They Might Be SF Giants: Maldonado's Three-Homer Explosion, Bandura Keeps Raking in Sacramento
By Taylor Anderson ·
They Might Be SF Giants covers the last 7 days of action for the Giants farm system.
Maldonado's Big Night at Eugene
Three home runs, six RBI, and three runs scored in a single game on August 27. Cam Maldonado (A+, OF, Rank: 30) delivered the week's loudest individual performance, going 3-for-4 with a sacrifice fly added on top of the three-homer barrage against High-A pitching. The big night capped a 19-plate-appearance week in which he added two doubles and finished with eight RBI total. For a player whose scouting profile centers on athleticism and speed rather than raw power, three home runs in one game is a result that runs ahead of the grade, and it is worth holding lightly against a single-game sample. At the same time, the power has been consistently louder this season than anyone projected.
Over his last 30 days at High-A, Maldonado is slashing at a .312/.402/.753 clip with nine home runs across 92 plate appearances. The season line across three levels sits at .271/.347/.524 with 21 home runs and 20 steals combined. That is a 50 power grade doing 55 work, at minimum. The tradeoff is the contact rate: at 68.1 percent for the season, the swing-and-miss against breaking pitches is real, and the 30-day contact rate of 63.9 percent shows it is not going away. The 60 speed grade is still there on the bases, and the defense profiles well enough in center to give him a floor even if the contact never gets clean. A 22-year-old running a .524 slugging across 405 plate appearances while stealing 20 bags is outperforming every conservative read on his profile. Whether the hit tool catches up to the power output will determine how far up the ladder this conversation goes.
Scott Bandura's August Is Getting Hard to Explain Away
Two four-hit games in three days. Fifteen hits across 30 plate appearances this week. Scott Bandura (AAA, OF, Rank: 46) has turned August into a full-on Triple-A mauling, hitting .380/.438/.611 over his last 25 games at Sacramento with four home runs, eleven doubles, and just eleven strikeouts in 121 plate appearances. The 30-day contact rate of 89.3 percent is not a misprint. For a player graded as a 55 hit tool with a 45 power grade, both of those tools are running well past their labels right now.
The full 2026 combined line reads .325/.409/.486 across 543 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A, with 88 RBI and 32 steals. Last year at Double-A Richmond he hit .199/.303/.323 and looked like a player who would top out as organizational depth. This year the strike-zone reads are sharper, the swing rate has stayed right around the 46 percent range, and the contact quality has held across both levels. The honest scout's ceiling here is still a fourth outfielder with a 55 hit tool and marginal power for a corner, but the gap between what the grades say and what the scoreboard says has been growing all summer. He is 25, so the clock on when evaluators start discounting the production is real. Still, a left fielder hitting .380 with an 89.3 contact rate over his last 25 Triple-A games is a phone call waiting to happen.
Quick Hits
- Jacob Bresnahan (AA, LHP, Rank: 11) · closed out his High-A tenure with 6 innings, 10 strikeouts, and 21 swinging misses before earning a promotion to Double-A Richmond. The one-run, four-hit outing was roughed up by the ERA line, but the underlying stuff was sharp: 10 strikeouts against one walk on the week, with a 30.1 K% and a 2.51 ERA over his last 28.2 innings at Eugene. He posted a 2.92 ERA across 98.2 innings in his full High-A run, and the 60-grade changeup that pairs with a low-to-mid-90s fastball is why the #3 starter projection is still very much alive. The command (45 grade) will be the thing to watch at Richmond.
- Jhonny Level (A+, SS, Rank: 5) · went 10-for-25 with four doubles and three RBI this week, extending a strong August. He is hitting .357/.434/.512 over his last 20 games at Eugene, with the strikeout rate staying tidy at 18.2 percent during that stretch. A 19-year-old switch hitter with a 55 hit tool and 60 arm who is slashing .313/.376/.486 across 290 High-A plate appearances is not a minor development. The power grade is 45, and the doubles are doing most of the offensive lifting, but the pace of development here has been consistently ahead of schedule.
- Josuar Gonzalez (A, SS, Rank: 1) · drove in four runs on seven hits this week and drew five walks in just 22 plate appearances. The 18-year-old switch hitter is slashing .351/.456/.541 across 237 combined plate appearances at the complex and full-season levels, with 38 walks against 49 strikeouts. Over his last 30 days at Low-A he is hitting .367/.458/.589, and the swing rate has actually tightened to 42.7 percent during that stretch. The 70 speed and 65 field grades remain the loudest carrying tools, but the plate approach has been the real story.
- Keyner Martinez (A, RHP, Rank: 22) · struck out 8 and allowed just 1 hit over 5 scoreless innings, getting 10 swinging misses on the outing. The 60-grade fastball (95-98 mph) and 60-grade slider were both present. The week was a welcome correction after a rough 30-day stretch in which he posted a 7.90 ERA over 13.2 innings; the season ERA sits at 5.10 through 83 innings, driven largely by a walk rate that has climbed to 12.3 percent. The underlying strikeout rate of 34.1 percent is what a back-end starter projection looks like when the stuff is working. The command (50 grade) staying consistent will be the determining factor in whether this becomes a rotation story.
- Kaeden Kent (A+, SS, Rank: 28) · was activated from the injured list on August 27 and immediately went deep twice in his first two games back, going 4-for-10 with two home runs and three RBI in 10 plate appearances for the Emeralds. He is a 50 hit tool playing second base long term, but a .305/.360/.453 combined season line across 364 plate appearances with improved walk rates compared to his rough 2025 showing (.186/.217/.265 in 106 PA at Hudson Valley) suggests the approach is in a better place. I would take the over on the current utility projection if he keeps hitting like this.
- Jean Carlos Sió (AA, IF, Rank: 32) · drew nine walks against five strikeouts in 22 plate appearances this week without a hit, a genuinely unusual week at the plate. Over his last 30 days at Double-A his on-base percentage is .430 despite a .254 batting average, driven by a 18.5 walk rate. He is a 45 hit tool with a 50 power grade and a tendency to chase, so a stretch of this patience is worth noting even if it is unlikely to be his steady state. The 11 home runs across three levels this season at age 22 keeps the up-down projection credible.
- Gavin Kilen (AA, SS, Rank: 9) · was placed on the 7-day injured list by Richmond on August 25, his last appearance coming three days earlier. The injury was not confirmed in available sources. Before the placement he was hitting .308/.356/.467 across 135 Double-A plate appearances after posting a .282/.350/.462 line over 349 High-A PA at Eugene. The IL stint is worth monitoring given how steady his production had been across both levels.
- Peyton Bonds (A, OF, Rank: 8) · received his first promotion to full-season ball, assigned to San Jose after spending the year at the complex level. He is 4-for-14 in 15 plate appearances at Low-A to start. The move itself is the news; there is not enough of a sample at the new level yet to draw conclusions, but getting him into a full-season environment before the end of the year is the right developmental step.
- Lorenzo Meola (A, SS, Rank: 55) · went 8-for-27 with a triple and four RBI this week. He is slashing .317/.376/.500 over his last 24 games at Low-A with 11 doubles in 117 plate appearances during that stretch. His season line of .271/.350/.465 in 509 PA with 40 doubles shows a player leaning hard on the gap game; the 60 field grade and 55 arm are the loudest tools, and the doubles pace is doing the offensive work that the 45 power grade alone would not suggest is coming.
- Ramon Marquez (A+, RHP, Rank: 17) · was placed on the 7-day IL at Eugene on August 25, last appearing on August 19. The injury was not confirmed in available sources. His season line across three stops is worth flagging: a 1.86 ERA at Low-A Clearwater, a 1.50 ERA at two High-A stops, and then a 5.40 ERA in his two Eugene outings before the IL stint. The earlier numbers were genuinely elite, so the recent struggle and IL placement are things to watch when he returns.