Which Giants prospects turned heads with strong showings in '24?

This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado’s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Only one of the Giants’ four full-season Minor League affiliates -- Single-A San Jose -- qualified for the playoffs this year, but there were more wins to be celebrated on an individual level.

With the MiLB regular season coming to a close, let’s take a look at three Giants prospects who helped raise their stock the most in 2024:

1. Bryce Eldridge, 1B (Giants’ No. 1 prospect, No. 50 overall)
Eldridge’s monster season has easily been the best development within the Giants' farm system this year. The 19-year-old slugger climbed two levels and finished his first full professional season at Double-A Richmond, where he recently became the youngest player to homer in Flying Squirrels history. The 2023 first-round Draft pick entered Wednesday with a .914 OPS and 23 homers in 106 games between Single-A San Jose, High-A Eugene and Richmond, which could set him up to potentially break into the big leagues by the end of next year.

Giants first basemen rank last in the Majors with 11 home runs this season, so they could certainly benefit from having Eldridge's power bat in their lineup sooner rather than later.

2. Grant McCray, OF (No. 10)
McCray opened the season at Double-A Richmond, but he earned his first big league callup on Aug. 14 to help shore up the Giants’ outfield defense down the stretch. Not only has he shown that he can be an elite defender in center field, but he’s also flashed some impressive pop, crushing five homers over his first 21 games. San Francisco expected Jung Hoo Lee to be its center fielder of the future after signing the Korean star to a six-year, $113 million deal, but the 23-year-old McCray is making a case to stay in the club’s outfield plans even after Lee returns from left shoulder surgery next year.

McCray still needs to cut down on his strikeouts -- he entered Wednesday with 32 K’s in 76 plate appearances -- but his power-speed combination should help set him apart from a crowded group that includes Lee, Heliot Ramos, Luis Matos, Jerar Encarnacion, Wade Meckler and Mike Yastrzemski -- who will be entering his final year of arbitration in 2025.

3. Bo Davidson, OF (No. 26)
After signing as an undrafted free agent out of Caldwell Tech (Hudson, N.C.) last year, Davidson climbed into MLB Pipeline’s list of Top 30 Giants prospects last month after batting .327 with a 1.042 OPS and 11 home runs over 63 games between the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League and Single-A San Jose in 2024. The left-handed hitter earned second-half team MVP honors for San Jose on Monday, which should help raise his profile even further heading into next year.

Here’s a roundup of other notable performances from across the Giants’ farm system:

Triple-A Sacramento
It’s been a frustrating season for Meckler (No. 16), who spent most of the year attempting to rehab a nagging wrist injury, but the 24-year-old outfielder finally seems to have found his groove at the plate. Since rejoining the River Cats on Aug. 1, Meckler is batting .303 with an .877 OPS and six homers over 34 games.

Double-A Richmond
Shortstop Diego Velasquez (No. 15) is also heading toward a strong finish, as he’s batting .347 with a .743 OPS and nine RBIs over his past 13 games, a stretch that began with a four-hit performance against Altoona on Aug. 22.

High-A Eugene
Infielder Sabin Ceballos, who was acquired from the Braves as part of the Jorge Soler trade, made a nice impression after joining the Emeralds at the end of July. The 22-year-old hit .295 with a .913 OPS and seven homers over 32 games in the Northwest League and went deep in three of his final five games of the season.

Single-A San Jose
The San Jose Giants fell, 4-2, to Modesto in their California League playoff opener on Tuesday, but they got some help from Jordan Hicks, who gave up two unearned runs over two innings in a rehab start at Excite Ballpark. Hicks is working his way back from right shoulder inflammation and is likely to rejoin the Giants’ bullpen before the end of the year.