Who is the 40th-best prospect on the farm?
Note: Today is the final nomination day! Head to the comment section to nominate the next/last group of prospects to vote on!
I’m not sure what’s harder to believe: that the San Francisco Giants play a regular season baseball game in just 27 days, or that we only need to add five names before the 2025 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List is complete.
The next name on the list is one of my favorite types of players this time of year: someone who I could see being a top 15 player on next year’s CPL, or being a name we don’t even consider discussing. It’s outfielder Oliver Tejada, who makes his CPL debut as the No. 39 prospect in the system.
Tejada, a right-handed hitter from the Dominican Republic, was part of the Giants 2024 international signing class. He didn’t have the hype or signing bonus of Jhonny Level or Yohendry Sanchez, but he was one of the top performers for the Giants in the Dominican Summer League. He played 46 games in his debut season, and slashed a wonderful .300/.405/.488, with an .893 OPS and a 139 wRC+.
The underlying metrics were also very encouraging. While some players are propped up in the DSL by keeping the bat on their shoulders and letting teenage pitchers miss the strike zone, Tejada’s walk rate (10.7%) was high enough to be encouraging but still low enough to not be the reason for his success. His 18.5% strikeout rate was very nice, and he hit the ball hard: per CPL godfather Roger Munter (‘tis the season where you really should subscribe to his Substack!), Tejada had a 90th percentile exit velocity of 101 mph, and a max exit velocity of 108 mph, which are strong numbers for such a young player. That led to five home runs and 19 total extra-base hits in just 205 plate appearances for Tejada (who also stole 13 bases, albeit on 22 attempts).
Tejada only turned 18 in December, and we’ll soon find out whether he’s slated for a season in the states or a repeat in the DSL. He certainly appears ready for the former, but the shrinking Domestic Reserve List means that the Giants aren’t going to promote too many names from the DSL. Certainly another stint in the DSL won’t be the end of his story, but we’ll learn a lot about how the organization views him based on where he begins the season. Hopefully it’s in Arizona.
Now let’s add to the list! And don’t forget that it’s nomination day, so head to the comment section to nominate some names for Monday’s CPL. The end is near!
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
- Victor Bericoto — OF/1B
- Robert Hipwell — 3B
- Jonah Cox — CF
- Josh Bostick — RHP
- Argenis Cayama — RHP
- Jack Choate — LHP
- Jakob Christian — OF
- Jacob Bresnahan — LHP
- Cole Waites — RHP
- Juan Sánchez — LHP
- Hunter Bishop — OF
- Ryan Reckley — 2B
- Gerelmi Maldonado — RHP
- Onil Perez — C
- Adrián Sugastey
- Oliver Tejada — OF
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
No. 40 prospect nominees
Will Bednar — 24.8-year old RHP — 7.71 ERA/6.93 FIP in AA (32.2 IP); 3.18 ERA/4.06 FIP in High-A (11.1 IP); 3.60 ERA/3.97 FIP in Low-A (10 IP)
Jose Bello — 19.8-year old RHP — 7.71 ERA/4.27 FIP in ACL (2.1 IP); 2.49 ERA/2.36 FIP in DSL (25.1 IP)
Spencer Miles — 24.6-year old RHP — 4.91 ERA/2.79 FIP in ACL (7.1 IP)
Yohendry Sanchez — 18.3-year old C — .937 OPS/164 wRC+ in DSL (45 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.