Today is nomination day, so head to the comment section to nominate the next group of prospects for Friday’s CPL!
We’re officially three-quarters of the way through the 2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List! Spring Training is about to start, and our community project ranking the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization is about to end.
But we still have some extremely intriguing names to discuss before it does, including Monday’s winner: shortstop Maui Ahuna, who has
been voted as the No. 33 prospect in the organization. That’s a drop of 10 spots for Ahuna, who came in at No. 23 in last year’s CPL.
Ahuna, who was a fourth-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft out of Tony Vitello’s Tennessee, has a not uncommon profile for a shortstop: elite glove, questionable bat. The left-handed hitter, who will turn 24 during Spring Training, is a wizard with the leather, and certainly could respectably stand on stage in a debate about the best defensive shortstop in the system (though he’d probably lose that debate to Josuar González). But the massive swing-and-miss issues that popped up during his time playing college ball have not yet dissipated in his short pro stint.
The offensive numbers are still good, thanks to a combination of power, walks, BABIP fortune, and facing lower levels. In 63 games across the Complex League, Low-A, and High-A last year, Ahuna slashed .269/.370/.453 for an .823 OPS and a 123 wRC+, with five home runs in 274 plate appearances, and 12 stolen bases in 14 attempts. That paints the picture of someone with some offensive potential, but the hit tool remains scary (Fangraphs gives it a 20 present/30 future grade). Ahuna struck out 27.0% of the time in 2025, with a swinging strike rate of 14.3%, which was the 11th-highest mark among Giants prospects with at least 200 plate appearances last year and, unlike Ahuna, most of the names with worse marks were young for their level, rather than old for it.
The swing-and-miss issues are bigger than the strikeout and swinging strike rates would suggest, since Ahuna is a patient batter who accomplishes a lot of success by merely not swinging. Friend of the site Roger Munter, whose currently ongoing prospect rankings are a true must-read for Giants farm fans, contextualized this with a scary stat, saying “As was true in his final season at Tennessee, he often runs whiff rates as high as 40%.”
Another major concern with Ahuna is the injury history, as he’s suffered numerous setbacks in his career. Since getting drafted in 2023, Ahuna has played just 97 games, and just 58 of them have been in the field (although he did play 11 games in the Arizona Fall League a few months ago). The flip side to that is that, perhaps if and when he can actually stay on the field for an extended period of time, he’ll be able to make some gains to his hit tool. As it stands, Ahuna is a fascinating measuring stick for how people value prospects. He has a fatal flaw, and one that historically is very, very difficult to fix. But everything else is so good and intriguing that, should he make that fix, he could turn into a high-quality MLB player.
Needless to say, his upcoming age-24 season will be pivotal. I’d assume it starts with High-A Eugene, where he played just 11 games last year before the season ended.
Now let’s add to the list, and a reminder that today is nomination day. Both voting for the No. 34 prospect and nominating the next batch of prospects will take 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
- Carlos Gutierrez — OF
- Drew Cavanaugh — C
- Daniel Susac — C
- Gerelmi Maldonado — RHP
- Josh Bostick — RHP
- Lorenzo Meola — SS/2B
- Will Bednar — RHP
- Yunior Marte — RHP
- Joe Whitman — LHP
- Joel Peguero — RHP
- Alberto Laroche — RHP
- Trent Harris — RHP
- Carlos De La Rosa — LHP
- Diego Velasquez — 2B
- Lisbel Diaz — OF
- Maui Ahuna — SS
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
No. 34 prospect nominees
Rayner Arias — 19.8-year old OF — .173 OPS/-42 wRC+ in Low-A (30 PA); .699 OPS/87 wRC+ in ACL (178 PA)
Reggie Crawford — 25.1-year old LHP — did not pitch in 2025; 1.04 ERA/4.07 FIP in AAA in 2024 (8.2 IP); 4.66 ERA/4.93 FIP in AA in 2024 (9.2 IP)
Cam Maldonado — 22.2-year old OF — .691 OPS/92 wRC+ in Low-A (71 PA)
Reid Worley — 19.6-year old RHP — yet to debut
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.
