2025 There R Giants' Top 50: #8 Joe Whitman

Rise of the Lefty!

Photo Credit: Eugene Emeralds

So far, in this year’s Top 50, we’ve seen:

• Just Missed List

• 46-50 (Camacho, Foster, Flores, Hernandez, Reckley)

• 41-45 (Christian, Pomares, Ahuna, Perez, Sugastey)

• 36-40 (Howell, Murphy, Miles, Simon, Choate)

• 31-35 (Sanchez, Waites, Bresnahan, Rengel, Maldonado)

• 26-30 (Hipwell, Bello, Tejada, Diaz, Bericoto)

• 21-25 (Ortíz, Furman, Cayama, Harris, Ceballos

• 16-20 (Cox, Martin, Meckler, Bostick, Velasquez)

• 11-15 (Arteaga, Crawford, Davidson, Seymour, Ragsdale)

• 10: Trevor McDonald

• 9: Mason Black

A sneaky subplot of the 2024 season was that, past the star wattage glare being put out by 1st round pick Bryce Eldridge, the 2023 draft class did not have a terrific opening act in pro ball. We’ve already covered Walker Martin’s difficult first year. Maui Ahuna and Cole Foster both battled injuries that kept them off the field and performance struggles when they were on it. Quinn McDaniel and Scott Bandura, the two players elevated straight to Eugene, struggled to perform at that level, and both seem destined to return there to start 2025. Even Josh Bostick stood out more for his potential than his performance.

It was a decidedly uneven, and somewhat uninspiring new class of talent that was lifted up almost entirely on the strong, broad shoulders of just about its youngest member (not quite — 13th rounder, Jose Ortíz, is younger by a few months). Ah, but the “almost” in almost entirely is an important caveat! Because lost somewhat in the gravitational pull of Eldridge’s exploits was a perfectly solid year from his good friend — the second 2nd round pick, Joe Whitman.

As Whitman himself told me last summer, that’s ok with him. He’s fine with Eldridge taking away the hot glare of attention while he’s working on the finer points of his game.

There R Giants Pod-185 with Trent Harris, Joe Whitman, and Charlie Szykowny

So, before we get to that other guy’s heroics, let’s turn our attention to the second best performance that the 2023 draft gave us — the big lefty from Ohio.