Luis Hernandez Gives Giants Another MLB Top 100 Prospect After New Rankings

The San Francisco Giants now have three Top 100 prospects. Here’s how Luis Hernández made the list.

Batting equipment with the San Francisco Giants logo. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Luis Hernández hasn’t even played a stateside minor league game yet and he’s already creating buzz like few San Francisco Giants prospects.

The latest accolade came from MLB Pipeline, as the site added the shortstop to its Top 100 prospects at No. 99. Hernández moved up because two of the site’s Top 100 prospects graduated from its rankings — the Baltimore Orioles’ Dylan Beavers and the New York Mets’ Nolan McLean.

Prospects graduate when they lose their rookie eligibility, which includes more than 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on the MLB roster.

This means that Hernández was already just outside the rankings at No. 101, or close to it. It shows just how much scouts think of the 17-year-old’s talent, who signed a $5 million bonus with the Giants two months ago.

Luis Hernández Makes it Three Top 100 Giants

San Francisco Giants hat and glove. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Bryce Eldridge has been a Top 100 prospect for more than a year and has been the Giants’ No. 1 prospect since late in 2024. The first baseman made his MLB debut last year but only played in 10 games so he retains his rookie and prospect status for now. He’s playing at Triple-A Sacramento. Pipeline has him at No. 24. He’s expected to join the Giants at some point in 2026 and played at first base and DH alongside Rafael Devers.

The other Top 100 prospect is another young international star in shortstop Josuar Gonzalez, who is No. 43. Gonzalez signed with the Giants out of the Dominican Republic for nearly $3 million last January and was considered the best position player prospect at the time. He only reinforced that with a strong start in the Dominican Summer League, where he batted .288/.404/.455 with four home runs and 24 RBI.

Gonzalez will start 2026 in the Arizona Complex League, per Giants senior director of player development Kyle Haines. He revealed the assignment during an appearance on the Splash Considerations podcast, hosted by Justice delos Santos of the San Jose Mercury-News (subscription required).

That isn’t unusual. Most young players who start in the DSL come stateside to begin in the ACL the next season. What is unusual is that Haines confirmed that Hernández will join him, even though the Venezuela native hasn’t played a game in the DSL.

The Giants are skipping that step due to Hernández’s maturity and production in Liga Mayor in Venezuela last year. He slashed .346/.386/.452 while striking out just 11 times in 114 plate appearances. Liga Mayor features pitchers that are several years older than him, some of which have MLB experience.

It’s clear Hernández is rising fast. The only question is how fast.