SF Giants weekly prospects recap: Wade Meckler, Marco Luciano return!

SF Giants prospects Wade Meckler and Marco Luciano made their long-awaited return to the minors alongside a huge step forward by Reggie Crawford.

Welcome to the weekly SF Giants prospect recap, where we take a look at the organization's prospects and minor leaguers who stood out this past week.

Before reading, be sure to check out our top 42 prospects ranking and the prospects who just missed the list to get acclimated to players throughout the system.

SF Giants Triple-A affiliate: Sacramento River Cats

Hitters

Casey Schmitt (Giants #3 prospect) finally hit his first home run of the season last Wednesday against the Aviators while adding two more doubles to the tune of an OPS of 1.099. After spending time at both shortstop and third base last month, Schmitt has now dabbled playing at second base in the first three games of the Las Vegas series and has also looked well there. I am not sure if putting Schmitt at second utilizes his special defensive talent in the dirt, but the situation with the big-league squad makes the versatility valuable. Will Wilson has been playing third in his place even though Wilson is very stretched at the hot corner. It will be interesting to see how this thing develops throughout the course of the season.

Schmacked by Schmitt!!

Casey crushes his first HR of the season!

Bottom 4
Cats - 5
Aviators - 0 pic.twitter.com/oydnzMqtNY

— Sacramento River Cats (@RiverCats) May 3, 2023

After getting called up to Triple-A last week, Patrick Bailey (Giants #21 prospect) is now starting to hold his own against better competition with five hits, including a double, in 18 at-bats while continuing to show his strong approach at the box with four walks. He is continuing to eat into Ricardo Genoves' playing time behind the dish as the Giants continue to prioritize Bailey as their lefty counterpart to Joey Bart over the comparably aged Genoves. Bailey has certainly positioned himself inside the top ten prospects with his performance this season.

Tyler Fitzgerald (Giants #20 prospect) received his well-deserved promotion to Sacramento after winning the Eastern League Player of the Month for his stellar performance in April for the Flying Squirrels. In his first five games with the River Cats, Fitzgerald has already notched four hits, including a double with two walks while striking out five times. Since getting promoted, Fitzgerald has spent his time in the middle infield, pairing with Schmitt up the middle. Fitzgerald certainly has earned his promotion after working tirelessly throughout the winter to put himself in a position where he could make his way to the big leagues as early as this season.

Pitchers

Kyle Harrison (Giants #1 prospect) had a statement start on Saturday with four shutout innings of one-hit ball with seven strikeouts, and most importantly, no walks allowed. The Aviators' game plan most likely was to let Kyle beat himself by throwing a high amount of balls outside the strike zone like what he did in his previous outings. However, Kyle had other plans as he threw 34 of his 50 pitches for strikes, including an absurd 18 called strikes. 

Over his last four starts, Harrison has looked like the best left-handed pitching prospect in baseball once again with a 1.32 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 50% strikeout rate, 2.45 K/BB ratio, .093 opponent batting average, and .394 opponent OPS across 13.2 innings pitched. Yes, the 11 walks over that stretch stick out like a sore thumb, but dominance is dominance. Also, I personally thought that he's been around the edge of the strike zone much better than what the ABS indicates. 

Included in the flurry of moves this week is Erik Miller (Giants #31 prospect), who was promoted to Triple-A. His performance across two outings this week might not be an indication of why the Giants pulled the trigger to trade for him, his pitching data might be. First off, Miller throws hard as he got his fastball up to 97 mph. The second is a distinct three-pitch mix that, based on the pitch movement, has the potential to become plus pitches. His fastball behaves like a four-seamer with good carry above the zone, his mid-80s changeup has good depth and some tailing movement though he usually lowers his release point when throwing the pitch, and his low-to-mid-80s slider also has good depth. Miller's strike-throwing will be tested at Triple-A, but it is clear that he has big league-quality stuff.

Other pitchers of note: Chris Wright is starting to feel the unmerciful ABS strike zone as he walked three out of the nine batters that he faced this week though he did not allow a run and also struck out two. Nick Avila pitched well this week with four strikeouts and just one run and one walk allowed across two outings. Finally, can somebody please have Ryan Walker on a big-league roster with yet another scoreless performance which brought his ERA down to 1.02 this season?

SF Giants Double-A affiliate: Richmond Flying Squirrels

Hitters

Marco Luciano (Giants #2 prospect) made his 2023 debut with Richmond this week after spending much of the spring down at Papago to rehab his back injury. His first game was not the best with four strikeouts but he's put his stamp to the lineup in his second game with his first home run of the season. Lower back injuries can really hurt a player's ability to rotate and drive a baseball but with a 111 mph exit velocity on his first home run, it is proof that Luciano is fully healthy. Another thing that I noticed is that Luciano kept on working the count throughout the first week of his season, with four walks in as many games. A healthy and mashing Marco Luciano shall further boost the farm system's offensive resurgence this year.

LUCIAN💣

✅ Marco Luciano’s first Double-A hit is a solo homer pic.twitter.com/Y7NMCLaa5Z

— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) May 4, 2023

Luis Matos (Giants #4 prospect) kept on impressing offensively this season with nine hits in 21 at-bats, amounting to a 1.097 OPS this week against a talented Altoona squad. Matos has also flaunted his wheels with four stolen bases this week, bringing up his season total to six. His walk rate over the last nine games has dropped to 14.3% rate, but it is still a much better rate compared to the 6.6% rate that he had last year at Eugene. Matos might not turn out to be a big offensive producer moving forward, but he's definitely back as a prospect who can provide value with his contact ability, speed, and defense in the outfield.

Ismael Munguia (Just missed the list) continues to show the tools that make him a highly likable prospect. Including the middle of the Bowie series last week, Munguia has hit four doubles, a home run, and four stolen bases to the tune of a .928 OPS across nine games. Munguia will never be a power-hitting outfielder, but he consistently puts the barrel to the ball, plays with an infectious level of energy, and is a solid defender in the outfield. Those tools are playable at the next level.

Pitchers

Carson Seymour (Giants #13 prospect) has largely been a letdown stats-wise due to the lack of strikeouts compared to his prolific ways in Eugene when he got acquired by the Giants in the Darin Ruf trade and the regression of his strike-throwing that exacerbate the situation. This week though, was a trend in the right direction with 7.1 innings of two-run ball across two starts with just two walks allowed and four strikeouts. The strikeouts will likely be here to stay due to his pitch-to-contact approach, but he's allowed more flyballs than groundballs which is odd given his sinker-heavy approach. Let's continue to follow his 2023 season to see if this is the version of him to expect moving forward.

Kai-Wei Teng did not have his prolific strikeout ability last week with only two strikeouts across four innings of work, but he faced the minimum and only allowed a walk as the only baserunner. The Taiwanese right-hander has been the best-performing pitcher on the Richmond staff this year with a 2.33 ERA in 19.1 innings with 32 strikeouts to just seven walks allowed. His plus slider continues to baffle Double-A hitters and should be good enough to take him to Triple-A at the mid-season mark.

Other pitchers of note: Both Blake Rivera and Randy Rodriguez (Giants #25 prospect) had a solid week out of the Richmond bullpen. Rivera threw four shutout innings with just two hits and two walks allowed while striking out four and earning a save. Rodriguez also earned a save this week, also throwing four shutout innings with only one hit allowed while striking out three. Both pitchers look to continue putting in consistent performances, especially Rodriguez, as they continue to develop their control.

SF Giants High-A affiliate: Eugene Emeralds

Hitters

Grant McCray (Giants #5 prospect) had his best game on Saturday with a 4-5 game with two home runs and two stolen bases. It was a gusty day at Eugene with the first home run barely scraping over the left-field foul pole, but the second home run was a no-doubter to right field. Just like last year, McCray's abysmal April is followed by a hot May, where he already has nine hits in 22 at-bats against Spokane this week. His strikeout rate is still concerning, but he has a shot of repeating his 20-20 season this year.

Grant McCray flaunted the tools yesterday with four hits including two home runs and two stolen bases just to show off the wheels.

He's now at four home runs and 10 steals this season can he repeat the 20-20 season that he did last year? pic.twitter.com/Kd0mfoBcHO

— Giant Prospective (@giantprospectiv) May 7, 2023

Aeverson Arteaga (Giants #7 prospect) also has the makings of a hot May based on how he started the Spokane series, going 7-18 with two doubles and a home run in the first four games. He finished the series with eight hits in 26 at-bats. The 20-year-old shortstop still has a long way to go before reaching his full potential but there are signs that he's slowly turning his season around as he pushed his OPS up from .607 to .684 after just one series.

Victor Bericoto (Giants #32 prospect) has kept the good times going with another standout week against Spokane this week with nine hits in 26 at-bats including two doubles and a home run. In his last ten games, Bericoto has a .400 batting average and a .967 OPS with two doubles and a home run. The standout outfielder has kept looking more and more confident at the plate and has shown he can hang on defense.

I don't know what to say about Wade Meckler (Giants #39 prospect) by now other than other-worldly, at least against High-A pitching. After missing two weeks after he got hit in the hand on a swing against Hillsboro, Meckler did not miss a beat last Saturday with a perfect 4-4 showing, though he was held hitless yesterday. His offensive approach and contact ability clearly belong in Double-A, but with Vaun Brown (Giants #6 prospect) looming, it will take a couple of moves, most likely a Matos promotion to Triple-A, to open up a spot for Meckler. Or, you know, Meckler will just force the Giants' hand anyway. 

Speaking of Brown, the aforementioned outfielder is continuing his barnstorming ways with his promotion to Eugene this week after playing four games with San Jose as part of his rehab stint for his eventual arrival in Richmond. He notched two hits last Friday and has looked physically ready but he can be hyper-aggressive at times with at least a strikeout in every game that he's played so far.

Other prospects of note: Luis Toribio (Just missed the list) swung a hot bat this week with two home runs against Spokane, bringing his season total to six, which is good for third-most in the Northwest League. Logan Wyatt is also inside the top ten having hit his fourth home run last Friday which also set a new career-high for home runs in a season. 

Pitchers

What does Carson Whisenhunt (Giants #9 prospect) have for an encore after such a tantalizing High-A debut? Rocking the Exploding Whales uniform for his 2023 PK Park debut, Whisenhunt was not as spectacular as his previous start but was still solid with four innings of one-run ball via a home run with a walk, a hit batter, and three strikeouts. Whisenhunt's fastball parked at 94-95 mph for much of the afternoon while his patented changeup drew 10 swinging strikes. So far, so good for The Big Whiz.

Trevor McDonald (Giants #15 prospect) made his 2023 debut last Saturday piggybacking Whisenhunt, and he had a solid debut with three innings of one-run ball with four hits, two walks, and three strikeouts. Having missed the first four weeks of the season due to injury, it is understandable that McDonald has some rust to shake off before hitting his stride. He will be a fun pitcher to follow now that he is fully healthy. 

Nick Sinacola was a swing-and-miss machine last Friday as he induced an unbelievable 22 swinging strikes across four shutout innings with only three hits allowed, no walks, and eight strikeouts. Even though he was sitting in the low-90s with his fastball, it got to Spokane hitters quickly, and he also mixed his above-average slider and splitter very well. Along with Carson Ragsdale (Just missed the list), Sinacola has been one of the anchors of the Eugene rotation so far this season with a 0.86 ERA, the best in the Northwest League, along with 29 strikeouts in 21 innings pitched.

Other pitchers of note: The aforementioned Ragsdale pitched better than what the box score indicated last Tuesday with three earned runs in four innings of work but has struck out four batters and did not allow a walk. He bounced back last Sunday though with four scoreless innings where he only allowed just two hits, allowed no walks, and tied his season-high with eight strikeouts. Eric Silva (Giants #11 prospect) had another uneven start with 3.2 innings of two-run ball with five hits, two walks, and three strikeouts. His control looked inconsistent throughout the outing. Hunter Dula struck out five batters this week as well as recording a save. 

SF Giants Low-A affiliate: San Jose Giants

Hitters

Onil Perez (Just missed the list) continues to play well in limited playing as he continues to play about half the time in the crouch with Zach Morgan eating up most of the other half while sprinkling in a couple of Thomas Gavello stints here and there. Perez has five hits against the Nuts this week, all of which were singles, but the most impressive feat is his five walks in three games with three of those coming last Sunday. Perez continues to show a promising overall offensive profile with a .948 OPS and a 15.8% walk rate in 13 games this season.

Carter Howell received little to no fanfare when he was signed by the Giants as an NDFA last July but he has been a key cog in this impressive San Jose lineup this season. Hailing from Augustana University in South Dakota, the North Dakota native was the most impressive hitter this week with ten hits in 23 at-bats with a double and a couple of stolen bases. The team's primary center fielder this season, Howell has an OPS of .825 for the season while playing solid defense in the outfield. 

Other hitters of note: P.J. Hilson (Giants #35 prospect) also made his first appearance of the season at San Jose after beginning the year rehabbing in Arizona. This week has been a great all-around performance once again from the San Jose squad. Tanner O'Tremba had seven hits this week, including a couple of doubles and a triple with three walks and a stolen base. Diego Velasquez (Just missed the list) did the little things last week with a couple of doubles, a couple of walks, a couple of hit by pitches, a couple of sacrifice bunts, a sacrifice fly, and a couple of stolen bases. Jose Ramos did not hit much this week, but he had a double and a triple as well as looking good defensively at both shortstop and second base. Matt Higgins and Garrett Frechette both hit home runs against Modesto this week.

Pitchers

We have already seen glimpses of improvement from Manuel Mercedes (Just missed the list) towards the end of last season, and this season, Mercedes has taken another step forward in his development with another four shutout innings with only one hit allowed, two strikeouts, and most importantly, no walks allowed. Removing his worst outing of the season, Mercedes has only allowed just one earned run over 16 innings of work with only three walks and 11 strikeouts. In his last two outings, Mercedes threw eight shutout innings with only one hit allowed, a couple of walks, and two strikeouts. 

Even though he's only struck out just 13 hitters over 20 innings this season, his 6.6% walk rate was drastically less compared to last season and his newfound 93-96 mph sinker that he worked on in the middle of last season currently results in a 71.4% groundball rate. There are only two pitches in Mercedes' arsenal (sinker-slider), but the much-improved control should take him pretty far up the Minor League ladder if he can stay consistent throughout the season. 

Manuel Mercedes made the Modesto Nuts hitters do the ground pound last night as only one of his 12 outs came via the air (nine groundball outs and two Ks).

Mercedes only has a 17% K rate this year but only has a 6.6% BB rate (17% last year) and a crazy 71.4% groundball rate. pic.twitter.com/821N6xJYXC

— Giant Prospective (@giantprospectiv) May 6, 2023

Hayden Birdsong (Just missed the list) had his best outing of the season last Tuesday throwing four scoreless innings of three-hit ball with two walks and a career-high seven strikeouts. He got even better as he threw four more scoreless innings but did not allow a hit, and he struck out six. He continues to become a riser in the Giants' pitching ranks with a 41% strikeout rate and a 1.86 ERA this season. Birdsong continues to flash two plus pitches with his fastball that touched 97 mph on multiple occasions last Sunday and curveball with a big shape while continuing to improve the depth of his arsenal with a slider and the changeup. Among all pitchers in the San Jose pitching staff, last year's sixth-rounder flashes the best overall stuff and the highest ceiling.

Liam Simon (Giants #38 prospect) continues his rotation duties and threw a career-high 69 pitches last Saturday with five strikeouts across four innings of three-run ball. Simon was fastball-heavy in the early going but continued to rely on his slider more and more as his outing progressed. His ability to dominate the upper third of the strike zone was absent once again and he needs to continue pounding that part of the zone to once again had the dominance that he had earlier this season. 

Other pitchers of note: Both William Kempner (Giants #29 prospect) and Gerelmi Maldonado pitched well this week with Kempner throwing four scoreless innings with one walk, a hit batter, two hits, and four strikeouts while Maldonado pitched 2.2 one-run innings with three walks and two strikeouts. However, both Onil Perez (Just missed the list) and Zach Morgan had their money's worth with the two working hard just to corral the wild nature of the two pitchers. 

One final note: 2022 first-rounder Reggie Crawford (Giants #12 prospect) pitched for the first time in a competitive setting on April 27th, throwing a scoreless inning against the Rockies at the Complex in Arizona. A source told Giants Baseball Insider that Crawford's fastball sat around 96-98 mph in his inning of work while his slider sat in the mid-80s with a couple of changeups in the high-80s. Most importantly, Crawford looked fully healthy and the clock is now ticking toward his eventual arrival in San Jose at the mid-season mark.