It's No Surprise Who Is Considered San Francisco Giants' Best 2023 Draft Pick

After an incredible start to his career, this San Francisco Giants 2023 draft pick continues to look like a future star.

San Francisco Giants hat and glove / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

It's been an uncomfortably long playoff drought for the San Francisco Giants as the last time they were playing fall baseball was in 2021.

Unfortunately, that has become the norm for this franchise as they've only made the postseason twice during their last nine years since they won the World Series in 2014.

Perhaps that was why the front office became so aggressive during the winter to bring in high-profile players while their minor leaguers continue to develop.

It seems like they might have landed an absolute star with their 16th overall pick in 2023 when they took Bryce Eldridge out of high school following winning Maryland's Gatorade Player of the Year award and two out of three state titles.

Not surprisingly, MLB Pipeline lists him as the Giants' best draft pick from that class.

"The best two-way prospect in the 2023 Draft, Eldridge has focused mostly on hitting after going 16th overall and signing for $3,997,500. Tremendous raw power is his signature tool ...," they write.

He certainly has been impressive.

In his professional debut, he played in 16 rookie ball games before finishing out the year with their Single-A affiliate. This season, he started in Single-A and has slashed .268/.322/.459 with seven homers and 34 RBI through 39 games.

Eldridge was viewed as one of the best power hitters in his draft class, something that has been on display already as he's hitting harder balls at 19 years old than most other minor leaguers.

He got some time in the outfield before being moved to first base, the position he's likely going to play the rest of his career.

It will be interesting to see if he ever picks up the pitching aspect of his game again, something that was popularized with the dominance of Shohei Ohtani.

However, with him seemingly being focused on just becoming a position player, he likely will focus on that as he looks to make a rapid ascension through San Francisco's farm system.