As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
The Giants have undergone a changing of the guard with Buster Posey going from part owner to president of Baseball Operations, and jettisoning Farhan Zaidi. This has led to a change from being one of the more analytically inclined front offices to the exact opposite. The Giants are firmly in buyers' territory, as they traded some prospect depth for the star their organization has been missing, Rafael Devers. The Giants have become an organization that is focused on safety as opposed to upside in their domestic scouting. In the international arm of their scouting operation, they are upside hunting, maybe grabbing one of the bigger upside gambles in Josuar de Jesus Gonzalez, who is looking like a hit for the Giants. The top of this organization’s list is littered with high-upside complex-level players, and the combo of Bryce Elderidge and Carson Whisenhunt, who could come up sooner rather than later to help the Giants with their playoff chances.
About Our Top 20 Lists
Prospects Live, led by its evaluating team & Director of Scouting Rhys White, is proud to be rolling out its annual system reports. The team combines industry feedback, our live looks, film, and available data to compile each org. We believe this effort has enabled us to present you, the reader, with our best possible view of the prospects in the organization.
We have constructed this list using the Overall Future Potential (OFP) scale. There is no perfect equation for ranking prospects or assigning value to them, but we believe this method is the best possible approach. Every prospect on this list has been graded based on the tried and true 20-80 scouting scale. An 80 is the highest tool and OFP grade on the scale, reserved for MVP-caliber players or tools. Conversely, a 20 is reserved for non-prospects (NPs). A 50 OFP falls in the middle, indicating our evaluators deem this player a future average major league player. Below the 50 OFP tier are the 45s and 40s, comprising a large majority of players on each list. These are specific-role players, such as platoon hitters, utility players, or low-leverage relievers. Above the 50 OFP tier are the 55s and 60s. A 55 represents a future above-average player, and a 60 OFP designation is reserved for future All-Star caliber players.
In addition to the tool grades and OFP, we will also include a 'Risk' associated with each prospect. We use this to better communicate to you, the reader, whether a grade is more aggressive or conservative in nature. The evaluation team has worked hard to apply both the grades and risk components to better illustrate how each individual prospect stacks up in their respective system and in the baseball ecosystem.
Eldridge was everywhere in 2024, starting his season in Single-A and ending the regular season with a Triple-A cameo before playing in the Arizona Fall League. This was Eldridge’s first taste of full-season ball and also his first full-season exclusively as a hitter. He was a prominent pitching prospect but the Giants convinced him to give up pitching prior to the 2024 season. Despite his frame and being in the upper minors as a teenager, Eldridge showed above-average contact skills and excellent swing decisions. The big exit velocity numbers and ability to lift the ball point to 35+ homer upside and it might even be more than that if in a different park. He doesn’t sell out for power and actually has a swing geared more towards making contact. He will play all of the 2025 season as a 20 year old and seems likely to begin the season in Double-A, where he only played in nine games before moving to Triple-A and getting in eight games. Despite the busy 2024 he was still sent to the Arizona Fall League and the Giants used it as an opportunity for him to improve his defense at first base which is still a relatively new position for him. He has spent some time in right field previously but he’s a poor fit out there, especially in his home park. Eldridge will likely make his big league debut late in 2025 and enter 2026 as their regular first baseman. - Matt Thompson
Dynasty Outlook
The story starts and shines with Eldridge’s power – a double-plus tool with a HardHit rate of 60 percent, a Barrel rate of 16 percent, and a 90th percentile exit velocity of 110 MPH. Unlike many of his age and power bracket, Eldridge has shown above average contact and a tendency to make strong swing decisions against older, experienced pitchers with time to learn, though a big power swinger will always swing (34.2 percent Whiff, 32 percent strikeouts, only 7.7 percent walks). He’s a first baseman through and through, and while he may kick in a steal every so often, it isn’t a big part of his fantasy game. Eldridge will be 21 for all of 2026 and will likely make his full-season debut with San Francisco next year – if not before. In 10-12 years, the likelihood of players looking back at the halcyon years of Bryce Eldridge similarly to how we currently think about the peaks of Mark Teixeira, Paul Konerko, Tino Martinez, Mo Vaughn, or Fred McGriff (or better?) is pretty strong; Eldridge has the makings of a fantasy stalwart and a true dynasty building block. - Drew Wheeler
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
A Giants fan living in San Diego, been playing fantasy baseball since 2005 and dynasty since 2021. Started the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast in June 2023 and joined Prospects Live in March of 2024.
Dynasty player of 10+ years. Helping you find the building blocks of your championship rosters as a co-host on the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast since mid-season 2023, joined Prospects Live at the start of 2024.
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
