The Giants’ system has a lot of they-might-be-relievers and a lot of toolsy position players who swing and miss too often to project as regulars, with some star potential beyond the top few names and enough pitching depth that they shouldn’t be going after back-end starters or right-handed relievers in free agency or trades. They do need one of these recent first-rounders to pan out, though, as the current front office has not had much success with those picks so far, while the Giants as an organization haven’t had a real hit among first-round picks since Zack Wheeler in 2009.
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Top 100 MLB prospects 2024: Keith Law’s rankings, with Jackson Holliday at No. 1
Giants 2024 top 20 prospects
(Note: Seasonal ages as of July 1, 2024. Scouting grades are on the traditional 20-80 or 2-8 scouting scale.)
1. Kyle Harrison (2024 top 100 ranking: 11)
Bats: R | Throws: L | Height: 6-2 | Weight: 200 | Seasonal age in 2024: 22
The top left-handed pitching prospect in baseball, Harrison had a rough go in his Triple-A debut last year, walking 16.3 percent of hitters — at least some of which was likely attributable to the automated ball-strike system (ABS) used in some Triple-A games — and missing a month with a hamstring injury, but he showed much better in his seven major-league starts, including throwing a lot more strikes than expected. Harrison comes from a low three-quarters arm slot that makes him very tough on left-handed hitters, working 92-97 mph with hard running life, along with a hard slurve that mostly breaks downward and a changeup that’s potentially plus and has good separation from the fastball. It’s not an easy delivery to repeat, so his command will probably always be a question, but the improved control in the majors was a great sign, and his sudden trouble with the longball (eight homers allowed in 34 2/3 major-league innings, four of them in a single start) seems fluky with three coming from left-handed batters.
Everyone wants to make pitchers who throw like Harrison into Chris Sale, but I think that’s unfair to both guys; the White Sox gave Sale a new grip that turned his slider into a 70, while Harrison may end up relying much more on the fastball/changeup and saving his breaker for left-on-left crime. Regardless of how he puts it together, he looks like a No. 2 starter and has that ace upside if the command takes a leap or he can tighten up the slurve.
2. Marco Luciano, SS (2024 top 100 ranking: 84)
Bats: R | Throws: R | Height: 6-1 | Weight: 180 | Seasonal age in 2024: 22
Luciano started the year on the IL while recovering from a stress fracture in his lower back, finally got rolling after some time in Double A, then ended up in the big leagues and was mostly overmatched. He did hit the ball very hard in the majors, as he’s done everywhere when healthy, and he’s able to keep up with fastballs, but offspeed stuff was an issue even in Double A, and killed him at the next two stops — he went from a 30 percent strikeout rate in Double A to 35 percent in Triple A to 37 percent in the big leagues, which is all an argument that he should have stayed at Double A until he showed better non-fastball recognition. He’s also not a shortstop, and I think moving him to left field might allow him to focus more on developing the bat while also perhaps keeping him healthy. He’s still quite young, just 22 all season with barely 300 professional games on his resume, and he’s got a strong swing that’s geared for 25-30 homers. I never bought him as a shortstop, or really even a second baseman, but I thought the bat would be more advanced than this. He can still be an above-average regular if the Giants give him the time to develop his pitch recognition.
3. Bryce Eldridge, 1B/OF (2024 top 100 ranking: 85)
Bats: L | Throws: R | Height: 6-7 | Weight: 225 | Seasonal age in 2024: 19
Eldridge was a two-way prospect in high school who was 91-95 mph off the mound but without an average second…
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