The San Francisco Giants still have just one Minor League Baseball team in action, but that’s changing oh-so soon. Low-A San Jose begins their season on Thursday, while High-A Eugene and AA Richmond kick off the 2026 campaign on Friday. Until then, it’s just AAA Sacramento, so not a ton to talk about. But let’s get to it nonetheless!
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 Giants made some
transactions on Monday that impacted the Minor Leagues. They sent cash to old friend Scott Harris in exchange for right-handed reliever Dylan Smith, whom the Detroit Tigers had designated for assignment a few days prior. Smith, who was a 3rd-round pick in the 2021 draft and has a pair of option years remaining, was immediately optioned to AAA Sacramento. He had a 3.65 ERA and a 2.69 FIP with Detroit’s AAA affiliate last year, with 22 strikeouts in just 12.1 innings, but also 7 walks.
San Francisco had to clear space on the 40-man roster to make room for Smith, and so they designated for assignment utility player Tyler Fitzgerald. It’s sad to see Fitzgerald go, but there was really no path to him getting Major League playing time anytime soon — the Giants have everyday players at every position, and Fitzgerald was well behind Christian Koss and Casey Schmitt on the infield depth chart, and behind Grant McCray, Will Brennan, and Drew Gilbert on the outfield depth chart. He still has an option year remaining, so he’ll almost certainly get claimed off waivers.
AAA Sacramento (2-2)
Sacramento River Cats lost to the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 13-5
Box score
Despite the lopsided score, the River Cats were in this game for most of it. In fact, they held a 5-3 lead at stretch time, but then gave up 10 runs between the 7th and 8th innings.
It was a trio of rough performances that doomed the bullpen, starting with RHP Trent Harris (No. 29 CPL). Harris was tasked with opening the 7th inning, and it started off well. He retired the first batter and third batters that he faced, with a single sandwiched between them. But then the wheels fell off, against an Angels’ affiliate that admittedly has a fair amount of ex-MLB talent on it.
The results were bad, but the talent doing it was good. That first single came off the bat of Christian Moore, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2024 draft (after a very nice career with Tony Vitello at Tennessee). A 2-out single by Trey Mancini, a 7-year MLB veteran, scored a run. But the big hit came from Denzer Guzman, one of LA’s top prospects, who made his MLB debut last year. In a 2-2 count, Harris tried a slider, but Guzman fouled it off. Harris tried it again, and Guzman fouled it off again. Unrelenting, Harris tried it a 3rd time, and this time Guzman put it over the fence for a 2-run home run.
Then Matthew Lugo, who also debuted in the Majors last year, singled. And Niko Kavadas, who spent time in the Majors in each of the last 2 years, walked. And Jose Siri, who has more than 1,000 MLB plate appearances to his name, singled home a 4th run, ending Harris’ night.
Harris remains one of the top relief prospects in the organization, but the question of “can you get advanced hitters out” stymies a lot of pitchers, and he is very much one of them. The undrafted curveball artist, who recently turned 27, dominated the lower and mid-Minors, which was emphasized by a showing with AA Richmond last year in which he posted a 1.69 ERA, a 1.73 FIP, and 14.1 strikeouts per 9 innings. But advanced hitters have gotten the best of him: Harris made 30 appearances for Sacramento last year, but the ERA rose to 5.44, the FIP leaped to 4.69, and the strikeouts per 9 plummeted to 8.7. Still, he very deservedly was given an invite to Major League camp this year, and while he showed some impressive things, the same concerns persisted: in 4 Cactus League games, he had a 9.64 ERA and an 8.80 FIP, with 7.7 strikeouts per 9 innings.
So far, that’s carrying into the 2026 season. Harris only gave up 1 baserunner in his season debut, though it was a home run, and now this outing has left him with an ERA (16.88) that will require many outings to get back into respectable territory.
Siri’s RBI single ended Harris’ night, and brought in a slightly less-heralded, but still very intriguing arm: LHP Nick Zwack. The southpaw was part of the J.D. Davis/Darin Ruf swap of … /gestures vaguely at some year in the past … as was Carson Seymour. Injuries have slowed him down — he lost the entirety of the 2024 season — but he’s back, healthy, and certainly has some serious life in his arm. He also appears to be a reliever at long last, after working as a starter to this point in his career.
Zwack had a strong return from injury a year ago, posting a 2.53 ERA and a 2.92 FIP in 7 AA starts, while having 9.0 strikeouts against just 2.5 walks per 9 innings. Like Harris, though, he struggled in his (admittedly brief) introduction to AAA late last year. And unfortunately, those struggles have carried over into the 2026 season. Zwack got off to a very rough start to the year on Sunday, in which he gave up 4 baserunners and 2 runs, while recording just 1 out. Sadly, Tuesday’s outing was fairly similar.
He did get out of the pickle that Harris created, ending the inning as soon as he entered the game. But things went very poorly in the 8th, as Zwack just couldn’t find the zone. He walked 3 batters in the frame, while also allowing 2 hits. That, combined with a catcher’s interference, 1 of 2 errors on the day by Jesús Rodríguez (No. 16 CPL), tagged Zwack for 6 runs in the inning, 5 of which were earned. If Harris thinks he has work to salvage his ERA, it’s nothing compared to Zwack’s unsightly 47.25 mark.
Like Harris, Zwack left the game with just 2 outs in the inning, and his ERA would have looked a lot better were it not for a 3rd miserable bullpen outing, this time from LHP Juan Sánchez (No. 41 CPL). Sánchez is still trying to find his command after losing the 2025 season to Tommy John surgery and, well … he didn’t find it in this game, that’s for sure.
The southpaw, who should figure into the MLB bullpen plans this year if he can find his command, entered with 2 outs and the bases loaded. He walked a run home, then walked a 2nd run home, and then walked a 3rd run home. Finally, after 3 straight walks (the 1st of which was on 5 pitches, and the 2nd on 4), and after falling behind a 4th batter 3-0, Sánchez found the strike zone and recovered to strike out Nelson Rada. Technically it was a performance that help Sánchez’s ERA at 0.00, since the 3 runs scored while he was on the mound were charged to Zwack. But needless to say, the ERA very much does not tell the story here.
All of that ruined a really nice start from LHP Seth Lonsway, who, it turns out, is in Sacramento’s rotation. Lonsway only pitched 3 innings as he gets stretched out to start the year, but he gave up just a single and a walk in those 3 frames, with no runs (though he also didn’t have any strikeouts). For now, at least, it appears that Lonsway — who made 19 starts for Richmond last year, and another 9 for Sacramento — will join a rotation headlined by Seymour, Carson Whisenhunt (No. 8 CPL), Blade Tidwell (No. 9 CPL), and Trevor McDonald (No. 12 CPL). Quite a nice opportunity for him.
Unfortunately, the bullpen foibles didn’t begin with Harris, as RHP Spencer Bivens — perhaps the most surprising omission from San Francisco’s Opening Day roster — had a rough go of it in the 4th inning, ceding back-to-back 2-out solo home runs to Kavadas and Siri. He’ll surely be back on the big league roster at some point this year, but he’ll have to show some stuff in Sacramento first.
On offense, it was a quiet day for most of the players, as the River Cats are still looking for their 1st home run of the season. Third baseman Buddy Kennedy continued his torrid start to the year, hitting a perfect 4-4 with a double and a walk. The bats have yet to wake up for Sacramento, but Kennedy hasn’t gotten that message.
It seems that Kennedy, who was an offseason Minor League signing with an invite to camp, is more emergency depth than anyone else. The Giants have everyday players across the infield in San Francisco, with a pair of backups that they feel highly about. But Kennedy is certainly a quality emergency depth piece to have: he has MLB experience, and is hitting 6-12 with 3 doubles, 2 walks, and just 1 strikeout to start the AAA season.
The other nice hitting day belonged to second baseman Nate Furman (No. 39 CPL), who singled in his only official at-bat, while also drawing 2 walks and hitting a sacrifice fly. The on-base percentage and the contact skills to succeed in a situational appearance are why the Giants are so high on Furman, who was an NRI this spring, and who came over in the Alex Cobb trade. But there are questions remaining, including on defense, where Furman committed his 1st error of the season on Tuesday.
First baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL) hasn’t been forcing the issue since getting optioned, and that was again the case on Tuesday, as he went 0-4 with a strikeout, though he reached base by getting hit by a pitch. His contact wasn’t especially hard in this game, either.
Center fielder Grant McCray came back to earth a little bit after a nice start to the year, as he went 1-5 with 3 strikeouts. The other 40-man hitters didn’t do too well, either, as Rodríguez and left fielder Will Brennan also went 1-5, with the latter striking out twice.
With Fitzgerald DFA’d, the River Cats have a hole at shortstop. For now, AAA repairman Thomas Gavello is tasked with that duty. Gavello, a 2022 13th-round pick who filled in in Sacramento last year and impressed the coaching staff enough that he stuck around, was drafted as a catcher, but didn’t play the position in 2025, instead primarily focusing on second base, third base, and left field, with a few starts at shortstop. It will be interesting to see if the Giants let Gavello, who hit 0-4 with 3 strikeouts, stay at shortstop until Osleivis Basabe is healthy, or if they bring up someone like Aeverson Arteaga to fill in for a while.
Upcoming schedule
The River Cats continue their series against the Bees tonight at 5:35 p.m. PT, while the Low-A San Jose Giants join them tomorrow. High-A Eugene and AA Richmond kick off the season on Friday.
