San Francisco Giants Top Prospect Working at New Position

The San Francisco Giants are moving one of their top outfield prospects to another position.

Sep 5, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; San Francisco Giants center fielder Wade Meckler (53) makes a catch on Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson (not pictured) during the first inning at Wrigley Field. / David Banks-Imagn Images

Shortly after learning that Marco Luciano would once again be changing positions, the San Francisco Giants are going to be moving one of their outfield prospects to the infield. On the latest episode of 'Giants Talk' on NBC Sports Bay Area, insider Alex Pavlovic reported that Wade Meckler has been getting work at second base.

Meckler is currently the 16th best prospect in the San Francisco system, according to MLB Pipeline.

Drafted in the 8th round of the 2022 draft, he sky rocketed through the minors and made his Major League debut in 2023. He played across three levels of the minors in 2023, posting a slashline of .371/.456/.510 with a .966 OPS, sic homers, 17 doubles and 13 stolen bases.

His Major League time did not go as smoothly in the 20 games he played. His .232 average and .578 OPS caused him to get sent back down and not come back up.

While it wasn't his 2023, the 24-year-old has had a good season in 2024. Over 80 games, Meckler hit .280 with a .788 OPS, nine home runs, 15 doubles and three triples. All of his games were spent in the outfield, playing all three positions. That seems like it will be changing.

"He [Meckler] has started taking ground balls at second base. The Giants are very intrigued by the way he looks. Has not been a great defender in the outfield and we know there's a bit of a log jam now with young outfielders," Pavlovic said.

It's hard to judge a minor leaguer's ability to field just based off fielding percentage, but in his short big league stint, his arm value was -1 and he had an outs above average of zero.

"He's done it before, he has experience in the infield. From what I've heard and what I saw when I was in Sacramento, looks pretty good, he looks pretty natural," he continued.

There would likely be an easier path to get his bat in the lineup through the infield. With Luciano now taking reps in the outfield, as well as the presense of Jung Hoo Lee, Heliot Ramos, Mike Yastrzemski and Luis Matos, it would be difficult to see Meckler getting playing time on a regular basis.

However, with the clear signs that they're willing to move on from Thairo Estrada, and some shaky depth, he could see much more playing time should be be an infielder. The big test will come in Spring Training, when he can get this work in during Big League camp.