San Francisco Giants Top 41 Prospects

Eldridge is a human skyscraper at 6-foot-7 and has some of the most exciting raw power projection in all the minors. In his first full pro season, split pretty evenly between Low- and High-A, he hit .289/.372/.513 with 23 home runs. Then the Giants gave him two model-jobbing promotions to Double-A Richmond and Triple-A Sacramento; Eldridge played fewer than 10 games at each stop before he was sent to the Arizona Fall League, where he looked absolutely exhausted (especially on defense).

Eldridge is going to have enormous power in the Matt Olson/Adam Dunn zip code one day. He already has plus raw — 111 mph max velo, 106 mph EV90, 56% hard-hit rate in 2024 — and still has a ton of room on his frame for mass and strength. Any time a hitter this size comes along, there are justifiable doubts about whether or not he’ll be able to catch up to big league velocity, and while Eldridge is definitely going to have elevated strikeouts throughout his career, he also has a remarkably short swing for a hitter his size, and he has shown an ability to move the barrel around the zone. He still had more swings and misses than balls in play in 2024, which is often a scary indicator, but while his contact metrics are a full standard deviation below the big league average — 16% swinging strike rate, 77% in-zone contact, 67% overall — there’s just too much playable power here to fret over that.

Where Eldridge most needs to improve before he dons a big league uniform is on defense. It’s no doubt exhausting for a guy this size to bend and get deep into his lower body all summer, but by the end of the year, Eldridge was playing first base with such a high center of gravity that it often cost his team outs. There are times when he fails to stretch enough on a bang-bang play, or comes off the bag entirely because he can’t stretch enough, and this happens way more often than is acceptable at the big league level. Eldridge doesn’t have to be doing the splits at first to be a fine defender, but he definitely needs to learn how to hold the bag better. The Giants have tried him in right field (Eldridge was also a marginal pitching prospect in high school, and his arm would play there), but not at all in 2024; he seems like a first base-only prospect now. This guy is going to be a middle-of-the-order force, so it doesn’t really matter where he plays and it barely matters how good a defender he becomes, but it’s the aspect of his game that needs the most help right now. It’s plausible Eldridge will be up late in 2025, late enough for him to retain rookie eligibility entering 2026. Like your balsa wood bridge from shop class, if Eldridge’s hit tool can pass the test of upper-level pitching, he’ll be a top 10 prospect by that time.

What kind of role can Whisenhunt’s all-world changeup carry him to if the rest of his skill set is just okay? Though Whisenhunt has improved in a few key areas, his strike-throwing is still on the fringe of what tends to be viable for a big league starter. His walk rate improved quite a bit in the second half of 2024 (from 12.3% to 9.8%) but was still worse than all but eight major league starters who worked at least 120 innings last year.

There are other encouraging signs here, though. Whisenhunt held his usual velocity all year even though he exceeded the 100-inning threshold for the first time. He had previously only peaked around 60 innings, first as a college sophomore and then again in an injury-shortened 2023. Whisenhunt’s breaking ball, which was once a flaccid curveball, is now a serviceable 82-85 mph slider. Most importantly, he has an elite pitch. His changeup is good in any count — hitters can know it’s coming and still be fooled by it. It has generated elite miss rates for multiple seasons, including against Triple-A hitters in 2024. A Devin Williams type of outcome would be plausible for Whisenhunt should he prove unable to start. He stands a good shot to debut late in 2025 and compete for an Opening Day roster spot in 2026.

De Jesus Gonzalez is a potential five-tool player who was my top non-Roki Sasaki player in the 2025 international amateur class. A switch-hitting shortstop, De Jesus Gonzalez is an explosive rotator with electric bat speed. He unwinds with rare verve, and the bend in his lower body allows for low-ball power. His right-handed swing is less coordinated, but still dangerous. De Jesus Gonzalez’s medium frame limits his raw power projection somewhat, but there’s enough bat speed to project above-average pop. His front side can drift toward first base, suggesting potential breaking ball vulnerability. Otherwise, he looks like a good hitter with playable power in a lot of the zone. The twitch, range, actions, and arm for shortstop all are present, and he’s universally acclaimed as a lock to stick at short by scouts who have seen him there. Others have seen him work out in center field and thought that was a good fit, too. Josuar has a very strong heuristic profile as a switch-hitting up-the-middle player with power, and he has All-Star ceiling if his hit tool is average or better.

Tibbs was a consistent three-year performer at Florida State, where he hit .338/.462/.685 throughout his career. He had a power leap as a junior, doubling his career home run total with 28 draft-year bombs; he also improved his K-to-BB ratio, with 58 walks and 37 strikeouts in 320 PA. Tibbs had one of the 2024 draft’s higher floors as a lefty bat with a stable contact and power blend. Lightning quick hands allow him to snatch inner-half pitches to his pull side and generate oppo contact on pitches that travel deeper in the zone. There are times when Tibbs’ swing looks like a dead ringer for Steven Kwan‘s, especially against down-and-away pitches; his mechanics once his swing ignites, as well as the way Tibbs uses the ground, are very similar to Kwan, though the Guardians’ outfielder certainly isn’t a comp for Tibbs’ bat control or overall feel to hit. Tibbs is of medium build at a relatively maxed-out 6-feet tall. He doesn’t produce monster peak exit velos, but he consistently hits the ball hard and in the air, which speaks to the verve in his hitting hands. He looks much less comfortable facing lefties, he has some trouble covering the up-and-away portion of the zone, and his contact rates after the draft were worse than what one might expect from one of the class’ more stable college hitters. Much the same as prior to his selection, Tibbs looks like a good platoon outfielder with medium physical tools.

Though McDonald has had trouble staying on the field and has worked 100 or more innings in just one of his four full pro seasons, he has still been successfully developed as a starter and made his big league debut at the very end of 2024. McDonald’s injuries have run the gamut. An AC joint sprain and bad hamstring interrupted his 2023, while a tweaked groin delayed the start of his 2024. As 2024 dragged on, McDonald’s per-outing workload grew, and by the end of the season he was working as many as six innings at a time, totaling 89 frames on the year. T-Mac retained his usual velocity as he stretched out and successfully dealt with Triple-A (10 outings, 47.2 IP, 4.72 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 51.7% groundballs).

McDonald’s delivery is a tad funky, in part because his arm action is so deliberately short, but he has an exceptionally powerful lower body that allows him to get way down the mound; he’s a short-levered 6-foot-2, but generates just over six and a half feet of extension. His curt, Jason Adam-style arm stroke is very consistent, and he has had no issues with strike-throwing in pro ball. He has also developed a starter’s repertoire. McDonald’s fastball has heavy sink when he locates it near the bottom of the zone, while at the top of the zone it has a funky tailing action and flat angle. He crowds righties’ hands with the tailing version, and then freezes them with an 85-mph slider that starts at their knuckles and finishes in the zone. Against lefties, McDonald tries to live on the outer half with everything he’s got, including an upper-80s changeup. McDonald is one of several good, young Giants 40-man arms who have two (in McDonald’s case) or three option years left, and will serve as spot starters and swingmen in 2025. Over time, McDonald should establish himself as a grounder-getting no. 4/5 starter.

Acquired as part of the return package for Darin Ruf, Seymour is a profoundly interesting righty with a plus-plus slider. Seymour is an XL 6-foot-6, but his arm is incredibly whippy and loose. He generates mid-90s sinkers that have a tendency to find barrels more than they miss bats. His cutter/slider is a lethal 86-90 mph two-plane weapon with incredibly late bite. Its sudden, jarring movement helped generate a miss rate north of 40% in 2024. Seymour has been developed as a starter thus far. On the surface he lacks platoon-neutralizing weapons, but his sinker runs off the front hip of lefties and back over the plate with surprising regularity. There’s enough sink on his fastball to have generated groundball rates north of 50% throughout his minor league career. It helps Seymour operate somewhat more efficiently than he does from a pure strike-throwing standpoint. He lacks the repertoire depth of a typical starter but has nasty, unique looking stuff that should allow him to play a very effective long relief role.

Whitman is a super smooth 6-foot-5 lefty with a beautiful arm action and delivery. After two years with just 5.2 total innings pitched at Purdue, Whitman transferred to Kent State for his junior year and had a breakout season. Given the arc of his college career, it seemed feasible that Whitman had both skill and physical development remaining, with a chance to blow up on a pro strength and conditioning program.

Early on in 2024, it appeared that was happening, as he was touching 96, though Whitman’s fastball ended up averaging 92-94 across all of last season. Whitman’s size and the pacing of his delivery causes his heater to jump on hitters, and he utilized a fastball-heavy attack in 2024. His slider has mostly lateral action and average length, while his changeup is well below average. The looseness of Whitman’s arm action suggests some amount of changeup growth, but his feel for locating it is way behind what’s typical for a 23-year-old; too many are errant and obviously in the dirt. How long do you want to hang your hat on Whitman’s late-bloomer traits? His size, limited college innings, and small school background are indicators that velo and pitch progression will occur, but right now, he looks like a no. 5 starter. This grade acknowledges that reality while also providing some room for helium around the changeup.

Level signed for just shy of $1 million in 2024 and hit a robust .275/.393/.517 with 10 homers in 48 games. He’s built like Jasson Domínguez, with huge pythons, pecs, and traps, and Level won’t turn 18 until March. A lack of arm strength will likely limit him to second base, putting pressure on his offensive tools to be loud enough for him to be an everyday player. As you can imagine, there’s practically no raw power projection here because Level is already so strong and maxed out. The good news is that he’s a talented enough hitter to have a puncher’s chance to profile as an everyday option. Level is an explosive rotator from both sides of the plate (especially the left side), and he has roughly average bat control, maybe a little better than average as a lefty. Things here are off to an encouraging start. Level should be stateside in 2025 and could finish the season as a teenager in full-season ball.

Mere months after signing, Arias looked great during 2023 spring training against pitchers much older and more advanced than him. Then he went back to the D.R. and after a dominant first few weeks in the DSL, he broke his left wrist while diving for a ball in the outfield and his season was over. Arias again looked fantastic during 2024 minor league spring training and during the early portion of extended, but he again dove for a ball in the outfield, got up in pain, and slammed his glove to the turf in frustration. He had injured his wrist again, a sprain this time, and was out until mid-June. Arias played for roughly six weeks before the end of the complex schedule and has only played 41 career regular season games in two pro seasons. His “healthy” window in Arizona wasn’t great; Arias slashed .250/.371/.364 with a 25.7% strikeout rate at the Giants’ windy Papago Park bandbox, running a sub-70% contact rate, and his swing often looked long and grooved. We won’t truly know whether these issues were due to the lingering effects of multiple wrist injuries or are a reflection of Arias’ actual ability as a hitter until he generates a relevant data sample in 2025.

I’m comfortable leaning heavily on my priors here, which include very exciting in-person looks and much better measureable contact and power data in 2023, before Arias first got hurt. But again, both the good pre-injury data and bad post-injury sample are too small to really care about. Still, I’m inclined to leave room for a big bounce back in 2025. Arias is still a big-framed outfield prospect with really exciting long-term strength projection. He could have special power at peak and be a Tyler O’Neill type of hitter even if his strikeout issues persist. It’s frustrating that Arias’ career has yet to truly get off the ground and it will be a problem for his prospect standing if he looks healthy in 2025 but still runs a 68% contact rate, but I still value his upside enough to grade him like a second round high school prospect.

A two-way college player, Crawford’s draft status peaked during his pre-draft summer, when he was sitting 100 with Team USA and flashing big power on Cape Cod. He got hurt and had Tommy John that fall and missed his entire junior year, but his upside still demanded an early pick and the Giants popped him 30th overall. Crawford was developed as a two-way player through 2023, but he totaled just 19 innings that year and struck out too much for the experiment to continue. In 2024, Crawford was immediately moved into the bullpen, and it felt as though a singular focus on pitching, combined with clearance to air it out, might allow him to reach the bigs fast. For a while, it looked like that was happening. While wild (15.8% BB%), Crawford was overwhelming Double- and Triple-A hitters (38.5% K%) when his velocity suddenly tanked in an outing in early June, and he was shut down. He was sitting 100 on May 26, and 93 on June 5. Crawford had shoulder surgery toward the end of the season, late enough that he’ll likely miss most or all of 2025.

When he’s really humming, Crawford looks like a future closer in the José Alvarado mold. He powers sinkers past hitters all over the zone and flashes a ridiculous mid-80s slider. Crawford’s delivery is pretty violent, he’s a tightly wound, bulky sort of athlete, and he doesn’t repeat his release consistently. Even though he has a viable third pitch (his changeup is fine), he was always likely to be a reliever because of these issues. Now he’s had two major injuries and surgeries in a span of about two and a half years. It creates volatility and delay that alters the way Crawford is “valued” as a prospect even though his evaluation hasn’t changed. Hopefully he returns with his pre-injury stuff. If he does, we could see him in San Francisco sometime in 2026.

Ragsdale finally had a healthy season in 2024, splitting 120.2 innings between Double- and Triple-A. He struck out 147, walked 57, and posted a 4.18 ERA, no small feat when you spend half the season in the PCL. Ragsdale’s best pitch has long been his gorgeous overhand curveball, which has knee buckling depth. Ragsdale’s 92-95 mph fastball and this curveball make up about 85% of his pitches, while he very occasionally works in an upper-80s cutter or changeup. Ragsdale has had trouble repeating his release (no surprise given his size) and has looked reliever-y at times, even though he’s only ever been a starter. His fairly lengthy injury history, which kept him out most of 2022 and 2023, has also tended to pull his projection toward the bullpen. But coming off a complete 2024, it seems like he’s in position to make his 2025 debut as a spot starter and, so long as he can stay healthy, entrench himself toward the back of San Francisco’s rotation during the next couple of seasons.

Black made his big league debut in May of 2024, took a few turns in the rotation, and then was sent back to Sacramento until the very end of August, when he rejoined the big club for the rest of the season. He is just a few days shy of losing rookie eligibility. Black’s stuff tends to live at the top of the strike zone and to his glove side; hitters can eliminate the low and arm-side quadrant of the zone when they face him, and that’s largely why Black has a backend starter or long reliever grade. He’s a low-slot slinger with a tailing, uphill low-90s fastball. Black will pepper the glove-side corner of the plate with a cutter and sweeper, and he tries to mix those against lefties and use his fastball as a chase pitch. He’s got two option years left and will likely graduate as a spot starter before settling into a more permanent low-leverage role of some kind.

Ceballos was a high-profile amateur because of his undersized linebacker’s build and huge arm, which Perfect Game touted as having among the highest measured infield throwing velocities ever at PG National. Ceballos began his college career at San Jacinto Junior College in Texas and was drafted in the 14th round as a sophomore by the Angels (he didn’t sign) before transferring to Oregon for his junior year. In Eugene, Ceballos hit .333/.426/.643, accrued nearly as many walks as strikeouts, and had a great collegiate postseason; the Braves popped him 11 rounds sooner in 2023 than he had been taken the year before. Ceballos had a .707 OPS with three home runs during the first half of 2024 at High-A Rome, and then was traded to San Francisco as part of the Jorge Soler deadline deal. The change in offensive environment helped facilitate a second-half breakout, as Ceballos hit .295/.364/.549 and clubbed seven homers in 32 games.

Ceballos’ skill set is headlined by his plus defensive actions and his huge arm. A balanced, low-to-the-ground athlete with great footwork, he has a strong, accurate arm from all kinds of odd platforms. His athletic style is more about body control than explosion, and this also applies to Ceballos’ offense, which is driven by plate discipline and a compact swing. His contact data is a hair above the big league average (9% swinging strike rate, 84% in-zone contact). Though some of his best cuts look rather explosive, with Ceballos’ bat finishing in the dirt behind him, he doesn’t have the high-end raw power typical of a corner infielder. He’ll need a combination of contact and OBP skill sufficient to clear the offensive bar of an everyday third baseman, which is plausible but unlikely. Because he isn’t a speedy, up-the-middle athlete, it’s tough to project Sabin as a utility guy. He projects to be a Matt Duffy type of big league corner infielder.

Marquez was the most dynamic athlete among San Francisco’s DSL group in 2024. He’s a lock shortstop defender with a beautiful right-handed swing. He tracks pitches well, his hands are deft and move the barrel around, he rotates well, and he’s a plus runner. But Marquez is still so skinny that he’s one of those prospects whose jersey wears him. He has such exciting skills, but he needs to get much, much stronger to even compete with upper-level minor leaguers, let alone big leaguers. The yawning chasm between his current strength and what he needs to develop to get to The Show is why he’s in this FV tier and not the 40+ group.

Harris is a former two-way player at UNC Pembroke who kissed Double-A in his first full pro season. He had 105 strikeouts in 79.2 innings of long relief and carried a 1.81 ERA. Harris has a drop-and-drive style delivery with a due north arm slot, which he gets to via tilt in his upper body. It creates natural cut and ride on his mid-90s fastball, which has hovered in the 94-96 mph range since Harris entered pro ball. Off of that he works two breaking balls — a curveball and a slider — which each have subtlety different lateral movement, but mostly downward depth. These breakers flash plus at times, but are easy to spot out of Harris’ hand at others. His breaking ball results were closer to average in 2024; neither of them is dominant. Harris has also worked with a splitter, though it’s an afterthought in terms of its present usage. Because we’re talking about a guy who was a two-way player until after the 2023 draft, there is perhaps space to dream on this splitter improving through reps. Barring that happening to a large degree, however, Harris looks more like a standard middle inning option than a potential high-leverage one.

Furman is a pesky little second baseman who has been one of the prospect world’s most difficult hitters to make whiff for the last several years. He had nearly twice as many walks as strikeouts as a draft-eligible sophomore with UNC Charlotte, then posted one of the lowest swinging strike rates in all of the minors at a microscopic 3.2% during his first year in Cleveland’s system. Though he was shelved with a shoulder injury at the time, Furman was traded to San Francisco as part of the Alex Cobb deal at the 2024 deadline.

His short stature allows Furman to wait forever before deciding to swing. He rarely chases and spoils a ton of tough pitches, but he lacks the power of a traditional everyday hitter. The ceiling on Furman’s offense looks something like Adam Frazier’s career, and similar to Frazier, Furman is not a very good second base defender. He’s speedy and has good range, but poor hands and an arm that’s well below average often force him to use all-out effort to make plays that others find routine. Furman’s speed should allow him to play the outfield, too, but overall, he has below-average defensive versatility when compared to other utility type hitters. He has bottom-of-the-40-man projection as a ball-in-play specialist.

Meckler is an undersized, contact-oriented extra outfielder whose nine home runs in 2024 were easily a career high. He still lacks anything resembling sufficient power for a corner outfielder, though Meckler has definitely gotten stronger and closed that gap a bit. His carrying tool is still his bat-to-ball ability. Meckler is good at getting on top of high pitches and spraying line drive contact to the opposite field. The Giants keep deploying Meckler in center, where he’s below average but passable enough to play a fifth outfield role on a big league roster.

Szykowny had a great first full season in pro ball, as he hit .295/.362/.451 split between Low- and High-A. There’s definitely some age-related adjustment to be made to his performance, but he’s a pretty well-rounded hitter with overt pro baseball size. Though he’s a broad-shouldered and physical 6-foot-4, Szykowny’s carrying tool is his bat-to-ball ability. He moved the barrel all over the zone in 2024 and had no obvious in-zone hole (88% z-contact rate), though he hasn’t yet been tested by upper-level velocity, which might present a problem given his lever length. Until then, Szykowny has a fairly well-rounded offensive skill set that generates all-fields doubles pop. Though he has a big max-effort arm, he isn’t nearly as mobile as the typical big league third baseman; he’s also seen time at first. He looks like a 300 PA corner infield utility guy.

Choate is a funky low-slot lefty starter with a good changeup. He threw 111.2 innings combined between High- and Double-A in 2024, posting a 26.5% K%, 7.7% BB%, and 3.52 FIP. His command waned late in the year as Choate blew through his previous career-high mark for innings (which was only 68 frames); he had a 5% walk rate before the All-Star break versus 11% after. The key for Choate in this, his 40-man platform year, will be to show consistently good control all season.

The large-framed southpaw has a mix of starter and reliever traits. His delivery looks effortless but features a low slot and cross-body stride typical of a lefty specialist reliever. Choate’s best pitch is his changeup, which he pronates over the top of to create late, bat-missing sink. It gives him a platoon-neutralizing weapon, which is necessary for a guy whose fastball sits 88 mph from a low slot. He can dump in his slow, 74-mph slider against lefties and succeed because of his arm slot, but Choate will probably be vulnerable to big damage against righties, even with that changeup. It might mean that he’s a better fit as a long reliever than a true starter, and that’s the role he’s projected in here.

Jordan is an incredibly physical power-hitting prospect who was a 2024 draft-eligible sophomore with a very, very concerning strikeout rate. Despite striking out 29% of the time at Mississippi State, Jordan still posted a 1.129 OPS. He has a rare raw power and speed combo, which was enough for the Giants to pay him just under $2 million in the fourth round of last year’s draft.

Jordan’s swing leaves him very vulnerable to high heat and he probably needs a swing change if he’s going to hit. He also can’t lay off spin, which could be an issue even if he magically develops a kinematically perfect swing. He seemed to be using a more upright set-up after the draft compared to the crouched stance he had in college. Jordan’s swing produces low ball loft versus soft stuff, and he has incredible all-fields power. He will also run the occasional sub-4.2 to first base at 220 pounds; it’s eye-popping to see someone this big move that fast on a baseball field. Jordan primarily handled the outfield corners as an amateur, but his plus foot speed will give him a shot to handle all three outfield spots in the future. This is a high-variance college prospect who is essentially a very toolsy dev project in all facets.

Chanteyon Ajria “Bo” Davidson was a nice undrafted pickup out of a North Carolina JUCO, a lefty power bat who has slowly come along at the bottom of San Francisco’s system. He spent all of 2023 on the complex and then played the 2024 season in San Jose before going to the Arizona Fall League. Davidson posted a 173 wRC+ in the Cal League, and while it’s prudent to adjust one’s sense of that given his age, let’s remember this is a Division-II JUCO prospect who has only just begun to face good pitching on a regular basis. Davidson’s swing tends to spray the ball to the opposite field and he might be entirely too late against upper level stuff, but he has real lefty juice. He’s also a surprisingly competent center field defender despite average speed. Especially if he can keep developing in center, there will be room for Davidson’s strikeouts to breath given how much juice he has. He’s a good sleeper toward the bottom of the system.

Dominant in his second DSL season, the Giants promoted Bello to Arizona for one start in late July; in total, he struck out 38 and walked five across 27.2 innings. Bello has a starter’s mix with three potentially average or better pitches, the best of which is his 82-85 mph, two-planed slider. Bello has a quick arm and throws strikes despite having a long arm action. His release’s inconsistency manifests more in the variable movement of his pitches. Some of his fastballs cut a little bit while others tail, and Bello throws his fair share of non-competitive changeups, but the cambio also flashes bat-missing action. Though a tad undersized, Bello is a good athlete and fine developmental prospect whose realistic outcome is that of a backend starter.

Diaz is a fairly projectable 19-year-old outfielder with good spreadsheet stats — 13% swinging strike rate, 84% in-zone contact, 74% overall, 109 mph max exit velo — for a hitter his age. He raked his way from the Arizona complex to the Cal League in the second half of 2024 and held his own, with a 103 wRC+ across 55 games at San Jose. The combination of Diaz’s tendency to chase and his bat path (which I think will leave him very vulnerable to soft stuff in the bottom of the zone) is what’s stopping him from ranking higher on this list, as I fear a strikeout uptick looms. But for a relatively projectable 6-foot-2, he’s on time to pull fairly often and he has a great arm. There’s enough to like here to consider Diaz a prospect, but aspects of his swing and underlying chase data serve as a warning not to take his other stats at face value.

Guzman was in Arizona for extended spring training but went back to the DSL for the summer, where he had an exceptional season in his second tour of duty. He slashed .305/.475/.523 and posted a tremendous combination of contact (85%) and hard-hit (42%) rates. Guzman indeed has an exciting present contact and power blend, but he isn’t especially projectable. In terms of build and body comps, we’re talking about Robbie Grossman or Gerardo Parra. Guzman’s top-hand driven swing covers a lot of the plate and his overall package is seasoned with a pretty good idea of the strike zone. He’ll have to hit all the way up the ladder as a likely left fielder, but Guzman is off to a good start.

A swingman who finished his career at Long Beach State with some great starts, the Red Sox deployed Johnson solely as a reliever when he turned pro, and he experienced a velo uptick before he was traded to the Giants for Mauricio Llovera. An elbow fracture shelved him for much of 2024, but when he was healthy, Johnson looked the same as he had before surgery. He sits 93-95 with flat angle and cut, and off of that bends in a plus-flashing mid-80s slider with inconsistent shape. So long as he can throw enough strikes, Johnson should be a low-leverage reliever.

Bresnahan was an over-slot 13th rounder in 2023 who took $375,000 rather than go to Oregon. He was acquired at the 2024 trade deadline for Alex Cobb. Bresnahan has issues with breaking ball quality and command, and he doesn’t throw especially hard right now, but his size, arm action, and the power of his lower body are traits that indicate he’s going to have an impact fastball at maturity, especially if/when he’s moved to the bullpen; this projection assumes a velo spike accompanying an eventual shift to relief. None of Bresnahan’s secondary pitches are good right now. His changeup feels like it has the best shot to improve, thanks mostly to the explosive quality of Bresnahan’s arm action. Allowing Bresnahan to develop as a starter in the mid-minors will give both his slider and changeup more opportunities to develop via reps. Until either his velocity or one of his secondary pitch takes a step forward, he’ll exist in this FV range, which includes developmental sleepers.

Narvaez is a fairly projectable 20-year-old pitcher whose fastball often had 20 inches of vertical movement in the 2024 DSL. If he can throw harder as he matures, that pitch will be plus. Narvaez throws with a good bit of effort, but his arm action is really whippy and explosive. He’s a good athlete and is likely to get stronger. If a velo bump also applies to his shapely upper-70s breaking ball, he’s going to have a nasty two-pitch foundation. He was among the org’s most exciting DSL pitchers in 2024.

A pop-up arm from instructs, Dryden was a 17th rounder from Division III Whitworth University, where he was once a two-way player. Dryden sat 91 mph in the most recent college data I have for him, then was up to 95 in the 2024 MLB Draft League before touching 97 for me during instructs. The undersized righty requires whole-body effort to throw that hard, but his fastball has carry that magnifies its bat-missing ability and allows Dryden to have scattershot command. If he can hold that velocity for an entire pro season and improve his breaking ball a little bit, he’ll be a big league reliever.

Auerbach is a hard-swinging 5-foot-8 Swiss Army Knife capable of playing a number of different positions. He swings hard and generates nearly average raw power, which is amazing for a guy his size but also detracts from his ability to make contact due to the effort required. Auerbach doesn’t catch very much anymore, but he still plays a mix of second, third, and the outfield corners, which is enough to make him a 27th-man type or bottom-of-the-bench option.

Swapped for Ross Stripling in a deal with Oakland early in 2024, Cox is a speedy center fielder who slashed .267/.377/.370 in a season split between Low- and High-A. Cox’s swing has natural jailbreak and he’ll lay down some 4.00 run times to first base. Plus range and below-average ball skills combine to make Cox an average all-around center field defender. His swing’s length often causes him to be late to the outer third of the plate, and to push contact the other way when he can make it. He’s striking out a lot, and his K% exploded after his promotion to High-A (31.9%). He probably won’t hit enough to be a relevant offensive player, but the impact of his speed (he stole 58 bases in 67 attempts last year) and his competent defense should allow for a bottom-of-the-40-man role.

Velasquez has a strong contact track record for a switch-hitting infielder his age, and kept his strikeout rate under 20% again in 2024, as he slashed .288/.368/.384 and spent the last month and a half of the season at Double-A. Velasquez is best at making low-ball contact, a tendency he exhibits from both sides of the plate. He peppers both gaps with line drive contact as a lefty, and has an inside out style (sends fastballs oppo, pulls slower stuff) from the right side. Of squat, softer build, Velasquez lacks power projection, and his ceiling is likely capped in the utility infield area. On defense, Velasquez lacks range, but he makes up for it with great short-area skills and hands. He’s crafty and finds a way to get the ball where it needs to be in time. It’s going to be important for him to keep his body in check so he can retain what little range he currently has. So long as he can do that, he fits the bill as a roster’s sixth infielder, a light-hitting contact bat with middle infield capability.

Ahuna spent his first two college seasons at Kansas and had one of the hottest 2022’s in college baseball. He slashed .396/.479/.634 and put himself in the first round mix before transferring to Tennessee for his draft year. That next season was rocky. He was ineligible to play at the start of the season because Tennessee didn’t properly handle some clerical aspects of his transfer, and then Ahuna played through a stress reaction in his back all year and K’d at a daming 31% clip. He fell to the fourth round. Hopes for a bounce back were dashed as Ahuna dealt with more injuries in 2024, playing in just 23 non-rehab games and eventually needing mid-season Tommy John surgery.

Ahuna’s long, low-ball swing makes it tough for him to pull the baseball, and he’ll probably swing underneath a lot of fastballs as he climbs the minors, unless a truly healthy return means new things for his swing. Amid all these injuries, Ahuna has always looked good playing defense. His hands, acrobatic actions, and big time arm are all fits at short. When Ahuna returns, he’ll be 23 and yet to play a game above Low-A. He’s purely a bounce-back candidate entering 2025.

Arteaga signed for $1 million in 2019 and was tough to scout until 2021 because of travel restrictions in and out of Venezuela during the meat of the pandemic. He had two solid offensive seasons in 2022 and 2023, when he hit 14 and 17 homers, respectively, as a young-for-the-level shortstop. He had surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome after the 2023 season and didn’t return until late July of last year. He only played 24 games in 2024 and picked up some postseason reps in the Venezuelan Winter League. Arteaga was a viable shortstop defender prior to the surgery and looks good again coming out of rehab. That’s what will carry his profile, as Arteaga has had issues with chase and strikeouts, and will likely continue to in a way that caps his forecast in the utility infielder range. He’ll be 22 in March and is of medium build, so it’s unlikely Arteaga will develop the big power needed to be an impact shortstop who also strikes out nearly 30% of the time.

Foster slashed .213/.293/.318 over 335 plate appearances between the Giants A-ball affiliates in 2024, which wasn’t exactly an aggressive assignment for a third round pick out of an SEC school. Foster is a switch-hitter who did have some success against southpaws in 2024; he put up a .815 OPS over 68 plate appearances against lefties but a meager .549 versus right-handed pitchers. Foster’s left-handed swing often whiffs underneath fastballs, while his right-handed swing produces more bat speed and adjustability in its path. Foster’s defensive ability is far and away his carrying tool. His internal clock is well-timed, his arm stroke is true and consistent (plenty for the left side of the infield), and his hands are slick and sure. Still, a 26% K rate in A-ball is damning for a college shortstop, and Foster’s ceiling is that of a utility infielder without a playable offensive attribute.

A very small, defense-oriented shortstop, Barreto is a skilled, smaller player with good defensive hands and actions. His offensive upside is limited by a lack of size and power projection. He signed for just over $1 million at the start of the 2025 international period.

Macares is a stocky, contact-oriented outfield prospect with a fairly mature build. He was the best hitter at the WBSC’s U-18 European Championships, where he whiffed just twice in 39 swings. His cut is usually on time to pull the ball and is geared for lift. Macares doesn’t have big raw juice or physical projection, and he may instead be a table-setter type of hitter in a part-time outfield role.

Sanchez barely played in his first pro season. He signed for just shy of $1.4 million in January of 2024, got underway in the DSL in June, was active for three weeks, and then was shut down for undisclosed reasons for the rest of the year. His amateur report is carrying the freight here. He is a viable defensive catcher prospect (his arm strength is better than his receiving right now) with above-average power for a hitter his age. There are scouts who think he’ll develop truly plus raw power at peak and others who think he’s more or less maxed out (including your author). He’s a developmental prospect at a premium position.

Wynja pitched at four different colleges in four years — first at Purdue, then Lincoln Trail College, South Florida, and finally Murray State — after which he was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2022. For a minute it looked like the gigantic 6-foot-9 lefty had added several ticks to his fastball, which sat 87-88 mph at Murray State, then was suddenly in the 90-92 range in 2023, but that backed up in 2024, as Wynja was once again in the upper-80s. He was still having a good year and appeared to be peaking, with multiple good, six-inning starts at the end of May, but he was shut down shortly thereafter until close to the very end of the regular season.

Wynja’s best pitch is his slider, which is very difficult to spot out of hand because it’s always descending from a super high release point. That pitch alone should allow him to play an up/down lefty specialist role. If there’s some late-arriving arm strength or changeup quality (which seems plausible because of his size and nomadic amateur background), then perhaps he’ll be able to work toward the back of a rotation.

Lansville had a successful full-season debut, throwing 77 innings across 22 outings (16 starts) with a measly 6.8% walk rate and a 4.36 ERA in the Cal League. His pitch mix is more switched on than most junior college draftees in their first full pro season. Lansville sits 92-94 with downhill plane, he has a good 12-to-6 curveball, he locates a fair cutter/slider mix to his glove side, and his changeup has enough action to project as a viable fourth offering. Lansville is more of a powerful, high-effort athlete than he is a coordinated one. His true command talent probably is not that of a 7% walk rate guy. It’s possible his walk rate will tick up as he climbs, and for that reason I’m inclined to project Lansville as more of a spot starter or long reliever than a consistent fifth starter.

Miles went undrafted as an eligible sophomore and had an ERA over 6.00 at Mizzou, but the Giants still used a pretty high pick on him, and when the strapping 6-foot-3 righty has been healthy, that has looked like a good move. Healthy Miles will peak in the upper 90s and show two viable secondary pitches — a hard 88-92 mph slider, and an upper-80s changeup — but back and elbow issues have cost him all but a few weeks of the last two seasons; he’s thrown just 14.2 affiliated innings since turning pro. His repertoire is deep enough to have justified development as a starter, but given Miles’ injury history, it’s probable that he ends up in relief. Once that happens, it’s possible Miles will move very quickly, and his stuff is big enough that he has prospect value even though he has barely pitched.

After experiencing delays to his development – first the 2020 shutdown, then a 2021 meniscus tear – Waites rocketed from High-A to the majors in 2022 as he pumped upper-90s gas past hitters and struck out well over 40% of them during the season. He dealt with a lat strain during 2023 spring camp and pitched with reduced velocity when he returned, velo that ticked down more and more throughout the year until Waites went from sitting 97-101 at peak to 93-96 toward the end of his season. He had his second career Tommy John in September 2023 and missed all of 2024.

Healthy Waites’ fastball touches triple-digits, misses bats up in the zone, and punishes righties on the inside of the plate. His slider quality and command were not especially good (he only throws it 20% of the time), and much of the swing-and-miss with his breaking ball is the result of the batter gearing up for the fastball rather than the quality of the slider on its own. Waites hasn’t had a ton of reps — his 47.1 innings in 2022 were easily the most of his career. It’s plausible he could improve his slider or command enough to be more than the wild up/down reliever he was projected as before his most recent TJ, but another year of missed development will make that more difficult. He’ll be nearly 27 when he next throws a competitive pitch. I expect he’ll be more of a “lightning in a bottle” type reliever who could make a meaningful big league bullpen impact, but probably during a narrow window of time rather than for five or more consistent seasons.