James Tibbs III Is Heating Up!

SF Giants Minor Lines, May 21, 2025

Photo Credit: Eugene Emeralds

Before we get to the action on the field, I wanted to acknowledge that last night was the final game in Eugene for the now former-GM, Alan Benavides, who is returning to his roots in Southern California to run the new Ontario franchise, which will take over as Dodgers’ affiliate in the Cal League next year. Benavides has spent the last 15 years running the Emeralds’ organization, and in his time as GM, the club has seen great success both on the field (four NWL championships) and off. Under his leadership, the Emeralds have won two of the most prestigious awards for minor league organizations — the Larry MacPhail Award for promotional excellence (2018), and the Freitas for Overall Organizational Excellence (2020). That last award was particularly meaningful, as it came in the lost COVID season when there was no baseball on the field. Instead, Alan pivoted the club towards providing support in the community that he loved in a time of need.

I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with Alan on my trips through Eugene the last few years, and I’ve always been impressed by his passion, his empathy, and his baseball smarts. He’s just a really good dude. And he’s been an excellent ambassador for the Giants’ organization these past few years, despite his unfortunate lifelong bias towards that blue organization down south. Good luck, Alan! I know you’ll be successful wherever you go.

I want to drop a couple of posts here at the top today. My friends over at Down on the Farm have produced another outstanding piece this morning that I know a lot of you will be interested in — I know because this is a question that I get frequently in mailbags. They looked level by level and attempted to tackle the question of what underlying skills actually improve over time, and which are the most “sticky.” It’s a fascinating free piece that I recommend digging into. A lot of their conclusions are things that There R Giants readers will not be too surprised at — walks and home runs rates at low levels aren’t particularly meaningful, teenaged performances in full-season ball are particularly encouraging, and poor strikeout rates at any level are a major red flag. But there’s a level of detail here that is greatly insightful — and a few surprising conclusions as well.

Tools that Stick and Missing Links: How Do Prospects Level Up?

And then secondly, for Baseball America subscribers, Ben Badler dropped his first review of next year’s International Free Agent class yesterday. As expected, the Giants look like they’ll be handing out the top contract in next year’s class to Venezuelan shortstop, Luis Hernandez, a right-handed hitter whose polish at the plate is his standout trait. As has been the case for many of the Giants’ top signings in recent years, Hernandez isn’t particularly big (listed at 5’10”). Personally, I’d like to see some of these kids move up over the 6’0” mark and start to get some size into the system. But he’s shown an ability to thrive and succeed against much older competition in professional leagues in Venezuela, and can definitely catch up to velocity. He’ll be fun to watch in a year or so.

Meanwhile, this year’s top signing, Josuar Gonzalez, is only about a week and a half away from his professional debut. Look for him to show up on the DSL Giants Black team when that league gets started at the beginning of June.

HITTER of the NIGHT: Andrew Knizner (Sac), 3 for 5, 2 2b, 5 RBI
PITCHER of the NIGHT: Joe Whitman (Rich), 5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 11 K

Weird night of honors. Our hitter of the night was a player whom I was unaware was even in the organization prior to gametime. Meanwhile, Joe Whitman — whom you might have heard talking about his journey yesterday on the There R Giants’ podcast — takes the pitching honor for a game that probably never should have happened — and hasn’t ended yet. It goes on his permanent record regardless, as he continues to show some high-level ability. Check out Joe, along with his friends Bryce and Jack, on this week’s pod!

There R Giants Pod-207 with Bryce Eldridge, Joe Whitman, and Jack Choate