{"id":8902,"date":"2026-09-11T06:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8902"},"modified":"2026-09-11T06:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:09:08","slug":"the-skys-the-limit-sf-giants-top-pitching-prospect-flora-dazzles-as-san-jose-advances-to-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8902","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;The sky&#8217;s the limit&#8217;: SF Giants top pitching prospect Flora dazzles as San Jose advances to championship"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>SAN JOSE \u2014 At every San Jose Giants home game, one opposing hitter is designated as the \u201cBeer Batter.\u201d The premise is simple: If that batter strikes out, the beer at Excite Ballpark is half off for 15 minutes. On Thursday evening, that designation belonged to the Stockton Ports\u2019 Edgar Montero. Jackson Flora, ever the showman, didn\u2019t want to disappoint.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8900\">Oakland man killed in Monterey County crash<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cStrike this guy out, I\u2019m thirsty!\u201d one fan yelled.<\/p>\n<p>Flora fell behind after a first-pitch ball, but landed his second offering in the zone for strike one. The people could taste the discount. Flora\u2019s third offering, a fastball, also caught the zone. Excite Ballpark buzzed. The 21-year-old fed off their anticipation as his next pitch touched 100 but landed in the opposite batter\u2019s box.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I got two strikes on him,\u201d Flora said, \u201cI figured I would let one eat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Montero continued to battle. He fouled off Flora\u2019s fifth pitch, then laid off the sixth, another errant fastball. With the count full, the people pleaded.<\/p>\n<p><em>Beer! Beer! Beer!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>They asked, and they received. Flora, who grew up roughly 30 miles away in Pleasanton, gave the people what they wanted. His seventh and final pitch to Montero was a backdoor breaking ball, and Montero could only watch it go by.<\/p>\n<p>Flora not only struck out the Beer Batter, but the side entirely. The crowd erupted, and those of age bolted for the concessions. His performance \u2014 two innings, no runs, no hits, two walks, four strikeouts \u2014 set the tone for the Giants\u2019 3-1 win over the Ports, clinching a spot in the California League Championship Series. Having made his mark, Flora played to the crowd, doffing his cap as he walked off the field.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cTo come in here and help the team win in a playoff game and be able to celebrate in the clubhouse like that just really just \u2026 motivates you even more to get up to the big leagues and help that team win and be able to celebrate on that stage,\u201d Flora said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone always knows when it\u2019s the beer batter,\u201d said pitching coach Dan Runzler. \u201cOur funny little thing is you can get your butt kicked a little bit, but if you strike out the beer batter, the fans are going to love you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many Giants fans have already grown fond of Flora, the hometown kid who was selected with the fourth overall pick by his hometown team. The fanbase\u2019s love will grow even stronger if he continues dominating as he did on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Flora flashed the electrifying stuff that made him the first pitcher selected in this year\u2019s draft, sitting in the mid-to-upper 90s with his four-seam fastball while mixing in breaking balls and his new kick changeup. He showed off some sauce, too, confidently strutting off the mound after ending the first inning with a strikeout.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s just very diligent about what he does,\u201d Runzler said. \u201cIt\u2019s really impressive to watch. He\u2019s very accountable for what he does. He asks a lot of questions, even as a young, new draft guy. Obviously, the sky\u2019s the limit. You guys see all the stuff; it is real. I don\u2019t think anyone thinks \u2014 even himself \u2014 he\u2019s a finished product.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ability to slow the game down was unbelievable,\u201d said San Jose manager Ydwin Villegas. \u201cIt was a big game tonight, and he was acting like he was here since day one. That\u2019s pretty impressive to see from a kid that was making his second outing so far.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8899\">Niners\u2019 nuggets: Deebo\u2019s return, Brendel\u2019s catch and more from 49ers\u2019 season-opening win over Rams<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For Flora, the Giants\u2019 No. 4 prospect per Baseball America, Game 2 of the North Division Series might\u2019ve been his final outing of the year.<\/p>\n<p>San Francisco has been cautious with Flora, who threw a career-high 102 innings as a junior at UC Santa Barbara. After being drafted, Flora spent several weeks at the team\u2019s minor-league facility in Scottsdale before tossing a scoreless inning in his professional debut on Sept. 4.<\/p>\n<p>Flora would be in line to start Game 3 of the California League Championship Series (a best-of-three) on six days\u2019 rest, but Runzler acknowledged that the decision will be up to the Giants\u2019 brass.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHopefully we don\u2019t need a Game 3, and we can just take it home in two games, but if they need me to go out there, I feel healthy and I feel ready to go,\u201d Flora said.<\/p>\n<p>The 21-year-old Flora emerged from San Jose\u2019s first-base clubhouse soaked not in champagne but apple cider, a reminder that many of his teammates are still below the drinking age. That includes the 18-year-old Josuar Gonzalez and the 17-year-old Luis Hernandez, the Giants\u2019 No. 1 and No. 2 prospects, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Hernandez likely won\u2019t play another game this season because of a hip ailment, but Gonzalez set the table in the bottom of the first, hitting an opposite-field double and scoring the game\u2019s first run. Headlined by Flora, Gonzalez and Hernandez, the Giants\u2019 farm system has become one of the best in baseball over the past year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt looks like they\u2019ve known each other for a long time,\u201d Villegas said. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty cool to see from those guys. Being that young, they know that their future is pretty bright for them. To be able to connect together is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Flora plans to spend most of the offseason in Santa Barbara, where he will continue working towards his degree in communications. He\u2019s still about a year\u2019s worth of credits from graduating, but he hopes to chip away when he can. In January, he\u2019ll report to Arizona for a pitchers camp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust continuing to get bigger and stronger and stay healthy,\u201d Flora said. \u201cI probably won\u2019t take too much time off; I believe in just keeping the arm loose. I may not be off the mound for a while, but just playing catch and staying loose and keeping myself ready.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8897\">Studs and Duds: Purdy, Bosa and the physical 49ers manhandle Rams in Australia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jackson Flora, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2026 MLB draft, struck out four batters over two scoreless innings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#8216;The sky&#8217;s the limit&#8217;: SF Giants top pitching prospect Flora dazzles as San Jose advances to championship - 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