A busy and fun weekend for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates. Let’s get into it!
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
High-A Eugene shortstop Jhonny Level (No. 3 CPL) has been named the Northwest League Player of the Week! Well deserved.
AAA Sacramento (64-47)
Friday: Sacramento River Cats lost to the Round Rock Express 7-1 [box score] Saturday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Round Rock Express 9-2
[box score] Sunday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Round Rock Express 10-9 [box score]
The offense was the star in these games, and there were plenty of good performances to go around. Let’s start with someone who is once again the hottest hitter on the planet: outfielder Jonah Cox. Despite only playing in 2 of the 3 games, Cox managed to play all 3 grassy positions, but what stood out was his performance in the batter’s box, where he had a mesmerizing weekend, hitting 5-8 with a home run, 2 doubles, a walk, and a strikeout.
Cox was one of the very best hitters in the Eastern League when he was in AA this year prior to his shocking MLB promotion, and he’s been one of the very best hitters in the Pacific Coast League since finally making it to AAA following an injury (his AAA debut came on a rehab assignment, but he has since been optioned). Through 9 games in AAA, Cox is hitting a stunning 20-40 with 5 extra-base hits, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. There are a few warning signs that the numbers should come down — no one hits .500 forever — and, more importantly, some things to work on despite the massive success. Cox still has some troubles catching up to the high velocity that is the standard in the Majors (he hit 5-24 with 15 strikeouts when not facing position players in his debut MLB stint), and AAA is a great place to work on that. Cox has also been feasting a little on the bad defenses in the Minors … you don’t see many players have a 1.123 OPS and a 224 wRC+ while having some of the worst exit velocities and in-zone contact rates in the league, but that’s exactly what’s happening.
None of this is meant to harsh Cox’s mellow … his seasons remains one of the best stories in the Giants organization this year, and he’s absolutely killing it in AAA. Keep it up, Jonah, and we’ll see you in San Francisco soon enough!
And of course, we can’t talk about outfielders killing it without talking about center fielder Turner Hill, who also played twice and hit 4-8 with 4 doubles, 1 walk, 1 sacrifice fly, 1 strikeout, and 1 caught stealing.
With that performance, Hill pushed his hitting streak to 24 games, and his numbers during that time are staggering: 44-100 with 14 extra-base hits, 9 walks, and 9 strikeouts. Even in the PCL, those numbers are absolutely outrageous, and they’ve pushed him to a .933 OPS and a 144 wRC+.
While a soft-contact, high-average speedster is always going to see their numbers drop when they move from PCL defenses to Major League ones, there’s a lot that Hill is doing that suggests this performance could translate well, as Hill isn’t just using his legs to feast on bad defenses. The 27-year old is 95th percentile in in-zone contact rate in AAA, and that should translate whenever we see him at the next level.
Pretty good weekends for the trio of notable recent promotees. Third baseman Parks Harber (No. 17 CPL) hit 4-10 with a home run, a walk, a hit by pitch, a sacrifice fly, a stolen base, a strikeout, and a caught stealing, boosting his OPS to .974 and his wRC+ to 149 through 21 games. Interestingly, after playing Harber a bit in the outfield in AA, Harber is only playing third base these days. That might just be to simplify his life as he adjusts to a new level, but it might also be due to the fact that Casey Schmitt and Matt Chapman are both presumably out for the year.
As for the other pair, right fielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) and second baseman Diego Velasquez (No. 31 CPL) had identical lines, hitting 3-11 with 2 doubles, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. Davidson is starting to look a lot more comfortable in AAA, though his numbers are still poor (.536 OPS, 50 wRC+ through 21 games), while Velasquez has positively hit the ground running (1.032 OPS, 175 wRC+ through 5 games).
Outfielder Victor Bericoto (No. 35 CPL) continued his rehab and hit 0-7 with 3 strikeouts as he searches for his rhythm and timing.
The most notable pitching performance came from Saturday’s starter, RHP Anthony Molina. The 24-year old was the player the Giants received in the Tyler Mahle trade, and the general consensus was that it wasn’t a very good haul for the Giants. Molina has struggled in the Majors and not been particularly good in AAA, either.
Interestingly, the Giants saw all that and not only thought they could make it work, but also thought that Molina should move to the rotation, rather than the bullpen role that he’s been in for years. San Francisco immediately made their plans to develop Molina as a starter public, and after Round 1, I have to say … a point to the Giants, and not to those of us who criticized the trade.
Molina will need some time to get fully stretched out, and only went 3 innings in this one, but he was brilliant in those 3, giving up just 1 hit, 0 walks, and 0 runs, while striking out 4. What a performance! He was a strike-throwing machine, too, with 35 of his 45 pitches being strikes. It’ll be very interesting to watch his development over the rest of the year.
The other starts went to a pair of LHPs who had breakout seasons in the Eastern League but have struggled to adapt to AAA: Matt Wilkinson and Cesar Perdomo. Wilkinson got the Friday start and went 6 innings deep, but gave up 7 hits (including 1 home run and 2 doubles), 1 walk, and 6 runs, while striking out 4. Perdomo went on Sunday and had a similar outing: 5 innings, 5 hits (including 3 doubles), 3 walks, and 3 runs, with 6 strikeouts.
Wilkinson has a 5.12 ERA and a 5.34 FIP through 9 AAA starts, but his 9.8 strikeouts and 3.0 walks per 9 innings look good. The 7 home runs in 38.2 innings? Not so much. Perdomo has a 7.33 ERA and a 6.00 FIP through 6 starts, and his strikeout and walk numbers (8.3 and 4.3 per 9, respectively), are not very encouraging. Most concerning is that he’s just getting hit, as he’s allowed 41 knocks through 27 innings. But an adjustment period is to be expected!
RHP Braxton Roxby continued his recent surge, throwing 2.1 shutout innings with just a hit and a hit batter, lowering his ERA to 3.78, albeit with a 5.10 FIP. RHP Christian Alvarado made his AAA debut on Friday and was brilliant, striking out 2 batters in a perfect inning; his follow-up performance on Sunday didn’t go as well, with 3 hits, 1 walk, and 2 runs in 2 innings.
AA Richmond (63-43)
Friday: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Reading Fightin Phils 10-9 [box score]
Saturday: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Reading Fightin Phils 6-2 [box score]
Sunday: Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Reading Fightin Phils 6-5 [box score]
The weekend started with excitement for the Squirrels, who used a 5-run rally in the 7th inning to tie Friday’s game, before walking it off in the 9th. It ended with disappointment, after the entered the 7th inning with a 5-0 lead that they would blow over the final 3 innings of the game.
The walk-off run was knocked in and scored by a pair of fun players who had nice weekends: second baseman/third baseman Maui Ahuna (No. 33 CPL) led off the 9th with a single, and used his nice speed to score from third base on a fielder’s choice hit by contact-maven left fielder Jose Astudillo, who was playing in his 1st AA game.
Ahuna hit 5-12 over the weekend, with 2 doubles, a walk, a stolen base, and, critically, no strikeouts. Strikeouts have been the big issue for Ahuna, both in his career and in this year, but he’s made leaps and bounds lately. Just look at his month-by month splits:
April: 27 strikeouts in 77 at-bats
May: 32 strikeouts in 71 at-bats
June: 37 strikeouts in 74 at-bats
July: 12 strikeouts in 58 at-bats
August: 4 strikeouts in 27 at-bats
Ahuna has also bounced back from quite a slump, and in his last 12 games is hitting 12-37 with 6 extra-base hits, 10 walks, and 5 strikeouts. With that, his OPS has climbed back to .690 and his wRC+ to 89.
As for Astudillo, he received a fairly surprising recent promotion after just 15 games in High-A, which was primarily the result of a chain reaction from Tanner Mally joining Low-A San Jose, but also the result of Astudillo hitting .333 in his brief Northwest League stint. It seems that it doesn’t matter where he is, the 22-year old is going to get hits, hits, and more hits. He went 6-13 over the weekend, with both a stolen base and an outfield assist, and didn’t strike out.
Did I mention that those were his 1st 3 games at the level? Not a bad introduction, kid!
Center fielder Trevor Cohen (No. 15 CPL) continued to adjust very well to the level, as he hit 4-13 with a home run, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. What’s there to say about last year’s 3rd-round pick? He has an .804 OPS and a 114 wRC+ through 21 games with Richmond, has 9 stolen bases in 12 attempts, is striking out just 7.4% of the time, and is playing strong defense in the center of the grass. Just a year ago he was a player drafted way ahead of where the mocks an big boards had him; now he’s one of the best prospects in the system.
Nice weekends for right fielder Jack Payton and catcher Ty Hanchey. Payton, an 11th-round pick in 2023 who celebrated his 25th birthday on Friday, hit 3-7 with a double, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts, and had the hit that moved Ahuna from 1st to 3rd setting up the walk-off. Payton has a .739 OPS and a 102 wRC+ in AA this year. Hanchey, a 26-year old who went undrafted in 2023, went 3-7 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout, raising his OPS to .735 and his wRC+ to 97.
A very uninteresting weekend on the mound. There wasn’t much at all from a starter’s standpoint, as LHP Charlie McDaniel got rocked on Friday (7 hits and 3 runs in 3.2 innings, with 4 strikeouts), while LHP Tyler Switalski avoided damage on Saturday but wasn’t sharp (6 hits and 4 walks, but just 2 runs in 5 innings, with 5 strikeouts). Both players are struggling to adjust to AA (5.01 ERA, 4.38 FIP for the former, and an 8.31 ERA, 7.22 FIP for the latter). Sunday was a bullpen game.
The bullpen performances weren’t that exciting, either. Friday featured a debut though, and it went well, as LHP Esmerlin Vinicio struck out 3 batters in 2 scoreless innings, while ceding 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 hit batter. The 23-year old had a strong season in High-A, and nice to see him get a chance in AA. He certainly has some interesting funk.
RHPs Marques Johnson and Ryan Vanderhei were excellent on Saturday, as each pitched 2 shutout frames: Johnson allowed a hit and a walk while striking out 4, lowering his ERA to 5.19 and his FIP to 3.92 through 6 games in AA (he spent most of the year in AAA); Vanderhei gave up just a walk, while striking out 3, lowering his ERA to 3.05 and his FIP to 4.11.
High-A Eugene (65-42)
Friday: Eugene Emeralds beat Spokane 4-2 [box score]
Saturday: Eugene Emeralds lost to Spokane 7-6 [box score]
Just 2 games for the Emeralds, as Sunday’s game was postponed due to the poor air quality in the region (the games were in Spokane, where there are some awful wildfires currently). Obviously thinking of everyone in that area and hoping for everyone’s safety.
The weekend was all about the long ball for the Emeralds. They didn’t have a good pair of games from a pitching standpoint, and their offense was extremely home run reliant: they only had 14 hits over the 2 games, but 5 of them cleared the fence.
Having the best performance from that standpoint was, fittingly, the organization’s home run leader, center fielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 32 CPL). The just-turned 21-year old from Cuba hit 1-4 with a solo home run in both games, while drawing a walk on Friday and striking out on Saturday. Thanks to the AAA struggles of Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) and the injury that Dakota Jordan (No. 5 CPL) is dealing with, that made Diaz the 1st player in the system this year to bop 20 home runs … and then 21 (3 of which came while in Low-A for a brief stint when he couldn’t cross the northern border).
Diaz is also getting to play center field regularly since Jordan’s promotion, which is exciting because he does have a lot of defensive talent (though it’s hard to tell from watching games if he can stick in center … he certainly has the arm and speed to be a strong corner outfielder, though). His OPS on the year is a glistening .824, though a minuscule walk rate (3.3%) means his wRC+ sits at just 109. Still, that counts as a great season in my books for someone who has his defensive abilities, has a low strikeout rate (16.4%), and is roughly 2.5 years younger than his average peer in the Northwest League.
Speaking of players who are very young for the level, 19-year old shortstop phenom Jhonny Level (No. 3 CPL) also left the yard, with a massive 3-run blast on Saturday. That was Level’s only hit of the weekend, as he didn’t play on Friday and went 1-5 with 2 strikeouts on Saturday … but sometimes you just need 1 swing.
The switch-hitter is on quite a heater right now, as he’s 9-16 with 3 extra-base hits and 6 walks over his last 4 games. It’s kind of staggering how well Level has adjusted to life in High-A, considering how young he is. There are 60 hitters in the Northwest League with at least 200 plate appearances this year, and Level is 4th in batting average (.296), 21st in on-base percentage (.358), 21st in isolated slugging (.194), 14th in OPS (.848), and 12th in wRC+ (123). He’s been flying up prospect rankings and I’m here to say he should be flying up them even further!
Rounding out the dinger party were right fielder Cam Maldonado (No. 34 CPL), who went 2-7 with a solo homer, a walk, and 2 strikeouts, and second baseman Zander Darby, who hit 3-8 with a solo blast and 2 strikeouts. Those were Maldonado’s 1st 2 games in High-A, as the 2025 7th-rounder was just promoted following a decent stint in San Jose. As for Darby, he continues to have a strong season but a big strikeout issue: the 23-year old has an .819 OPS and a 115 wRC+, but a 31.1% strikeout rate.
Not very good stuff on the mound. LHP Luis De La Torre (No. 14 CPL) continued his struggles with the strike zone, walking 5 batters in as many innings, while giving up 4 hits and 4 runs. It just wasn’t a sharp day for LDLT, who also had 2 wild pitches and 2 balks, threw less than half of his pitches for strikes, and only had 3 strikeouts on the day.
De La Torre is one of the names I’m most fascinated to discuss when we rank prospects again this winter. There are 62 pitchers in the Northwest League who have thrown at least 40 innings this year, and he’s 15th in strikeouts per 9 (11.1), and 6th in batting average against (.193). Dudes just can’t hit him! He’s also 59th out of those 62 in walks per 9 (7.2), which is a terrifying figure for someone who will turn 23 next month. What to make of that?
RHP Nate Nabholz pitched for the 2nd time since getting promoted and it went swimmingly, as he tossed 3 shutout frames with a hit and a strikeout, while throwing 22 of 29 pitches for strikes. It was just the 10th career game for Nabholz, a 25-year old whom the Giants acquired from the Frontier League recently. So far, so good, though he’s not getting many strikeouts.
Low-A San Jose (60-48)
Friday: San Jose Giants beat the Stockton Ports 9-0 [box score]
Saturday: San Jose Giants beat the Stockton Ports 10-4 [box score]
Sunday: San Jose Giants lost to the Stockton Ports 14-7 [box score]
Here’s a pretty wild thing to say. I think shortstop Josuar González (No. 2 CPL) might be too good for Low-A. It’s wild to say because González, at 18 years old, is more than 3 years younger than the average Cal League player. And it’s wild to say because González, who dealt with multiple hamstring injuries this year, played just 30 games in the Arizona Complex League.
But it’s certainly not wild to say if you follow the box scores or watch him play. González had another sensational weekend, hitting 6-13 with a triple, 2 doubles, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts.
The sample size is still small, as González has only played 11 games with San Jose, and there may be bumps and bruises incoming (which is half of why you keep a player at a level, despite what he currently looks like). Still, you want to know how impressive the defensively-brilliant switch-hitter has been? All you have to do is drop down the playing time requirements in the league and see where he sits on the leaderboard. Which I’ll now do for you.
There are 143 players who have had at least 50 plate appearances in the Cal League this year. González is 2nd in batting average (.357), 5th in on-base percentage (.462), 20th in isolated slugging (.238), 29th in walk rate (15.4%), 35th in strikeout rate (19.2%), 3rd in OPS (1.057), and 2nd in wRC+ (161). Again: those numbers will probably drop, but they contextualize just how dominant his opening run in the league is.
Shortstop/third baseman Luis Hernández (No. 6 CPL) continues to lag well behind, understandable given that he’s more than a year younger and this is his debut weekend. Hernández hit just 3-15 with 7 strikeouts and an error, lowering his OPS to .599 and his wRC+ to 47. It’ll come. These things take time.
Right fielder/center fielder Tanner Mally made his professional debut on Friday, as the 17th-rounder from Central Michigan became the 1st player from the team’s 2026 draft class to get into a game. And goodness gracious did he ever fit in! The 21-year old righty collected hits in all 3 games, going 6-12 with a triple, a walk, a hit by pitch, a stolen base, and 2 strikeouts. That’ll play! Welcome to the pros, Tanner … may your future days be as good as the opening act was!
Second baseman Lorenzo Meola (No. 23 CPL) continued his tear, hitting 6-14 with a home run, 2 doubles, a stolen base, and 2 strikeouts. With that, Meola is now tied for the Minor League lead with 35 doubles this year … brilliant!
Last year’s 4th-round pick has really gained momentum over the summer, as he’s hit 44-134 with 6 home runs, 2 triples, 16 doubles, and 13 walks since the start of July. Great to see him start to put together such good at-bats, after he had really struggled earlier in the year. It’s really been a tale of two seasons for Meola, and the result is, fittingly, a line that’s right down the middle: .803 OPS, 98 wRC+.
Also homering was corner outfielder Broedy Poppell, who went 2-7 with a 3-run home run, 2 walks, and a strikeout. A 13th-rounder a year ago, Poppell has really struggled to find success in A-ball, where he has just a .697 OPS and an 80 wRC+, with a 28.2% strikeout rate. So it was nice seeing him have such a good weekend!
Some really good pitching performances, starting with Friday’s starter, 23-year old LHP Jordan Gottesman. It was a fantastic start for the 2026 6th-rounder, who tossed 5.2 shutout innings with just 4 hits and 1 walk allowed, while striking out 6 batters, and throwing 57 of 88 pitches for strikes.
It’s those hits and strikeouts that really have stood out for the Northeastern product, as he has 9.7 strikeouts against just 2.9 walks per 9 innings this year. Despite that, he has just a 4.34 ERA and a 5.00 FIP, the result of ceding 83 hits and 11 home runs in 87 innings. Sometimes there’s a price to pay for living in the strike zone! But great to see Gottesman have such a good game after getting rocked in his last outing.
Following him was the recently-promoted RHP Samir Chires, who threw 3.1 scoreless innings with just 1 hit allowed, while striking out 2. Chires has been really strong during his short Low-A stint, as he has a 2.81 ERA and a 3.85 FIP, with 14 strikeouts to just 2 walks in 16 innings.
A pair of awesome relief outings on Saturday, after a tough start from promising 20-year old LHP Leandro Rodriguez. First it was RHP Fernando Vasquez, who struck out 5 batters in 2.2 scoreless innings, with 3 hits, 0 walks, and a hit batter. Vasquez really struggled with run prevention early on, giving up 16 earned runs in 12.2 innings across May and April. But since then, he’s allowed just 9 earned runs in 24 innings. After making that adjustment, he’s moved on to a new one: setting straight his strikeout and walk numbers. Through the end of July, Vasquez had 44 strikeouts to 41 walks in 41 innings. But in his pair of August outings? 10 strikeouts to 1 walk in 5.2 innings. Much better!
Then it was a sight for sore eyes: RHP R.J. Dabovich, who kicked off a rehab assignment. A 27-year old taken in the 4th round in 2020, Dabovich has had a brutal time with injuries in his career, and has thrown just 19.1 innings over the last 4 seasons combined. He was shut down after 2 appearances with AA Richmond this year, but finally returned after 4 months on the sidelines. That’s all that matters, but the performance was great too, as he allowed a hit in a shutout inning, while striking out the side.
Unfortunately, the good vibes ended on Sunday when RHP Keyner Martinez (No. 10 CPL) got positively destroyed, giving up 6 hits, 3 walks, 8 runs, and 7 earned runs, while only recording 3 outs. That’s an ERA buster for Martinez, who has a 5.40 ERA and a 5.22 FIP a year after his breakout campaign. There’s so much to love about Martinez, who is incredibly electric and hard to hit. As evidence, there are 109 pitchers who have thrown at least 30 innings in the Cal League this season, and Martinez is 7th in strikeouts per 9 innings (13.2) and 21st in batting average against (.223). He’s just walking too many hitters and giving up too many long balls.
Dominican Summer League Black (31-18)
Friday: DSL Giants Black beat the DSL Nationals 9-2 [box score]
Saturday: DSL Giants Black lost to the DSL Mets Blue 5-0 (7 innings) [box score]
Well, some excitement and not the good kind, as the Giants Black squad got no-hit on Saturday. Oops!
Some good performances on Saturday though. Second baseman Keiberg Camacaro hit 2-5 while bashing a grand slam, which is always great to see. Camacaro, who also struck out in the game, then went 0-2 with a walk and a strikeout on Saturday. He’s getting accustomed to second base after getting moved off of shortstop by Joniel Hernandez, the thrilling 17-year old that the Giants acquired in the Robbie Ray trade. Camacaro now has a 1.040 OPS and a 147 wRC+ as his sensational 4th pass through the DSL continues. Hernandez, meanwhile, hit just 1-7 with a walk and 2 strikeouts, lowering his OPS to .970 and his wRC+ to 130. Still, a brilliant debut season for the righty, who should be in Minor League camp stateside next spring when he celebrates his 18th birthday.
Center fielder Djean Macares hit 0-5 with 2 strikeouts over the pair of games, but on Friday drew 3 walks and stole a base. He has an .826 OPS, a 123 wRC+, and 22 stolen bases in his 2nd DSL season, and the recently-turned 18-year old should see himself playing in Arizona next year.
RHP Luis Hernandez, a 20-year old in his 3rd season, tossed 5 scoreless innings with just 2 hits allowed, though he walked 3, hit a batter, and only struck out 1. He’s had a tough year, with far more walks than strikeouts. RHP Lender Bracho had 4 strikeouts and 0 walks in 3 scoreless innings, with 2 hits. The 21-year old has a 2.08 ERA but a 5.15 FIP in his 3rd season.
Dominican Summer League Orange (27-22)
Friday: DSL Giants Orange beat the DSL Blue Jays Blue 8-4 (7 innings) [box score]
Saturday: DSL Giants Orange lost to DSL Arizona Black 6-1 (7 innings) [box score]
Quite a debut we got to witness in these games! Israel Alfonse, a 17-year old from the Dominican Republic, made his professional debut on Friday while playing designated hitter, and went 1-3 with a home run and a strikeout. On Saturday, in his 2nd career game, he played shortstop and went 1-2 with a stolen base, though he also had a strikeout and an error. That’s a great career start!
RHP Kelvin Silva, a 20-year old in his debut season, struck out 2 batters in an inning of work, while only allowing 1 baserunner on a hit by pitch. He has a 3.12 ERA and a 4.11 FIP through 7 career games.
Home run tracker
21 — Lisbel Diaz x2 — [18 in High-A; 3 in Low-A]
17 — Parks Harber — [5 in AAA; 12 in AA]
12 — Lorenzo Meola — [Low-A]
9 — Broedy Poppell — [6 in Low-A; 3 in ACL]
8 — Jonah Cox — [1 in MLB; 1 in AAA; 6 in AA]
6 — Keiberg Camacaro — [DSL]
5 — Aeverson Arteaga — [3 in AAA; 2 in AA]
5 — Trevor Cohen — [2 in AA; 3 in High-A]
1 — Israel Alfonse — [DSL]
