Who is the 4th-best prospect on the Giants farm?
Note: Today is nomination day! Head to the comment section to nominate the next group of prospects to be included in the CPL.
The third round of voting in the 2025 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List was a little bit more lopsided than I expected it to be. Earning 42% of the votes in the five-player field is outfielder James Tibbs III, who has been voted as the No. 3 prospect in the San Francisco Giants organization.
Tibbs was selected with the No. 13 overall pick in July’s draft, and thus represents the final first-round pick in Farhan Zaidi’s tenure with the Giants. A left-handed hitter who spent three years at Buster Posey’s alma mater, Florida State, Tibbs was viewed on draft day as a high-floor prospect who could fly through the system and make it to the Majors fairly quickly.
After some time in the unofficial rookie ball games after the ACL season ended, Tibbs made his professional debut with Low-A San Jose on August 8, about four weeks after being drafted.
Tibbs hit just 1-8 with four strikeouts in his first two games with San Jose, then found his groove in a huge way, hitting 16-33 with four doubles, one walk, and seven strikeouts over the next seven games. That earned him a promotion to High-A Eugene to end the season, though the results there were fairly brutal, as he hit 9-67 with two home runs, one double, seven walks, and 25 strikeouts.
Just like in San Jose, Tibbs started to take off after an adjustment period. In his first 11 games with the Emeralds, he hit a paltry 1-41 with no extra-base hits, five walks, and 18 strikeouts. In his final six games, he hit 8-26 with two homers, one double, two walks, and seven strikeouts.
He just turned 22, and will almost surely start his first full season back in Eugene, where he’ll be a very fun player to keep a close eye on.
Now let’s add to the list, and don’t forget that it’s nomination day, so head to the comment section!
The list so far
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
No. 4 prospect nominees
Rayner Arias — 18.6-year old CF — .735 OPS/98 wRC+ in ACL (105 PA)
Josuar de Jesus González — 17.0-year old SS — yet to debut
Jhonny Level — 17.7-year old SS — .909 OPS/140 wRC+ in DSL (215 PA)
Joe Whitman — 23.1-year old LHP — 4.96 ERA/3.56 FIP in High-A (52.2 IP); 4.29 ERA/4.05 FIP in Low-A (50.1 IP)
Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page.