2023 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List No. 28

After a weeklong hiatus, the 2023 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List is back, as we seek to rank the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization.

Coming in at No. 27 is one of the newest members of the system: outfielder Rayner Arias. A right-handed hitter who will turn 17 right about as his professional career is getting underway, Arias was the highlight of the Giants international signing period. The Giants signed Arias, who is from the Dominican Republic, for nearly $3 million, marking their largest international free agent signing since Lucius Fox in 2015.

It’s nearly impossible to rank or scout international signees before they play, which is why many prospect publications don’t include them. But it’s still exciting to hear Giants scouting director Joe Salermo call Arias a “special player” who has “a combination of a power bat with hitting ability and a good makeup and good baseball IQ.”

Still, the reality is that we’re going into 2023 with Arias blind. It wouldn’t be surprising if he’s comfortably in the top 10 on next year’s CPL, or off the list entirely.

It’s not clear where Arias will begin his professional career. The vast majority of the Giants international signings kick things off in the Dominican Summer League, but Salermo stated that Arias’ skills’ are advanced enough to begin the year in the Arizona Complex League if the player development team decides that’s the best route.

Either way, following his year will be a lot of fun.

Now let’s move on. We’ve got some new names to vote on!

The list so far

1. Kyle Harrison — LHP
2. Marco Luciano — SS
3. Casey Schmitt — 3B
4. Luis Matos — CF
5. Vaun Brown — OF
6. Grant McCray — CF
7. Aeverson Arteaga — SS
8. Carson Whisenhunt — LHP
9. Reggie Crawford — LHP/DH
10. Patrick Bailey — C
11. Mason Black — RHP
12. Heliot Ramos — OF
13. Eric Silva — RHP
14. Jairo Pomares — OF
15. Cole Waites — RHP
16. Keaton Winn — RHP
17. R.J. Dabovich — RHP
18. Tyler Fitzgerald — INF
19. Ryan Murphy — RHP
20. Landen Roupp — RHP
21. Will Wilson — INF
22. Adrian Sugastey — C
23. Trevor McDonald — RHP
24. Tristan Beck — RHP
25. Will Bednar — RHP
26. Nick Swiney — LHP
27. Rayner Arias — OF

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

On to No. 28!

No. 28 prospect nominees

Brett Auerbach — 24.5-year old C/UTIL, 94 wRC+ in AA (425 PAs)
Hunter Bishop — 24.7-year old OF, 104 wRC+ in High-A (358 PAs)
Jose Cruz — 22.9-year old RHP, 3.10 FIP in Low-A (51.2 IP)
Sean Hjelle — 25.9-year old RHP, 3.51 FIP in MLB (25 IP), 5.20 FIP in AAA (97 IP)
Ryan Reckley — 18.5-year old SS, 86 wRC+ in DSL (46 PAs)
Randy Rodriguez — 23.5-year old RHP, 7.52 FIP in AAA (6 IP), 5.21 FIP in AA (10 IP), 4.10 FIP in High-A (50.2 IP)
Carson Seymour — 24.2-year old RHP, 2.50 FIP with Giants High-A (29.1 IP), 4.03 FIP with Mets High-A (51.1 IP), 2.93 FIP with Mets Low-A (30.1 IP)

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

Reminder: voting is now in the comments!