Who is the 30th-best prospect on the Giants farm?
Note: Today is nomination day! Head to the comment section to nominate and vote for Friday’s group of CPL prospects.
Two things are marching forward steadily: Spring Training, and the 2024 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List, in which we’ll rank the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization.
We’re getting closer and closer to the end, and we’re nearly ready to put a bow on the top 30. The latest chapter of the CPL has brought us outfielder Jairo Pomares, who has been voted as the No. 29 prospect in the Giants system. It’s a drop of 15 spots for Pomares, who was ranked No. 14 in last year’s CPL.
The drop is easy to explain: Pomares basically didn’t play in 2023. The left-handed hitter, who turned 23 in August, was sidelined to start the year due to injuries. He began a rehab stint in the Complex League in June, but only last two weeks before being shut down again. He would appear in one game in August, and that was the extent of his season: nine rehab games in the Complex League, during which time he hit 8-26 with two doubles, five walks, and nine strikeouts.
A lost season is a bummer for any prospect, and it certainly didn’t help Pomares, who was already threatening to trend downwards. A member of the three-headed monster that was the Giants 2018 J2 class — along with Marco Luciano and Luis Matos — Pomares got off to a fantastic start to his career in 2019, when he dominated rookie ball pitchers in his age-18 season (.943 OPS, 152 wRC+) and got a taste of late-season A-ball. After losing 2020 to the pandemic, Pomares kicked off 2021 with Low-A San Jose where he was noting short of dominant, posting a 1.122 OPS and a 181 wRC+ in his age-20 season, and making his way to High-A Eugene and rising to No. 7 on the 2022 CPL.
With the exception of a few injury setbacks and rehab stints, Pomares spent 2022 with Eugene, but the performance tapered off a bit. It was still a good year (.768 OPS, 113 wRC+), but not the dominant showing he’d had in his first few years. And for someone who projects as a defensively so-so corner outfielder, Pomares will really need to hit well to have a Major League career.
Here’s hoping he’s healthy in 2024, and can show us just how much talent is in that bat.
Now let’s move on, and remember that today is nomination day!
The list so far
- Kyle Harrison — LHP
- Marco Luciano — SS
- Bryce Eldridge — 1B
- Carson Whisenhunt — LHP
- Rayner Arias — CF
- Keaton Winn — RHP
- Walker Martin — SS
- Reggie Crawford — LHP
- Hayden Birdsong — RHP
- Mason Black — RHP
- Wade Meckler — OF
- Grant McCray — CF
- Heliot Ramos — OF
- Aeverson Arteaga — SS
- Tyler Fitzgerald — UTIL
- Joe Whitman — LHP
- Vaun Brown — OF
- Landen Roupp — RHP
- Victor Bericoto — OF
- Trevor McDonald — RHP
- Diego Velasquez — 2B/SS
- Carson Seymour — RHP
- Kai-Wei Teng — RHP
- Onil Perez — C
- Adrian Sugastey — C
- Gerelmi Maldonado — RHP
- Maui Ahuna — SS
- Erik Miller — LHP
- Jairo Pomares — OF
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
On to No. 30!
No. 30 prospect nominees
Cole Foster — 22.4-year old SS — .696 OPS/90 wRC+ in Low-A (111 PA); 1.055 OPS/143 wRC+ in ACL (31 PA)
Carson Ragsdale — 25.8-year old RHP — 2.93 ERA/2.33 FIP in High-A (27.2 IP)
Liam Simon — 23.4-year old RHP — 3.86 ERA/2.96 FIP in Low-A (21 IP)
Cole Waites — 25.8-year old RHP — 15.43 ERA/4.11 FIP in MLB (2.1 IP); 6.16 ERA/5.78 FIP in AAA (30.2 IP)