The best prospects in the Giants system, as told by you.
Yet another wondrous adventure has reached its conclusion. With the election of right-handed pitcher Jose Bello, the 2025 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List has come to an end, and we, as a collective, have ranked the 44 best prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization.
All that’s left is to review what we concluded, and then wait for another season of Minor League Baseball … which gets started in just 11 days.
There was no intrigue at the top of the list this year. In the years that I’ve run the CPL, we’ve never had a player even close to being this unanimous of a top prospect selection. But after the first name came off the board, chaos ensued — delightful, exciting, and highly debatable chaos.
Here’s a look at the full list. The number in parenthesis is where a player ranked on last year’s CPL — those with an “N/A” next to their name were not in the system last year, while those with “UN” were in the system, but went unranked.
The top 44 prospects in the Giants system
- Bryce Eldridge — 1B (3)
- Carson Whisenhunt — LHP (4)
- James Tibbs III — OF (N/A)
- Rayner Arias — OF (5)
- Josuar de Jesus González — SS (N/A)
- Jhonny Level — SS (38)
- Mason Black — RHP (10)
- Dakota Jordan — OF (N/A)
- Joe Whitman — LHP (16)
- Reggie Crawford — LHP (8)
- Bo Davidson — OF (UN)
- Aeverson Arteaga — SS (14)
- Wade Meckler — OF (11)
- Walker Martin — SS (7)
- Trevor McDonald — RHP (20)
- Diego Velasquez — SS/2B (21)
- Lisbel Diaz — OF (42)
- Sabin Ceballos — 3B (N/A)
- Carson Ragsdale — RHP (32)
- Trent Harris — RHP (UN)
- Carson Seymour — RHP (22)
- Jose Ortiz — CF (UN)
- Maui Ahuna — SS (27)
- Victor Bericoto — OF/1B (19)
- Robert Hipwell — 3B (N/A)
- Jonah Cox — CF (UN)
- Josh Bostick — RHP (UN)
- Argenis Cayama — RHP (UN)
- Jack Choate — LHP (31)
- Jakob Christian — OF (N/A)
- Jacob Bresnahan — LHP (N/A)
- Cole Waites — RHP (34)
- Juan Sánchez — LHP (36)
- Hunter Bishop — OF (UN)
- Ryan Reckley — 2B (44)
- Gerelmi Maldonado — RHP (26)
- Onil Perez — C (24)
- Adrián Sugastey — C (26)
- Oliver Tejada — OF (UN)
- Yohendry Sanchez — C (UN)
- Jairo Pomares — OF (29)
- Will Bednar — RHP (UN)
- Charlie Szykowny — 3B (UN)
- Jose Bello — RHP (UN)
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
The Giants may have one of the lowest-ranked systems in baseball by most evaluations, but that’s an exciting list of names. And that serves as an important reminder that prospects are thrilling and unknown, regardless of how a system is ranked.
Now let’s take a little closer look.
Who is off the list?
There are a whopping 19 new names on the CPL (including two, righty Will Bednar and outfielder Hunter Bishop, who return to the CPL after a one-year hiatus). Which means 19 players from last year’s CPL are no longer on the list — that’s nearly half of the CPL!
So where did those 19 go?
The best way for a prospect to leave the CPL is to graduate from it, and 10 players did exactly that: LHP Kyle Harrison (No. 1), OF Marco Luciano (No. 2), RHP Keaton Winn (No. 6), RHP Hayden Birdsong (No. 9), OF Grant McCray (No. 12), OF Heliot Ramos (No. 13), 2B Tyler Fitzgerald (No. 15), RHP Landen Roupp (No. 18), LHP Erik Miller (No. 28), and RHP Randy Rodríguez (No. 33),
A less happy way for a player to be removed from the CPL is to simply not get voted in, and six players will look for bounce-back years after falling off the CPL: OF Vaun Brown (No. 17), RHP Kai-Wei Teng (No. 23), SS Cole Foster (No. 30), RHP Manuel Mercedes (No. 37), INF Jimmy Glowenke (No. 39), and RHP R.J. Dabovich (No. 40).
And finally, three of the players on the 2024 CPL are no longer in the system: OF Ismael Munguia (No. 35), who elected free agency and signed a Minor League deal with the Yankees; RHP Eric Silva (No. 41), who was traded to the Tigers during the season in the Mark Canha deal; and RHP Nick Avila (No. 43), who was designated for assignment during the season (after making his MLB debut, though!) and claimed off of waivers by the Baltimore Orioles (he has since been released and is currently a free agent).
That’s a pretty happy ratio. In last year’s CPL, there were 17 new names, with just seven of the displaced 17 having graduated, while eight fell off and two were out of the system.
Acquisition breakdown
Not surprisingly, the vast majority of the players on the CPL were acquired during Farhan Zaidi’s tenure, but the list actually spans three front offices. Corner outfielder and first baseman Victor Bericoto (No. 24), lefty reliever Juan Sánchez (No. 33), and outfielder Jairo Pomares (No. 41) were all international signings by the Bobby Evans regime; and even though he had verbally agreed to sign with the Giants long, long ago, shortstop Josuar de Jesus González was signed after Buster Posey had already taken over.
The 44 players on our list came to the Giants in a wide variety of ways. Just 20 of the 44 were drafted by the Giants, down from 24 last year and 25 the year before. Another 17 of the 44 were signed by the Giants in international free agency, while two were signed after going unselected in the domestic draft (No. 11 Bo Davidson and No. 20 Trent Harris).
That leaves five players who were acquired by trade: third baseman Sabin Ceballos (No. 18), who came over in the Jorge Soler deal; righty starter Carson Ragsdale (No. 19), who was swapped for Sam Coonrod; righty starter Carson Seymour (No. 21) who was part of the Darin Ruf/J.D. Davis switcheroo; center fielder Jonah Cox (No. 26) who was stolen from the A’s in the Ross Stripling heist; and southpaw starter Jacob Bresnahan (No. 31), who came over from the Guardians in the Alex Cobb trade (also coming over in that deal was second baseman Nate Furman, who was one of the names being voted on for the final spot in the CPL).
Who’s playing this year?
As I mentioned, 10 players graduated last year — and since all 10 remain in the system, that means that graduated players from last year’s CPL comprise a whopping 25% of the Giants 40-man roster.
So who, on this year’s list, might see time in the Majors in 2025, and potentially graduate? Five of the 44 names are already on the 40-man roster (meaning 37.5% of the roster was on the 2024 CPL!): right-hander Mason Black (No. 7), outfielder Wade Meckler (No. 13), right-hander Trevor McDonald (No. 15), right-hander Carson Ragsdale (No. 19), and right-hander Carson Seymour (No. 21). All five are a good bet to be in the Majors at some point this year, with the first three already having MLB experience.
Righty reliever Cole Waites (No. 32) has also seen time in the Majors and, if he can return to the way he looked prior to his second Tommy John surgery in 2023, he’ll likely be back in San Francisco this year. Lefty reliever Juan Sánchez (No. 33) was knocking on the door of a debut last year when he got shut down and underwent Tommy John; if he returns before the season ends, he could find his way to the Majors.
All eyes are on first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1), though. The Giants threw some cold water on the idea of Eldridge breaking camp with the team, and he might even begin the year in AA Richmond rather than AAA Sacramento. But he’s still in good position to make his Major League debut this year, as is southpaw Carson Whisenhunt (No. 2), who now has a full season of AAA starts under his belt.
Those are the players we can probably expect to see this year, but there are usually a few surprises as well. Right-handed reliever Trent Harris (No. 20) could easily emerge as a weapon in the bullpen, and don’t be shocked if Aeverson Arteaga (No. 12) or Diego Velasquez (No. 16) become part of the equation if the Giants have some struggles in the infield. First baseman/outfielder Victor Bericoto (No. 24) and outfielder Jairo Pomares (No. 41) have the power to work their way to the Majors with strong years, while former first-round pick Hunter Bishop (No. 34), who spent most of 2024 in AAA, could earn a cup of coffee even if he doesn’t force the issue, simply due to the nature of ticking clocks (or he could force the issue, which would be awesome). And if the Giants end up running through catcher depth again, don’t be surprised if Adrián Sugastey (No. 38) gets a look after making his way to big league camp this spring.
And there we have it, friends. Another successful Community Prospect List is in the books — thank you so much to everyone who participated, as well as to the OGs of McCovey Chronicles past who got this amazing project up and running in the first place.
Now bring on the Minor League season!