SF Giants pop-up outfield prospect caps off solid season with strong AFL finish

There were not many prospects in the SF Giants farm system who opened more eyes than Trent Harris and Bo Davidson this season. The latter continued his strong 2024 campaign with a solid finish to the AFL season.

SF Giants pop-up outfield prospect caps off solid season with strong AFL finish

The Giants can only hand out so many camp invites, but I would guess that Harris is among the recipients. The undrafted free agent posted a1.81 ERA with 105 strikeouts and 25 walks in 79.2 innings split across three levels in 2024. He finished the year with the Richmond Flying Squirrels after a late-season promotion to Double-A.

Similar to Harris, Davidson was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in 2023. It is tough for prospects with no draft pedigree to make a name for themselves, but it is even tougher for undrafted free agents to stand out from the crowd.

It happens sometimes. With scouts scouring the country in search of talent, they often get who they targeted through the draft. However, teams will sign a handful of undrafted free agents to round out minor league rosters.

In the early going, Davidson has quickly exceeded the expectations that come with being signed as an undrafted free agent. The left-handed bat got off to a slow start in the California League but finished the year on a tear.

Overall, he slashed .328/.438/.608 (173 wRC+) with nine home runs, 40 RBI and 40 runs in 226 plate appearances. Oftentimes, when a college bat hits this well in Low-A, it does not garner much attention because they are a bit too old for the league. While Davidson was still old for the league, he faced off against plenty of similarly-aged competition.

Davidson missed considerable time in the middle of the year while on the injured list and had a brief stint on the shelf later on as well. This likely led to him being invited to the AFL as teams will use this as a way to augment missed repetitions from the regular season.

The outfield prospect was among a group of Giants prospects led by Bryce Eldridge to play for the Scottsdale Scorpions. While Eldridge's time in the AFL was cut short as the organization was satisfied with his progress, Davidson finished the year with the Scorpions. He registered a solid .293/.373/.448 line with one home run and nine RBI in 67 plate appearances for the Scorpions.

Davidson's strong regular season carried over into the prospect-heavy AFL. Given how he performed this past year, there where be much more attention on him when next season gets underway.