The Giants Have Secured Their Future... | BIG Prospect Update

The San Francisco Giants Prospects of the Year were just named, one of the two already a Top 100 guy. So let's break down why these two guys got the honor, because both of them earned it. The hitter is Johnny Level, a 19-year-old shortstop who hit .311 with 18 home runs this year. The pitcher is Jacob Bresnahan, a lefty drafted in the 13th round who struck out 10.6 batters per 9 innings. One of them is already on Top 100 lists, the other is not but deserves to be. But at the end of this video, I think you'll agree with me. Now, before we get too deep into today's video, if you enjoy, make sure to hit that like button and hit that subscribe button. It's completely free, takes just a second of your time, and really helps us continue to bring some of the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. Let's start with the one prospect that nobody argues about. Lovell signed back in 2023 for just under $1 million out of the country of Venezuela, and he is impressed at every single stop. This year, he was 19 years old, and he finished with 18 home runs, 26 stolen bases, and 87 RBIs across 548 plate appearances between single A and high A. His WRC Plus was 125 in 2023, which means 25% better than a league average hitter at those two levels. There was a little bit of luck involved, his batting average on balls in play was 352, which is a little elevated. But he struck out just 17.5% of the time and hit for real power, with an isolated power of .202. Compare that to where he was two years ago. Back at the beginning of 2025, Fangraphs ranked him 8th of the top 42 Giants prospects at the time, with a 40-plus future value. They noted a lack of arm strength would likely limit him to second base. Fast forward to now, and Just Baseball says he has the ingredients to be a big-league shortstop with a 50 future value. That's a pretty big change within two years. And the most impressive part is he's doing this as a teenage switch-hitting shortstop. From the left side of the plate, he starts more crouched and open with a big rhythmic leg kick. From the right side, he's more upright, and his hands do not travel as far. And just look at how he's gotten here. In 2024, he hit .275 in the DSL at 17 years old. In 2025, he hit .288 in the Complex League, but struggled in his first 31 games at low A, with a .236 average and an .89 WRC+. Then, 2026, where he really broke out. He went back to low A and hit .325 with a .576 slugging percentage, and he was 34% better than the league average hitter. A year ago, at that same level, he was 11% worse. In his most recent update, Arm Layton at Just Baseball ranked him 71st in the entire sport. Switch hitter, real bat speed, and a good chance to stick at shortstop. The power is absolutely legit. He hit 39 doubles this year, which was the third most in the minor leagues, plus 18 home runs. That is 57 extra base hits in 113 games. Now the one thing that Lovell can clean up a little bit is his swing decisions. In 2024, at 17 years old, he walked 14% of the time in the DSL. This year, his walk rate dropped to 7.8%. He is swinging more as the competition gets better, and that is something that we'll be following over the next year or so. He also showed off a good ability to swipe bases, with 26 this year. If the arm and the footwork hold up, you're talking about a switch hitting shortstop with a high floor, and the worst case is a utility role. Now, I should mention that eventually he probably moves to second base simply because of the fact that Joshua Gonzalez is a level below him. So again, the one hole in his game is swing and miss and chase. At high A, his chase rate was 38.7%, which ranks in just the 9th percentile on Prospect Savant. But as one of the youngest players in his league this year, he struck out just eighteen percent of the time, so the bat gets there anyways. That's a 19-year-old you can build around. Easy call, a top 100 guy. And he is not done. He's playing Winter Ball in Venezuela right now against pros, and in his first 11 games, he's hitting .257 with a .429 slugging percentage. Now, let's get to the part I'm looking forward to. Jacob Bresnahan is the one I want to spend the most time on, because I think he's a top 100 arm. Bresnahan was a 13th round pick by the Guardians back in 2023, the 398th player taken. A year later, the Giants traded Alex Cobb to get him. Now, in our ranking of the top 15 prospects in the San Francisco Giants system, R.M. Leighton and I wrote him up for Just Baseball. And the first thing that jumps out is the fastball. It sits 92 to 95 miles an hour. But the velocity isn't the part that's going to blow you away. The good thing is it gets about 20 inches of induced vertical break from a release height of 5.9 feet. That's the type of movement that is going to work against hitters at every single level. Kyle Haynes, the Giants development director, said it himself. Jacob's fastball quality took a massive jump. And you can see how far he's come as a prospect. In January of 2025, FanGraphs ranked him 26th of the top 42 Giants prospects, with a 35-plus future value. Their biggest concern was that he might need to move to the bullpen to get his velocity up. Instead, he stayed a starter, the velocity came, and he threw 114.2 innings this year. There's also the slider. It's in the mid-80s and it dives under barrels, about 2 miles an hour harder than earlier in his career. And the good news is it works against hitters from both sides of the plate. It simply tunnels off the fastball extremely well. The third pitch is a kick change that he actually grips two different ways. It flashes well above average, but as of right now is simply too inconsistent. That's why it has a 45. We graded the fastball a 60, the slider a 55, and the changeup a 45 now with a 55 ceiling. And it's been more than one year for Bresnahan. In 2022 at Low-A San Jose, he went 9-3 with a 2.61 ERA and struck out 12 batters per 9 innings with only 2 home runs in 93 innings. This season, he went 8-4 with a 3.22 ERA over 114.2 innings and struck out 135 hitters. That's 10.6 strikeouts per 9 innings at single A, high A, and double A, and he's only 21 years old. And according to prospects, Vaughn, at double A, his chase rate ranked in the 93rd percentile. I should mention that this year Bresnahan took home the Northwest League Pitcher of the Year award. This marks the third straight season that he's taken home the Pitcher of the Year award in his respected league. He was named the 24 ACL Pitcher of the Year and the 25 California League Pitcher of the Year. Now I will be honest the command still needs to come along a good bit. He walked just over three and a half batters per nine innings this season and it was 4.16 per nine in 2022. We graded his command a 35. He also got hit around in his first three starts at AA, with a 5.06 ERA in 16 innings. Now, of course, that's a very, very small sample, but we do want him to come back to AA and dominate next year. So the question isn't whether he has flaws, every prospect does. It's whether those flaws keep him off of top 100 lists when a pitcher with similar stuff is already on them. Joseph Lauer is a left-handed pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles system who's 92 on Just Baseball's top 100 and 77 at Baseball America. He was a second round pick out of Michigan State in 2025, and this year he threw 131 innings with a 2-3 ERA, which is better than Bresnahan's season. They're not identical, he's a college arm a year older, with better results, but the profile is the one that Bresnahan seems to be chasing. And in terms of strikeouts, Bresnahan actually got him. Jerwell struck out 10.3 per 9, Bresnahan struck out 10.6. And Bresnahan's fastball is better. We graded Bresnahan's a 60, Baseball America graded Jerwell's a 50. The biggest gap is the walks. Jerwell walked 2.1 hitters per 9 innings. Bresnahan, 3.55. Now, don't get me wrong. The walks are a real problem for Bresnahan, and they will need to get better. And that's the one reason that this is even a debate. But a southpaw who misses bats with a plus fastball at 21 years old, that is exciting. That is why I believe he should be a top 100 prospect. So what's the timeline on these guys? Level has an ETA of 2029, and the Giants should keep him at shortstop and let him play every day at AA next year. I don't think anyone would be surprised if Level arrives earlier than that 2029 date. Bresnahan, on the other hand, has an ETA of 2028, and the test in 2027 is going to be simple. At AA, over a full season, can he get that walk rate under 3? If he does, it really feels like the San Francisco Giants have a mid-rotation lefty with a plus fastball. If he doesn't, that's still a 60-grade fastball and a strikeout rate over 10 per 9 innings, and that is why the Giants named him one of their top two prospects of the season. So I think it's pretty clear that the Giants and MLB Pipeline got these awards right. Level is clearly one of the top 100 prospects in baseball, Bresnahan should be too. If Jerwell is a top 100 guy, then a lefty with a better fastball and the same strikeout rate belongs in that conversation. There's no question about it. Level and Bresnahan were both the Giants players of the year for a reason. Who are you more excited about in the future? Johnny Level or Jacob Bresnahan? Let me know your thoughts down in the comment section below. And if you enjoyed, hit that subscribe button. That'd be much appreciated by myself and everybody here at Digest Media. Thank you for watching.