Series Preview: Giants Host Rawhide for Final Regular Season Homestand

FINAL HOMESTAND OF REGULAR SEASON: The defending California League champion San Jose Giants play their final homestand of the regular season this week with a six-game series against the Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks affiliate) at Excite Ballpark. The Giants enter the week with a league-best overall record of 70-50. San Jose is also 33-21 in the second half – four games ahead of both Fresno and Stockton for the top spot in the North Division with 12 games remaining in the regular season. The Giants last won both halves in the North Division during their 2009 championship season.

PERFECT TEN: The Giants enter this week’s series riding a season-high tying 10-game winning streak. The streak dates back to August 13 and includes four straight wins over Fresno to conclude the last homestand before a six-game sweep in Lake Elsinore last week. During the win streak, the Giants are batting .315 as a team, averaging 9.1 runs per game and own a sparkling 1.86 ERA. Highlights of the win streak include the club’s largest comeback win of the season (rallied from seven runs down to defeat Fresno 10-9 in 11 innings on August 16), the largest margin of victory in a game in team history (21-2 win a Lake Elsinore on August 21) and a pair of shutouts. The Giants also won 10 in a row this season from June 28-July 9. The longest winning streak in team history is 12 games – accomplished twice, both times in 2011.

RECORDS WITHIN REACH: The Giants are closing in on a pair of notable team offensive records. Entering the week, San Jose has scored 809 runs this year (6.7 runs per game) and need only 28 more runs to set a new team single-season record. The 1988 SJ Giants currently hold the record with 836 runs. Additionally, the Giants have hit 143 home runs this season – only eight away from breaking the team record of 150 set by the 2021 team. On the mound, San Jose is attempting to lead the California League in ERA for a remarkable sixth consecutive season. The Giants begin this week’s series with a league-best 4.82 ERA (Inland Empire next-closest at 4.99).

TOP PROSPECT SHINES: Josuar Gonzalez, the consensus #1 prospect in the San Francisco Giants organization, is off to a sizzling start in his first month with San Jose. The 18-year old shortstop is batting .379 in his first 21 games for San Jose with four doubles, five triples, two home runs, 25 RBI’s and seven stolen bases. He also boasts a .476 on-base percentage and 1.085 OPS. Gonzalez hit five triples over a 10-game stretch from August 7-19. He brings a nine-game hitting streak (.429 AVG, 18-for-42) and a 16-game on base streak into this week’s series. Gonzalez hit .343 over 30 games in the Arizona Complex League (Rookie-level) prior to his promotion to San Jose on July 24.

FIRST HALF CHAMPS: The Giants clinched the first half North Division title in June and secured a berth in the California League playoffs. San Jose finished the first half with a 37-29 record – one game ahead of the Fresno Grizzlies for the top spot in the North Division. It’s the seventh consecutive season (2019, 2021-26) that the Giants have reached the playoffs and the third time in the last four years (2023, 2025-26) winning the first half. San Jose was 25-22 and two games behind Fresno in the standings on May 27 before winning 11 of their next 14 to clinch the division crown. The Giants are attempting to win back-to back titles for the first time since 2009 and 2010.

SEEING DOUBLE: Lorenzo Meola has been a doubles-machine for the Giants. Since the start of the second half, Meola has hit a whopping 24 doubles over 51 games played (.307 AVG/.915 OPS). His 40 doubles for the season are currently leading all of Minor League Baseball. Last week, Meola became the fifth player in the 38-year history of the San Jose Giants to hit 40 doubles in a season joining Mark Leonard (50 2B in 1988), Eddy Martinez-Esteve (44 2B in 2005), Thomas Neal (41 2B in 2009) and Devin Harris (40 2B in 2013). In addition to his league-leading doubles total, Meola starts this week fourth in the Cal League in hits (118) and fifth in RBI’s (71).

WELCOME TO SAN JOSE: The Giants welcomed two more players from the 2026 San Francisco Giants draft class last week when outfielder Peyton Bonds and infielder Luke Nixon joined the team. Bonds was San Francisco’s third round pick last month after hitting .352 with six home runs in 36 games for Rutgers in the spring. Bonds is the nephew of Giants legend and all-time MLB home run leader Barry Bonds and the grandson of 14-year major leaguer Bobby Bonds. Peyton’s dad, Bobby Jr., played 11 seasons of professional baseball (advanced as high as Triple-A) and spent two seasons as an outfielder with the San Jose Giants in 1996 and 1997. Nixon was San Francisco’s fifth round pick this year and hit .367 with nine home runs over
56 games for NC State in his final collegiate season. Nixon’s dad, Trot, played 12 seasons in the major leagues and was on the Boston Red Sox 2004 championship team.

ODDS AND ENDS: The Giants are on pace to finish with their highest batting average (.277) since 2011 and their highest onbase percentage (.366) since 1988 … San Jose (70-50) is five games ahead of Fresno (65-55) and Ontario (65-55) for the best overall record in the league … The Giants have had the best record in the league the last two seasons … Other hot hitters for the Giants include Broedy Poppell (10-for-20, 4 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 9 RBI last week at Lake Elsinore), Rod Barajas Jr. (7 HR/19 RBI last 16 games), Jeremiah Jenkins (13 HR in second half) and Oliver Tejada (two grand slams in last three games).

ON DECK: Following the current series against Visalia, the Giants travel to Fresno for a six-game series against the Grizzlies that will close out the regular season. The 132-game regular season concludes on Sunday, September 6. The Giants will open the postseason on Tuesday, September 8 with Game 1 of the best-of-three North Division Series.