I was unable to get to a Minor League Baseball roundup yesterday, so we’re doing a midweek two-day special! Here’s everything that happened with the San Francisco Giants Minor League affiliates on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Link to the 2026 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)
All listed positions in the roundup are the position played in that particular game.
News
The most exciting news is that AAA Sacramento outfielder Turner Hill has been called up! He’ll join the Giants on Friday, which is awesome.
Sacramento is getting emergency help from a pair of A-Ballers, High-A Eugene’s Jose Ramos and Low-A San Jose’s Dario Reynoso. That probably means that Parks Harber is headed to the outfield with Hill leaving town. But the River Cats should have plenty of infielders in the coming days, as they just claimed Shay Whitcomb off of waivers, while Marcelo Mayer is set to begin a rehab assignment.
AA Richmond released RHP Brad Deppermann.
And in encouraging news, Baseball America released their latest farm system rankings, and the Giants are No. 4!
AAA Sacramento (65-48)
Tuesday: Sacramento River Cats lost to the Las Vegas Aviators 9-2 [box score]
Wednesday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Las Vegas Aviators 7-3 [box score]
Well, a pair of typical Pacific Coast League games here: some inspiring hitting performances, but not a lot to love on the pitching front.
As far as the hitting goes, it’s hard to ignore just how red hot right fielder/center fielder Turner Hill is. It was another sensational set of games for the 27-year old undrafted lefty, who hit 2-4 in both games, and collected a home run and a double on Tuesday.
That pushed Hill’s hitting streak to a whopping 26 games. 26! And it’s not like he’s collecting a hit a night, either … he’s averaging nearly 2 knocks a game during the streak, as he’s gone an unfathomable 48-108 with 16 extra-base hits, 9 walks, and just 9 strikeouts in that time. There’s hot, and then there’s whatever the hell this is…
Most notably, however, was that Hill left Wednesday’s game late after being subbed out for a pinch-runner. That paved the way for today’s news: he’s getting called up! Hard to argue with that, given his .950 OPS and his 148 wRC+ in Sacramento this year.
Speaking of speedy and defensively talented outfielders who could end the year in San Francisco, Jonah Cox had another solid pair of games, hitting 2-7 with a double, 2 walks, a stolen base, and 2 strikeouts. He’s been red hot since making his AAA debut which, critically, came after his MLB debut. Through 11 games with the River Cats, he’s 22-47 with 6 extra-base hits, 5 walks, and 7 stolen bases. Absolutely splendid!
Those weren’t the only good offensive performances from outfielders, either. Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) had a tough Tuesday, going 0-3 with a hit by pitch and a strikeout, but responded on Wednesday with his best day since joining Sacramento, as he hit 2-5 and smashed not just a double, but his 1st AAA home run, giving him an even 20 dingers on the year.
Davidson’s numbers are still lagging in AAA — he has a .209 average, a .584 OPS, and a 59 wRC+ — but his at-bats are getting so much better. It certainly looks like he’s adjusting well, which is all you want to see in AAA.
Left fielder/center fielder Scott Bandura had a similar weekend, as he hit 0-4 with a strikeout on Tuesday, but on Wednesday went 2-4 with a home run and a walk. Bandura’s home run was quite memorable, as he hit it off of former Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel. That’s one to remember!
Bandura has adapted to AAA excellently. Despite a very slow start after an early season promotion, the 2023 7th-rounder is all the way up to an .828 OPS and a 117 wRC+.
Rounding out the homer party was second baseman/left fielder Thomas Gavello, who hit 1-3 with a solo blast and a hit by pitch. The 2022 13th-rounder has a .648 OPS and a 74 wRC+ on the year.
LHP Joe Whitman (No. 26 CPL) had a tough start on Tuesday, as he survived just 2.2 innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 walks, and 4 runs, while striking out 3. On the exciting front, Whitman has returned to Sacramento’s rotation after a brief and odd stint in the bullpen. On the unfortunate front, he’s still pitching a reliever’s number of innings because of how hard he’s been hit in his 2 starts since returning to the rotation.
LHP Seth Lonsway had a much better start on Wednesday, though it wasn’t particularly good. Lonsway did a good job limiting runs, as he only gave up 2 in 6 innings … despite allowing 2 home runs, 6 hits total, 3 walks, and a hit batter, with just 2 strikeouts. Not a very sustainable way to do it, but hey, whatever works!
Whitman has a 5.36 ERA and a 5.96 FIP with Sacramento, while Lonsway has a 5.78 ERA and a 6.60 FIP.
RHP Joel Peguero (No. 27 CPL) began a rehab assignment and it did not go well. Pitching for the first time in 2.5 months, Peguero faced 3 batters and walked them all, while throwing just 3 of his 15 pitches for strikes. That ended up being an ERA buster as well, after RHP Wilkin Ramos allowed all 3 inherited runners to score.
RHP Ryan Walker had a nice outing though, pitching 2 scoreless innings with 1 hit and 2 strikeouts. Walker has been strong in AAA this year, with a 1.88 ERA … but just a 4.15 FIP, and only 7.9 strikeouts per 9 innings.
AA Richmond (64-45)
Tuesday: Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Harrisburg Senators 4-2 [box score]
Wednesday Game 1: Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Harrisburg Senators 6-2 (7 innings) [box score]
Wednesday Game 2: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Harrisburg Senators 7-6 (11 innings) [box score]
Quite a way to end Wednesday’s doubleheader, as the scheduled 7-inning game went 11 innings after each team scored exactly once in the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings.
That excitement aside (and a shoutout to RHP Mitch White for being the pitcher who finally stranded a Manfred Man), it was a pretty uninteresting trio of games for the Squirrels. LHP Greg Farone and RHP Trystan Vrieling had similar starts, in which they had nice strikeout-to-walk ratios, but struggled with hits and runs. Farone went on Tuesday and went 6 innings deep, with just 5 hits, 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts. But 2 of those 5 hits were home runs, as he got tagged for 4 runs, though only 2 earned runs. Vrieling went 5 innings, with a sterling 6-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio … but gave up 9 hits and 6 runs.
Farone, a 7th-round pick in 2024, hasn’t had a good 2nd season, with a 5.60 ERA and a 5.64 FIP. But lately he’s really improved the strikeouts and walks: after having 58 strikeouts to 36 walks through his 1st 15 starts, the 24-year old has 33 strikeouts against just 7 walks in his last 6 outings. Great improvement to see!
Vrieling, a 3rd-round pick in 2023 by the Yankees, is also having a tough year, with a 4.34 ERA and a 5.13 FIP. He’s also been better with the strikeouts and walks lately.
A pair of really nice relief outings, from RHPs Marques Johnson and Tyler Vogel. Johnson struck out 4 batters in 2 shutout innings, with just a hit allowed, while Vogel pitched a perfect frame with 2 strikeouts. Both players are having slightly disappointing seasons, and surely had visions of being in AAA right now (Johnson was recently sent back down to AA after a stint in Sacramento, while Vogel has been with Richmond all season). But each player has a lot to love about the pitches they throw.
Very mild-mannered offense. Center fielder Trevor Cohen was brilliant on Tuesday, hitting 4-5 with 2 stolen bases, a caught stealing, and a strikeout. The doubleheader was less kind to last year’s 3rd-round pick, as he went 0-7 with a walk and a stolen base. It’s been an exciting AA stint for the 22-year old lefty from Rutgers, who has a .791 OPS and a 110 wRC+ through 24 games, with 12 stolen bases in 16 attempts.
Just 1 home run over the 3 games, courtesy of catcher Ty Hanchey, who caught the 1st game of the doubleheader and the 2nd part of Game 2, after replacing Jancel Villarroel (No. 42 CPL). I would assume that meant Villarroel suffered an injury of sorts, but he’s in today’s lineup, so that’s a good thing.
Hanchey hit 2-4 with a 3-run blast and a hit by pitch, raising the UDFA’s OPS to .764 and his wRC+ to 105. Not only that, but the home run came with 2 outs and 2 strikes in the 9th, and tied the game! A solid season for the 26-year old.
High-A Eugene (65-44)
Tuesday: Eugene Emeralds lost to the Hillsboro Hops 5-4 [box score]
Wednesday: Eugene Emeralds lost to the Hillsboro Hops 5-3 [box score]
A pair of the best pitching prospects in the system started these games, and the results were fairly similar: extremely exciting and encouraging performances, though not the greatest overall results.
On Tuesday it was RHP Ramon Marquez, who made his organizational debut. Marquez, a 20-year old who was the headline piece to come back in the Luis Arráez trade, has been in the midst of an outrageous breakout campaign. The Giants got their first glimpse of that on Tuesday, when he struck out 8 batters in just 4 innings of work. That’s quite on brand for Marquez, who has a stunning 101 strikeouts in 63 innings this year, between both A-ball levels. There is extreme electricity in that arm!!
The rest of Marquez’s performance wasn’t as strong, however. He only gave up 3 hits, but that included a home run and a double. He only walked 1 batter, but he hit 2. The end result was 4 earned runs on his ledge, in as many innings. But certainly a reminder that ERA is far from the only thing that matters … that was a rock star performance in so many ways.
On Wednesday it was LHP Jacob Bresnahan (No. 11 CPL), who was similarly awesome, striking out 6 batters in 5.1 innings, while allowing just 4 baserunners. But, as was the case with Marquez, those baserunners did some damage: Bresnahan only ceded 3 hits and 1 walk, but 2 of the 3 hits cleared the fence.
That’s been an issue for the recently-turned 21-year old, who also came to the Giants in a trade (the Alex Cobb deal of 2024). In 88 innings this year, Bresnahan has struck out 104 batters, while allowing only 56 hits … but 10 of those 56 hits have left the park. That’s given the 2023 13th-rounder a 4.08 FIP, despite a glistening 2.76 ERA. This is certainly a case of the ERA looking a lot more important, and not just because it’s so much better.
RHP Hunter Dryden pitched well while piggybacking after Marquez. He gave up 3 hits, 1 walk, 1 hit batter, and 1 unearned run, while striking out 3. It’s been a tough year for the 2024 17th-rounder, who has a 4.75 ERA and a 5.39 FIP. But he’s been so much better lately: in his last 3 games, the D3 Whitworth product has pitched 15 innings and allowed just 10 hits, 3 walks, and 1 earned run, while striking out 15. Here’s hoping he keeps that up for the rest of the year!
RHP Marty Gair, a flamethrower who also came over in the Arráez deal, made his 2nd appearance with the Emeralds, and his 4th total appearance in High-A. He allowed a hit, a walk, and a run, with a strikeout in an inning of work.
On the hitting front, the organization’s top home run hitter was at it once again, as center fielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 32 CPL) went 3-7 with a 2-run blast, a walk, 3 strikeouts, and an error. Diaz, whose 22 home runs are tops on the farm, has taken his already solid game to a whole new level over the summer. Since the start of July, the just-turned 21-year old righty has hit 47-138 with 12 home runs and 21 total extra-base hits. In July he posted a stunning line of .327/.340/.635, and he’s one-upped himself in August, as he sits at .382/.432/.794. Outrageous! His OPS is up all the way to .836 on the year, though his wRC+ is “just” 113 due to a lowly 3.5% walk rate.
Just an awesome year for Diaz, who will likely find himself in AA before the year ends. But because he’s still in High-A, we’re at least getting to see him play center field on a daily basis, which is fun.
Also homering was right fielder Cam Maldonado (No. 34 CPL), last year’s 7th-round selection. Maldonado went 3-7 with a 2-run shot, a walk, a strikeout, and an outfield assist, and has looked so comfortable since getting promoted. Through 4 games with the Emeralds, the righty is 5-14 with 2 homers, 2 walks, and just 3 strikeouts. He’s certainly making the promotion look like the right move!
No one else stood out on offense. Shortstop Jhonny Level (No. 3 CPL), who has been brilliant with his promotion, had a quiet pair of games, hitting 1-7- with 2 walks. Third baseman Walker Martin had a difficult time, going 1-8 with 4 strikeouts, a stolen base, and 2 errors. Level, a 19-year old switch-hitter, has an .836 OPS and a 120 wRC+; Martin, a 22-year old lefty, has a .725 OPS and a 90 wRC+.
Low-A San Jose (60-50)
Tuesday: San Jose Giants lost to the Fresno Grizzlies 7-2 [box score]
Wednesday: San Jose Giants lost to the Fresno Grizzlies 5-4 [box score]
We’ve become accustomed to players with the last name “González” dominating for San Jose, but what about “Gonzalez”? That was the case on Tuesday, when designated hitter Fernando Gonzalez carried the offense, when he hit 2-3 with a home run and a walk, accounting for 50% of their hits and 100% of their extra-base hits.
It was a rare show of power for Gonzalez, who caught and went 0-4 on Wednesday. The 24-year old, who was taken in the final round of the 2024 draft, has strong contact skills and a good eye, but doesn’t hit for a lot of power. He has a minuscule 7.2% strikeout rate on the year, between the ACL and Low-A, and an 11.2% walk rate. But this was just his 9th extra-base hit in 152 plate appearances. He has a .719 OPS and a 90 wRC+ with San Jose on the year.
The more highly regarded player of that last name didn’t do much, however, as Josuar González (No. 2 CPL) hit 0-3 with a walk, 2 strikeouts, and a caught stealing on Tuesday, and didn’t play on Wednesday. Interestingly, González played second base in that game despite Luis Hernández (No. 6 CPL) not playing. I would assume that’s a nothing burger, and just the teaming wanting to get reps at shortstop for Lorenzo Meola (No. 23 CPL), who went from 1st to 3rd on the depth chart with the arrival of those teen phenoms. Hernández played on Wednesday, at shortstop, and went 1-5 with a strikeout and an error.
Right fielder Tanner Mally, the team’s 17th-round pick last month who is the only one of their 2026 draftees currently playing, continues to fit right in. The 21-year old righty went 2-7 with a triple, a walk, and 2 strikeouts, and has now hit safely in 5 straight games to start his career. He’s 8-19 with 2 triples, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts so far.
RHP Argenis Cayama (No. 13 CPL) started on Wednesday and had his best game since returning from injury. Cayama got hit a little too much, as he gave up 7 hits in 5 innings, which tagged him for 3 runs. But his nearly unparalleled combination of electricity and control was on display once more, as he needed just 66 pitches to get through those 5 innings, with 47 of them being strikes, and recorded 6 strikeouts without walking any hitters. That’s the Argenis we know and love! The 19-year old only has a 4.63 ERA and a 4.30 FIP, but has 57 strikeouts to 13 walks in 46.2 San Jose innings. I’m very much looking forward to how he performs in Eugene next year.
Things went less well for Tuesday’s starter, RHP Trey Seeley, as he gave up 5 hits, 3 walks, 3 runs, and 2 earned runs in 3.2 innings, with 4 strikeouts. It’s been a tough debut season for last year’s 13th-rounder, who has an 8.46 ERA and a 9.30 FIP with San Jose.
RHP Chen-Hsun Lee continues to look comfortable in San Jose, as he threw 2 no-hit innings, albeit with 2 walks and 2 unearned runs, the result of his own error. Lee, who struck out 3 batters, maintained his 0.00 ERA in San Jose, though he has a 4.39 FIP. He’s walking too many hitters, but has only allowed 6 hits in 12 innings with the Baby Giants.
RHP R.J. Dabovich made his 2nd rehab appearance and pitched a scoreless inning, with a hit and a strikeout.
Dominican Summer League Black (33-18)
Tuesday: DSL Giants Black beat the DSL Mets Orange 9-1 (8 innings) [box score]
This was a scheduled 9-inning game that was called right as the 8th inning got underway due to rain.
A few nice performances, but none better than the fantastic game that designated hitter Franco Willias had, as he continues his superb season. The 21-year old hit 3-4 with a double, a walk, and 2 stolen bases, which pushed his hitting streak to 16 games. It was also his 3rd straight game with 3 hits. During that 16-game hitting streak, the righty is 33-64 with 11 extra-base hits, and 8 walks. Willias has been one of the very best players in the DSL this year, and has a stunning 1.106 OPS and a 170 wRC+, with 31 stolen bases. It’s his 3rd year in the DSL, and it’s certainly going to be his last.
Right fielder Rainer Espinoza hit just 1-4 with 3 strikeouts, but his 1 hit was a home run, his 1st of the year. It’s been a very tough and disappointing 2nd season for the 17-year old, who has been limited to just 8 games, while having only a .387 OPS and a -15 wRC+, a year after a delightful debut as a 16-year old, when he posted a .760 OPS and a 117 wRC+.
Nice performance from the catcher spot: Diego Alambarrio started and hit a perfect 3-3 before giving way to Luis Padron, who doubled in his only at-bat. Alambarrio, an 18-year old in his 2nd season, has an .828 OPS and a 112 wRC+; Padron, a 16-year old in his debut campaign, has an .864 OPS and a 103 wRC+.
RHP Santiago Guerrero, a 19-year old in his 1st season, had a decent start, throwing 4 innings and allowing 4 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run, with 3 strikeouts. Guerrero has a 3.34 ERA, albeit with a 6.01 FIP due to a huge number of walks. Another debuting player, LHP Moises Soto, pitched well. Soto, a 17-year old, pitched a scoreless inning with a hit and 2 strikeouts. He’s only allowed 2 hits and 1 run through 6 innings in his 1st season.
Home run tracker
22 — Lisbel Diaz — [19 in High-A; 3 in Low-A]
20 — Bo Davidson — [1 in AAA; 19 in AA]
16 — Cam Maldonado — [2 in High-A; 14 in Low-A]
10 — Scott Bandura — [7 in AAA; 3 in AA]
9 — Turner Hill — [AAA]
7 — Thomas Gavello — [AAA]
6 — Ty Hanchey — [4 in AA; 2 in High-A]
3 — Fernando Gonzalez — [2 in Low-A; 1 in ACL]
1 — Rainer Espinoza — [DSL]
Thursday schedule
Sacramento: 7:05 p.m. PT at Las Vegas (SP: TBD)
Richmond: 3:30 p.m. PT at Harrisburg (SP: Yunior Marte)
Eugene: 6:35 p.m. PT at Hillsboro (SP: Henry LaLane)
San Jose: 6:30 p.m. PT vs. Fresno (SP: TBD)
Reminder that almost all MiLB games can be watched on MLB TV.
