Is it too early to look beyond 2024 for the Giants? It’s never too early, but don’t lose hope. Remember that the Giants are only a handful of games out of postseason position, and all they have to do is win a majority of their next 11 series, 10 of which are against contenders. When you put it like that, why would you look ahead?
Juuuuuust in case, though, it’s always helpful to check in with the minor leaguers down on the farm. The Giants have three hitting prospects having incredibly encouraging seasons, and all three of them are exciting in different ways. Here’s a look.
Bryce Eldridge: The prospect who keeps giving you reasons to get excited
Eldridge was drafted 16th overall in the 2023 MLB Draft, and he’s one of the most fascinating hitting prospects the Giants have ever had. He’s 6-foot-7., and for perspective, only two taller batters have ever taken a major-league at-bat. The good news is that one of them was Tony Clark, who had a very successful career and is currently the president of the Major League Baseball Players Association.
The even better news is that one of them was Nate Freiman, which gives me an excuse to post this GIF:
But the main reason that I bring this up is that it’s a baseball truism that tall hitters have a tougher time, which isn’t not true. The Giants have employed two of the tallest hitters in baseball history, with Damon Minor and Desi Wilson, and they didn’t do much in the majors. But they also developed Dave Kingman, who hit 442 homers and is somehow an argument for and against the efficacy of tall hitters.
It’s not the 1970s anymore, though. Oneil Cruz is one of the tallest hitters in baseball history, and he plays a mean shortstop. James Wood is one of the tallest hitters in baseball history, and you’re thrilled the Padres don’t have him anymore. Aaron Judge is one of the tallest hitters in baseball history, and he makes you nostalgic for those seven minutes when he was a Giants legend. The biometric advances in the sport give organizations and players more tools to use their height to their advantage.
What Eldridge offers, however, is something more than a long swing that generates power. He has a shorter swing that also generates power, and it’s already taken him to High A, where he’s absolutely thriving. The 19-year-old was hitting .321/.441/.522 through Monday, even though he’s three-and-a-half years younger than the average player in that league.
The last major leaguer that young to have that kind of success at the level was Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The last Giants prospect to have that kind of success at the same age was Heliot Ramos. It’s a smaller sample for Eldridge (just 170 plate appearances as of this writing), but his wRC+ is ahead of players like Jackson Holliday, Carlos Correa and Ronald Acuña Jr. at the same age and level.
Of course, you could click on that link and find a lot of less successful stories, but Eldridge has one of the higher walk rates of any of them. There have been a lot of teenagers doing similar things over the last two seasons, so it’s a new era in a couple of ways, but none of them are as large and imposing as Eldridge. He started slowly this season, but he’s becoming one of the very best prospects in baseball.
James Tibbs III: The prospect you’re just getting used to
Tibbs was drafted with the 13th-overall pick just two months ago. He’s already been promoted.
Giants 1st Round pick James Tibbs III has been promoted to Eugene. Quick breeze through San Jose included a cool 17 for 41
— Roger Munter (@rog61) August 20, 2024
There are a couple ways to look at this. The first is that the Giants are expecting him to move through the system quickly, which isn’t unexpected from a high draft pick out of college. If he has a successful stint in Eugene, he could start next season in Double-A Richmond. And from there, who knows? You have to go back all the way to Wade Meckler last season to get an example of a recent draftee getting called up after spending time in Double A.
The other way to look at this is that Tibbs isn’t exactly an unknown quantity. His strengths are that he’s a polished hitter with a good idea of the strike zone. He’s not someone to park in the lower levels and hope that his tools translate into production. He’s not someone who has a chance to succeed only if an organization can iron out a specific flaw. He should contribute, even if just as an average player, with his current profile.
So push Tibbs to High A for the rest of the season and see if the hits keep coming. While he hit .415 in 42 plate appearances, that came with one walk and 11 strikeouts. Not all of his hits were line drives to the outfield, either:
James Tibbs III was 2 for 5 with a double vs Inland Empire on Saturday pic.twitter.com/XE2cSVQ5hU
— SFGProspects (@SFGProspects) August 13, 2024
James Tibbs III was 4 for 6 with a double in Wednesday’s victory over Stockton pic.twitter.com/0lttvBRjBD
— SFGProspects (@SFGProspects) August 16, 2024
Plenty of them were, don’t get me wrong. But a lot of those hits were a result of hard contact on the ground, which can be a fickle approach. The smart play is to challenge him and see if he keeps doing it or if he’s forced to make an adjustment. Or both. Tibbs’ promotion to Eugene doesn’t have to mean that he’s on a fast track or that he was too good for San Jose. It’s a promotion that also works for informational purposes.
Bo Davidson: The prospect you’re reading about for the first time
The Giants signed Davidson as an undrafted free agent out of Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute last season. Here is a list of all the baseball players from CCC&TI to appear in a professional baseball game:
• Bo Davidson
Here’s what Baseball America wrote about Davidson before the 2023 draft:
N/A
As well as ESPN, MLB.com and The Athletic had to say about him:
N/A
Which is to say that Davidson wasn’t on a lot of lists, radars or minds in the general scouting community before or after the draft. He played at a small community college in North Carolina, and it wasn’t even an especially competitive junior college as those things go.
But North Carolina happens to be the domain of Michael Holmes, the senior director of amateur scouting for the Giants, and he caught wind of something. Davidson got a promotion to San Jose this year, and all he’s doing there is hitting .335/.446/.614 in 211 plate appearances through Monday, with nine homers and five triples.
Davidson was a high school football player, which makes you think of a star athlete who shined with his athleticism and physical tools. Except he was a quarterback who barely got an offhand mention in a Charlotte high school football preview. Toolsy, perhaps, but not the kind of toolsy that makes scouting directors salivate and wonder what he could do if he turned his attention to baseball full-time.
Also, the typical gridiron-seasoned baseball prospect generally impresses in the low minors with speed and raw power. Davidson is walking up a storm, though, with 30 walks in those 211 PA. And it’s the general approach that has me fascinated:
That is not a both-cheeks, all-or-nothing swing. It’s short and direct, and Davidson sends it over the freaking batting eye in San Jose, which is not an especially hitter-friendly park.
You’ve been through this sort of out-of-nowhere excitement before with Vaun Brown, who is currently having one of the toughest minor-league seasons I can remember. So when you read about prospects who come out of nowhere, you’re right to be cautious, if not a little skeptical.
Still, Davidson doesn’t fit the archetype of any prospect that I can remember. You can hear the surprise in Joe Ritzo’s voice on that swing. It’s not a typical dead-center-dinger swing in San Jose. Maybe there’s even more to unlock. It’s his first professional experience, and he’s thriving, even if he’s at an average age for his level.
These are the three levels of expectation, then. Be giddy and irrational about Eldridge, who is doing things that a teenager shouldn’t do. Be cautiously optimistic about Tibbs, who’s started fast and is getting a challenge. And keep an eye on Davidson, who has as much potential variance as any prospect in baseball, but hasn’t disappointed at any level yet. It’s been a disappointing year on the farm for position players in several respects, but these three could make up for an awful lot.
(Top photo of Eldridge: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)
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