How Giants Prospect Victor Bericoto Built on Amazing Spring in River Cats Opener

There may be no single San Francisco Giants prospect that helped himself at spring training more than outfielder Victor Bericoto.

The Venezuela native has toiled in San Francisco’s system since 2019 and only reached Triple-A Sacramento last season. He played 11 games. But his performance last season was enough to get him a Major League spring training invite to see if he could build on it. Boy, did he.

At the end of camp he was given the Barney Nugent Award, a team-voted award given to a first-year training camp participant that exemplifies the team’s spirit. He wasn’t optioned out until late in spring training and the hope was that he would take that hot bat, which hit better than .400 in the spring, and carry it over to Sacramento.

The early returns show that might be the case.

Victor Bericoto’s Sacramento Opener

San Francisco Giants right fielder Victor Bericoto follows through on a swing during a game. — San Francisco Giants right fielder Victor Bericoto. | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

The River Cats lost 9-3 to El Paso but Bericoto went 2-for-5 with a run scored and a strikeout. One of his hits, a single in the fourth inning, helped advance two baserunners for Grant McCray, who drove one of them home. He later singled in the eighth, advanced to second on a McCray walk and to third on a Tyler Fitzgerald walk. But he was stranded there to end the inning.

But that’s the kind of start the Giants were hoping for from a player that has the capability of helping them as a depth outfielder this year. It’s also a far cry from his slash in his 11 games with Sacramento last year — .196/.196/.283 with one home run and four RBI. He turned that around with great numbers for Caracas in the Venezuelan Winter League, as he slashed .340/.379/.472 with two home runs and 15 RBI in just 31 games.

It’s clear he benefited from the absence of several Giants players for the World Baseball Classic, including all three starting outfielders — Harrison Bader, Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos. That allowed him to get in 20 spring training games, more than normal for a player with no MLB experience. Along with batting better than .400, he slammed three home runs and drove in 14 RBI.

He has the potential to be one of those scouting success stories, even though it’s taken him more than seven years to get to this point. San Francisco signed him for $25,000 in 2018 and converted him from catcher to outfield. He’s registered double-digit home runs in each of his last four minor league seasons, including a career high of 27 in 2023 when he split time between High-A Eugene and Double-A Richmond.

That also means he has productive career minor league numbers. Entering Friday’s game he had a career slash of .276/.350/.442 with 72 home runs and 331 RBI. It’s the kind of power and speed that plays well at Oracle Park.

He’s not ready for the Majors yet. But more games like that will position him to be in line for a call-up when the Giants need a backup outfielder.