2023 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List No. 34

Note: Today is nomination day. Head to the comment section to nominate the next group of prospects for Friday’s CPL.

The 2023 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List is chugging right along, as we get closer and closer to ranking the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization.

Coming in at No. 33 is someone we can reasonably expect to make his MLB debut this year: middle infielder Brett Wisely.

Wisely is new to the Giants, and they got him essentially for free. Last summer they signed Trevor Rosenthal to a Major League contract, and had barely paid a dollar of it when they shipped Rosenthal off to the Milwaukee Brewers for outfield prospect Tristan Peters. Over the offseason the Giants — who had ample space on their 40-man roster, flipped Peters to the Tampa Bay Rays for Wisely,

The Rays seemed to like Wisely, but not enough to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, which the Giants were more than willing to do.

Wisely, who turns 24 in two months, has yet to make his MLB debut. He had a strong 2022 for the Rays AA affiliate, hitting .274/.371/.460 (121 wRC), bopping 15 big flies in 500 plate appearances, and stealing 31 bases. He appeared in five games at AAA before the season ended.

Manager Gabe Kapler has already said that Wisely will play a role on the team this year as infield depth. Which means he should start with AAA Sacramento, and get a chance to make his debut.

Despite being a bat-first prospect who has spent the bulk of his Minor League career at second base, the Giants have publicly put their faith in Wisely as a shortstop. We’ll potentially get to see how that goes this year.

Now on we march!

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
28. Carson Seymour — RHP
29. Hunter Bishop — OF
30. Sean Hjelle — RHP
31. Ryan Reckley — SS
32. Randy Rodriguez — RHP
33. Brett Wisely — INF

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

On to No. 34!

No. 34 prospect nominees

Brett Auerbach — 24.6-year old C/UTIL, 94 wRC+ in AA (425 PA)
Jose Cruz — 22.9-year old RHP, 3.10 FIP in Low-A (51.2 IP)
Gerelmi Maldonado — 19.2-year old RHP, 3.86 FIP in the ACL (39.2 IP)
Blake Sabol — 25.1-year old C/UTIL, 157 wRC+ in AAA (101 PA), 124 wRC+ in AA (412 PA)

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

Reminder: voting (and nominating!) is now in the comments!