There may be no single Arizona Fall League hitting prospect that is more highly-touted than San Francisco Giants first baseman Bryce Eldridge.

The way he’s tracking, he could be with the parent club as soon as next season.

MLB Pipeline recently selected the top prospect for each Major League team going into the AFL, which starts on Monday. Naturally, Eldridge was the Giants’ selection.

There are players that are ranked higher in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 (Eldridge is No. 35). But there may be no 19-year-old player closer to the Majors than him, as he’s on a track eerily similar to that of former No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday of the Baltimore Orioles.

San Francisco selected him No. 16 overall in 2023 and signed for $4 million out of Vienna, Va., as Eldridge turned his back on his commitment to Alabama and opted to start his pro career. Holliday did the same thing, passing on Oklahoma State (where his uncle is the head coach).

Post-draft, both played a handful of games after their selection. Holliday batted .297 with a home run and nine RBI in 20 games. Eldridge started with the Arizona Complex League Giants and then went to Class-A San Jose. He had a slash line of .294/.400/.505/.905 with six home runs and 18 RBI.

Holliday blew through the Orioles’ system in 2023. He played for all four full-season affiliate and had a slash line of .323/.442/.499/.941 with 12 home runs and 75 RBI. By season’s end he was poised to make Baltimore’s opening-day roster.

Well, guess what? Eldridge did the same thing this season. Starting at San Jose, he played his way up to Triple-A Sacramento and finished the season with a slash line of .291/.374/.516/.890 with 23 home runs and 92 RBI.

The AFL could be an accelerant for Eldridge. The Orioles didn’t send Holliday to the AFL last year. It didn’t really stunt Holliday’s development leading up to the Majors. He had a tremendous spring training earlier this year but didn’t make the Opening-Day roster. That appeared to be about Baltimore starting his clock later to control his player rights.

He eventually played 60 games and finished with a slash line of .189/.255/.311/.566 with five home runs and 23 RBI.

Eldridge heads to Arizona for extra at-bats and use it as a launching pad for next spring training, when Eldridge is sure to be a contender for a roster spot. As MLB Pipeline pointed out, “he has a huge frame (6-foot-7, 223 pounds) and huge power, and he’s also an advanced hitter with a good plan at the plate.”

The Giants could use some of that next season.  

The Arizona Cardinals travel to face the San Francisco 49ers in a crucial Week 5 NFC West battle that can see the squad either claim back some momentum or fall into a 1-4 hole to begin the year.

Both sides of the ball have tough tasks ahead of them when it comes to containing the 49ers – can Jonathan Gannon’s squad come out on top?

Our staff predictions reveal…. probably not.

Donnie Druin – Which Cardinals squad will show up? If we see what the Cardinals flashed in Week 2 against the Rams, we could be in business. However, Arizona’s been far too inconsistent to give any faith as road underdogs – especially against a 49ers team regardless of who suits up on the other side. Unless the Cardinals truly solved their defensive woes in one week, this could get bad. SF 30, AZ 17

Kevin Hicks – This could be something of a trap game for San Francisco – who handled a clearly inferior New England Patriots offense last week. The overall injury outlook is looking worse for them, and although the Cardinals aren’t the ‘07 Patriots, they have competed against two of the top five squads in the league this season. Expect a bounce back week for Kyler Murray, and for James Conner to make a mark, but the home field advantage and Brock Purdy’s MVP-level play this season result in the Niners pulling away in the 4th frame. SF 30, AZ 23

Jack London – it’s hard to come back from a game like the one Arizona had against a Super Bowl Contender. It’s not the offense I’m worried about in this game, but the defense, as Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan’s scheme had no issues putting up points last year. I don’t see that changing this year, even though I expect Kyler to play better along with the whole offense. Still not enough for an Arizona win though. SF 33 AZ 21

Kyler Burd – We are now three weeks out from an offensive performance against the Rams that is looking more and more like a flash in the pan. The offense and defense have alternated periods of decency with full quarters of dysfunction. This inability to get both phases operating at once has led to two straight losses, a close one against a very good Lions squad and an abysmal, embarrassing one against the Washington Commanders and former head coach Kliff Kingsbury. With as much flack as the offense has received from fans this past week, I do think Kyler Murray and the offense as a whole will look more competent, but expecting this sieve of a defense to do much against one of the most consistently good teams in the NFC is a fool’s errand. On the road, against a great roster and coach in Kyle Shanahan, I can’t see a way the Cardinals come out with a win. SF 34, AZ 21

Richard Bradshaw – The Cardinals were humiliated at home by the Commanders. To their defense, Jayden Daniels is playing like a legitimate league MVP candidate as a rookie, but there’s no excuse for the way the Washington defense bullied the Cards. I am worried about the direction of this team moving forward and a trip to The Bay to play a 49ers team that is trying to get their season back on track is not remotely ideal. Even if this game was in the desert, I’d still have the 49ers big. The Cards offense COULD rebound, but I’m not betting on it against a defense hosting Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and company. I also doubt Arizona’s defense is prepared for San Francisco’s almighty offense. I got the Niners big in this one. SF 38, AZ 10

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When London Breed was elected as San Francisco’s first Black woman mayor, it was a pinch-me moment for a poor girl from public housing whose ascension showed that no dream was impossible in the progressive, compassionate and equitable city.

But the honeymoon was short-lived as a COVID-19 pandemic shuttered stores and tech workers retreated to home offices. Tent encampments surged and so did public drug use.

Breed now finds herself in a pricey campaign as she battles for a second term.

The moderate Democrat faces four main challengers on the Nov. 5 ballot, all fellow Democrats, who say Breed has squandered her six years in office. They say she allowed San Francisco to descend into chaos and blamed others for her inability to rein in homelessness and erratic street behavior, all while burglarized businesses pleaded for help.

Her closest competitors appear to be Mark Farrell, a former interim mayor and venture capitalist who is the most conservative of the group, and Daniel Lurie, an anti-poverty nonprofit founder and an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune who has pumped at least $6 million of his own money into his first bid for mayor.

The other two are Aaron Peskin, president of the Board of Supervisors, the most liberal of the candidates, and Ahsha Safaí, a city supervisor and former labor organizer.

Streets have become cleaner and homeless tents much harder to find, but the daytime shooting in September of 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall in a popular central shopping district reignited the public safety issue.

“Even though San Francisco is seen as this kind of West Coast liberal icon, the city has experienced a series of episodes that challenge that, and that puts voters into kind of a testy mood,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University.

McCuan added that he thinks Breed still has the advantage, but “she’s just got difficulties around her.”

The Nov. 5 vote in a presidential election year is happening amid a national debate on public safety and a statewide vote on a tough-on-crime proposition that would, if approved, reclassify some misdemeanor theft and drug crimes as felonies.

Voters concerned over crime ousted progressive San Francisco prosecutor Chesa Boudin in a rare recall in 2022, and across the bay this year, the Oakland mayor is facing a recall election due in part to crime concerns.

In an interview, Breed, 50, said San Francisco is turning a corner — thanks to her hard work — and voters she meets are upbeat.

She championed a pair of successful public safety ballot measures in the March primary to expand police powers and compel some people into drug treatment. She ordered a crackdown on homeless tent encampments following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said bans on outdoor sleeping are allowed. Reported crime is down.

“We laid the groundwork, and now people are reaping the benefits of our infrastructure projects, the capacity we built and the technology we’re using to combat crime,” Breed said, adding that voters “know that someone’s in charge and making it happen.”

Farrell challenged that notion at a meeting with voters at a boisterous gastropub on a recent evening, saying Breed failed to maintain the streets he cleared of tents when he was interim mayor in 2018. Farrell, 50, was a city supervisor who served in the role for six months following the death of Mayor Ed Lee.

He envisions a San Francisco where police feel respected and older residents don’t have to hire private security when the city has a $15 billion annual budget.

“San Franciscans, given the state of our city right now, want not only a change of leadership, but a sense of direction for the city,” Farrell said in an interview this week.

Lurie, 47, says voters deserve a true public servant and that as a political outsider, he has the experience to overhaul corrupt government bureaucracy.

Voters are “desperate, desperate for someone that is going to come in there and bring accountability,” Lurie said.

As founder of the nonprofit Tipping Point Community, he says, he built tiny cabin shelters and permanent subsidized housing at a fraction of the cost and time that it would take City Hall.

Breed, Farrell and Lurie all have strong ties to wealthy business donors.

Lurie leads in fundraising with more than $13 million, including $1 million from his mother, businesswoman Miriam Haas, to an outside committee supporting his candidacy. Breed has collected more than $4.6 million, including $1.2 million from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, while Farrell has raised $3.5 million.

All three candidates also carry baggage.

Breed is embroiled in an unfolding scandal over financial mismanagement in the Dream Keeper Initiative, her marquee racial equity program for Black communities. The mayor says the program does good work.

Farrell has been accused by opponents of dodging campaign contribution limits by pooling staff and office costs with a campaign he established in support of a ballot measure, which can accept unlimited donations. Farrell says he is following the law.

And critics of Lurie say the affordable housing project his nonprofit built cannot be replicated citywide because it used a construction method opposed by local labor unions and required massive private investment. Lurie says naysayers will naysay.

San Francisco elects its mayor using a ranked choice voting system that could yield a winner who did does get the most first-place votes. It also can encourage unusual alliances between rival candidates and, indeed, this week Farrell and Safaí agreed to ask their supporters to make the other their No. 2 pick.

Breed won election as mayor in June 2018 to serve out the remainder of Lee’s term and was reelected in 2019 to a full term that has lasted five years instead of the typical four after voters changed the election calendar to line up with presidential contests.