Three games on Thursday for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates, as High-A Eugene had a day off in their playoff series. Here’s what happened!
Link to the 2025 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)
All listed positions in the roundup are the positions played in that particular game.–
News
Just one piece of news, but it’s a happy one: AAA Sacramento activated RHP Cole Waites (No. 32 CPL) off the Injured List. Waites missed all of 2024 with Tommy John, and made just one appearance
this year — a rehab game in July — before being shut down again. Great to see him potentially healthy, and hopefully able to take the mound again soon.
AAA Sacramento (74-67)
Sacramento River Cats beat the Oklahoma City Comets (Dodgers) 8-1
Box score
For the second year in a row, LHP John Michael Bertrand has spent nearly a full season in AA, before getting a cup of coffee in AAA to end the year. Last year he made 27 appearances for Richmond, then ended the year with a pair of starts in Sacramento. He started this year in Richmond again, where he made 25 starts before getting moved to Sacramento.
Thursday was his season debut for the River Cats, and holy heck did it go well! In a league that has stymied so many pitchers, Bertrand found success by doing something remarkably simple (but difficult): throw strikes. The 27-year old southpaw, taken in the 10th round of the 2022 draft, threw 60 of 86 pitches for strikes, and critically didn’t walk any batters. He gave up just 6 hits — all singles — in 6.1 innings, ceding just 1 run while striking out 6. What a (re)introduction!
I’m curious to see what the Giants do with Bertrand, who had a 2.87 ERA but a 4.28 FIP in Richmond, going forward. It’s hard to find many success stories in the Majors (in this era, at least) who miss as few bats as Bertrand does, and that’s doubly true for starters. There have been 268 Minor League pitchers this year who have eclipsed the 100 innings mark and Bertrand ranks 251st out of them with 6.33 strikeouts per 9 innings. But he has made it to AAA working solely as a starter, and an innings-eating one at that, so it would seem the team isn’t yet interested in seeing how he’d operate in relief.
That may no longer be the case for RHP Mason Black (No. 7 CPL). Black appeared as a reliever on Tuesday, and I wasn’t sure if that was just to facilitate space for newbies Bertrand and Nick Zwack, or perhaps to ease off his workload, or if it was a signal that he was moving to the bullpen.
He pitched again on Thursday, and that would seem to suggest that he’s moving to the ‘pen. Pitching twice in 3 days isn’t usually something you do for someone when you’re still trying to develop them as a starter.
Black pitched a scoreless inning with a strikeout, though he allowed a pair of hits, including a double. It’s going to be a critical offseason for him, as he’ll only have one option year remaining after this season.
In the batter’s box, shortstop Osleivis Basabe had a huge day as he finishes off an under-the-radar good season. Basabe hit a perfect 3-3, which included both a home run and a double, and he also drew 2 walks. Hard to do much better than that!
This season has been a big step forward offensively for Basabe, who turns 25 tomorrow. He’s a glove-first infielder whose offensive numbers will never be very good, but his 12 home runs match the total for his 2 next-best seasons. And after posting a .629 OPS and a 62 wRC+ with Tampa Bay’s AAA team last year, those numbers are up to .720 and 87 this season.
Still and all, it’s hard to see Basabe having much of a future with the Giants, who already DFA’d and outrighted him earlier this year. They look to have their infield set for next year, and Christian Koss has emerged as a valuable backup infielder, to make no mention of Tyler Fitzgerald.
Another player who doesn’t figure into the team’s long-term plans had a good day, as third baseman Drew Ellis hit 1-4 with a home run, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. The 29-year old has just a .719 OPS and a 90 wRC+, but every dinger is worth celebrating!
First baseman Bryce Eldridge, on the other hand, does factor into the team’s long-term plans. Very much so! And while he didn’t homer, he had a delightful day nonetheless, going 2-5 and smacking 2 doubles while driving in 3 runs and striking out twice.
Eldridge may not have made the Majors this year like he hoped — and like so many expected — but he’s certainly set himself up to be in good position to break camp with the Giants in March, when he’ll be just 21. It’s been a very successful season for him.
Right fielder Jerar Encarnación made another rehab appearance and it finally went well. After starting his rehab assignment by hitting 0-15 with 7 strikeouts, Encarnación finally shuck off the rust in this one, hitting 2-3 with 2 walks, a stolen base, and a strikeout.
With the Giants both cruising and trying to find at-bats for Luis Matos and Drew Gilbert, it’s unclear if Encarnación can get much playing time in the Majors this year, but I would assume that he’ll replace Grant McCray soon and, at the very least, get some pinch-hitting opportunities.
AA Richmond (54-78)
Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Hartford Yard Goats (Rockies) 6-5
Box score
The Squirrels haven’t had the best season, but they’re ending it on a high note: they’ve won 2 games in a row, and Thursday’s exciting game was decided in the bottom of the 9th, on a walk-off.
Each side of the diamond had a star. In the batter’s box it was second baseman Diego Velasquez (No. 16 CPL), who had a great, clutch day as he continues to end his season on a high note. The 21-year old switch-hitter went 1-3 in the contest, while drawing a walk, getting hit by a pitch, striking out … and hitting a double to score Aeverson Arteaga and win the game. That’s a moment he won’t soon forget!
The hitting side actually had two stars, as right fielder Carter Howell had a brilliant game, hitting 2-4 with a solo home run and a strikeout.
It’s been a disappointing year through and through for Howell. After a high-quality year with Richmond last year, he was surely disappointed to be handed a repeat assignment rather than a chance in AAA, and unfortunately his performance hasn’t presented a strong case that the Giants erred. After posting a .738 OPS and a 116 wRC+ with the Squirrels in 2024, those numbers are just .642 and 92 this year.
With that, he’s got to feel like his spot on the domestic reserve is in peril. He’ll be 27 when next season starts, and coming after a below-average season repeating AA. But it always helps to end the year on a high, which homers do!
LHP Jack Choate had a rough start, in which he just couldn’t find the strike zone. Despite throwing 70 pitches — just 33 of which were strikes — the 24-year old southpaw lasted just 2.2 innings, while serving up 3 hits and 4 walks, with 2 strikeouts. Hilariously, Choate lowered his ERA with the performance, as he didn’t actually allow any earned runs … but his wildness, when paired with a pair of errors from second baseman Nate Furman, resulted in 5 unearned runs. It’s been a pretty good season for the 2022 9th-rounder, who has a 3.51 ERA and a 4.17 FIP. It’s unclear if he’ll begin 2026 in AAA or AA, and equally unclear if the Giants view him as a starter or a reliever, but there’s some intrigue there.
A pair of scoreless innings each for RHPs Manuel Mercedes and Ian Villers, which brings us to our final star of the game: RHP Will Bednar (No. 42 CPL). Bednar pitched the final 2 innings of the game, and not only was he perfect, but he struck out all 6 batters that he faced. Holy guacamole!
Bednar, who was such a disappointment for a while after being a 1st-round pick in 2021, has really reinvented himself this year as a flame-throwing reliever, and has greatly boosted his fastball velo. The result is that he now has a staggering 82 strikeouts in just 49.2 inning, and a 14.86 strikeout per 9 innings rate that ranks 8th out of 1,832 Minor League pitchers with at least 40 innings thrown this year. Good god, man!
There’s not just a Major League reliever in there somewhere, but a high quality, high leverage one. The control remains an issue (not in this game, though), as he’s walked 6.89 batters per 9 innings, but the framework is there for a high-end reliever. He’s also been moving in the right direction with control: over his last 8 games, the righty has 5 walks in 12 innings, with a staggering 24 strikeouts. The Giants have a real decision to make with Bednar and the Rule 5 Draft this winter, which would have sounded like a ridiculous statement at the start of the season.
What a reminder that development takes many, many, many different forms!
Low-A San Jose (North Division winners)
San Jose Giants beat the Fresno Grizzlies (Rockies) 7-6
Box score
And with that, the Baby Giants are North Division champions. They won the series, and will now head to the real-deal championship series, which begins on Sunday against Inland Empire. Exciting!
Starring on offense was shortstop Jhonny Level (No. 6 CPL), who only hit 1-4 but smashed a home run, drew a walk, and stole a base, while striking out once and committing an error. Level’s 2025 was an unmitigated success, and while these numbers don’t add to his season tallies, he ended the year with a .672 OPS and a 91 wRC+ in San Jose … not bad at all for a shortstop on the young side of 18 who plays quality defense and is a threat on the bases. Level had a sensation year in the ACL before the move to San Jose, and between the two levels had just a 17.2% strikeout rate and 21 stolen bases. What a year!
Second baseman Lorenzo Meola, the organization’s recent 4th-round pick, hit 2-4 with a double, a walk, a stolen base, and a strikeout. In 16 games this year, he had a .784 OPS and a 110 wRC+.
Apparently ending the season is what third baseman Walker Martin (No. 14 CPL) needed to have happen. After not hitting an extra-base hit in the final month of the season, Martin doubled for the second straight postseason game, finishing 1-3 with a sacrifice fly, though he also had a strikeout and an error. Martin is headed to the Arizona Fall League and it will be a critical bit of development for him.
LHP Jacob Bresnahan got the start and was pretty good, pitching 4 innings and giving up 4 singles, 1 walk, 2 runs, and 1 earned run, with 5 strikeouts, while throwing 52 of 76 pitches for strikes. The southpaw, who turned 20 in late June, had a spectacular season, with a 2.61 ERA, a 3.00 FIP, and 12.0 strikeouts per 9 innings. The Giants have to feel very stoked about nabbing him in the Alex Cobb trade last year.
Home run tracker
13 — Jhonny Level — [4 in Low-A; 9 in ACL]
12 — Osleivis Basabe — [AAA]
8 — Drew Ellis — [7 in AAA; 1 in AA]
7 — Carter Howell — [AA]
Friday schedule
Sacramento: 5:05 p.m. PT at Oklahoma City (SP: Hayden Birdsong)
Richmond: 3:35 p.m. PT vs. Hartford (SP: Joe Whitman)
Eugene: 1:05 p.m. PT at Everett (SP: Cesar Perdomo)
San Jose: Off day
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