A catcher, two infielders and two outfielders who spent most of the 2022 and 2023 seasons in Eugene, figuring out how to climb the minor-league baseball ladder to San Francisco, have finally made it.
The Eugene Emeralds, the High-A level affiliate of the Giants, is one of the most critical development stages across minor league baseball. The jump between Low and High-A is vast and shows prospects how much adjustment is needed every step of the way.
But, Patrick Bailey, Casey Schmitt, Marco Luciano, Luis Matos and Wade Meckler faced the challenge head-on, and look where they are now. Four Emeralds — Bailey, Schmitt, Luciano and Matos — were a part of the 2022 Northwest League championship team. With the addition of Meckler, who spent some time in Eugene this season, all made their major-league debuts this year and immediately impacted a Giants’ team that was playing at their peak, which was in large part to their contributions.
The first out of the group to get called up, Schmitt, hit his first major league home run during his debut.
While in Eugene last summer, Schmitt spent 93 games with the Emeralds and led the team in four offensive categories including runs, hits, batting average and RBIs. He led the Northwest League in OPS (.984) and was not only named to the Northwest League All-Star team but was awarded a MiLB Golden Glove.
Meckler was drafted in the eighth round of the 2022 draft and by the time August rolled around, he was in San Francisco. While he was in Eugene, he was by far the best player on the team by putting up freaky numbers: .456 batting average, 36 hits, 14 runs and 17 RBIs in 79 at-bats. Those numbers are the reason why he is a major leaguer after 92 minor league games (and a full minor-league season at the High-A level is 166 games).
Luciano, the Giants’ top overall prospect according to Baseball America at the time of his promotion and a top prospect in all of baseball when he arrived in Eugene, missed most of the 2022 season due to a low back strain. Before his injury, he was only hitting .217 with one home run in 36 at-bats, but when he returned with two weeks left to go, he had a hit in seven of the last eight games including his first professional grand slam.
Ryan Walker, Kyle Harrison and Keaton Winn, three pitchers who also made their debut for San Francisco this season, made a short appearance in Eugene before being called up. The Giants’ 2022 first-round draft pick, two-way player Reggie Crawford, also spent a few weeks in Eugene this season before an injury ended his season.
Seeing all of the success that the rookies are having this year is a great motivator for the latest round of top prospects in Eugene, which is one of the four main minor-league affiliates for San Francisco and a step up from the lowest level in San Jose.
Matos and Bailey didn’t have stellar seasons in Eugene. Matos finished the season hitting .211 with a .619 on-base plus slugging percentage. Bailey played for the Emeralds in 2021 but was demoted back to San Jose and returned to Eugene during the start of the 2022 season. He finished with a .225 batting average and paired it with a .761 OPS, which was an improvement but wasn’t outstanding.
However, after having strong performances in Double-A Richmond and Triple-A Sacramento, they both got the call in the early months of the summer and made an immediate impact.
“We’re open-minded with whoever can help our major-league team,” Giants farm director Kyle Haines told The Athletic. “Sometimes it happens really slow for players, sometimes really fast. You can struggle in High-A, and the next thing you know, you’re in the major leagues.”
“High-A has always been a critical development stage. You can go through some pretty tough blows. It’s not easy. You’re facing good competition. You need that runway to make changes and tinker with what works and what doesn’t. It’s a great growth level,” Haines said.
