Who is the 43rd-best prospect on the farm?
Opening Day is less than three weeks away for the San Francisco Giants … but the conclusion of the 2025 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List is less than one week away. We’ve set out with the goal of coming together as a community to rank the top 44 prospects in the Giants system, and we only have two names left to choose.
The biggest joy of this project is the fourth word in its name: community. The choices are nominated by, debated upon, and ultimately chosen by the community. Which means sometimes a name is chosen that leaves me scratching my head a little bit … and, down the road, sometimes I look smart for scratching my head, while other times I look like I should have shut my silly mouth.
Today is one such day, and hopefully I’m left feeling silly in a few years. Winning the last vote by exactly one ballot is right-handed pitcher Will Bednar, who has been voted as the No. 42 prospect in the system. Bednar, who was the No. 25 prospect in the 2023 CPL, returns to the list after not making the cut a year ago.
Most people are familiar with the story of Bednar, who will turn 25 this summer. He was the Giants first-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft after a dominant College World Series run with Mississippi State, and was viewed as a high-floor prospect who could move quickly.
It emphatically didn’t happen. Bednar has struggled with multiple injuries and, of greater concern, has simply not been good when on the field. He entered the 2024 season having pitched just 67.2 innings in his first three years, with very poor results. The Giants gave him an opening assignment with Low-A San Jose and, perhaps feeling some urgency, promoted him to High-A Eugene after 10 innings, then to AA Richmond after 11.1 innings.
He was pretty decent at those stops, if not electric. But improvements were shown.
Unfortunately, Richmond proved a very difficult challenge for the burly 6’2 righty. Working primarily in relief, Bednar pitched in 21 games for the Flying Squirrels and finished with a 7.71 ERA and a 6.93 FIP. There were some good signs, though: some of the electricity returned, as he flashed some nice strikeout stuff all year long. After striking out 33 batters in 21.1 A-Ball innings, Bednar had a very nice 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings in AA. That, combined with a delightful .213 batting average against, showed that he was missing bats with Richmond.
But when he wasn’t missing bats, disaster was in the air. Bednar only gave up 26 hits in 32.2 AA innings but, even in the pitcher-friendly Eastern League, half of those hits went for extra bases, including a whopping seven home runs. Even more worrisome was Bednar’s walk rate, which exceeded a free pass per inning: he ended the year with 36 walks in 32.2 innings. That, combined with a 24.6% groundball rate across the three levels, paints the picture of a pitcher who needs to make some serious changes to get on San Francisco’s radar.
His story is far from being told, though, and our community certainly thinks that there are better days ahead. He has a large repertoire of pitches, and the return of the strikeout stuff is encouraging. The Giants have likely given up on Bednar as a starter, but there’s reason for optimism that he can put some of his potential back together in a relief role. Presumably he’ll return to AA to start the season, and I’ll certainly be rooting for him.
Now let’s add to the list!
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
- Yohendry Sanchez — C
- Jairo Pomares — OF
- Will Bednar — RHP
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
No. 43 prospect nominees
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.