For the final time this season, our San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball roundup features multiple teams. First we lost the Arizona Complex League squad, then the pair of teams in the Dominican Summer League. Next up was High-A Eugene, followed by Low-A San Jose. And now? AA Richmond has joined the group. Six teams who won’t get to write about until next year, and just one remaining.
So here’s what happened on Thursday, the final multi-game day of the Minor League season for the GIants.
Link
to the 2026 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)
All listed positions in the roundup are the position played in that particular game.
AAA Sacramento (79-65)
Sacramento River Cats beat the Reno Aces (Diamondbacks) 3-0
Box score
A very rare thing indeed: a Pacific Coast League shutout! And yet, despite that, the most notable performance came on offense. Specifically, on one swing of the bat from right fielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL).
Davidson, playing in his 2nd game since returning from a recent minor injury, only hit 1-4 with 2 strikeouts, but he certainly made the hit count: he accounted for all 3 of Sacramento’s runs with a stunning 433-foot, 106.3-mph home run.
Yeesh!
With that, Davidson is on the doorstep of becoming the first Giants prospect to hit 30 home runs in a season since Adam Duvall back in 2012. He’s got 3 more games to crank 1 more dinger out of the park … can he do it?
Also having a nice hitting day was designated hitter Victor Bericoto (No. 35 CPL). Bericoto is officially on a rehab assignment, though it’s unclear if he’ll return to San Francisco again this season or not, since the Giants seem to be enjoying getting frequent playing time for Drew Gilbert, Jonah Cox, Turner Hill, and Scott Bandura (and, to a lesser extent, Grant McCray). Bericoto has been fairly rusty during his rehab stint, but not in this game, as he went 3-4 with a strikeout, with one of his singles leaving the bat at a stunning 110.8 mph.
The rest of the offense was lifeless. Apart from that pair, which sat at the top of the lineup, the River Cats hit just 3-22 with 0 extra-base hits and 1 walk. Third baseman Parks Harber (No. 17 CPL), who has been doing a good job recovering from a late August/early September slump, had an off day, going 0-4 with a strikeout, though he had some hard contact.
On the pitching front, it was a bullpen game that handled the shutout and, for the first 5 innings, it was even a no-hitter. It wasn’t the cleanest partial no-hitter, as RHP Will Bednar (No. 24 CPL) was first to take the mound and walked 3 batters in his 2.2 no-hit innings, though he also struck out 3. Bednar, who threw 26 of 41 pitches for strikes, has been a lot better lately, following a fairly rough re-introduction to AAA. His overall numbers at the level are still quite poor — he has a 6.33 ERA and a 4.75 FIP — but he’s showing something, that’s for sure. He’s definitely someone who could end up factoring into the MLB bullpen at some point next season.
Then it was RHP Wilkin Ramos, who took down the next 2.1 no-hit innings, with just 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. Like Bednar, Ramos — who made his MLB debut earlier in the year, but has since been outrighted — doesn’t have the best numbers in AAA, as he has just a 4.07 ERA and a 4.91 FIP, with 8.0 strikeouts per 9 innings. But he’s got a lot of funk, and if he stays in the system next year he could work his way back to the Majors.
RHP Christian Alvarado finally broke the no-hitter when he gave up 3 hits in 2 innings, but he kept runs (and free runners) away, and struck out 2. What a great story Alvarado has been this year: he signed during the season after having not pitched in the Minors since 2019. The 31-year old was thoroughly dominant for AA Richmond, and is now trying to find his footing with AAA, where he’ll hopefully be a big asset next year.
Rounding out the shutout were RHPs R.J. Dabovich and Eric Cerantola, who each pitched a scoreless inning, Dabovich with a hit allowed, and Cerantola with 1 walk but 3 strikeouts. It’s so great seeing Dabovich healthy, after the 2020 4th-rounder lost so much time to injury. Let’s hope he can carry that health into next season.
AA Richmond (eliminated)
Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Erie SeaWolves (Tigers) 5-3
Box score
2026 was an absolutely brilliant season for the Flying Squirrels, but it didn’t end well. They were skidding and sliding all over the place as the regular season neared an end, and it resulted in being swept out of the playoffs.
But Richmond went out with a bang, thanks to one of the more exciting performances of the year on the farm: the AA debut of RHP Jackson Flora. The record books will show that Flora only had 1 appearance in his debut season, after being drafted 4th overall in July’s draft. But after that debut — a strong, if slightly shaky 1-inning start for Low-A San Jose — Flora had a dominant playoff appearance in Low-A. In that game, he tossed 2 no-hit innings with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts, and certainly opened some eyes.
The Giants moved him all the way up to AA which was both a recognition of his talent/readiness, and also a logistical matter given San Jose’s schedule and the fact that High-A Eugene’s season was over. And on Thursday, Flora made his AA debut in the playoffs, and one-upped his Low-A performance.
The UC Santa Barbara product needed just 28 pitches to take down the first 2 innings of the game, and here’s how they went:
Strikeout swinging
Strikeout swinging
Strikeout swinging
Pop up
Ground out
Strikeout looking
Hell of an introduction, champ.
After that dominance, we’ll spend the entire offseason trying to figure out where the Giants will place Flora when next season begins. I do think the way he made quality AA hitters — including Zyhir Hope — look silly should rule out returning all the way down to Low-A, but I do think there’s a good chance he starts next season in High-A, rather than in AA. Even if he is in Eugene when the schedule kicks off, it almost certainly won’t be for long. This guy is the real deal, folks!
Next up was someone who we do know will be in Richmond when 2027 begins: LHP Jacob Bresnahan (No. 11 CPL). Fresh off of winning Pitcher of the Year honors in the High-A Northwest League, Bresnahan made his fourth appearance for Richmond, after a trio of regular season starts to end the year. As with his prior starts, Bresnahan showed off some incredible strikeout stuff, while also serving as a reminder that the jump from High-A to AA is not the easiest one. The recently-turned 21-year old, who had a 2.92 ERA, a 4.32 FIP, and 10.8 strikeouts per 9 innings with Eugene this year, struggled with command in this game. He only threw 52 of 89 pitches for strikes, which led to 4 walks and a hit batter in just 3.2 innings. That, combined with 4 hits, knocked him for 4 runs (3 earned), but he struck out 6 batters along the way!
It’s all part of the learning curve. In his 4 AA games, Bresnahan finished with 23 strikeouts in 19.2 innings, and that’s worth being very, very excited about.
RHP Tyler Vogel had a very nice game, as he gave up just 1 walk in 2 shutout innings, with 2 strikeouts. Vogel, a 12th-round pick in 2022 out of Jacksonville University, spent the entire season with Richmond, primarily pitching 9th innings. He finished the year with a 3.25 ERA, a 4.63 FIP, and 9.4 strikeouts per 9 innings, albeit with 5.5 walks per 9.
As with Sacramento, Richmond’s 3 runs all came from a single swing of the bat, as designated hitter Kaeden Kent gave the team a 4th-inning lead with a towering 3-run home run.
Kent, who finished the day 1-3 with a walk, was getting his feet wet after a full season in High-A (split between the Yankees and Giants affiliates, and interrupted by injuries). The record books will show that Kent has yet to make his AA debut, as he was called up just for the playoffs, but that majestic home run he hit begs to differ!
It will be very exciting seeing Kent (who, if you’re new here, is Jeff’s son, was a 3rd-round pick last year, and came to the Giants in the Heliot Ramos trade) have a full year in the system next season, where he’ll presumably be playing middle infield across from Jhonny Level (No. 3 CPL). Won’t that be fun! Kent finished the regular season with a .790 OPS and a 107 wRC+, but impressed with his well-rounded game, which featured just a 16.0% strikeout rate, strong defense, and 24 stolen bases. He’s also headed to Arizona in a few weeks for the Arizona Fall League, so that will be fun.
Otherwise, it was a very quiet day in the batter’s box, as Richmond had just 4 hits and 3 walks. Quiet ends to the season for the Squirrels top position player prospects, as shortstop Gavin Kilen (No. 7 CPL) hit 1-4, while center fielder Trevor Cohen (No. 15 CPL) went 0-3 with a walk. Outfielder Dakota Jordan (No. 5 CPL) didn’t play.
Bon voyage, Richmond!
Home run tracker
29 — Bo Davidson — [10 in AAA; 19 in AA]
9 — Kaeden Kent — [1 in AA; 8 in High-A]
Friday schedule
Sacramento: 6:45 p.m. PT vs. Reno (SP: Darien Smith)
