Minor League roundup, 4/15: Victor Bericoto is finding his stride

Yesterday’s action on the farm.

Yesterday was a mild-mannered day for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates, but all four A-Ball teams were in action, so let’s jump straight into recapping Tuesday’s games!

Link to the 2025 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

All listed positions in the roundup are the positions played in that particular game.

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News

Some unfortunate but expected news, as the Giants placed High-A Eugene outfielder Bo Davidson (No. 11 CPL) on the 7-Day Injured List. Davidson had a dynamic weekend but was injured on the basepaths on Sunday, and needed help walking off the field. That, unfortunately, probably means we won’t be seeing him for a while.

Sadly, Davidson wasn’t the only high-profile injury, as Low-A San Jose shortstop Walker Martin (No. 14 CPL) was also placed on the 7-Day IL. Not sure what that injury is.

But in happier news, Chris Welsh reports that first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL), who has been playing in extended spring training after suffering a wrist injury earlier in the year, is feeling good and said he could be heading to AA Richmond as early as this weekend. Wouldn’t that be nice!

With Davidson and Martin on the IL, the Giants had some roster spots and domestic reserve spots that could be filled, so High-A Eugene utility player Thomas Gavello and AAA RHP Ryan Watson were both activated from the Development List.

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AAA Sacramento (9-7)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 8-6
Box score

It was a slow and steady attack for the River Cats, who had only 1 extra-base hit on the day, but finished with 9 hits and 10 walks. Thankfully, it was the high-profile players at the top of the order — who are both off to slow starts this year — who had the biggest days. Leading off was center fielder Grant McCray, who had a brutal weekend but bounced back strong after a pair of rest days. The lefty went 2-5 on the day with a double and a whopping 4 runs batted in, while also stealing a base, albeit with 2 strikeouts thrown in there as well.

And right behind him was left fielder Marco Luciano, who was an on-base machine, hitting 1-2 and drawing 3 walks. I was encouraged by Luciano’s approach in this game. He’s been an odd mixture of passive and aggressive this year, laying off too many hittable pitches while swinging wildly at too many outside the zone. He was pretty disciplined in this game, and it paid off.

No one else had standout days in the box, but first baseman Jake Lamb and second baseman Sergio Alcántara both reached base a trio of times, with Lamb hitting 1-2 with a walk and a hit by pitch, and Alcántara going 1-2 with 2 walks.

Getting the start for the high-profile Sacramento rotation was RHP Keaton Winn, who had a hot-and-cold game. It was an ERA-buster of a game for Winn, who allowed 4 earned runs in as many innings. But it was also a game where he pitched well after taking an initial blow. Winn gave up 4 hits and 3 runs in the 1st inning with no strikeouts. Then, over the next 3 innings, he allowed just 2 baserunners — a hit by pitch, and a home run by Zach Neto, a high-quality MLB regular on a rehab assignment — while striking out 5 batters. He made quite a residence in the strike zone, throwing 50 of 64 pitches for strikes, and probably would have had better early results with an MLB defense behind him. So while the game did his ERA no favors, I thought he mostly pitched well.

No nice interpretation is required to determine that RHPs Tristan Beck and Kai-Wei Teng pitched well, though, as their results handled business for them. The pair of starters-turned-relievers each handled 2 shutout innings excellently, with each allowing just 1 baserunner (funnily enough, a double by Niko Kavadas in each case). Beck needed just 17 pitches for his 2 innings, 14 of which were strikes, and struck out 2 batters, lowering his ERA to 1.93 and his FIP to 3.04, while Teng struck out 3 batters and dropped his ERA to 6.75 with a 4.14 FIP.

RHP Justin Garza had a rough go of it following that duo, with LHP Helcris Olivárez coming in to record the final out, and keeping his 0.00 ERA intact.

AA Richmond (2-8)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Chesapeake Baysox (Orioles) 4-1
Box score

A rather unexciting game for the Squirrels. They’ve been having a lot of those, but that’s sure to change when Eldridge arrives in town.

The best day on offense belonged to first baseman Victor Bericoto (No. 24 CPL), who hit 2-4 with a double. It seems that Bericoto is taking the “one to measure, one to rake” approach with AA baseball, as he had a very mediocre season with Richmond in 2024, but is back to his excellent offensive ways this year, with an .873 OPS, a 153 wRC+, and an isolated slugging percentage nearly .100 points higher than it was a year ago. It’s a small sample size, to be sure, and it gets even better if you make the sample smaller. Since being held hitless with 4 strikeouts in the first 2 games of the year, Bericoto has gone 12-33 with 2 home runs, 4 doubles, 6 walks, and just 3 strikeouts in 8 games since. Here he comes!

And we got to see a little offense from shortstop Aeverson Arteaga (No. 12 CPL), who hit 2-4 with a double (though he also had 2 strikeouts and committed an error). It’s been a dreadful start to the season for Arteaga, who entered the game hitting just 3-29 on the year, with no extra-base hits. Some grace is required though: Arteaga only just turned 22, so he’s nearly 2 years younger than the average position player in the Eastern League, and he missed almost the entirety of the 2024 season due to injury. So he’ll need a little time to work his way back into form.

Also, check out these stunning defensive plays from third baseman Sabin Ceballos (No. 18 CPL)!

On the pitching front, it was all about the bullpen, which handled 4 innings of no-hit, no-run baseball. RHPs Cameron Cotter and Trent Harris (No. 20 CPL) were both perfect, with the former striking out 2 batters in 1.1 innings, and the latter K’ing 1 in a flawless frame. And RHP Will Bednar (No. 42 CPL) had an outing that was hilariously emblematic of his season (and last season), which feels like something I say every time he pitches. Bednar pitched 1.2 innings and didn’t allow a hit while striking out 2 … but he also walked 4 batters. On the year, Bednar has faced 23 batters and only 5 of those batters have put the ball in play, as he’s walked 8 and struck out 10. Or, for those who like the per-inning stats, the 2021 1st-round pick now has 20.77 strikeouts per 9 innings, but with 16.62 walks. Comical numbers, for better and for worse.

Not a good start for LHP Seth Lonsway, who made it through 5 innings, but allowed 8 hits, 2 walks, 4 runs, and 3 earned runs. That came after a nearly flawless season debut last week, so we’ll see which version of Lonsway we get in Start No. 3!

High-A Eugene (5-5)

Eugene Emeralds beat the Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays) 11-8
Box score

A few really fun offensive performances from some players off to very fun seasons. Center fielder/left fielder Jonah Cox (No. 26 CPL) continued his semi-surprising offensive season, hitting 1-4 with a double, 2 walks, and 1 strikeout. Cox, whom the Giants stole from the A’s before the 2024 season, is a glove and legs-first outfielder, but you wouldn’t know it from the fact that he now has 7 extra-base hits in just 10 games. That said, despite gobbling up doubles and triples, his tough strikeout rate (28.3%) and poor batting average (.238) have hurt his overall line, giving him just a .757 OPS and a 93 wRC+.

The stuff that Cox is more known for is on display too, though. He stole 2 more bases on Tuesday … a year after leading the organization with 58 swiped bags, Cox already has 8 this year, and has yet to be thrown out. Now that’s fun! We’ll also likely see Cox get more reps in his natural position, center field, going forward. He had been mostly pushed to corners to facilitate getting Davidson time in the middle of the grass, so Davidson’s injury will likely move Cox back to center.

Shortstop Zane Zielinski continues to look like the real deal in an extremely tiny sample size. The right-handed hitter, taken in the 9th round of last year’s draft, had a special day, hitting 2-3 with a double, 2 walks, 2 stolen bases, and a strikeout. Zielinski made his professional debut on Friday and has cooly hit 6-14 with 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, and 4 stolen bases without yet being caught. What a start!

First baseman Charlie Szykowny (No. 43 CPL) had a great day, too, hitting 3-6 with 2 doubles and a strikeout. It’s been a little bit of a slow start to the year for the lefty hitter, who has a .781 OPS, a 91 wRC+, and a 31.1% strikeout rate, but he’s showing a lot of exciting signs.

Catcher Onil Perez (No. 37 CPL) had one of his best games of the young season, hitting 1-2 with 3 walks and his 1st stolen base of the year. He’s off to a much better start in his 2nd pass through the Northwest League.

One thing to keep an eye on: right fielder James Tibbs III (No. 3 CPL) left the game halfway through. Hopefully it wasn’t because of an injury.

On the mound, it was a very bad game for RHP Cale Lansville, who got rocked to the tune of 11 baserunners and 7 runs in just 3.1 innings of work. After walking just 24 batters in 77 innings a year ago, Lansville has already issued 6 free passes in 5.1 innings in 2025. Here’s to better games ahead for the 2023 14th-round pick.

RHP Austin Strickland had a Will Bednar-esque game, pitching 1.2 innings with no hits, no runs, and 3 strikeouts, but allowing 3 walks along the way. Not the most sustainable way to get outs, but it certainly worked on Tuesday!

RHPs Sadrac Franco and Cody Tucker both had exceptional outings that were very much needed after very tough starts to the year.

Low-A San Jose (6-4)

San Jose Giants lost to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Dodgers) 4-3 (10 innings)
Box score

Really just 2 players on offense who had games of note. Third baseman/second baseman Jean Carlos Sio had the only home run in the organization on Tuesday, hitting 2-4 with a solo blast and a strikeout.

Sio, a left-handed hitter who turned 21 earlier this month is back in San Jose for a 2nd pass through the level and is showing marked improvement in the early goings. His walk rate and on-base percentage have dipped negligibly, but his batting average has jumped from .240 to .263 and his slugging percentage from .360 all the way up to .579, which has boosted his OPS from .738 to .943 and his wRC+ from 108 to 145, all while his strikeout rate has dropped from 20.5% to 18.2%. It’s a tiny sample size, but it’s encouraging!

The other good day in the batter’s box came from catcher Drew Cavanaugh, who continues to excel in the early going. The 17th-round pick in the 2023 draft, who hadn’t done much of note on offense entering the year, went 2-5 with a double and 2 strikeouts, and now has a 1.221 OPS and a 210 wRC+. What a fun story he’s been to start the year.

A less-fun story is right fielder Jose Ortiz (No. 22 CPL), who was 1-2 with a stolen base and an outfield assist when he left the game with an apparent injury. Fingers crossed.

RHP Hunter Dryden had another nice start in his 2nd career game, striking out 6 batters in 4 innings while allowing just 1 run, though he did give up 7 baserunners (4 hits, 2 walks, and a hit batter). Last year’s 17th-round pick has 13 strikeouts against just 2 walks in 8 innings so far.

And RHP Cole Hillier had a nice appearance out of the bullpen, allowing just a hit and a walk in 2 shutout innings, with 3 strikeouts. It hasn’t been the most clean season for Hillier, so nice to see him have a great showing.

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Home run tracker

Low-A Jean Carlos Sio (2)

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Wednesday schedule

Sacramento: vs. Salt Lake, 6:45 p.m. PT (SP: Carson Seymour)
Richmond: vs. Chesapeake, game already over (lol east coast)
Eugene: at Vancouver, 7:05 p.m. PT (SP: Josh Wolf)
San Jose: at Rancho Cucamonga, 6:30 p.m. PT (SP: Niko Mazza)