Who is the 24th-best prospect on the Giants farm?
Note: Today is nomination day! Head to the comment section to nominate the next group of prospects for Wednesday’s CPL, and click on the “REC” button to vote for the names you agree with.
After a little bit of a break from routine, the 2025 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List is up and running like usual again, as we have officially passed the halfway mark in our quest to rank the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization.
The last chapter of the CPL was one we hadn’t had in a few years: a runoff. After tying for the vote on last Wednesday’s six-player ballot, 2023 draftmates Jose Ortiz and Maui Ahuna were pitted against each other on Friday.
The winner was Ortiz, the team’s 13th-round pick in that draft. He makes his CPL debut as the No. 22 prospect in the system.
An outfielder drafted out of the same Puerto Rican high school that Heliot Ramos attended, Ortiz’s first full season as a pro was a smashing success. The teenager spent the season in the Arizona Complex League, where he hit .306/.455/.400 for an .855 OPS and a 134 wRC+. That slash line shows a distinct lack of power — he had just a .094 ISO and hit only one home run in 112 plate appearances — but everything else was fantastic. His 12.5% walk rate and 17.9% strikeout rate were both highly-encouraging numbers, especially for someone so young, and he stole 10 bases in 12 attempts. Perhaps most encouragingly, Ortiz spent the bulk of his time in center field, where he looked like a player who should be able to stay at the position.
After the ACL season ended, Ortiz was given a chance with Low-A San Jose, though he unfortunately suffered a knee injury in his first game there, which ended his season. Hopefully he’s ready to go by the start of the season, as he’ll be one to watch in San Jose. The right-handed hitter is still a few weeks away from his 20th birthday.
That means that Ahuna earns the No. 23 spot, which is a rise of four places from his No. 27 placement in last year’s CPL. Despite the rise, it was a rough 2024 for the left-handed hitting shortstop.
Ahuna didn’t play in 2023 after being a fourth-round pick, so this was his debut season. He hit exceptionally well in a short stint in the Complex League, slashing .342/.405/.658 for a 1.063 OPS and a 158 wRC+, albeit in just 42 plate appearances. The numbers — and in particular the power — were much less encouraging in Low-A, where he hit just .236/.355/.281 for a .636 OPS and an 84 wRC+ that was propped up mostly by a 15.0% walk rate.
The good and bad are both very much on display with Ahuna, who turns 23 during Spring Training. On the positive side, he has excellent defensive chops at shortstop, impressive power for the position, and is a good athlete. On the negative side, he has an extreme strikeout issue (after that being a concern in his final collegiate year, Ahuna’s built-for-power swing resulted in a 28.2% strikeout rate in his debut season) and hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Since getting drafted in July 2023, Ahuna has played in just 34 games, and has played in the field for just 10 of those games. After a stop-and-start-and-stop-again debut season, he was shut down for Tommy John surgery.
Two highly intriguing 2023 draftees with some fairly big question marks. We’ll learn a lot from both of these players in 2024, hopefully!
Now let’s move on, and don’t forget that it’s nomination day.
The list so far
- Bryce Eldridge — 1B
- Carson Whisenhunt — LHP
- James Tibbs III — OF
- Rayner Arias — OF
- Josuar de Jesus González — SS
- Jhonny Level — SS
- Mason Black — RHP
- Dakota Jordan — OF
- Joe Whitman — LHP
- Reggie Crawford — LHP
- Bo Davidson — OF
- Aeverson Arteaga — SS
- Wade Meckler — OF
- Walker Martin — SS
- Trevor McDonald — RHP
- Diego Velasquez — SS/2B
- Lisbel Diaz — OF
- Sabin Ceballos — 3B
- Carson Ragsdale — RHP
- Trent Harris — RHP
- Carson Seymour — RHP
- Jose Ortiz — CF
- Maui Ahuna — SS
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
No. 24 prospect nominees
Victor Bericoto — 23.1-year old 1B/OF — .693 OPS/99 wRC+ in AA (479 PA)
Josh Bostick — 23.2-year old RHP — 4.78 ERA/4.71 FIP in Low-A (107.1 IP)
Jonah Cox — 23.5-year old CF — .674 OPS/94 wRC+ in High-A (185 PA); .797 OPS/124 wRC+ in Low-A (275 PA)
Robert Hipwell — 21.10-year old 3B — .762 OPS/109 wRC+ in Low-A (136 PA)
Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page. All stats are from the 2024 season.