A whirlwind season for the Giants’ top draft pick from a year ago isn’t over yet.
After starting the season in Single-A San Jose, Bryce Eldridge made it all the way to Sacramento for the end of the Triple-A season, and soon, the 19-year-old first baseman will join his fifth team, the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League.
The Giants had already outlined plans for Eldridge, drafted 16th overall last July, to participate in the AFL when they promoted him to Triple-A but those became official Wednesday with the release of AFL rosters, which included seven other San Francisco farmhands.
In addition to Eldridge, the team will feature pitchers Marques Johnson, William Kempner, Cale Lansville, Elijah Pleasants and Tyler Vogel, as well as infielder Charlie Szykowny and outfielder Bo Davidson. They’ll be managed by Dennis Pelfrey, the skipper of the Giants’ Double-A affiliate.
Like Eldridge, Szykowny and Davidson each completed promising first full professional seasons. Szykowny, a 24-year-old shortstop, hit .295 with an .813 OPS between San Jose and High-A Eugene after being drafted in the ninth round last summer. Davidson, 22, went undrafted but lit up Single-A, batting .328 with a 1.042 OPS.
The group of pitchers is made up largely of guys who missed time due to injury. The Giants spent a third-round pick on Kempner in 2022, but he hasn’t thrown a pitch this season. They acquired Johnson, 24, from Boston for Mauricio Llovera, but he didn’t make his season debut until mid-August.
Pleasants, 24, is an especially interesting story. Like Davidson, he didn’t hear his name called in the amateur draft and eventually landed with the newly formed Oakland Ballers. After appearing in a handful of games for the independent league team, the Giants signed him to a contract and assigned him to Single-A San Jose, where he posted a 3.42 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 47⅓ innings.
The spotlight, though, will be on Eldridge, whose stratospheric ascent will make him one of the most highly regarded prospects in the AFL. He is considered the No. 50 prospect in the game by MLB.com, one of 12 in its top 100 rankings set to participate and the highest-rated on the Scottsdale squad.
It should amount to some of the best competition Eldridge has faced as a pro, though he hasn’t been slowed down by anything yet. He finished the year hitting .289 with 23 home runs and an .885 OPS across four levels of the minor leagues. In eight games at Triple-A, he was contained to seven singles in 31 at-bats, a .226 average, but four of them were still struck at 100 mph or harder.
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