Four games for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates on Tuesday, and half of them were playoff games. Let\u2019s dive into the action!<\/p>\n
Link to the 2026 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)<\/a><\/p>\n All listed positions in the roundup are the position played in that particular game.<\/p>\n Just a little bit of news, as catcher Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez (No. 16 CPL) and outfielder Victor Bericoto (No. 35 CPL) are scheduled to begin rehab assignments with AAA Sacramento.<\/p>\n Sacramento River Cats beat the Las Vegas Aviators (A\u2019s) 11-1 This was about as dominant of a baseball game as you\u2019ll see, and it certainly didn\u2019t feel as close as the not-close-at-all score would suggest.<\/p>\n It was a stunning offensive performance which, well \u2026 tends to happen in Las Vegas, though that doesn\u2019t negate the impressiveness of the day for Sacramento\u2019s offense, which featured 18 hits, half of which went for extra bases.<\/p>\n There were a trio of offensive stars, but none bigger than right fielder Will Brennan. The lefty was tasked with hitting cleanup, and he played the role perfectly.<\/p>\n In the 3rd inning, he smacked a 2-run home run.<\/p>\n In the 7th inning, he bashed a solo home run.<\/p>\n And in the 8th inning, he knocked another 2-run home run.<\/p>\n All in all, a 3-5 day with a trio of home runs and a strikeout, which brought Brennan\u2019s OPS all the way up to .820 \u2026 a single-game raise of 31 points, which is pretty darned impressive this late in the season! It also raised his wRC+ to 111.<\/p>\n While Brennan was the biggest star, it\u2019s understandable if you\u2019re not as excited seeing him succeed as you are with some of the other players on Sacramento\u2019s roster, given that Brennan is a 28-year old with MLB experience who was designated for assignment earlier in the year and will almost certainly be playing for a different organization next year.<\/p>\n So, if prospects are what you\u2019re looking for, then allow me to introduce you to a pair who joined Brennan on the podium of offensive stars on Tuesday: center fielder Scott Bandura and left fielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL). The 2026 season has been an unequivocal success for the pair of outfielders from the 2023 draft class, the former a 7th-round pick and the latter an undrafted free agent. And they\u2019re making sure to end the year on a high note, following brief dips in performance as the season neared an end.<\/p>\n For Bandura, it was a game where he did a little bit of everything, as he hit 3-5 with a solo home run, a double, a sacrifice fly, and a stolen base. My word!<\/p>\n As for Davidson, he went a sensational 4-5 with both a triple and a double, with 1 strikeout. As we\u2019ve grown accustomed to, the contact for Davidson (who is 93rd percentile in both average exit velocity and 50th percentile exit velocity), was loud: a 107.3-mph single, a 102.7-mph single, a 95.9-mph double, and a 101.3-mph triple.<\/p>\n It seems unlikely that Bandura (who has a .901 OPS and a 136 wRC+) or Davidson (who has a .912 OPS and a 135 wRC+) will debut this year, as we\u2019re running out of time and the Giants are wanting to take a long look at Jonah Cox, Turner Hill, and Drew Gilbert, to make no mention of Grant McCray or Victor Bericoto (No. 35 CPL), the latter of which is starting a rehab assignment. But I certainly expect both players to be rostered as Rule 5 protections, and to show up to Spring Training (if it occurs) with a chance to win an Opening Day job.<\/p>\n Also nice days for designated hitter Eddys Leonard, who hit 2-4 with a walk and a strikeout; shortstop Aeverson Arteaga, who went 3-5 with 2 strikeouts; and catcher Fernando Gonzalez, who hit 1-3 with a triple, 2 walks, and a strikeout. It was a particularly impressive performance from Gonzalez, given that he\u2019s been called up from Low-A San Jose for emergency duty (he\u2019ll likely head back to San Jose now that Zach Morgan has been optioned to AAA).<\/p>\n Unfortunately, all those hits couldn\u2019t find the bat of third baseman Parks Harber (No. 17 CPL), whose recent scuffling continued. Harber was the only player in the lineup who failed to record a hit, as he went 0-5 with a walk. Over his last 11 games, the righty has hit just 4-46 with 1 double, 6 walks, and 17 strikeouts, which came after a red-hot start to his AAA tenure. Hopefully he can find a little rhythm and end the year on a high note, because he\u2019s dipped down to a .739 OPS and a 97 wRC+.<\/p>\n So, I mentioned earlier that the game was in Las Vegas, where baseballs tend to fly. It\u2019s easy to use that as a reason to pump the brakes on any strong performances \u2026 but what happens when those performances are on the mound?<\/p>\n You can decide that the offensive environment is, indeed, ludicrous, and then be extra impressed by the pitching, or you can decide that the offensive environment is more tepid than we thought, and then be extra impressed by the hitting. Or heck, do both!<\/p>\n That\u2019s a long-winded way of saying that LHP Joe Whitman (No. 26 CPL) put on an absolute show in a bandbox. Just a week after an 8-inning start, the southpaw went 7 innings in this one, and didn\u2019t allow a single run. 7 scoreless innings! In the Pacific Coast League! In Las Vegas!<\/p>\n The 2023 comp-round pick wasn\u2019t overpowering, as he only struck out 3 batters on the day, but he limited the Aviators to just 5 hits, all of which were singles, and only walked 1 batter. He needed just 91 pitches to get through the day, and threw 63 of them for strikes.<\/p>\n Whitman, who turns 25 next week, had a bit of a rude introduction when promoted to AAA earlier this year, which resulted in spending some time operating out of the bullpen. But lately he\u2019s really started to figure things out, which perhaps is the natural progression of adjusting to a new level, or perhaps is a chip on his shoulder after watching LHPs Matt Wilkinson and C\u00e9sar Perdomo, and RHP Yunior Marte (No. 25 CPL) get promoted to the Majors ahead of him.<\/p>\n Either way, Whitman is on one hell of a 5-start run: 31 innings, 28 hits, 4 walks, 6 earned runs, and 24 strikeouts. Suddenly, his ERA in AAA is all the way down to 3.84, which is a delightful number in the PCL (his FIP is lagging behind, at 4.79). And while he\u2019s not striking out a ton of batters (63 in 73 innings), he\u2019s doing a magnificent job at limiting walks (21).<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the shutout was lost by RHP Ryan Walker, who made his Sacramento return after being optioned. Walker gave up 2 hits, including a solo home run, while striking out 2 batters in 2 innings.<\/p>\n Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Chesapeake Baysox (Orioles) 11-3 The Squirrels are really ending the season with a thud, as they\u2019ve been piling up both losses and uninteresting performances. This game was, sadly, an exception to neither rule.<\/p>\n How bad was this game? Well, the best performance belonged to catcher Onil Perez \u2026 who didn\u2019t catch at all, but instead tossed a perfect 9th inning in his role as reliever, a gig he\u2019s now reprised thrice in the last handful of games.<\/p>\n That was easily the best pitching performance, as 4 of the 5 arms who came before Perez gave up runs, and the 5th (RHP Tyler Vogel) allowed 3 baserunners in 1.2 innings. Most notable, unfortunately, was how much RHP Miguel Mendez struggled, as the 24-year got knocked out in the 2nd inning after allowing 6 hits, 2 walks, and 5 runs, while recording just 5 outs (3 by way of strikeout, though). Mendez, who was part of the Robbie Ray trade, had pitched well in his 1st 3 outings for Richmond, so this game was hopefully an outlier. But it sure was an ugly outlier!<\/p>\n The offense mustered just 3 hits on the day, all of them singles. Only 1 player reached base multiple times, as third baseman Sabin Ceballos (No. 43 CPL) hit 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout. I think we can move on now.<\/p>\n
Box score<\/a><\/p>\n
Box score<\/a><\/p>\n