5 SF Giants prospect win Players of the Week honors

After a brief drought where Giants prospects were devoid of winning either Player or Pitcher of the Week Award, a total of five SF Giants prospects won such awards. It was also the first time that the Giants were represented in every Minor League level.

5 SF Giants prospect win Players of the Week honors

Let's lead off with Tyler Fitzgerald winning the PCL Player of the Week after bombing a mind-boggling six home runs while also hitting two doubles and driving in 13 runs.

Fitzgerald was sent to the Minors to make room for the newly acquired Ryan McKenna. Fitzgerald was doing quite well with the Giants whenever he saw the field with a .711 OPS while playing five positions on the diamond. He proved to the Giants that the demotion was unnecessary as he went absolutely unconscious against the El Paso Chihuahuas. This kind of heat check can only be seen from the Stephen Currys of the world. And so, the Giants decided to add him back to the big league roster.

Down at Richmond, the Giants dominated the Eastern League front as Grant McCray and John Michael Bertrand won the Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively.

McCray was all over the place against the Bowie Baysox, hitting three doubles, two triples, a home run, a stolen base, and four walks while only striking out just twice in 24 plate appearances. McCray fared much better in May, batting .316 with a 1.060 OPS after a dreadful April where he only hit just .132. McCray is still all about the tools and the up-the-middle ability that should make him stick in center field for years to come.

For the second time this season, Bertrand once again garnered the Pitcher of the Week. No, he did not achieve perfection like he did against Bowie, funnily enough. Instead, Bertrand threw six no-hit innings with five strikeouts. The lefty pitcher has been old reliable as the leader of the Richmond pitching staff this season. Yes, Hayden Birdsong is the highest-regarded pitcher there, but Bertrand is the anchor of that staff with a 2.25 ERA where he gets plenty of groundballs, at a 57% rate, thanks to his sinker while also pounding the zone with a 6.3% walk rate.

Moving a level lower at Eugene, Alexander Suarez garnered the Northwestern League Player of the Week after hitting three home runs and driving in eight runs in the first two games of their series against the Spokane Indians.

Suarez has not played much until recently as he only played eight games in the first month of the 2024 season. He has become a regular in the lineup after the demotion of Scott Bandura. While he is still as volatile as ever with a 36.5% strikeout rate compared to a 2.7% walk rate, the tools are still there with four homers, three doubles, and solid outfield defense.

Last but not least, we move to San Jose where Ubert Mejias won the California League Pitcher of the Week after throwing back-to-back five shutout innings against the Lake Elsinore Storm.

His first five shutout effort was in the first game of the series where he only allowed just two hits and no walks. His second five-inning work did not come a start as Will Bednar was starter but he was even better, with no walks and no hits and the only baserunner that reached was only via an error. Mejias is likely not going to be a high-octane pitcher or a nasty one, but he is going to deliver solid, reliable appearances with a 3.57 ERA on the year.

Congratulations to the five Giants prospects and here's to more hardware coming from them throughout the 2024 season!