2023 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List No. 43

Who is the 43rd-best prospect in the Giants system?

We have only two names left until we’ve completed the 2023 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List, our annual ranking of the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization.

Coming in at No. 42 on the list is Wade Meckler, who sneaks into the CPL in his first year of eligibility.

The Giants selected Meckler, a left-handed hitting outfielder, in the eighth round of the 2022 MLB Draft. Eighth-rounders don’t usually make prospect lists in their first year, but Meckler has spent his short time as a pro doing nothing but impressing.

Meckler had a successful three-year run at Oregon State, and it was notable that he had more walks than strikeouts in his final year. He felt like a Giantsy player when they drafted him, and he got straight to work proving that to be the case.

The Giants gave Meckler 50 plate appearances at rookie ball in the Arizona Complex League, and he was very solid, hitting 11-38 with 4 doubles and 11 walks to 8 strikeouts, good for a 149 wRC+. He then got 50 plate appearances with Low-A San Jose, where he was absolutely dynamic, hitting 18-41 with 1 home run, 7 doubles, and 9 walks to 8 strikeouts, for a blistering 214 wRC+.

San Francisco gave Meckler, who will turn 23 next month, some run in Spring Training this year, and he continued to impress, hitting 5-13 with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Can he keep that up in his first full season of professional baseball? It’s certainly something I’ll be keeping a close eye on in 2023

Now on we march, to add the penultimate name to the list.

The list so far

1. Kyle Harrison — LHP
2. Marco Luciano — SS
3. Casey Schmitt — 3B
4. Luis Matos — CF
5. Vaun Brown — OF
6. Grant McCray — CF
7. Aeverson Arteaga — SS
8. Carson Whisenhunt — LHP
9. Reggie Crawford — LHP/DH
10. Patrick Bailey — C
11. Mason Black — RHP
12. Heliot Ramos — OF
13. Eric Silva — RHP
14. Jairo Pomares — OF
15. Cole Waites — RHP
16. Keaton Winn — RHP
17. R.J. Dabovich — RHP
18. Tyler Fitzgerald — INF
19. Ryan Murphy — RHP
20. Landen Roupp — RHP
21. Will Wilson — INF
22. Adrian Sugastey — C
23. Trevor McDonald — RHP
24. Tristan Beck — RHP
25. Will Bednar — RHP
26. Nick Swiney — LHP
27. Rayner Arias — OF
28. Carson Seymour — RHP
29. Hunter Bishop — OF
30. Sean Hjelle — RHP
31. Ryan Reckley — SS
32. Randy Rodriguez — RHP
33. Brett Wisely — INF
34. Blake Sabol — C
35. Jose Cruz — RHP
36. Hayden Birdsong — RHP
37. P.J. Hilson — OF
38. Brett Auerbach — UTIL
39. Nick Zwack — LHP
40. Gerelmi Maldonado — RHP
41. Diego Velasquez — SS
42. Wade Meckler — OF

Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.

On to No. 43!

No. 43 prospect nominees

Jared Dupere — 24.2-year old OF, 33 wRC+ in High-A (53 PA), 132 wRC+ in Low-A (143 PA), 132 wRC+ in ACL (70 PA)
Ricardo Genovés — 23.10-year old C, 70 wRC+ in AAA (147 PA), 81 wRC+ in AA (203 PA)
Bryce Johnson — 27.5-year old CF, -23 wRC+ in MLB (19 PA), 97 wRC+ in AAA (352 PA)
Manuel Mercedes — 20.6-year old RHP, 6.26 FIP in Low-A (80.2 IP)
Matt Mikulski — 23.10-year old LHP, 5.40 FIP in Low-A (79 IP)
Onil Perez — 20.6-year old C, 102 wRC+ in ACL (171 PA)

Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page.

Reminder: voting is now in the comments!