SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants will have until 9 a.m. PT on Sunday to finalize their 60-man player pool for the 2020 season. They will attempt to strike a balance between their present and future needs, as evidenced by their decision to invite a core of young prospects to train alongside the club’s more seasoned players this summer.

In an interview with KNBR on Thursday, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi confirmed an NBC Sports Bay Area report that catcher Joey Bart, shortstop Marco Luciano and outfielders Heliot Ramos and Hunter Bishop -- the Giants’ top four prospects, according to MLB Pipeline -- will be included in the club’s 60-man player pool.

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“There's a question about what kind of developmental reps these guys are going to have,” Zaidi said during an appearance on “Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks.” “Is there going to be a Minor League season? Is there going to be instructional league? Is there going to be Fall League? The 60-man player pool, I think part of the design was to give teams a few spots for developmental purposes. That's important because it gives these guys competitive reps, and it also gives them a chance to be around Major League players and the Major League coaching staff.”

Bart’s inclusion came as no surprise, as the 23-year-old backstop is the closest to the Majors and has the best shot at debuting for the Giants at some point this year. The No. 2 overall pick of the 2018 Draft out of Georgia Tech, Bart finished the 2019 campaign at Double-A Richmond, though he endured a pair of setbacks after sustaining two separate hand fractures last year. He was not viewed as a candidate for the Opening Day roster in March, as the Giants wanted him to open the season at Triple-A Sacramento and gain more catching experience.

Bart batted .278 with an .824 OPS and 16 home runs across two Minor League levels last year and continued to impress during Spring Training, going 7-for-16 (.438) with two home runs over nine Cactus League games.

Ramos, like Bart, reached Double-A Richmond last year, but he was not in big league camp this spring and sustained a mild oblique strain while making a throw from the outfield during a Cactus League game. The Giants didn’t rule out a 2020 debut for the 20-year-old Ramos earlier this year, though he’ll have a shorter time frame to push forward his development following the implementation of a 60-game regular season. Ramos, the Giants’ 2017 first-round Draft pick, hit .290 with an .850 OPS and 16 home runs over 102 Minor League games in 2019.

Luciano and Bishop were likely added to the Giants’ player pool strictly for developmental purposes, as neither has played a full season at any Minor League affiliate. Luciano, an 18-year-old shortstop who is ranked the No. 35 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline, has logged only 179 professional at-bats since signing with the Giants for $2.6 million in 2018. Bishop, 22, is only a year removed from being selected with the 10th overall pick of the 2019 Draft out of Arizona State and hasn’t played above Class A Short-Season Salem-Keizer.

Under the new rules for the shortened 2020 season, clubs will be allowed to carry 30 players on their Opening Day roster, as well as a three-man “taxi squad” for each road trip, which will give them immediate options to replace an injured or COVID-19 infected player. The rest of the player pool will remain at an alternative training site, where they will be allowed to hold workouts and get reps during intrasquad games. That experience should ensure that the Giants’ top prospects continue to make strides in their development this year, even without the usual structure provided by the Minor Leagues.

“I do think that that acclimation is going to be really helpful for these guys,” Zaidi said. “I’m looking forward to seeing them get out and compete because depending on which prospect you're talking about, they’ve probably got anywhere from a real chance to a more remote chance to be part of the team in 2020, which is going to be a sprint. But for some of these guys, it’s going to be a real springboard to 2021. Being in this camp is going to give them a chance to accelerate that time frame, and that's an exciting thing for some of these guys.”

The Giants are scheduled to report to training camp at Oracle Park next week, with their first official workout tentatively scheduled for July 3. While the Giants’ prospects are likely to open the season at the Alternative Training Site, Zaidi said the club may bring its entire 60-man player pool to San Francisco for the beginning of training camp, giving the youngsters a chance to familiarize themselves with their future home ballpark.

“We may have everybody together at Oracle to start things up,” Zaidi said. “That'll give the young guys a chance to be at the Major League ballpark, be around the Major League coaching staff and those players. That'll be an even better experience for them going forward.”

Worth noting
The Giants announced the release of three players on Friday: right-handers Tyson Ross and Nick Vincent and outfielder Jamie Westbrook. All three were in Major League Spring Training as non-roster invitees this year.

Ross, a former All-Star for the Padres, allowed three runs over 3 2/3 innings in three Cactus League appearances with the Giants. The 33-year-old veteran was attempting to return from a right elbow injury that caused him to miss all but seven starts in 2019.

Vincent, 33, earned a spot in the Giants’ bullpen as a non-roster invitee last year and appeared in 18 games before being designated for assignment. He re-signed with San Francisco on a Minor League deal in January, but he gave up seven runs over four innings in Cactus League play.

Westbrook, 25, went 4-for-12 in seven exhibition games this spring before being reassigned to Minor League camp in March. He likely would have opened the season in the Triple-A Sacramento outfield were it not for the coronavirus pandemic.