The Giants make a MASSIVE call...

One of the most underrated prospects in Major League Baseball is headed to the show. Yes, you heard that right. Not just one of the most underrated prospects in the Giants system, but one of the most underrated prospects in the nation is headed to the show for the San Francisco Giants, and he should make his debut in the next few days. We're going to break him down and the season he's putting together here on SF Giants Digest. If you're new here, welcome to the channel. I am your host, Michael Monreal, and if you've been here before, welcome back to SF Giants Digest. We're so glad you found your way back to the channel. Now, before we get into today's video, go down in the comment section, let me know your favorite prospect in the Giants system down in the comment section below. I want to hear what you guys have to say in that comment section. Now, if you haven't yet, also go down below, hit that like button, and hit that subscribe button. It's the easiest way to support the channel and really does help us continue to bring the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. About 75% of you guys watch the videos are not actually subscribed to the channel, and I want to put a little goal out there. Can we hit 5,000 subscribers before the end of the season? We have a little over two weeks left, but I want to set a little bit of a lofty goal, so make sure to go down below, hit that like button, and hit that subscribe button if you enjoyed today's video. It'd be much appreciated by myself and everyone here at Digest Media. Now, getting into today's video, we're talking about a guy who probably should have debuted a few weeks ago, but there just simply wasn't the bats for him in the outfield, and this is a guy who has really put his name on the map, but for some reason, he's not in the Giants top 30 on MLB Pipeline. He's outside the top 30 at Baseball America, so this is a guy who deserves a lot more respect put on his name, and he's having a very, very good 2026. Scott Bandura is reportedly getting the call to the San Francisco Giants, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Standard. We'll get into his article in a few seconds. The outfielder has been worthy of promotion for a few weeks now, and he's matched this year with a 320 average, 895 OPS, and 137 weighted runs graded plus between AA and AAA Sacramento, so this is a guy who clearly, from those numbers alone, is putting together a very, very good campaign between AA Richmond and AAA Sacramento, and it does seem like this is a promotion we've been waiting for for at least a few weeks at this point, if not earlier, because this Giants season has been well underwater for, you know, since April, since May, I don't even know when, but for the majority of the 2026 campaign. Now, getting into John Shea's article, he actually broke this news during today's game against the Padres, which of course the Giants ended up losing, but the youth continues to be served for the Giants, who are considering calling up another prospect from their farm system. Outfielder Scott Bandura, who was torn up both the AA Eastern League and AAA Pacific Coast League, has impressed Giants management enough that he appears close to a promotion. Bandura was heading to San Francisco during the Giants game against the Padres Saturday, and would be available to suit up either for the series finale Sunday or the upcoming series in St. Louis. So, he is headed to San Francisco, I'd assume he's there now because this was hours ago, and it seems like he is with the big league club and should be making his Major League Baseball debut, you know, tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday, whenever it may be. Hopefully it's not a Zach Morgan situation who has been up several times and just hasn't debuted yet, so Bandura is a guy who really can play, and I think we should see either tomorrow or the day after that. Just going a little bit deeper into John Shea's article, he said Bandura will need to be added to the 40-man roster if the Giants plan to protect him in December's Rule 5 draft, though there's uncertainty about the draft with the anticipated lockout coming December 1st. The Giants are going to have a lot to do with their 40-man roster because we have, like, 20 million guys on the 60-day IL, and there's going to have to be a ton of DFAs when those guys get off the 60-day IL, and then there's the Rule 5 draft guys, so there's going to be a lot of changes to this roster between now and December 1st, but Scott Bandura is looking to be added to that 40-man, and he's a guy who I'm sure the Giants would want to protect from that draft based off the numbers he's put together over the last year or two. Going on in this last part, in recent weeks, President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey, in an interview with the Standard, expressed praise for Bandura's progress and increased strength. When you look at his AAA slash line now, it's pretty respectful, Posey said, which I think is underplaying it a little bit. He's put together a really impressive season, and I think it's more than just pretty respectful, but now I can actually show you guys what type of season Scott Bandura has put together. Between AA and AAA, you look at that bottom line, what he's done in his totality of 2026, a 320-407-488 slash line, going for a 137-WRC+. He has launched 13 home runs, you know, power is not necessarily a big part of his game, but getting to that PCL, hitting in Sacramento, hitting in Las Vegas, hitting in Reno, all those ballparks, you have a lot of fun if you get the ball in the air, and that's led to 13 home runs for him in the season, 10 of those coming in the PCL. Striking out just 15% of the time, walking 12% of the time, which those numbers you love to see because we've seen the Giants strike out a lot in big moments, and we also have seen them walk, you know, close to the lowest in Major League Baseball this season, so seeing those numbers where they're at is very encouraging for more of a seamless transition into Major League Baseball for Scott Bandura. Now, a number I wanted to point out in Bandura's game is actually his stolen bases. Now, looking on the right-hand side, you can see the SB column and the CS column. For those that may not know, stolen bases is obviously the SB, but caught stealing is on the right-hand of those two. You look at the numbers this season, at AA, he stole 10 bases, only caught twice. In AAA, stole 24 bases, only caught twice, so on the season, that's a total of 34 stolen bases and only caught four times. That's what I love to see. The Giants have been running a lot more lately. That's mainly because of the addition of Jonah Cox to the big league club and more playing time for him, more at-bats for him, so seeing guys be more aggressive on the base paths has been extremely refreshing. We're talking about a Giants team that has been bottom two in Major League Baseball over the past three to four seasons in terms of total stolen bases every single year. I believe the last two years specifically, they've been dead last in So a team that has never been big on running, stealing bases, especially because they've had fast guys in the past, you know, a la Tyler Fitzgerald, they just didn't necessarily know how to run the bases or know how to run the bases very well and they definitely didn't know how to utilize that speed in terms of stealing bases. So seeing a guy like Scott Pandera, seeing guys like Jonah Cox come up and be able to do that almost immediately is really, really refreshing to see in the Giants organization. Now, just closing out today's video, Scott Pandera is a guy who has, you know, completely outperformed his prospect ranking, I guess is the way to put it. He's not in MLB Pipeline's top 30. I think I mentioned this in this video already. He's not in Pipeline's top 30. He's not in Baseball America's top 30. I believe he's outside the top 30 in Fangraft's top 50 prospects in the organization and he's not in the top 15 on just baseball's rankings. So this is a guy who deserves to be in the top 30s 1000%, especially considering some of the guys towards the back end of those top 30 lists and you just look at the numbers he's put together this season. You know, he mashed in AA with the Richmond Flying Squirrels and the Eastern League is one of the toughest hitting environments in all of minor league baseball. So he made that level look relatively easy to start the season and then since getting to the PCL, he's hit for a little bit more power, got the ball in the air more and it's just been a very complete hitter, a very complete player. Now, I don't know much about the defense. If I'm being completely honest, I'll have to ask around and see what people have to say about how he defends in the outfield, in the corners, maybe in center field a little bit. But either way, this is a bat that I'm sure the Giants will give a pretty good look at through the next few weeks and this is just my guess. I'm going to assume that Jonah Cox plays a little bit more second base through the rest of the year and maybe Osleves Pesabe goes back to AAA, maybe Shea Whitcomb goes back to AAA. One of those two guys because Jonah Cox can play more second base and then that opens up some more at-bats for Scott Pandora in the outfield. Or maybe they shut down Jungkoo Lee for the rest of the season, maybe a Phantom IL sort of situation. I don't know. This is just speculation, just some ideas. But either way, Scott Pandora is headed to the big leagues and this is a guy who has deserved this promotion for weeks at this point. He's deserved some more love in the prospect game for weeks at this point, for months at this point, and I'm just very excited to get a look at what he can do at the big league level. This is a seventh round draft pick out of Princeton. You don't hear a lot of Ivy League schools producing big leaguers, but Ben Rice has become a real piece for the Yankees. Maybe Scott Pandora can do the same out of the Ivy League. That's going to do it for today's video. If you enjoyed, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. Again, those are two of the easiest ways to help support the channel. And hey, I want to hit 5,000 subs by the end of the season. That'd be really cool. It's a lofty goal, but hey, maybe we can do it. That'd be much appreciated by myself and everyone here at Digest Media if you hit those buttons. And again, it really does help us continue to bring the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. And make sure to leave a comment, your favorite prospect in the Giants organization. As always, thank you so much for watching. We always appreciate you guys tuning in and we will see you next time.