2022 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List No. 32

The start of the San Francisco Giants season has been canceled, and you have every right to be livid at MLB’s owners. But if you want something to feel happy about, we’re only about a month away from the start of baseball, even if it’s not MLB baseball. On April 5 the AAA Sacramento River Cats will start their season, and a few days later the other Giants affiliates will follow suit.

So Minor League excitement can continue, and that includes our 2022 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List, where the McCovey Chronicles community has voted right-handed starting pitcher Prelander Berroa as the No. 31 prospect in the farm system.

Berroa, who was one of three players that the Giants acquired when they traded Sam Dyson to the Minnesota Twins, was named the Low-A San Jose Giants Pitcher of the Year in 2021, beating out Kyle Harrison (admittedly for reasons that are not clear). He had a 3.56 ERA and 4.94 FIP in 24 starts with San Jose, striking out 135 batters while walking 53 in 98.2 innings.

He’ll turn 22 a few weeks into the upcoming season, which he’ll presumably start in High-A, and he’ll be one of the more exciting pitcher prospects to keep an eye on this year.

Berroa has had a funny journey on the CPL, debuting at No. 30 in 2020, then being omitted from last year’s list after the pandemic non-season, and now returning at No. 31.

Now let’s add to the list, and as a reminder, use the “rec” feature in the comment section to cast your vote.

The list so far

1. Marco Luciano
2. Joey Bart
3. Luis Matos
4. Heliot Ramos
5. Kyle Harrison
6. Camilo Doval
7. Jairo Pomares
8. Will Bednar
9. Patrick Bailey
10. Hunter Bishop
11. Ryan Reckley
12. Aeverson Arteaga
13. Ryan Murphy
14. Matt Mikulski
15. Diego Rincones
16. R.J. Dabovich
17. Nick Swiney
18. Will Wilson
19. David Villar
20. Ricardo Genovés
21. Sammy Long
22. Randy Rodriguez
23. Manuel Mercedes
24. Casey Schmitt
25. Ismael Munguia
26. Kervin Castro
27. Adrian Sugastey
28. Brett Auerbach
29. Chris Wright
30. Sean Hjelle
31. Prelander Berroa

Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.

On to No. 32!

No. 32 prospect nominees

Seth Corry — 23.3 years, 5.25 FIP in High-A (67.2 innings)
Grant McCray — 21.2 years, 81 wRC+ in Low-A (88 PAs), 127 wRC+ in ACL (65 PAs)
Carson Ragsdale — 23.9 years, 4.12 FIP in Low-A (113.2 innings)
Gregory Santos — 22.6 years, 22.67 FIP in MLB (2 innings), 5.15 FIP in AAA (15.2 innings)
Luis Toribio — 21.5 years, 95 wRC+ in Low-A (408 PAs)

Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page.