Minor League roundup, April 22: Walker Martin shows off

Unfortunately, Sacramento probably wishes the game had been canceled altogether, as it did not go well for them at all. The hitting was very poor and the starting pitching was very poor. The only saving grace came from the bullpen, which was fantastic … and featured a lot of players that the Giants are likely to count on throughout the year.

Most notably, Sacramento had a pair of rehab appearances, as both LHP Sam Hentges and RHP Joel Peguero (No. 27 CPL) took the mound. Hentges wasn’t at his sharpest — he gave up a walk in an otherwise clean 6th inning, and threw just 5 of 13 pitches for strikes — but he was still quite effective. Notably, the walk is the only baserunner he’s allowed so far through 4 rehab appearances. I’d say everyone is excited for Hentges to make his way to San Francisco’s bullpen. Well, everyone except Ryan Borucki, most likely.

Peguero was even better, pitching a perfect inning with a strikeout, though he also threw just 7 of 15 pitches for strikes. The triple digit-throwing righty has an ugly ERA (7.20) due to a blowup outing, but if you remove that game, he’s been unhittable: in his other 4 rehab appearances, Peguero has allowed 0 hits and 1 walk in 4.1 innings, with 5 strikeouts.

RHP Tristan Beck, who is also on the 40-man roster, had a nice performance as well, giving up a walk but nothing else in a scoreless 8th inning. Add in showings from RHP Michael Fulmer and LHP Nick Zwack, and the River Cats’ bullpen gave up just 1 hit and 3 total baserunners in 4.2 shutout inniings.

The starting pitching was not so good, however, as LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 8 CPL) once again labored through a not very encouraging start. Entering the game, Whisenhunt had been very bad at 2 things this year, and very good at 2 other things. The bad things: regularly throwing strikes and, when throwing strikes, making them not easily hittable. The good things: striking out batters, and limiting runs, even when in trouble.

Unfortunately, in this game, he did the 2 bad things, but didn’t do the 2 good things.

It wasn’t Whisenhunt’s worst strike-throwing performance, as he finished with 53 strikes in 88 pitches, a subpar but not horrible number. But he had issues throwing strikes when he needed to, as he walked 3 batters and hit another in just 4.2 innings of action. And those free passes hurt him in part because he was, again, getting punished for throwing hittable pitches, as Whiz gave up 5 hits, which included a home run and a double (although, in his defense, they were ceded to a pair of top-10 picks, Zac Veen and Charlie Condon, respectively).

As for the good things that Whisenhunt has been doing, they were absent in this game. He was unable to sequence his baserunners to avoid an ERA-buster of an outing, as he got tagged with 6 earned runs. And he struggled to miss bats all night, finishing with just 2 strikeouts, only 1 of which was swinging.

With the outing, Whisenhunt’s ERA fell to 5.85 and his FIP to 4.54, and the stuff under the hood isn’t all that encouraging. His strikeouts per 9 (9.9) is good but not great, while his walks per 9 (6.3) is awful. He has a very low ground ball rate (36.2%) and is just 24th percentile in expected batting average against. Despite Veen’s dinger, though, Whisenhunt has actually been doing a good job suppressing home runs (that’s the only one he’s allowed in 20 innings this year) and hard contact (his average exit velocity of 86.7 mph is 70th percentile).

But I would assume the Giants will have some hesitation turning to Whisenhunt if they need a spot in the rotation plugged. The walks are fairly antithetical to what the Giants are looking for, and they drive up his pitch count. Take a look at his starts, and you’ll see something the Giants are desperately hoping to avoid in San Francisco:

• 4 innings, 71 pitches
• 4.2 innings, 84 pitches
• 3 innings, 87 pitches
• 3.2 innings, 83 pitches
• 4.2 innings, 88 pitches

But Whisenhunt can at least take solace in the fact that his offense was no better than he was. Sacramento mustered just 6 hits on the day, and all of them were singles. A pair of hitters had multi-knock games, though, as right fielder Victor Bericoto (No. 35 CPL) and third baseman Buddy Kennedy both went 2-4. Bericoto, who struck out once, has had a fairly quiet start to the season after a spectacular spring, but he’s been holding his own in his 1st extended stint in AAA, posting a .780 OPS and a 106 wRC+ with a 24.0% strikeout rate. He’s not forcing the issue (yet), but he looks comfortable. Kennedy is remaining a reliable veteran emergency depth option, as the 27-year old is posting a .333 average and an 18.3% strikeout rate, en route to an .829 OPS and a 128 wRC+.

Sacramento’s top hitting prospects struggled, as first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL) went 0-4 with a strikeout, while catcher Jesús Rodríguez (No. 16 CPL) hit 1-4 with a strikeout.

AA Richmond (13-3)

Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Somerset Patriots (Yankees) 9-8
Box score

The shoe was on the other foot for the Squirrels in this game. They’ve been full of magic all year long, but in this game, they were on the receiving end, as they held an 8-3 lead going into the 7th inning … and an 8-6 lead entering the 9th … and watched the Patriots come storming back for a victory.

That 9th inning rally was ceded by someone new to the organization, RHP Brad Deppermann, a 29-year old Minor League free agent appearing in his 2nd game with Richmond. Deppermann gave up 3 hits and 3 runs (with 3 strikeouts) in 1.2 innings, including a pair of home runs in the 9th.

And that pair of home runs? Well, Deppermann may be new to the organization, but one of the batters he was facing certainly was not, as Somerset second baseman Marco Luciano went deep in the 9th inning as part of a 2-3, 2-walk day.

It’s been a rough past year for the former top prospect in the Giants organization. He ended the 2025 season — and his Giants tenure — in the slump of all slumps, and then proceeded to be designated for assignment by 4 different teams over the offseason. He finally cleared waivers, was outrighted by the Yankees, and proceeded to hit 1-25 with 10 strikeouts in Spring Training, which resulted in what was surely a highly disappointing opening assignment in AA.

But he’s been making the most of it. His solo shot off of Deppermann, which pulled the Patriots to within a run, was his 4th of the year, and gave him a 1.119 OPS and a 181 wRC+ on the season. He’s also back to the infield, as he’s played exclusively at second base so far for Somerset. That said, it hasn’t all been good: despite the gaudy numbers, Luciano has a 26.2% strikeout rate, and on Wednesday committed his 5th error of the season as he takes his 2nd stab at learning the position.

One thing’s for sure: I’ll be rooting for him.

Anyway, talking about a hitter on another team is really a way of distracting from talking about the pitchers on Richmond, because they weren’t good. Deppermann was the worst, but the starter, LHP Greg Farone, wasn’t a ton better, as he threw just 41 of 70 pitches for strikes, walked 3 batters in just 3.1 innings, and got tagged for 3 runs. Farone did strike out 5 batters, which is nice, and he only allowed 2 hits, but those hits were a double and a home run, so it’s not like he was fooling anyone.

The 2024 7th-round pick doesn’t have very good numbers this year — he has a 5.40 ERA and a 4.16 FIP — but it is nice to see the strikeout stuff coming back. In his debut season last year, the soon-to-turn 24-year old southpaw had 13.0 strikeouts per 9 innings with Low-A San Jose, but just 7.9 with High-A Eugene. Through 4 starts with the Squirrels, the Alabama alum has bounced back to 12.0 Ks per 9.

RHP Will Bednar (No. 24 CPL) is getting reacquainted with Richmond after he was sent down a level to open up a spot on the AAA roster for the rehabbing Sam Hentges. Throwing strikes and limiting walks is what Bednar needs to work on, and Wednesday was a step in the right direction, as he tossed 19 of 28 pitches for strikes and didn’t walk any batters in 1.2 scoreless frames. He did allow 2 hits, but also struck out a pair of Somerset hitters.

The offense, on the other hand, was much better. And it was once again led by the red-hot duo of third baseman Sabin Ceballos (No. 43 CPL) and left fielder Scott Bandura, who combined for 3 of the team’s 4 extra-base hits.

For Ceballos, it was another big fly, as the 23-year old righty went 1-4 with a solo shot, while also drawing a walk, stealing a base, and striking out once.

He’s up to a .939 OPS and a 138 wRC+ as he looks to put his mediocre 2025 behind him, and most notable is the re-infusion of power. After getting traded to the Giants in 2024 in the Jorge Soler deal, the 2023 3rd-rounder smacked 7 home runs in just 32 games with High-A Eugene. But last year, in his AA debut, the former Oregon star hit just 6 home runs in 108 games.

This year? He’s only played 14 games, and he already has 4 big flies. Keep ‘em coming! His 4th home run last year came on August 13, so he is way, way, way ahead of schedule!

As for Bandura, he went 2-5 and bopped both a triple and a double. The sweet-swinging lefty is having an absolutely majestic start to the season, after struggling with Richmond following a late-season promotion a year ago. During that 45-game stint, Bandura hit just .199, struck out 30.6% of the time, and had a subpar .626 OPS and 88 wRC+.

This year? He’s hitting .333, he’s dropped his strikeout rate all the way to 15.2%, and he’s rocking a .940 OPS and a 141 wRC+. Just a tremendous start for the 2023 7th-rounder, who will turn 25 in August. Let’s hope he can keep it up!

Center fielder Jonah Cox continued his nice start to the season, hitting 1-2, drawing 2 walks, and stealing a base (though he was also caught stealing). The 24-year old is having an absolutely blistering year, with a 1.074 OPS, a 186 wRC+, and 10 stolen bases in 12 attempts. Those are pretty remarkable numbers, especially considering he hit basically league average last year in High-A.

On a less happy note, center fielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) sat for the 2nd straight game. Per Roger Munter, Davidson was a late scratch from Tuesday’s lineup after experiencing wrist or forearm discomfort during batting practice. Hopefully that’s a minor ailment.

High-A Eugene (13-4)

Eugene Emeralds beat the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks) 6-3
Box score

Hello Walker Martin, how do you do!

One of the most fun things about Minor League Baseball is that every system has a few breakout players in it each year, and they come from the least expected places. For the Giants last year, for instance, it came largely from previously unheralded players … guys like 17th-round pick Drew Cavanaugh, and undrafted Bo Davidson, and lower-budget international signings such as Argenis Cayama, Keyner Martinez, and Luis De La Torre.

Those are such feel-good stories, but an underrated feel-good story is the former top prospect who fell off and then reinvents themself. And so far, if we had to assign far-too-early labels and narratives to the season, one of the best stories of the year would be Martin fitting into that category.

It’s been a strong High-A debut for the third baseman, and Wednesday was his strongest game yet, as he was absolutely electric in every phase of the game. He hit a perfect 2-2, with both a towering solo home run and a double. He drew a pair of walks. He stole a base.

When the Giants used a 2nd-round pick on Martin in 2023, they thought they were getting an excellent athlete who had a rare blend of power and speed for an infielder. What they got instead, at least at the beginning, was someone who didn’t look so exceptional athletically, and also couldn’t make contact with the baseball.

The contact issues, if the start to the season is any indication, are getting resolved. In 2024, between the Complex League and Low-A, Martin hit .218 with a 41.0% strikeout rate. Last year, spent entirely in Low-A, he hit .234 with a 28.4% strikeout rate.

And so far this year? He’s boasting a .280 average and just a 24.1% strikeout rate. And along the way he’s started to show off some of those dynamic athletic traits. His 6 extra-base hits in just 58 plate appearances give him an isolated slugging of .240, which ranks 7th out of 45 Northwest League hitters with at least 50 plate appearances this year. And a year after stealing just 13 bases in 17 attempts, Martin has already swiped 6 bags, and hasn’t yet been caught.

He still has work to do to regain his prospect status, which once sat comfortably in the top 10 of the organization. His swinging strike rate of 18.1% is only a hair better than in his disastrous 2024, suggesting that there’s still a huge hole in his swing. And while his prospect status was propped up in part by the belief that he could play a strong shortstop, he was moved to third base last year and, after committing 23 errors in 2025 split between third and short, already has 6 errors this season.

But still. He’s been a good story this year (he has an .899 OPS and a 146 wRC+ after barely hitting league average in San Jose last season), and he’s a reminder that development takes many different paths (he also only recently turned 22). If he can keep this up, he’ll return to being a prospect that we all should pay close attention to.

Also homering was first baseman Zander Darby, who hit 1-4 with a strikeout and a 2-run shot in the 8th inning that provided the Emeralds with some insurance en route to their 13th victory.

Darby is also looking to bounce back from 2025. Unlike Martin, he was excellent in San Jose last year, but the 2024 12th-rounder had a miserable debut experience with Eugene over the course of a month. Not so this year, as he has a dynamic .918 OPS and a 147 wRC+, while regularly playing every infield position except shortstop. He does have a 31.0% strikeout rate, though.

Designated hitter Dakota Jordan (No. 5 CPL) had a solid game, hitting 1-3 with a walk and a stolen base, while striking out once. The strikeouts remain an issue with Jordan — he has a 30.1% K rate and a 16.3% swinging strike rate — but the things he does well have been on display this year. His center field defense has been strong, he’s averaging an extra-base hit every other game, and he now has 5 stolen bases without getting caught. Add in the .930 OPS and the 149 wRC+, and it’s been a strong season for him, even though there are very clear things he needs to work on.

Unfortunately, shortstop Gavin Kilen (No. 7 CPL) continued to erase his brilliant start to the year, as the 2025 1st-rounder went 0-5 with a pair of strikeouts in this contest. Kilen began the year with a 5-game hitting streak during which time he went 10-20 with 2 home runs, 3 doubles, 3 walks, and just 2 strikeouts. Since then, the lefty has hit just 8-50 with 0 home runs, 3 doubles, 2 walks, and 13 strikeouts. Over the last 6 games, he’s 3-27 with no extra-base hits and 7 strikeouts, and that’s brought his OPS and wRC+ down to .736 and 100, respectively. It’s a game of adjustments, so let’s hope they’re around the corner!

On the mound, LHP Tyler Switalski gave the farm their longest start of the year, as he went 6 innings deep in this game. As he so often does, Switalski positively lived in the zone, needing just 67 pitches to get through his 6 innings, while throwing 50 of them for strikes. He didn’t walk or hit a single batter, and gave up just 4 hits (though that included a home run and a double). In all, he got tagged for just 2 runs while striking out 3, though that raised his excellent ERA to 1.00 and his FIP to 2.90.

You wouldn’t know it from this start, but Switalski, who was a 16th-round pick in 2024 and will turn 23 soon, has really pumped up his strikeout stuff in his 2nd season. Last year he had just 7.9 strikeouts per 9 innings in Low-A, and a mere 6.7 upon his promotion to High-A. But even with the low output on Wednesday, the funky southpaw has punched out 12.5 batters per 9 innings through 4 appearances this year. Despite that, he’s also lowered his walk rate, from 3.7 per 9 last year between the 2 levels, to just 2.5 this season.

There are some funny small sample size elements — opposing batters have just a .200 BABIP against him, and his left on base rate of 95.2% is both hilariously and delightfully unsustainable — but there’s no way to paint this season as anything other than a fantastic success thus far. Let’s hope it keeps up!

RHP Gerelmi Maldonado (No. 41 CPL) continued his development as a closer, giving up 1 walk in a no-hit, no-run inning, with 1 strikeout. Maldonado needed 21 pitches to get through the inning — and threw just 11 strikes — but still, a very nice game. He will fly through the system if he can get the walks under control … he’s issued 7 of them in 5 innings, but has 11 strikeouts.

Low-A San Jose (13-4)

San Jose Giants beat the Ontario Tower Buzzers (Dodgers) 4-2
Box score

Just as Giants fans were probably happy to see a former Giant in Marco Luciano perform well, everyone is happy to see a different former Giant have a few struggles: LHP Blake Snell. Yes, the Dodgers ace made a rehab appearance for Ontario, and the Baby Giants did the correct thing by handing him the loss, as Snell gave up 4 baserunners, 2 runs, and 1 earned run in an inning of work (Snell is only credited with pitching an inning since he got 3 outs, but he did come out for the 2nd inning and faced 4 batters but, thanks to 2 hits and 2 errors, didn’t get any outs).

Hehe.

Shortstop Jhonny Level (No. 3 CPL) introduced Snell to the Cal League by bopping a leadoff single against him. Level has slowly started to return from his truly scorched earth start to the season, but everything is still going delightfully well for him. He hit 1-4 with a walk and a stolen base in this game, while also striking out once and committing an error. On the year he has an 1.147 OPS, a 180 wRC+, and 5 stolen bases in as many attempts, as he appears intent on accomplishing the rare back-to-back breakout seasons.

Left fielder Damian Bravo had the big hit to give Snell the L, as he knocked an RBI double in the 2nd inning. That was part of a 2-4 day for Bravo, which also featured his 1st stolen base of the year, though he had a strikeout and an error as well. The 2025 15th-round pick started the season very slow, but has caught fire lately, and currently has not just a 6-game hitting streak, but a 6-game extra-base hitting streak. During that time the 22-year old right-hander from Texas Tech has hit 10-26 with 2 home runs, 5 doubles, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts, which has boosted his OPS to .808 and his wRC+ to 94, and almost put the tough start to the year fully in the rear-view mirror.

It was a dynamic pitching game, with all 3 arms performing quite well. RHP Jordan Gottesman got(tesman) the start and controlled Ontario admirably, allowing just 4 hits and 1 walk in 4.2 shutout innings, while striking out 5 batters.

The reigning 6th-round selection only threw 46 of 74 pitches for strikes, so it wasn’t a dominant outing, but it was one in which he was in total control. Most importantly, after back-to-back 3-run games, Gottesman had the best performance of his young career, and lowered his ERA to 3.52, albeit with a 6.52 FIP.

If dominant is what you’re looking for, however, then RHP Sam Bower provided it by throwing 2.1 no-hit innings with just a walk allowed, while recording 5 of his 7 outs by way of strikes. Yep, that will get the job done!

Bower is a feel-good story, as he’s finally healthy after a career set back numerous times by injuries. The 24-year old St. Mary’s alum was an 11th-round pick by the Giants back in 2022, but didn’t make his professional debut until this season. Now he’s finally able to pitch, and in games like he’s certainly making up for lost time. If he gets into a rhythm, he probably won’t stay in San Jose for long.

Rounding out the star pitching was RHP Alix Hernandez, who continued his excellent season with 2 strikeouts in 2 no-hit innings. Hernandez did issue a walk, and had 2 runs scored while he was on the mound, thanks to some not-so-good defense, but they were unearned runs, which kept his ERA at 0.00. The 21-year old now has 11 strikeouts against just 2 walks in 8.1 innings this year, as his electricity is on full display.

Home run tracker

4 — Sabin Ceballos — [AA]
3 — Walker Martin — [High-A]
3 — Zander Darby — [High-A]

Thursday schedule

Sacramento: 6:45 p.m. PT vs. Albuquerque (SP: Carson Seymour)
Richmond: 4:05 p.m. PT vs. Somerset (SP: Joe Whitman)
Eugene: 11:05 a.m. PT at Hillsboro (SP: Niko Mazza)
San Jose: 6:00 p.m. PT vs. Ontario (SP: TBD)

Reminder that almost all MiLB games can be watched on MLB TV