A rather poor weekend for the San Francisco Giants, but a tremendously exciting weekend for their Minor League Baseball affiliates. Let’s dive into the 15 games that were played on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
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
AAA Sacramento outfielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) was named the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week. It was very well earned. You’ll find out why in a moment.
Also very well earned was the promotion of outfielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 32 CPL), the organization’s home run leader. He moves up from High-A Eugene to AA Richmond.
And, in case you missed the news, Sacramento LHP Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson has been called up for his MLB debut!
AAA Sacramento (68-49)
Friday/Saturday Game 1: Sacramento River Cats lost to the Las Vegas Aviators 10-5 [box score]
Saturday Game 2: Sacramento River Cats beat the Las Vegas Aviators 3-2 (7 innings) [box score]
Sunday: Sacramento River Cats beat the Las Vegas Aviators 15-11 [box score]
A lot of fun storylines going on with the River Cats over the weekend, though it took them awhile to get started … Friday’s game was postponed at the start of the 3rd inning, and resumed on Saturday.
The big story is a very exciting one, though: right fielder/left fielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) has taken off. It was an absolutely dreamy weekend for the lefty, who hit 4-7 with a walk and a strikeout across Saturday’s games. But he was just getting started. Oh my goodness was he only just getting started.
On Sunday, Davidson put forth one of the best games that any Giants prospect has had this year.
His 1st at-bat? He drew a walk.
His 2nd at-bat? He ground out, but at 95 mph.
His 3rd at-bat? He went the other way for a double.
His 4th at-bat? Just a casual 440-foot, 109-mph grand slam.
Oh, sorry, did you think we’re done? No, no, no, no.
His 5th at-bat? Another home run.
His 6th at-bat? A 100.6-mph double.
The total damage? 4-5, 2 homers, 2 doubles, a walk, and 8 runs batted in.
And just for good measure, on Saturday, he ended the game with a walk-off catch.
Davidson, like many prospects, really struggles to find his grip when he advances to a new level. But when he takes off, he takes off, and his AAA experience has highlighted that. Just look at his performance since getting promoted in mid-July:
First 22 games: 17-86, 0 home runs, 3 doubles, 10 walks, 21 strikeouts
Next 5 games: 14-22, 4 home runs, 3 doubles, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts
That, my friends, is someone who has figured it out. And who, despite such a slow start, is already up to an .820 OPS and a 114 wRC+, with a sub-20% strikeout rate in AAA. Might we see the recently-turned 24-year old in the Majors before the year ends?
The opposite — albeit it far less dramatically — has happened with third baseman Parks Harber (No. 17 CPL), who was promoted at the same time as Davidson. Harber started out red hot but has been cooling down, but over the weekend hit 1-4 with a strikeout … but drew 4 walks (he didn’t play on Sunday). That’s a mighty fine weekend, though Harber hasn’t been doing much damage with the actual bat lately: after hitting 4 homers and 3 doubles in his 1st 14 games with Sacramento, he has just 1 homer and 2 doubles in 12 games since. He’s having a particularly hard time with off-speed pitches, but hey, that’s what AAA is for! In all, it’s a .916 OPS and a 138 wRC+ for the 25-year old, and a wildly successful debut stint at the highest level of the Minors.
Marcelo Mayer continued his rehab over the weekend, as the former top-20 prospect gears up for a Giants debut sometime this week. It was a tale of 3 acts over the weekend for Mayer, who played second and third base: in the 1st game, he went 3-6 with a double and 2 strikeouts; in the 2nd game he didn’t play; and in the 3rd game he hit 1-6 with 4 strikeouts. Mayer giveth, and Mayer taketh away!
Fantastic weekends for center fielder/right fielder Scott Bandura and first baseman/DH Diego Velasquez (No. 31 CPL). Bandura hit a lovely 7-15 with 3 doubles, a stolen base, a walk, and a strikeout, while Velasquez went 3-11 with a triple, 2 doubles, 2 walks, a stolen base, and 3 strikeouts. Bandura, a just-turned 25-year old lefty who has really taken off over the last 2 months, is up to an .850 OPS and a 124 wRC+ through 72 AAA games, with 17 stolen bases. Velasquez, a 22-year old switch-hitter who normally plays the non-first base infield positions, has an .832 OPS and a 119 wRC+ through 11 games at the level. This was his 1st stolen base in AAA, where he’s fitting in beautifully.
Second baseman Nate Furman (No. 39 CPL) and center fielder Grant McCray made their Sacramento returns after getting optioned. Furman hit 3-7 with 2 walks and sacrifice fly, while McCray went 1-5 with a 3-run double, a stolen base, and 3 strikeouts. Left fielder/shortstop Shay Whitcomb made his organizational debut and hit 3-12 with 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, and an error.
The best pitching performance belonged to LHP Joe Whitman (No. 26 CPL), who had his best appearance since returning to the rotation following a brief bullpen stint. Whitman was awesome on Sunday, pitching 4 innings and allowing just 5 mild-mannered baserunners (4 singles and a walk) en route to 1 run allowed, with 6 strikeouts. That’s a fantastic game!
Whitman wasn’t as efficient or strike-dependent as those numbers would suggest, though, as he needed 72 pitches to get through those 4 innings, and threw just 45 of them for strikes. There’s a lot for him to work on, but then again, he only just got to the level. Whitman has a 5.09 ERA and a 5.57 FIP in 16 games (8 starts) with the River Cats.
RHP Anthony Molina made his 2nd appearance since the Giants acquired him and moved him to the rotation. It didn’t go well, as he gave up 4 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs in 2 innings, while striking out 2. Better luck next time.
LHP Cesar Perdomo had a decent start, pitching 6.2 innings (a deep start!) while giving up 5 hits, 3 walks, and 2 runs, with just 2 strikeouts. Not the most exciting, but encouraging given the struggles he’s been having since getting recently promoted to AAA. Steps in the right direction!
RHP Joel Peguero (No. 27 CPL) made his 2nd rehab appearance and gave up hits to the 2 batters he faced on Friday before the game was postponed. That was his only appearance of the weekend, and he’s now yet to retire any of the 5 batters he’s faced since starting his rehab.
RHP Braxton Roxby had another strong outing, pitching 1.1 no-hit frames with a walk and a strikeout, lowering his ERA to 3.54 (albeit with a 4.88 FIP).
AA Richmond (66-46)
Friday: Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Harrisburg Senators 9-7 [box score]
Saturday: Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Harrisburg Senators 7-2 [box score]
Just 2 games for the Squirrels, who had Sunday’s game rained out.
That pair of games though? Well, they weren’t interesting, so I’m not sure why I had a lead-up like that.
Third baseman Dayson Croes had the best weekend, as he hit 3-8 with a home run, a walk, a sacrifice fly, and 2 strikeouts. Croes was a feel-good story last year, when he signed as a 25-year old and proceeded to hit comfortably above average in the ACL, High-A, AA, and AAA. But his follow-up campaign has been poor, as he’s hit below average in both AA and AAA, as well as in his rehab stint in the ACL. He’s now at over 200 plate appearances in AA this year, with just a .660 OPS and a 78 wRC+. Add in the fact that he turns 27 in October and doesn’t have a lot of defensive value, and it he might need more days like he had this weekend to keep his pro baseball dreams alive.
Catcher Jancel Villarroel (No. 42 CPL) has been a little slow to adapt to AA after an excellent year in High-A, but Friday was a nice game for him, as he hit 2-4 with a double and 3 runs batted in, before not playing on Saturday. Left fielder Jack Payton struck out in both at-bats on Friday, but went 3-4 with 2 doubles on Saturday, albeit with a strikeout an an error. Villarroel, a 21-year old righty, has a .565 OPS and a 53 wRC+ through 16 games with Richmond; Payton, a just-turned 25-year old righty, has a .739 OPS and a 101 wRC+ through 71 games at the level.
Modest, but not altogether bad, weekends for the top prospects in Richmond, as shortstop/DH Gavin Kilen (No. 7 CPL) hit 1-8 with 2 walks and a strikeout, while center fielder Trevor Cohen (No. 15 CPL) went 2-10 with a triple and a strikeout. Kilen, last year’s 1st-round pick, has an .863 OPS and a 125 wRC+, while Cohen, last year’s 3rd-rounder, has a .743 OPS and a 97 wRC+.
Not good pitching performances. Kind of some throwback ones, though, as the stat lines look like something from a different decade for the starters: on Friday it was LHP Charlie McDaniel, who gave up 10 hits, 1 walk, and 5 runs in 6.1 innings, with 4 strikeouts; on Saturday it was LHP Tyler Switalski, who allowed 8 hits, 2 walks, and 6 runs in 4.1 innings, though he struck out 8. Both pitchers are having a very difficult time adjusting to life in AA, as McDaniel has a 5.23 ERA and a 4.42 FIP, while Switalski has a 9.00 ERA and a 6.84 FIP.
Switalski’s homer numbers in his short career are one of the more odd things you’ll see. The 2024 16th-rounder debuted last year and, across 96.2 innings in Low-A and High-A gave up just 3 home runs. This year? He’s doubled that figure through 6 AA starts alone, and in 100.2 innings across High-A and AA has ceded 19 big flies.
High-A Eugene (69-44)
Friday: Eugene Emeralds beat the Hillsboro Hops 6-5 [box score]
Saturday: Eugene Emeralds beat the Hillsboro Hops 8-4 [box score]
Sunday: Eugene Emeralds beat the Hillsboro Hops 5-3 [box score]
And with that, the Emeralds are flying high once more, and float into the off-day with a 4-game winning streak. 25 games above .500! Must be nice.
It was all about the long ball for the Emeralds, who used 7 home runs over the weekend, with the big fly accounting for 11 of their 19 runs.
That included one from the organizational leader, as center fielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 32 CPL) stayed juuuust ahead of Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) by bopping his 24th homer of the year, as part of a 3-11 weekend that also featured a double, a walk, an outfield assist, and 2 strikeouts. And with that, Diaz can kiss his splendid time in the Pacific Northwest goodbye, as he’s using the off-day to fly across the country and join AA Richmond. An incredibly well deserved promotion for the recently-turned 21-year old, who has been on an absolute tear this summer. Since the start of July, the right-hander from Cuba has hit a stunning 51-154, with 14 home runs, total 24 extra-base hits, and 6 walks, and 25 strikeouts. He ends his time in High-A with an .843 OPS, a 114 wRC+, and just a 16.7% strikeout rate. He’ll need to learn to be more selective at higher levels — both to keep the power up and add to the paltry 3.6% walk rate — but my goodness there is a very talented player in there!
All-or-nothing weekends for a pair of prospects with big power bats, right fielder Cam Maldonado (No. 34 CPL) and left fielder Walker Martin. Maldonado hit just 2-11 with 2 strikeouts and a stolen base, but smashed a 2-run bomb; Martin went 3-12 with 4 strikeouts and an error, but had a solo blast and a double. Maldonado has shown off the power since a recent promotion, as he has 3 dingers in just 8 games with Eugene, giving last year’s 7th-round pick an .842 OPS and a 112 wRC+. Martin, who is now playing left field after starting his career at shortstop and later moving to third, is up to 18 homers on the year, but still has just a .721 OPS, an 89 wRC+, and a 33.7% strikeout rate.
Also continuing his high-homer season was third baseman Zander Darby, who is getting the bulk of the reps at the hot corner now that Martin is in the outfield. Darby has had a few issues this year, namely with strikeouts, but he’s been a home run machine and has a strong overall line. He had a game that epitomized his season, going 3-11 with a 2-run blast, a double, and a sacrifice fly, but striking out 5 times. The 23-year old, taken in the 12th round in 2024, has 16 homers on the year, along with an .825 OPS and a 116 wRC+ … but a 31.4% strikeout rate. Some adjustments need to be made, but there’s certainly something there!
Catcher Daniel Rogers logged his 1st homer at the level, going 3-5 with a big fly and a double.
But no one could compete with designated hitter Robert Hipwell, who went 3-10 with a pair of home runs, though he struck out 4 times. It’s been a tough year for Hipwell, the team’s 6th-round pick in 2024. He has just a .174 batting average and a 42.5% strikeout rate with Eugene, though a 16.9% walk rate has boosted his .665 OPS up to an 86 wRC+. He’s gonna need a lot more weekends like this to save his prospect status, though, especially since he’s a bat-first corner infielder/DH.
Shortstop Jhonny Level (No. 3 CPL) didn’t climb the home run leaderboards like that quintet of players, but he continued his excellent season, hitting 3-9 with a double, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 2 stolen bases. The 19-year old switch-hitter just looks unbelievably comfortable against Northwest League pitchers, and through 54 games has an .849 OPS and a 125 wRC+, with 8 stolen bases and just a 16.9% strikeout rate. Even those of us who were extremely bullish on Level didn’t expect him to hit this well this quickly in High-A! He’s setting himself up for a no-question AA assignment to open 2027, when he’ll turn 20 right as the season is kicking off. Don’t pinch yourself, you’re not dreaming!!
RHP Niko Mazza had a stellar start on Friday, throwing 6.1 brilliant innings while allowing just 3 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run, with 8 strikeouts. The 2024 8th-rounder had an ERA that lived in the 2s for much of the season, but it went from 2.50 to 4.10 with a quartet of ugly starts in late July and early August. But with this outing, he announced that he is back to his old run-suppressing ways!
Mazza, who now has a 3.91 ERA and a 4.22 FIP on the year, still needs to get his walks in check — he’s issued 5.1 per 9 innings — but pretty much everything else in his profile is shining. He’s striking out 10.2 batters per 9 innings, and has only allowed 68 hits in 92 innings. Also, try this on for consistency when it comes to baserunners allowed: he’s pitched 92 innings, with 68 hits and 52 walks. Last year, in 93.1 innings? 68 hits and 52 walks. Wild!
LHP Luis De La Torre (No. 14 CPL) had another rough go of it, giving up 3 hits, 3 walks, and 1 run in just 3 innings, with 2 strikeouts, while only throwing 36 of 62 pitches for strikes. LDLT has really had the exact same story all year long: so many strikeouts (10.9 per 9) and so few hits (65 in 91.2 innings), but so many walks (7.3 per 9), too many homers (10), and way too many runs (5.20 ERA, 5.23 FIP).
RHPs Gerelmi Maldonado (No. 21 CPL) and Marty Gair, who have some of the nastiest stuff in the system but struggle to harbor it, both pitched, with predictable results. Maldonado struck out 2 in a scoreless inning, but allowed a hit and 2 walks, while Gair gave up 2 walks in a no-hit inning, with 1 strikeout. Maldonado has a 3.14 ERA, a 6.30 FIP, and 40 strikeouts to 38 walks in 28.2 innings; Gair has a 4.35 ERA and a 3.82 FIP across 2 levels and 2 organizations, with 71 strikeouts to 25 walks in 39.1 innings.
Low-A San Jose (64-50)
Friday: San Jose Giants beat the Fresno Grizzlies 6-4 [box score]
Saturday: San Jose Giants beat the Fresno Grizzlies 9-2 [box score]
Sunday: San Jose Giants beat the Fresno Grizzlies 10-9 (11 innings) [box score]
The Baby Giants, like the Emeralds, cruise into the off-day on a 4-game winning streak. And they sure did it in style, as Sunday’s game was pure drama. San Jose trailed 8-5 going into the bottom of the 9th inning, but mounted a rally, which resulted in a game-tying single by designated hitter Oliver Tejada.
They trailed 9-8 going into the bottom of the 10th inning, and had 2 unproductive outs, when right fielder Tanner Mally tied things up with a clutch single.
And they walked it off in the bottom of the 11th despite opening the inning with a line drive double play that erased the Manfred Man. And getting the winning knock? None other than the potential superstar in the making, Josuar González (No. 2 CPL), who singled home the winning run.
González was, once again, the star on offense for San Jose. He had a brilliant trio of games, hitting 5-13 with 2 triples, a double, 3 walks, a stolen base, 2 strikeouts, and 2 errors.
The 18-year old switch-hitter is only 77 games into his Low-A experience, but he’s already acing the test: his average (.342), isolated slugging (.211), walk rate (16.6%), OPS (1.067) and wRC+ (162) are among the very best in the league, while his strikeout rate sits at a lovely 18.2%. It’s hard to put to words how impressive he’s been, and I’m holding out hope that he has a brief introduction to High-A at the end of the year.
Interestingly, González played second base in all of these games, while Luis Hernández (No. 6 CPL) played short. Previously, the pair had been switching off on a day-by-day basis … it’s unclear if the Giants are wanting to now switch series by series (as Jhonny Level and Gavin Kilen did in Eugene), or if they’re temporarily moving González to second base in hopes that it will be less stressful on his body, as he’s pulled his hamstring twice this year.
As for Hernández, he’s been coming along slowly at the level, but hit 6-15 over the weekend, albeit with 6 strikeouts. The numbers are ugly for Hernández, as he has a .634 OPS, a 59 wRC+, and a 30.3% strikeout rate, but that’s to be expected for a 17-year old in his debut season.
It was a balanced offensive weekend, as the Baby Giants scored a lot of runs but, other than González, no one really stood out. Mally, a 17th-rounder who is still the only player from the team’s 2026 class to debut, hit 3-10 with 2 walks, a hit by pitch, a sacrifice fly, and 2 strikeouts, bringing his OPS to 1.020 and his wRC+ to 159 through 9 games. Center fielder Andy Polanco had a nice time out, hitting 6-12 with a double, 2 walks, a stolen base, and 3 strikeouts. Polanco, a 2024 11th-rounder in his 2nd season, has been all about the defense and the swiped bags (he has 36), while his hitting has lagged (.722 OPS, 81 wRC+, 30.9% strikeout rate).
Friday was an exciting game, as RHP Miguel Mendez made his organizational debut. Mendez, who came over in the Robbie Ray trade, had only pitched once since mid-June, so this was a rehab assignment. He wasn’t very sharp, as he gave up 2 hits and a hit batter in 2.1 innings, with just 1 strikeout, which tagged him for a run despite the fact that he didn’t allow any hits. It’ll be interesting to see if the Giants assign Mendez to High-A and or AA when he’s up to speed … or just keep him rehabbing in a low-pressure environment for the rest of the year.
Also rehabbing was RHP R.J. Dabovich, who pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Dabovich has now made 3 rehab appearances and has pitched wonderfully. Great to see him healthy at long last; it had been far too long since he’d pitched regularly.
LHP Leandro Rodriguez had his best start since getting promoted, as he gave up just 3 singles, 0 walks, and 1 run in 4.2 innings, while striking out 5 batters. The 20-year old had an awesome stateside debut in the ACL this year … he only had a 4.18 ERA and a 4.35 FIP, but finished with 11.0 strikeouts to 2.1 walks per 9 innings. He was especially strong late, as he had a 40-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his June and July starts in Arizona. Nice to see that show up in his 4th Cal League appearance.
More struggles for RHP Keyner Martinez (No. 10 CPL), who needed 59 pitches to get through 3 innings, allowing 3 hits, 3 walks, and 2 runs, while striking out 4. After starting to get his walks in check in July — he issued just 4 free passes in 19 innings — Martinez’s pair of August starts have featured a combined 6 walks in 4 innings, with 9 earned runs. He’s up to a 5.42 ERA and a 5.21 FIP, and while the walks (5.1 per 9) remain a concern, the strikeouts (13.2 per 9) give you reason to dream.
Dominican Summer League Black (34-20)
Friday: DSL Giants Black lost to DSL Arizona Red 7-6 (7 innings) [box score]
Saturday: DSL Giants Black lost to DSL Arizona Red 18-6 (7 innings) [box score]
Awesome weekend for the Camacaro brothers. Shorstop/third baseman Keiberg hit 2-7 with a home run, a walk, a stolen base, and a strikeout, while second baseman Alexander went 3-6 with a home run and a walk. Keiberg, who is about to turn 20, has a 1.014 OPS and a 152 wRC+ in his 4th DSL season; Alexander, who is about to turn 19, has an .807 OPS and a 105 wRC+ in his 2nd season.
Shortstop Joniel Hernandez, who continues to look like the steal of the Giants 2026 trade deadline, hit 4-7 with a home run, a walk, and a stolen base, while getting caught stealing once. The 17-year old righty in his debut season has a .966 OPS, a 135 wRC+, 10 stolen bases, and just a 15.5% strikeout rate. He is going to find himself positively flying up prospect boards.
Dominican Summer League Orange (30-23)
Friday: DSL Giants Orange beat the DSL Mariners 7-4 (7 innings) [box score]
Saturday: DSL Giants Orange beat the DSL Tigers 1, 5-3 (7 innings) [box score]
The star in these games was center fielder Jose Valdez, who is quietly putting together a super strong debut season. The 17-year old lefty hit 1-4 in these games, with a 3-run home run, 3 walks, and 2 stolen bases. He has an .860 OPS and a 112 wRC+ on the season, with 6 home runs and 12 stolen bases. That might not be enough to get him a ticket to Papago come 2027, but it should certainly put him on people’s radars.
Home run tracker
24 — Lisbel Diaz — [21 in High-A; 3 in Low-A]
23 — Bo Davidson x2 — [4 in AAA; 19 in AA]
18 — Walker Martin — [High-A]
17 — Cam Maldonado — [3 in High-A; 14 in Low-A]
16 — Zander Darby — [High-A]
7 — Keiberg Camacaro — [DSL]
6 — Robert Hipwell x2 — [High-A]
6 — Joniel Hernandez — [DSL]
6 — Jose Valdez — [DSL]
5 — Daniel Rogers — [1 in High-A; 4 in Low-A]
4 — Dennys Riera — [DSL]
3 — Dayson Croes — [1 in AAA; 2 in AA]
3 — Alexander Camacaro — [DSL]
