Community Prospect List No. 42

Who is the 42nd-best prospect on the farm?

We’re a week away from finishing up the 2025 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List, our annual group project to rank the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization. And while we may be at the end of the list, there are still plenty of exciting prospects to talk about.

Winning the latest chapter is outfielder Jairo Pomares, who has been voted as the No. 41 prospect in the system. That’s a drop of 12 spots for Pomares, who came in at No. 29 on last year’s list.

It’s been a tough few years for Pomares, a left-handed hitter who was once considered one of the top sluggers in the system — he was ranked No. 7 on the CPL three years ago. After a fantastic 2021 in Low-A San Jose, and a strong 2022 in High-A Eugene, things started to go sideways. Pomares missed almost the entirety of the 2023 season due to injury, playing just nine rehab games. Injuries then took him out of camp in 2024, and he didn’t make his season debut with AA Richmond until their 27th game of the season.

He stayed healthy for the rest of the year, which was great, but the performance wasn’t dynamic. Pomares, who doesn’t offer a ton in the way of defense or baserunning, hit .238/.280/.434 for the Flying Squirrels, good for a .714 OPS and a 102 wRC+. He bashed 12 home runs in 82 games, and stole nine bases in 11 attempts.

There’s certainly a lot to like about those stats, though there are some red flags, as well. The .238 batting average and a 25.0% strikeout rate suggest that contact issues remain for Pomares, and the 3.6% walk rate is very concerning … that rate ranked 1,076th out of 1,081 Minor League prospects who had at least 300 plate appearances last year.

Pomares, who was signed in 2018 out of Cuba and will turn 25 in August, probably needs to have a big year to stay in the Giants plans. But he has a gorgeous swing and effortless power, so that could very well end up happening. Let’s hope for it!

And in the meantime, let’s add to the list.

The list so far

1. Bryce Eldridge — 1B
2. Carson Whisenhunt — LHP
3. James Tibbs III — OF
4. Rayner Arias — OF
5. Josuar de Jesus González — SS
6. Jhonny Level — SS
7. Mason Black — RHP
8. Dakota Jordan — OF
9. Joe Whitman — LHP
10. Reggie Crawford — LHP
11. Bo Davidson — OF
12. Aeverson Arteaga — SS
13. Wade Meckler — OF
14. Walker Martin — SS
15. Trevor McDonald — RHP
16. Diego Velasquez — SS/2B
17. Lisbel Diaz — OF
18. Sabin Ceballos — 3B
19. Carson Ragsdale — RHP
20. Trent Harris — RHP
21. Carson Seymour — RHP
22. Jose Ortiz — CF
23. Maui Ahuna — SS
24. Victor Bericoto — OF/1B
25. Robert Hipwell — 3B
26. Jonah Cox — CF
27. Josh Bostick — RHP
28. Argenis Cayama — RHP
29. Jack Choate — LHP
30. Jakob Christian — OF
31. Jacob Bresnahan — LHP
32. Cole Waites — RHP
33. Juan Sánchez — LHP
34. Hunter Bishop — OF
35. Ryan Reckley — 2B
36. Gerelmi Maldonado — RHP
37. Onil Perez — C
38. Adrián Sugastey
39. Oliver Tejada — OF
40. Yohendry Sanchez — C
41. Jairo Pomares — OF

Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.

No. 42 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 — 19.9-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)

Cole Foster — 23.4-year old SS/2B — .329 OPS/-8 wRC+ in High-A (81 PA); .706 OPS/93 wRC+ in Low-A (254 PA)

Nate Furman — 23.7-year old 2B — .500 OPS/62 wRC+ in AA (51 PA); .917 OPS/165 wRC+ in High-A (176 PA)

Spencer Miles — 24.7-year old RHP — 4.91 ERA/2.79 FIP in ACL (7.1 IP)

Charlie Szykowny — 24.8-year old 3B — .679 OPS/91 wRC+ in High-A (170 PA); .910 OPS/140 wRC+ in Low-A (242 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.