SAN JOSE — The crowd started to rise when Jackson Flora got two strikes on Edgar Montero in the second inning Thursday night, but not because he was on the verge of getting out of the inning.
Montero, a shortstop for the A’s Low-A affiliate, was the designated “beer batter” at Excite Ballpark, meaning a strikeout would lead to heavily discounted drinks for the San Jose Giants fans in attendance. A low chant started to rumble through the seats: “Beer! Beer! Beer!”
Flora reached back and delivered his hardest pitch of the night, a 100 mph fastball. It missed the outside corner.
“When I got two strikes on him, I figured I would let one eat,” he said later.
Two pitches later, Flora got the strikeout — his third of the inning and fourth overall — with a well-placed breaking ball. As fans rushed from their seats and headed for the concourse, he walked off the field and tipped his cap. He knew what had been at stake, and he had gotten the job done.
“I felt like I settled into a groove a little bit, getting those first two strikeouts in that inning,” he said. “I wanted to please the people and they were rooting for me, so I had to execute.”
Jackson Flora struck out the side in his second inning, hit 100 mph and tipped his cap to the crowd after striking out the beer batter. The Giants might be back. pic.twitter.com/oDehDYbnHo
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) September 11, 2026
The start was Flora’s second as a professional, and those fans who bolted from their seats were rushing past a row filled with team executives. General manager Zack Minasian, assistant GM Jeremy Shelley, senior director of player development Kyle Haines and director of major league pitching Frank Anderson were among those who headed down to San Jose on an off day for the big league club.
It’s a group that knew all about Flora’s stuff and competitiveness when they made him the No. 4 overall pick in the MLB draft in July. But on Thursday, coaches and team officials laughed as they talked about something new. The flair that Flora showed in finishing off that inning and acknowledging the crowd is something that wouldn’t show up in scouting reports.
It adds to a package that continues to look like that of a frontline starter and future star, and Flora is in the process of moving toward all of that quickly. After the draft, he spent several weeks in Scottsdale getting up to speed. The Giants hoped he would get at least one minor league appearance, and San Jose’s successful season has allowed for a dream scenario. Flora’s second start came in what ended up being a playoff clincher, as San Jose won the California League’s Northern Division title on Thursday with a 3-1 victory.
The championship series starts this weekend, and the plan is for Flora to pitch once more this season. That will also give him more time with two other top prospects, Josuar Gonzalez and Luis Hernandez. On Thursday, Gonzalez was behind Flora at shortstop. Hernandez is injured, but he watched from the dugout rail alongside Flora after the right-hander came out of the game.
“It looks like they’ve known each other for a long time,” San Jose manager Ydwin Villegas said. “That’s pretty cool to see from those guys. Being that young, they know that their future is pretty bright, and to be able to connect together is pretty cool to see.”
If all goes according to plan, the trio will spend years together at Oracle Park, and that’s part of why this month is so important to the organization’s future. Buster Posey and Randy Winn wanted to see their prospects learn how to win at the minor league level, and while Gonzalez, Hernandez and Flora didn’t arrive in San Jose until late in a dominant season, they have been right in the mix.
Gonzalez hit leadoff Thursday and lined the first pitch of the bottom of the first down the left-field line, helping the Giants take a 2-0 lead after Flora worked around two walks in the top of the inning.
“We kind of built a culture here and they fit right in,” San Jose pitching coach Dan Runzler said. “They’re unselfish, they work, do early work — everything. That’s kind of the stability we’ve created here to Villegas’ credit. We’re going to work no matter what and they fit right in very easily. The teammates they are, the people they are, it’s obviously a bright future, and it’s going to be fun to watch as they move.”
Flora will move the quickest as a college product who already has the raw stuff to face big leaguers. But there’s naturally a lot to work on, and he said Thursday that he’s particularly interested in his kick-changeup right now, noting that it’s getting a lot more drop than in the past and he’ll have to learn how to get it in the strike zone more.
The next reps should come with San Jose next week, but after that, the Bay Area native and childhood Giants fan is likely to be further from home for a while. The logical progression would have Flora starting next season with High-A Eugene and moving on to Double-A Richmond pretty quickly. It wouldn’t shock anyone if Flora is a big-league option at some point late next season.
Those are decisions for 2027. For the time being, Flora is focused on finishing strong, and then finishing what he started at UCSB. He’ll return to Santa Barbara this offseason to continue working toward his communications degree and then join a pitchers’ camp in Scottsdale in January.
Flora should be well ahead of most of his current teammates by then, but on Thursday he helped them clinch a division title and then celebrated with them in the old clubhouse in San Jose. The players emerged soaked, although it was with apple cider, a reminder that many of the team’s stars are still teenagers.
“It was awesome,” Flora said. “To come in here and help the team win in a playoff game and be able to celebrate in the clubhouse like that, it really just motivates you even more to get up to the big leagues and help that team win and to be able to celebrate like that on the big stage.”
Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast