SF Giants promote hot-hitting prospect Jairo Pomares to High-A

According to a report by Francys Romero of Las Mayores (MLB’s official Spanish language site), the SF Giants have promoted outfielder Jairo Pomares to the Eugene Emeralds, their High-A affiliate. Pomares had been starring for the Giants Low-A affiliate in San Jose (also named the Giants).

After suffering an injury during minor league spring training, Pomares did not appear in a game this season until June 15th. However, even though he missed the first month of the season, Pomares still ranks among the league leaders in most offensive categories. In 224 plate appearances with San Jose, Pomares hit .372/.429/.693, which would lead the Low-A West league in every category if he qualified. He also ranks sixth in the league in doubles (22) and seventh in home runs (14).

The SF Giants promoted prospect Jairo Pomares to High-A.

In 2019, Pomares started in the Arizona Rookie League and put up an impressive .368/.410/.542 triple-slash. A .422 BABIP was partially responsible for the success, and his performance fell after a promotion to Salem-Keizer. Pomares struggled to adjust against the older short-season competition, striking out in 27.4% of his plate appearances and posting a meager .517 OPS.

Pomares was ranked the 28th-best prospect in the Giants farm system heading into this season. After his scorching performance in San Jose, though, he will rank firmly among the ten best prospects in the organization when the rankings are updated in the next couple of weeks. One of the three most notable Giants international free-agent signings in 2018, Pomares has joined outfielder Luis Matos and shortstop Marco Luciano as one of the most exciting young players in the organization.

Pomares defected from Cuba to pursue a professional career in MLB and was considered an advanced player who had played against high-level competition. However, his top-end ceiling was considered relatively low without any obvious plus tools and questionable potential power. Of course, he’s quickly changed that narrative with his excellent power output this season at Low-A.

The SF Giants have promoted 21-year-old outfielder Jairo Pomares to High-A, where he will join the Eugene Emeralds after dominating against Low-A competition with the San Jose Giants.