Small was placed on the Injured List at the end of Spring Training, and the former 1st-round pick (by the Brewers) finally made it back on the field on Tuesday. Small eschewed a rehab assignment (though presumably he was pitching in a few extended Complex League games in Arizona), and jumped straight into the 6th inning of a PCL game, where he struck out 2 batters in a scoreless inning, while allowing 1 hit. Small, who was taken 28th overall in 2019, may be a 28-year old with many years in the pros, but, due to injuries (and the pandemic), he’s thrown just 266.1 innings in the Minors (and another 10.1 in the Majors). So it’s not outrageous to think his best days are still ahead of him.
After Small came RHP Braxton Roxby who had perhaps his best outing since getting promoted, striking out 4 batters in 2 perfect innings. Roxby, who was the incoming piece in the Taylor Rogers trade, has had an at-times rocky introduction to the PCL, which is to be expected: he has a 5.33 ERA and a 5.79 FIP through 18 outings. But he’s also shown the electricity, with a handful of outings like Tuesday’s, and a brilliant 12.4 strikeouts per 9 innings. He’s a very exciting arm, and someone I fully expect to make an MLB debut in 2026 (he’s also someone the team will have to consider protecting in this winter’s Rule 5 Draft).
And finally it was Sacramento’s iron man, RHP Miguel Díaz, who pitched a perfect 9th inning with a strikeout. Here’s how Díaz has done over the last month: 13 appearances, 15 innings, 3 hits, 5 walks, 1 run, 0 earned runs, 15 strikeouts. Highly impressive stuff!
AA Richmond (51-73)
Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Altoona Curve (Pirates) 9-3
Box score
Quite an ugly game for the Flying Squirrels on both sides of the ball. No real standouts on offense, where they mustered just 6 hits — all singles. Catcher Adrián Sugastey (No. 38 CPL) did have a good game, hitting 2-3 with a sacrifice fly. It hasn’t been a particularly dynamic offensive season for Sugastey, who has a .605 OPS and a 78 wRC+. But there’s still a lot to like: he’s improved his slash line year over year in his repeat of AA, as his average has gone from .210 to .219, his on-base has risen from .241 to .273, and his slugging has jumped from .304 to .332. He’s still just 22, and has a very tidy 11.5% strikeout rate — 3rd lowest among the 56 Giants prospects with at least 200 plate appearances this year. And, most importantly, he’s really cemented his status as a quality defensive prospect behind the dish. I’d expect him to start 2026 in AAA, and he could become an MLB depth piece sooner rather than later.
On the mound, LHP Joe Whitman (No. 9 CPL) had a day to forget. Whitman only lasted 2 innings, and he needed 76 pitches to get through those 2 innings, in which he allowed a whopping 8 hits, 2 walks, and 7 runs, while striking out just 1 batter. That ballooned his ERA to 5.60, though he still has just a 3.71 FIP. That kind of tells the story of Whitman: it’s not entirely clear whether we should be encouraged or discouraged by his season. He’s certainly shown some awesome stuff this year, but my goodness does he have a tendency to get rocked, even in the pitcher-friendly Eastern League.
After Whitman came a pair of rough relief outings from RHPs Evan Gates and Ian Villers. Gates didn’t allow a hit or a run in 2 innings, but somehow managed to walk 5 batters, while recording 2 outs. Villers went the other direction, with 0 walks but 5 hits in his 2 innings, which resulted in 2 runs (he also struck out 3). Gates, a 27-year old undrafted free agent from 2021, now has a 3.38 ERA and a 3.71 FIP; Villers, an 8th-round pick in 2021 who celebrated his 25th birthday on Monday, has a 5.93 ERA and a 4.84 FIP since getting promoted following a dynamic season with High-A Eugene.
The lone quality outing came at the end of the day, when RHP Will Bednar (No. 42 CPL) took the mound and threw 2 scoreless innings. He also struggled with baserunners, allowing 2 hits, 1 walk, and 1 hit batter, but he more than made up for it by striking out 5. Bednar’s strikeout numbers remain utterly absurd: he now has 72 in 46.1 innings this year. That puts him at 13.99 strikeouts per 9 innings, which ranks 24th out of the 1,780 Minor League pitchers with at least 40 innings thrown this year (it’s also 2nd-best in the organization, behind RHP Kai-Wei Teng).
Bednar, the team’s 2021 1st-round pick, has really turned into a high-quality relief prospect. The free passes need to come down still — he’s at 36 walks and 5 hit batters in those 46.1 innings — but pitchers with those strikeout numbers in the upper Minors don’t grow on trees. Since the start of August, Bednar has thrown 14 innings and allowed just 11 hits, 7 walks, and 1 run, with 22 strikeouts. He’ll surely be in AAA next year, and a fun player to keep an eye on. Don’t be shocked if he follows the path of his All-Star brother and becomes a high-profile Major League reliever.
High-A Eugene (76-51)
Eugene Emeralds beat Spokane (Rockies) 10-4
Box score
A well-rounded game for the Emeralds, as they kicked off the final series of the regular season. The brightest star was a player who is quickly making a name for himself among Giants prospects: third baseman Jean Carlos Sio. Sio, who was playing the hot corner for the 1st time as an Emerald (he made 10 appearances at third with San Jose this year, but primarily plays second base and shortstop), hit 2-5 and bashed a 3-run home run with 2 outs in the 8th inning, which turned the lead into a blowout.
A 21-year old from Cuba, Sio is unlikely to ever be much of a power hitter, but this was his 3rd home run in the last 6 games (and his 4th multi-hit game during that span). It brought him up to a .755 OPS and a 111 wRC+ through 24 games with Eugene, as he’s showing a great ability to adapt after a breakout season in Low-A San Jose.
The other big game on offense belonged to shortstop Zane Zielinski, who hit 2-3 with a home run and a walk. It’s been a justifiably challenging year for Zielinski who, after being taken in the 9th round of last year’s draft, was given an opening assignment in High-A to begin his career, skipping the ACL and Low-A entirely. Seen through that lens, his .637 OPS and 84 wRC+ are fairly impressive, even if not indicative of a hot prospect. Hopefully he can end the season with a hot week.
A hot-and-cold start for LHP Greg Farone. On the hot side, he made it through 6 innings without allowing a walk, and only gave up 6 hits, all while throwing 54 of 78 pitches for strikes. On the cold side, 2 of those 6 hits cleared the fence, he got tagged for 3 runs total, and he only struck out 4 batters. Last year’s 7th-round pick is still trying to find his bearings in Eugene after a strong start in San Jose, and he now has a 4.26 ERA and a 4.66 FIP through 11 starts with the Emeralds.
RHP Junior Flores, who was only just activated off the 60-Day IL, made his Eugene debut after a promotion. The 23-year old Venezuelan, who has one hell of a fastball, struck out 2 batters in a no-hit inning, though he walked a batter and allowed an unearned run. Welcome to High-A, Junior!
Home run tracker
8 — Tyler Fitzgerald — [4 in MLB; 4 in AAA]
8 — Jean Carlos Sio — [3 in High-A; 5 in Low-A]
4 — Zane Zielinski — [High-A]
Wednesday schedule
Sacramento: 6:45 p.m. PT vs. Las Vegas (SP: Nick Zwack)
Richmond: 3:00 p.m. PT at Altoona (SP: Ryan Murphy)
Eugene: 5:05 p.m. PT doubleheader vs. Spokane (SPs: Tyler Switalski and Darien Smith)
San Jose: 6:30 p.m. PT vs. Modesto (SP: Luis De La Torre)
Reminder that almost all MiLB games can be watched on MLB TV!
