It’s time for a rarity: a weekend adventure into the 2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List! Yes, our quest to rank the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization is clocking
in for work on a Saturday, because … well … because I never got around to it on Friday. So here we are, with the latest chapter in our fun little community project.
Before we move on to today’s subject and the subsequent voting, let’s talk about Wednesday. Since the last chapter of the CPL, the Rule 5 Draft took place. The Giants lost a handful of prospects, including one who was almost surely going to make our list, right-hander Spencer Miles. The most likely outcome with any Rule 5 selection is that they’ll be returned to their team, so there’s a good chance Miles is a big part of the Minor League story for the Giants this year despite not being represented on the CPL, but that’s a risk we’re forced to take.
More notable to our work here is that the Giants added a prospect in catcher Daniel Susac, the Athletics first-round pick in 2022 (and brother of former Giants catcher Andrew). It would seem that we’re at the point in this assignment where Susac should be considered — after all, the person he’ll be battling for the coveted role of “backup catcher” in spring, Jesús Rodríguez, was just chosen at No. 16. So, in the comments of Wednesday’s article, I asked folks if we should add Susac to the list of nominees, and the answer was one-sided: yes. So we have a standalone new entrant to the list of nominees to vote on today. Welcome, Daniel.
Now we can actually talk about Wednesday’s CPL, which was also one-sided: earning well over half of the vote in the eight-player field is corner infielder/corner outfielder Parks Harber, who makes his CPL debut as the No. 17 prospect in the system.
Harber, a right-handed hitter from UNC who went undrafted in 2024, had a brilliant campaign in 2025. The 6’3 slugger, who turned 24 right as the season was ending, opened the year with the Low-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, where he hit .304/.422/.551 for a .972 OPS and a 169 wRC+ before an early-season promotion to High-A. He kept the good times rolling there, sporting a .326/.395/.489 slash line, good for an .884 OPS and a 160 wRC+.
And then he was traded to the Giants at the deadline in the Camilo Doval deal, and assigned to High-A Eugene, where his performance truly took off. In 25 games with the Emeralds, Harber hit a stupefying .333/.454/.644, which resulted in a 1.097 OPS and a 196 wRC+. After hitting six home runs in 235 plate appearances for the pair of Yankees affiliates, Harber smashed seven dingers in just 108 plate appearances with Eugene.
On the one hand, caution is always handed out when drooling over the numbers of a player who is old for the league they’re playing in, and Harber was about a year older than his peers while in High-A. On the other hand, the Giants sent him to the Arizona Fall League after the season, where more advanced technology was put on him, and the data that came back was thrilling: Harber is hitting the baseball harder than the vast majority of Minor Leaguers, with eye-popping exit velocities. The results were also there in the AFL, as Harber hit 23-60 with three homers, nine doubles, and 14 walks, good for a 1.196 OPS that was fourth in the league. He can hit!
There are a few things to worry about, though. Despite being older than his competitors, Harber still has a fair amount of swing-and-miss in his game, and sported a 23.0% strikeout rate across the two levels last year, while also having 20 strikeouts in 17 AFL games. He’s a question mark defensively, as he has been developed at the corners of the infield, but, likely due to a lack of success there, has started to move to the grass with the Giants.
But exit velocities like the ones Harber has don’t grow on trees, and sometimes you have to look at a loud tool and hope the rest will fill in. Harber will almost surely start 2026 with AA Richmond, and if he keeps putting up gaudy numbers, it will be time to get very, very excited.
Now let’s add to the list, and as a reminder, voting now takes place in the comment section.
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
- Carson Whisenhunt — LHP
- Blade Tidwell — RHP
- Keyner Martinez — RHP
- Jacob Bresnahan — LHP
- Trevor McDonald — RHP
- Argenis Cayama — RHP
- Luis De La Torre — LHP
- Trevor Cohen — OF
- Jesús Rodríguez — C
- Parks Harber — OF/3B
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
No. 18 prospect nominees
Josh Bostick — 24.1-year old RHP — 3.71 ERA/4.59 FIP in High-A (119 IP)
Drew Cavanaugh — 23.10-year old C — .511 OPS/34 wRC+ in AAA (53 PA); .677 OPS/116 wRC+ in AA (56 PA); .904 OPS/149 wRC+ in High-A (162 PA); 1.006 OPS/170 wRC+ in Low-A (131 PA)
Carlos Gutierrez — 21.3-year old OF — .896 OPS/150 wRC+ in Low-A (293 PA)
Trent Harris — 26.10-year old RHP — 5.44 ERA/4.69 FIP in AAA (41.1 IP); 1.69 ERA/1.73 FIP in AA (16 IP)
Gerelmi Maldonado — 21.11-year old RHP — 3.97 ERA/4.65 FIP in Low-A (59 IP)
Lorenzo Meola — 21.11-year old SS/2B — .784 OPS/109 wRC+ in Low-A (70 PA)
Daniel Susac — 24.6-year old C — .832 OPS/94 wRC+ in AAA (407 PA)
Joe Whitman — 24.2-year old LHP — 5.29 ERA/3.61 FIP in AA (117.1 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.
