Giants prospects to take over spotlight in Spring Breakout

February 16th, 2024

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The future of the Giants will be on display next month, when several of the club’s most promising prospects will team up as part of the inaugural Spring Breakout event.

Created to showcase baseball’s future stars from each Major League organization, the new Spring Training initiative will pit a team of top prospects from one club against a team of top prospects from another in a series of 16 exhibition games from March 14-17.

The Giants’ prospect team will take on A’s prospects at 4:05 p.m. PT on March 15 at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz., with the two big league squads facing off beforehand as part of an in-stadium doubleheader.

“I think it’s always great to promote the younger guys just because a lot of times big league fans kind of forget about the Minor Leaguers,” said right-hander Mason Black, who is ranked the Giants’ No. 9 prospect by MLB Pipeline. “I think it’ll be exciting for fans to see what’s coming up through the system.”

Full Spring Breakout rosters will be revealed March 7 at 8 a.m. PT on MLB Network.

Each team will feature 23-27 players and will be constructed using MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 Prospects lists as its foundation. Players with rookie eligibility entering the 2024 season can be included in their club’s Spring Breakout roster, though players who are already on the 40-man roster will have the ability to opt out of the event.

That might rule out familiar faces like left-hander Kyle Harrison (the Giants’ No. 1 prospect) and shortstop Marco Luciano (No. 2), though there are still plenty of other promising young players who could end up stepping into the spotlight, including left-hander Carson Whisenhunt (No. 3), two-way prospect Bryce Eldridge (No. 4), shortstop Walker Martin (No. 5) and outfielders Rayner Arias (No. 6) and Grant McCray (No. 7).

Left-hander Reggie Crawford (No. 8) is likely to miss the event as he recovers from a left lat strain he suffered last week, but he said he’s looking forward to supporting his Giants teammates in their Spring Breakout debuts.

“I think it’s awesome,” Crawford said. “That’ll be really cool. I’m happy they’re figuring out little things like that to make it more exciting because who wouldn’t enjoy that? It’ll be fun to watch, for sure.”