Giants Prospect Maui Ahuna Has an Intriguing Profile and a Healthy Approach

Maui Ahuna isn’t a high profile prospect, but he is one of the more intriguing infield bats in the San Francisco Giants system. Drafted in 2023 out of the University of Tennessee, the 23-year-old shortstop is coming off a season where he slashed .269/.370/.453 and posted a 123 wRC+ over 274 plate appearances spread across the Arizona Complex League (a rehab stint), Low-A San Jose, and High-A Eugene.

Injuries have been an issue. Seen as a potential first rounder going into his final collegiate season, Ahuna slid to the fourth round after landing on the shelf with a stress reaction in his back. He subsequently had Tommy John surgery in 2024, keeping him out of action until this past May. Making up for lost reps, he finished the year in the Arizona Fall League, playing in 11 games for the Scottsdale Scorpions.

When I caught up to Ahuna in Arizona, the first thing I asked him about is the frequent comparisons he gets to former Giant Brandon Crawford. Much as I expected, the Hilo, Hawaii native appreciates the comparison, yet prefers to just be himself.

“I’ve heard it too many times already,” Ahuna said of being comped to Crawford. “We’re both shortstops who swing from the left side. He was a good defensive player, and I feel that I’m a good defensive player. But he’s him and I’m me. I like being my own version of myself. That said, if people see me that way, it’s a good thing.”

Here is Eric Longenhagen’s updated assessment of Ahuna:

Left-handed-hitting pop like this is rare for a shortstop. Ahuna has overt physicality, plus bat speed, and his peak value velos are plus (113.7 mph max, 49% hard-hit rate) on the big league scale. His swing is pretty long, and both his spray chart and contact data (66.6% contact rate) reinforce that this is going to be a problem. He’ll likely be a 20- or 30-grade big league hitter whose batting average hovers around the Mendoza Line throughout the course of his career. Ahuna’s hands on defense are inconsistent, but he has the arm strength and athleticism to play shortstop, so as long as he polishes up his current issues, he’ll likely be a viable utilityman.

The pop that our lead prospect analyst referred to wasn’t reflected in Ahuna’s 2025 home run total; he went deep just three times away from the complex. The young infielder expects that number to jump meaningfully, albeit not at the expense of him straying too far from his self-identity — or his current physicality.

“The power slowed down this past year, but it’s going to be there,” Ahuna told me. “I’m going to hit home runs. For one thing, I got drafted at 155 pounds and I’ve put on 40 pounds since then. I actually hit 200 one time, but at that weight, I couldn’t even field a groundball. I couldn’t get to the backhand. But yeah, there is power.

“I’m more of an early-in-the-lineup guy, though,” Ahuna added. “Get on base. Steal bags. Let the guys behind me — the guys who get paid to hit for power — drive me in. That’s kind of how I see myself.”

Ahuna admits that he’s been guilty of selling out for power on occasion — “swinging out of my butt” — in an attempt to show that he can juice a baseball. He’s now shying away from that, instead trying to stay as short to the ball as possible and drive it up the middle. Letting the pitch get deep has become a focus.

“I’m thinking over the shortstop’s head,” he told me. “Once I start thinking outside of that — once I think pull — I’m probably not going to have a good at-bat. Besides, if I put a barrel on it at the right angles, it’s going to go over the fence. I’m not trying to hit 450-foot bombs. If the fence is 365, I’m trying to hit it 368. All I really want to do is make solid contact.”

Ahuna was forthcoming in addressing the adjustments that he’s already made over the course of his young career, not all of which have been beneficial. They date back to his days as a collegian, which included two years at the University of Kansas before he became a Volunteer.

“At Kansas, I was hitting well, but then I got to Tennessee and totally lost it,” explained Ahuna, who had a .396 batting average and a 1.113 OPS as a sophomore, and subsequently a .312 average and a .962 OPS as a junior. “I’d gone to summer ball right before that season and kind of got off track. If you look at video, you’ll see that I had three, four different stances and swings. I was basically trying to figure out stuff during the season. It happens. Every player is going to go through that stage in his career where he forgets how to swing a bat.”

“It’s a mental game, not just a physical one,” continued Ahuna, whom Longenhagen graded as a 35+ FV prior to the season but now has as a 40 FV. “Every player goes through mental stuff where they struggle, and that includes their personal life. A lot of fans don’t understand that part of baseball. They understand what they’re seeing on the field, but they don’t understand what the player is going through mentally. You might be wearing an 0-for-30, and that’s where you want to end your career. If you tell yourself you’re going to slump, you’re going to slump. Conversely, if you tell yourself you’re going to play well, you’re going to play well. If you tell yourself you’re going to win, you’re going to win. That’s how I’ve learned to approach things.”