Minor League roundup, July 6-7: Another day, another Parks Harber dinger

All seven of the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates were in action on Tuesday, as a new series kicked off for the A-ball teams. Let’s jump into the action from the day, and also the rookie ball games on Monday.

Link to the 2026 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

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

News

Some movement on the farm. Most notably, LHP Cesar Perdomo was promoted from AA to AAA, which is exciting (and while some of it is merit, it appears to be setting up Carson Whisenhunt for a return to the Majors). Replacing Perhdomo in Richmond’s rotation is LHP Tyler Switalski, who has been promoted from High-A Eugene.

RHPs Chen-Hsun Lee and Samir Chires, and outfielder Angel Guzman were promoted from the ACL to Low-A San Jose, while RHPs Mauricio Estrella and Ubert Mejias were promoted from San Jose to Eugene. Low-A outfielder Jose Ortiz, AA RHP Darien Smith, and AAA outfielder Grant McCray were given rehab assignments.

AAA Sacramento (46-39)

Sacramento River Cats beat the Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 7-6 (10 innings)
Box score

Funny game for the River Cats, who were getting no-hit in the 7th inning before rattling off 5 runs in the frame, tying it in the 8th, and walking it off in the 10th. Whatever works! They didn’t have a lot of good performances on either side of the ball, so it’s fairly fitting that it took an error for them to walk it off.

Their lone bright spot on offense was second baseman Nate Furman (No. 39 CPL), who hit 2-5 (their only multi-hit game) with a double (their only extra-base hit) and a strikeout, while knocking in 2 of the 5 runs in the 7th-inning rally.

Furman has had a very steady debut season in AAA, as the soon-to-turn 25-year old has hit decently, but not spectacularly, pretty much all year long. He has a .765 OPS and a 107 wRC+ on the year, and has been hanging around those numbers for much of the season. The Giants surely love his 13.5% strikeout rate.

Shortstop Osleivis Basabe had a nice game, hitting 1-3 with 2 walks and a strikeout. Basabe, a 25-year old who was outrighted last year, remains a great player to have as depth in AAA: he’s hitting near league average (.739 OPS, 95 wRC+), barely striking out (12.0% rate), and has strong defense across the infield dirt.

The pitching started with a trio of bummer performances. RHP Tristan Beck, pitching for the 3rd time since getting optioned, struggled as the opener, ceding 3 hits, 2 walks, and 3 runs in just 2.1 innings, though he did strike out 5 batters. This is Beck’s final option year, and he’s got a lot of work to do to earn a spot on next year’s roster given his performance in both the Majors (6.75 ERA, 3.96 FIP) and AAA (4.34 ERA, 4.15 FIP) this season.

Then it was RHP Trent Harris (No. 29 CPL) who had his first bad outing in a very long time, giving up 3 hits, a walk, a hit batter, and 2 runs in 1.2 innings, though he struck out 3 batters. Harris has been awesome lately, as this broke a streak of 8 straight appearances without a run … and in 5 of those 8 appearances, he didn’t allow a hit!

And then it was rehabbing RHP Jason Foley, who continues to not look like someone who can help the MLB team, as he gave up a hit, a walk, and a run in an inning, with a strikeout. Foley’s rehab has been an absolute disaster, and I’m not sure what the Giants are going to do with him.

But RHPs Braxton Roxby and Michael Fulmer pitched well, as each allowed a hit and a walk with 2 strikeouts and 0 runs, the former in 2 innings and the latter in 2.1. Fulmer has quietly lowered his ERA to 3.57 and his FIP to 3.29, with 12.2 strikeouts per 9 innings, despite living in the very low 90s. Could the Giants get anything for the veteran in a deadline trade?

AA Richmond (51-29)

Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Altoona Curve (Pirates) 3-2
Box score

It was a mostly mild-mannered day for Richmond’s offense, with all 3 of their runs coming on a single swing: a towering 3-run home run by third baseman Parks Harber (No. 17 CPL), who finished the day 1-4 with a strikeout.

For Harber, it was his 4th home run in the last 3 games, as he is officially catching fire following a short slump. Over his last 9 games, the 24-year old UDFA is hitting 14-36 with 4 homers, 3 doubles, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. The .904 OPS and the 137 wRC+ — especially when paired with the invitation to Spring Training earlier this year — certainly suggest that we’ll see Harber in AAA before too terribly long. And I don’t think I’m alone in wondering what Harber’s powerful swing (which has resulted in a .237 isolated slugging and 12 homers in 275 plate appearances this year) can do in the homer-happy Pacific Coast League.

That was it on offense. Harber’s teammates combined to hit just 5-29 with no extra-base hits and no walks.

RHP Trystan Vrieling had a solid start, pitching 5 innings while allowing 6 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run, with 3 strikeouts. It’s not been a very good year for the 25-year old who, along with Harber, came over in last year’s Camilo Doval trade. But things have been a bit better lately, as this was his 2nd straight outing going at least 5 innings with only 1 run allowed, and he’s given up 0 or 1 runs in 4 of his last 5 starts (unfortunately the outlier in those 5 was quite a rough game). Unfortunately, Vrieling just can’t get his strikeouts or his walks to a good place … he has 8.3 and 6.3, respectively, per 9 innings, which has led to a 4.26 ERA and a 5.62 FIP in his 2nd season in AA.

RHP Christian Alvarado continues to dominate out of the bullpen, as he earned the save while striking out all 3 batters that he faced. Alvarado, a 31-year old who recently signed out of a Mexican League and who hadn’t pitched in affiliated ball since 2019, has made 5 appearances for the Squirrels and has yet to allow a run. In 5 innings, he’s given up just 2 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 11. Impressive stuff!

High-A Eugene (49-33)

Eugene Emeralds lost to Spokane (Rockies) 12-4
Box score

This game was all about the long ball for the Emeralds hitters, as their 4 runs came on a trio of homers. The most exciting one came off the bat of shortstop Jhonny Level (No. 3 CPL), who went deep for the 2nd time since getting promoted, as part of a 1-4 day that featured 2 strikeouts.

Level has adjusted quite well to life in High-A. The power is down significantly (his isolated slugging has dipped from .251 in Low-A this year to .156 in High-A), and the walk rate has plummeted (from 7.8% to 3.0%). Those can both be explained by Level being a little overly aggressive as he faces better pitchers … he’s chasing more, and waiting for his pitch less. On the one hand, that’s not great … on the other hand, he’s on the young end of 19 and, despite those issues, more than holding his own, with a .289 average, an 18.5% strikeout rate, a .771 OPS, and a 105 wRC+. Some adjustments and struggles are to be expected when moving up a level, especially when a player is so much younger than the competition. That Level is experiencing that while still keeping his head well above water is impressive.

The best day, however, belonged to catcher Jancel Villarroel (No. 42 CPL), who continues to impress. The 21-year old went 2-4 with a home run, and has now started July with 4 consecutive multi-hit games. Villarroel, who has an .879 OPS and a 136 wRC+, has just gotten better and better as the year goes on. The home run swing has been highly encouraging: when the Giants acquired Villarroel before Spring Training in the Kai-Wei Teng trade, we knew they were getting a player with good contact skills, and that’s been on display, as he has a .308 average and a 19.4% strikeout rate. The power is a bit more surprising — Villarroel’s .192 isolated slugging ranks 24th out of 80 Northwest League hitters with at least 100 plate appearances this year.

Rounding out the homer party was left fielder Lisbel Diaz (No. 32 CPL), who hit 1-4 with a solo blast. For Diaz, it was the continuation of a theme we’ve seen from him throughout his career: loud tools, but the total package still not quite working. It was his 14th home run of the year, good for 3rd in the entire farm system, and just 1 behind his teammate Dakota Jordan (No. 5 CPL), a power monster who is more than 2 years older and has more than 7extra plate appearances (though 3 of Diaz’s dingers came while moonlighting in Low-A due to visa issues).

Yet despite all those home runs, and despite a very tidy 17.2% strikeout rate, Diaz has just a .736 OPS and an 88 wRC+. That’s kind of the story for Diaz, a right-hander who will turn 21 later this month. I remain quite high on him, but his tools — good power, good contact, and arguably the best arm of any outfielder in the system — have, to this point in his career, been just that: tools, not a cohesive, productive package.

It was a bad day for the pitchers, pretty much from top to bottom. Another bad game with signs of life from LHP Luis De La Torre (No. 14 CPL), who gave up just 3 hits in 4 innings with 5 strikeouts, but also walked 4 batters and allowed a home run, though he limited the damage to just 2 runs and 1 earned run.

De La Torre remains very hard to hit: he’s striking out 11.8 batters per 9 innings, and has ceded only 45 hits in 64.1 innings. That’s the good … the bad is that 6 of those hits have cleared the fence, and he’s issued a staggering 51 walks (plus 5 hit batters). He still has some of the nastiest stuff in the organization — you could make a fairly compelling argument that he’s behind only Keyner Martinez (No. 10 CPL) in that department — but the dramatic declines in suppressing walks and home runs, and inducing ground balls, have given the 22-year old a 5.04 ERA and a 4.86 FIP on the season.

At least there were silver linings, which is sadly more than can be said for RHPs Matt Dunaway and Cole Hillier, who each gave up 4 runs (the former in 0.2 innings, and the latter in 1).

RHP Mauricio Estrella allowed 2 hits, a hit batter, and a run in 2 innings, but struck out 4 batters in his High-A debut. A 22-year old from the Dominican Republic, Estrella had a lovely 56-to-12 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 45.2 innings with Low-A San Jose, leading to a 3.74 ERA and a 3.92 FIP.

Low-A San Jose (50-32)

San Jose Giants beat the Visalia Rawhide (D-Backs) 7-6 (11 innings)
Box score

Just as was the case in Eugene, San Jose used an electric starting pitcher who has had struggles this year, and he displayed both ends of the spectrum. It was RHP Keyner Martinez (No. 10 CPL) on the mound for the Baby Giants, and he limited Visalia to just 3 hits over 5 innings, with 5 strikeouts. That, unfortunately, is where the good news ends, as 2 of those 3 hits left the park, and were accompanied by 2 walks and 2 hit batters, though Martinez limited the damage to “just” 3 runs.

Like De La Torre with the Emeralds, Martinez — the top pitching prospect in the organization, in my eyes — has seen his walks, home runs, and ground balls all move firmly in the wrong direction this year. But isn’t it a little easy to overlook that when a guy has given up just 44 hits in 60 innings with 96 strikeouts? The 4.50 ERA and 4.90 FIP point to some issues Martinez is having, but you’re doing something right when you have far more strikeouts than baserunners allowed. Martinez’s 14.4 strikeouts per 9 innings now ranks 5th out of the 507 Minor Leaguers who have thrown at least 50 innings this year.

RHP Alix Hernandez showed off his electricity, striking out all 3 batters he faced and coming 1 pitch away from an immaculate inning. After giving up 3 earned runs in 3 straight outings spanning late April and early May, Hernandez has been utterly dynamic: in 14 games since, he’s allowed just 3 earned runs (albeit with 5 unearned runs), and struck out 35 batters in 27 innings. He’s down to a 2.72 ERA on the year, though he has a 4.64 FIP due to a few too many long balls.

In the batter’s box it was a dynamic day for shortstop Lorenzo Meola (No. 23 CPL), who went 4-5 with a pair of doubles, though he also struck out and was caught stealing. Last year’s 4th-round pick is still sporting some pretty discouraging numbers — he has a .751 OPS, an 87 wRC+, and a 27.0% strikeout rate — but he’s 11-23 with 4 extra-base hits, 2 walks, and just 4 strikeouts to start July, all while playing outstanding defense at short.

Decent games for second baseman Isaiah Barkett and third baseman Dario Reynoso. Barkett, last year’s 10th-round selection, hit 1-3 with a double, a walk, and a hit by pitch, pushing his OPS to .858 and his wRC+ to 118. Reynoso, a recently-turned 21-year old from the DR, went 2-5 with a double, but also had a strikeout, a caught stealing, and an error. He has a .939 OPS and a 133 wRC+, but a 31.0% strikeout rate.

Arizona Complex League (28-20)

Monday: ACL Giants beat the ACL Royals 17-6 [box score]
Tuesday: ACL Giants beat the ACL Padres 7-2 [box score]

As is usually the case this time of year, the biggest news for the ACL team was the players who were rehabbing. There were a lot of them! And most exciting was a name that probably hasn’t been on most people’s radar for a while: left fielder Jose Ortiz.

Ortiz, who turned 21 in February, was the Giants 13th-round pick in 2023, out of the same Puerto Rican high school that Heliot Ramos came from. He’s played fantastically when he’s been on the field, but staying on the field has been an issue. In 2024 he appeared in just 28 games (27 in the Complex League and 1 in Low-A), but had a 128 wRC+; and last year, he played in just 23 games (8 in the Complex League and 15 in Low-A), but had a 134 wRC+ with San Jose after some rough rehab time an the ACL.

And now he’s thankfully healthy again. Ortiz made his season debut on Tuesday, and what a debut it was: he hit 2-3, with both of his hits leaving the yard. Welcome back Jose!!

Ortiz wasn’t the only rehabbing player to hit a home run, as AAA center fielder Grant McCray began a rehab assignment on Monday. He played in both games, and hit 3-7 with a home run, a double, a walk, a stolen base, and a strikeout. McCray, who’s been having a difficult season in Sacramento, had been sidelined for about 6 weeks. The River Cats aren’t currently hurting for outfielders, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants keep McCray on his rehab assignment through the weekend, and he can rejoin Sacramento after the All-Star break.

McCray’s big fly occurred on Monday, when the ACL Giants bopped a quintet of homers. That featured a pair off the bat of catcher Broedy Poppell, who went 2-4 with a walk and 6 runs batted in. Poppell, last year’s 13th-round pick, opened the year in Low-A as an outfielder, but moved down to the ACL to do some catching. It’s not entirely clear whether the Giants wanted him to work on his catching and he was blocked there in San Jose, or if they just needed extra catchers in the Complex League and opted for Poppell, who primarily caught in college. Either way, he has a .902 OPS and an 86 wRC+ in the ACL.

The other homers belonged to right fielder Evan Estevez, who hit 5-8 with a solo shot, a double, a walk, and 2 strikeouts, and first baseman Carlos Concepcion, who went 2-9 with a 2-run blast and 5 strikeouts. Estevez, an 18-year old from the DR, has a .779 OPS and an 88 wRC+; Concepcion, a 20-year old from the DR, has a .626 OPS and a 52 wRC+. Both players are in their stateside debuts, and have massive strikeout rates.

As for the top prospects, shortstop Josuar González (No. 2 CPL) went 2-6 with a double, a strikeout, and an error, while shortstop/third baseman Luis Hernández (No. 6 CPL) hit 2-8 with a double, a walk, a strikeout, and a caught stealing. Both players are having magical years.

The rehab also took place on the mound, with a pair of AA RHPs. On Monday it was Logan Martin, who allowed a hit in 2 scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts, and on Tuesday it was Darien Smith, who gave up 3 hits and 2 runs in an inning of work, with a strikeout. For Smith, who last pitched in mid-May, it was the start of his rehab assignment. For Martin, it was his 4th rehab appearance, and he’s been phenomenal, giving up just 2 baserunners and 0 runs in 7 innings.

As far as non-rehabbing prospects go, LHPs Carlos De La Rosa (No. 30 CPL) and Leandro Rodriguez had really nice outings. De La Rosa, who came over in the Camilo Doval trade and was one of the hardest-throwing pitchers in the Dominican Summer League last year, tossed 4 scoreless innings with just 3 hits (all singles), 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. The 18-year old hasn’t had a particularly good year (he has a 5.54 ERA and a 5.14 FIP), but has been starting to find a groove. This was the 3rd time in his last 4 outings that he didn’t allow any runs.

As for Rodriguez, a 20-year old who is also in his stateside debut, he gave up just 3 singles, 1 walk, 1 hit batter, and 1 run in 4 innings, while striking out 3. He only has a 4.62 ERA and a 4.73 FIP, but he’s struck out 48 batters in 39 innings, with just 11 walks. There’s something there!

Speaking of which, RHP Melvin Pineda struck out 5 batters in 2 scoreless innings, allowing just a walk. Pineda is now up to a truly laughable 44 strikeouts in 21.1 innings in the ACL (more than 2 per inning!), but, even with this great showing, has walked 18 batters. That comes after 15 strikeouts and 10 walks in 8.2 innings with San Jose.

Dominican Summer League Black (15-12)

Monday: DSL Giants Black beat DSL Arizona Red 3-1 (7 innings) [box score]
Tuesday: DSL Giants Black lost to the DSL Tigers 2, 9-7 (7 innings) [box score]

Monday’s game featured a tremendous pitching performance from RHP Randry De Leon. The soon-to-turn 21-year old from the DR pitched 5 shutout innings, giving up just 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 5. You don’t see many DSL pitchers going 5 innings deep, and you certainly don’t see many do so with scoreless outings.

It’s been a tough year for De Leon, who entered the game having allowed multiple runs in all 5 of his prior outings. After having a 3.66 ERA with 12.9 strikeouts per 9 innings last year, the 4th-year pro has a 7.06 ERA (and a 6.62 FIP) with 9.6 strikeouts per 9.

A very nice pair of games for a trio of hitters: left fielder Franco Willias, center fielder Djean Macares, and shortstop Keiberg Camacaro. Willias, a 21-year old in his 3rd season, hit 4-7 with a home run and a strikeout, bringing his OPS to .955 and his wRC+ to 128; Macares, a recently-turned 18-year old in his 2nd season, went 4-7 with a stolen base and a caught stealing, boosting his OPS to .746 and his wRC+ to 100, with 12 stolen bases in 15 attempts; and Camacaro, a 19-year old in his 4th season, hit 3-7 with a triple, a double, and 2 strikeouts, bumping his OPS to .984 and his wRC+ to 140.

Designated hitter Luis Padron, a 16-year old from Venezuela, made his professional debut on Tuesday, and went 1-3.

Dominican Summer League Orange (16-11)

Monday: DSL Giants Orange beat DSL Arizona Black 3-0 (7 innings) [box score]
Tuesday: DSL Giants Orange beat DSL Pirates Black 11-5 (7 innings) [box score]

There was also a really nice starting pitching performance for the DSL Orange team, as RHP Jose Trevizo pitched 4 scoreless innings in Monday’s start, giving up just 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 hit batter, while striking out 3. An 18-year old from Mexico in his 2nd season, Trevizo got rocked in his season debut, but has been fairly excellent since. He has really nice numbers on the year: a 4.05 ERA, a 3.45 FIP, and 23 strikeouts to 4 walks in 20 innings.

RHP Jhon Leon threw 2 perfect innings with 2 strikeouts for his best outing of the year. The 22-year old is having a tough 3rd pass through the DSL, though.

The offensive standouts: first baseman Albert Jimenez went 1-5 with a solo home run, 2 walks, and a strikeout, as the 19-year old has a 1.039 OPS and a 139 wRC+ in his 3rd season; center fielder Jose Valdez hit 2-5 with a home run and 2 walks, boosting the 17-year old’s OPS to .865 and his wRC+ to 105 in his debut season; third baseman/shortstop Yeison Oviedo went 3-7 with a triple, as the 18-year old has an .826 OPS and a 112 wRC+; and left fielder Angelo Ugueto hit 4-6, though he was caught stealing twice, with the 17-year old pushing his debut-season OPS to .748 and his wRC+ to 98.

Home run tracker

14 — Lisbel Diaz — [11 in High-A; 3 in Low-A]
12 — Parks Harber — [AA]
12 — Jhonny Level — [2 in High-A; 10 in Low-A]
8 — Broedy Poppell x2 — [5 in Low-A; 3 in ACL]
7 — Jancel Villarroel — [High-A]
7 — Albert Jimenez — [DSL]
6 — Evan Estevez — [ACL]
5 — Grant McCray — [4 in AAA; 1 in ACL]
5 — Jose Valdez — [DSL]
4 — Franco Willias — [DSL]
3 — Carlos Concepcion — [ACL]
2 — Jose Ortiz x2 — [ACL]

Wednesday schedule

Sacramento: 6:45 p.m. PT vs. Salt Lake (SP: TBD)
Richmond: 3:00 p.m. PT at Altoona (SP: Yunior Marte)
Eugene: 6:35 p.m. PT vs. Spokane (SP: Hunter Dryden)
San Jose: 6:35 p.m. PT at Visalia (SP: TBD)

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

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