Time to head back to the field with a trio of player interviews — and a themed trio, as all three of my guys for this episode are East Bay kids. In this episode we cover all sorts of player development hardships from injury to game just plain ol’ being hard. Villers, the former Cal closer, had hardly joined pro ball when he went down for multiple years with injury. Gavello struggled with his performance over some difficult seasons in Eugene. And Hecht gave up on his dreams of playing pro ball forever — he thought — before a twist of fate gave him one last opportunity.

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Continuing my tour of the provinces, my guest in today’s edition of the pod is the well-traveled Joe Ritzo, who digs into a San Jose Giants team that just completed a historically good first half. As Joe notes, one of the keys to this club’s success has been tremendous depth throughout the roster — which makes it tough to cover everybody in one session. We do our best, though, to race through all the major players on the First Half Champs.

There R Giants podcast is brought to you thanks to the support of my subscribers, and if you’d like to get more of my Giants’ prospect-related work, you can subscribe to get daily posts delivered, ad-free straight to your Inbox. Now’s a great time to become a subscriber, because in two weeks from today I’ll be fulfilling a life-long dream and taking in some DSL action live — and I’ll be bringing you plenty of video and first-hand info.

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My guest this week is Sacramento play-by-play announcer, Zack Bayrouty, who regales me with tales from the club’s 18-game road trip. Zack and I talk about the River Cats’ unique situation, sharing facilities with the A’s, the grind of coming back down to Triple-A from the majors, and the rapid progress of Bryce Eldridge.

Pardon the periodic drop outs and freeze ups in Zack’s part of the conversation — the internet wasn’t always our friend today! But it’s still a great conversation.

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It’s been too long since Kerry Crowley and I diced up the Giants’ surprisingly strong 2025 season. But we’re back to talk big trades, a bold new front office, and where the club might look to upgrade next.

It’s a great new KROG episode to start your week out right!

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Jacob Archer, the play-by-play announcer for the Eugene Emeralds joins me to talk a little Emeralds baseball. What went right in the first half, where to hope for improvement in the second half, and the crazy night that James Tibbs III was taken off the field.

You can follow Jacob on twitter at Jacob_Archer12, not to mention his sly alter ego at EugeneEmeralds for updates on the Eugene squad. And, of course, you can become a There R Giants’ subscriber for daily coverage of the entire SF Giants’ farm system delivered ad-free, straight to your Inbox, Mondays through Fridays.

For those of you who love the podcast material, but dislike actually listening to podcasts, you can read the complete transcript to this show by clicking on the “Transcripts” tab above.

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Baseball America’s Jesús Cano joins me to talk about the Giants exciting young crop of talent in the Arizona Complex League this year. We dig into several of the pitching breakouts with this club, including Argenis Cayama, Keyner Martinez, and Luis de la Torre, along with talk about Jhonny Level, Rayner Arias, and more.

You can follow Cano’s dispatches from the ACL on Twitter, at Jesus_Cano88, where he drops plenty of video and links to his BA stories.

Follow me on the socials at Rog61, or simply become a There R Giants’ subscriber to get all of my work delivered, ad free, straight to your Inbox.

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rogermunter.substack.com/subscribe

This week’s pod takes us back to The Diamond, where I conducted interviews this week with relievers Braxton Roxby and Raymond Burgos. Roxby is one of the newer members of the Giants’ organization, coming over from Cincinnati this winter in the Taylor Rogers trade. We talk about his unique journey in baseball and what it’s like to shift organizations. Burgos, who has now signed with the Giants as a minor league free agent on three separate occasions, knows all about changing environments. We talk about life as a minor league free agent, that sweet day last year when he finally made the major leagues, and the bittersweet day that followed it.

All of my work is supported by my subscribers, and if you’d like to become a There R Giants’ subscriber, too, you’ll have access to all of my posts which chronicle the entire Giants’ farm system daily, Monday through Friday.

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Over-Slot Baseball’s draft expert, Joe Doyle joins me once again to preview the talent at the top of the 2025 draft. We talk about the mix of talent in the class (if you, like me, like a good group of high school shortstops, then this is the draft for you), which players can really change their stock as we get into College World Season season, and toss around some names that the Giants might be considering at the 13th spot. As usual, Joe is great (and I am also there).

You can (and should) follow all of Joe’s work on the socials (Twitter and Bluesky) by looking for him at JoeDoyleMiLB. You can follow me on socials at Rog61, or simply get all of my work delivered, ad free, direct to your Inbox by becoming a There R Giants’ subscriber.

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Intro/Outro: “Anthem #2” by Blink-182

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This week on the podcast, a trio of conversations from last week with some top prospects on the Double-A squad. Bryce Eldridge talks about the joys of being around home, the frustrations of waiting out an injury, and the work he’s put in on his defense. Joe Whitman discusses his fast-track journey through the minors, how young he still feels he is, and how he dreamed up a specialty pitch. And lastly, Jack Choate talks about wanting to be as intimidating as Chris Sale — and doing a pretty good job of it so far!

To get all of my work on Giants’ prospects, become a There R Giants’ subscriber now, and get Minor Line posts sent direct to your Inbox, every weekday.

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This week on the There R Giants podcast, I have to empty out the file drawers with some player interviews I conducted back in April before a few travels disrupted my podcast schedule a bit. I’ve been stacking these player interviews up a bit the last few weeks, so I wanted to get these out before they became too musty!

Just before the season began I spoke with Sabin Ceballos about his strong winter and spring. I also talked with Vaun Brown, who looked back on a difficult 2024 and how he navigated his way through that season, as well as his hopes for the new one. And finally, I talked with reliever Trent Harris, who talked about the joys of being a minor leaguer called up to big league camp in the spring, and what he’s been doing to prepare for the tough Eastern League competition.

You can get all of my Giants’ prospect-related work by becoming a There R Giants’ subscriber. My thanks to all of you who support my work and allow me to do what I do, covering the Giants’ minor league system.

There R Giants is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rogermunter.substack.com/subscribe