SF Giants minor league notes: Managers of the Year, a trio of 20-20 seasons

The minor league season ended for the SF Giants last week, but there were some cool accomplishments along the way.

SF Giants minor league notes: Managers of the Year, a trio of 20-20 seasons

1. A pair of Manager of the Year honors

Ydwin Villegas of the San Jose Giants and Jacob Heyward of the Eugene Emeralds earned Manager of the Year Honors in the California League and Northwest League, respectively. For Villegas, this marks his third straight year winning the award.

Heyward spent three seasons managing the Arizona Complex League (ACL) affiliate before moving up to High-A this year. In his first season as Eugene's skipper, they posted a 79-52 record while losing to the Vancouver Canadians in the league championship series. Heyward managed some of the organization's top prospects, including Jhonny Level and Jacob Bresnahan.

On the other hand, Villegas led San Jose to another strong season. They led the California League with an 80-52 overall record. They defeated the Stockton Ports in the Division Series but fell to the Lake Elsinore Storm in the Championship Series. That said, they did record a cool accomplishment in the finals.

2. A trio of 20-20 seasons

The major league roster is not known for its speed, but the Giants have quite a few good baserunners in the minors. Plus, some of them can hit for power.

The Giants had three minor leaguers record at least 20 home runs and 20 steals in 2026, including Bo Davidson, Lisbel Diaz, and Cam Maldonado. Interestingly, they only had three minor leaguers reach the 20-homer threshold, and all of them swiped at least 20 bases.

Davidson earned a late-season promotion to the major league roster. While Giants fans are waiting for him to hit his first home run, he did steal a bag in his major league debut.

Diaz and Maldonado quietly strung together strong seasons as well. Diaz displayed intriguing raw power in the ACL in 2024. He played for four affiliates before finishing the year with the Richmond Flying Squirrels in 2026. Diaz tallied 21 home runs with Eugene while stealing nine bases. Interestingly, in only 22 games with Richmond, he had eight steals in nine tries.

Maldonado offered one of the best power-speed combinations from the Giants' draft class in 2025. That was on display this year, as he hit 22 home runs and 22 steals in 98 games across three affiliates.

Dakota Jordan fell just shy of the 20-20 mark. He had 21 steals, but finished with 19 home runs. Jordan would have likely been part of that club as well if he did not miss over a month of the minor league seasons.

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