Giants Latest International Star Shows Power on Spring Training Back Fields

While Major League spring training is starting to wind down, minor league spring training will continue well after teams like the San Francisco Giants have begun their regular season.

While spring training games are going on at stadiums all over Arizona, there's great action going on if fans wander to the backfields of each team's facility, and San Francisco's Scottsdale facility is no exception.

Many of the team's top prospects are on the backfields participating in simulated games practically every day as they prepare for the upcoming minor league season.

The most intriguing player may be Luis Hernández, the shortstop from Venezuela that San Francisco signed for nearly $5 million in January. He’s already showing the power the Giants hope propels him to the Majors one day.

Luis Hernández’s Home Run

Luis Hernández homers for the Giants.

Very special talent on display. pic.twitter.com/LFZILPpWY5
— Jesús Cano (@Jesus_Cano88) March 13, 2026

Baseball America (subscription required) had one of its top writers, Jesus Cano, watching Hernández’s game and managed to catch his home run on camera on Friday. He posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the baseball left the field with a 100.7 mph exit velocity.

Hernández is already part of the Giants’ roster pool for next week’s Spring Breakout game. The roster includes No. 1 prospect Bryce Eldridge, along with highly respected prospects like infielders Josuar Gonzalez, Jhonny Level and 2025 first-round Draft pick Gavin Kilen. In fact, 29 of the Giants’ Top 30 prospects per MLB Pipeline are part of the pool.

It’s not clear if Hernández will play in the game. San Francisco prospects will face Cincinnati prospects on March 19 at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Ariz., with first-pitch set for 1:05 p.m. mountain and pacific time.

What is becoming clearer is what Baseball America reported earlier this spring, that the Giants intend to start Hernández at a U.S.-based affiliate as opposed to sending him to the Dominican Summer League, which is the top landing spot for young players with no pro experience.

But he has some pro experience form his time in Venezuela.

In Liga Mayor, he slashed .346/.386/.452 while striking out just 11 times in 114 plate appearance. It’s a reflection of the work he’s put in with a former Major League player. Carlos Guillen trains players in Venezuela as part of MLB’s trainer partnership program. Hernández is among his pupils.

It isn’t clear where the 17-year-old who will start his pro career. He could begin it at the Giants’ Arizona Complex League, which would pit him against rookie-level players. If he shows growth during minor league spring training, he could begin 2026 with Class-A San Jose, the franchise’s lowest full-season affiliate.