Top San Francisco Giants Prospect Shockingly Pulled From Arizona Fall League

A promising young San Francisco Giants prospect is heading home from the Arizona Fall League.

Jul 26, 2023; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants 2023 first-round pick Bryce Eldridge before the game against the Oakland Athletics at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants have one of the more promising sluggers in all of the minor leagues in Bryce Eldridge, a first-round pick in the 2023 draft.

After climbing from Single-A all the way to the cusp of the Majors this past season, finishing his age-19 campaign with eight games in Triple-A, the Giants sent the youngster to the Arizona Fall League for more seasoning and experience.

That experiment is over.

Per various reports coming out Friday morning, Eldridge has been withdrawn from the Scottsdale Scorpions' roster for unknown reasons. The slugger played in 10 games and got 46 plate appearances, hitting .293 with two homers and seven runs scored.

Based on his strong 2024 campaign, Eldridge has climbed to the top of the organization's prospect listing from MLB Pipeline and is now one of the top 100 prospects in the entire sport at No. 35 overall.

Across the five different teams he played for this year, Eldridge put up a hugely impressive final line slash line of .292/.372/.515 with 25 homers, 30 doubles, and 98 RBI.

Accomplishing this while being young for every single minor league level he played in makes that even more impressive, as most 19-year-olds don't show his type of power production in their first season of professional baseball.

Newly-minted president of baseball operations Buster Posey, once a top prospect himself, expressed disbelief recently that Eldridge was this good this quickly.

"I think every player is unique," Posey said on Tuesday's "Giants Talk" podcast. "He had a wonderful first full season and I still look at that guy and can't believe he's 19 years old. Just physically, he looks like he could be 30."

After playing primarily outfield when drafted last year, San Francisco asked Eldridge to focus on first base.

The youngster responded, making 100 of his 116 minor league appearances at the cold corner and seven of his 10 in the Arizona Fall League.

The immediate future of first base for the Major League roster is uncertain.

The two most heavily-used players at the position in 2024, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Wilmer Flores, have uncertain futures after struggling at times this season. Giants first baseman as a whole hit just .239 and produced only 14 homers, outliers for a position that derives so much of its value from power production.

Wade is arbitration-eligible this offseason, projected to make $4.7M per MLB Trade Rumors. Flores isn't a lock to return to San Francisco for 2025 after losing playing time down the stretch, getting into just five games in the month of July prior to going on the injured list.

Flores opted to leave the team and return home rather than continue to work out and rehab with the team as the season came to an end. He has a $3.5M player option that he can choose to pick up for 2025, but if he declines it, the team is granted a $8.5M club option they'd surely decline, sending him to free agency.