The Giants optioned rookie first baseman Bryce Eldridge, the team informed reporters (including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). San Francisco also optioned second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald and outfielder Grant McCray.
Eldridge will open the season in the minors after finishing the ’25 season on the MLB roster. The 21-year-old top prospect made his big league debut in September. He played in 10 games and took 37 plate appearances, batting .107 without a home run. Eldridge took seven walks but struck out 13 times.
A 6’7″ power bat, Eldridge popped 25 homers in the upper minors last year. He combined for a .260/.333/.510 batting line across 433 trips. Eldridge spent the majority of the year as one of the youngest players in Triple-A. There’s immense physical upside, but he’s clearly far from a finished product. Eldridge struck out in more than 29% of his minor league plate appearances.
The whiffs have remained an issue this spring. Eldridge has fanned in 19 of his 50 exhibition plate appearances. He’s second (behind former Giants first-round pick James Tibbs III) in strikeouts among Spring Training hitters. It’s understandable the team feels he’d benefit from more reps against Triple-A pitching.
While Eldridge is surely disappointed not to have made his first Opening Day roster, it’s not exactly a career setback. Most hitters his age aren’t in consideration to break camp. He’ll very likely be back up at some point this season.
The demotion will probably have service time implications. He has 14 days of big league time, meaning he’d need to spend 158 days on the MLB roster to reach one year of service at season’s end. That won’t happen unless he’s called up before the end of April. It’s not a case of service time manipulation, to be clear. If the Giants were primarily concerned with that, they wouldn’t have promoted him last season (earlier than they needed to select him onto the 40-man roster).
The Giants are likely bypassing the chance at getting a Prospect Promotion Incentive draft pick, though it’d technically still be in play if they recall him within the first couple weeks. The PPI pick is conditional on awards voting, though, and Eldridge’s strikeout rates are concerning enough that he’d have an uphill path to winning Rookie of the Year. The primary focus is what the team thinks best for his development.
Rafael Devers will be the primary first baseman. The Giants don’t have a set designated hitter with Eldridge in the minors. There’s now more of a path to carrying both Luis Matos and Jerar Encarnación on the active roster. Both players are out of options and would otherwise need to be traded or exposed to waivers.
Casey Schmitt and a backup catcher (likely Rule 5 draftee Daniel Susac) are going to have bench spots. That’d leave one position player spot available between Will Brennan, Drew Gilbert, Christian Koss or a non-roster invitee. Corner bat Victor Bericoto and speedy outfielder Jared Oliva are among the minor league invites who have impressed this spring.
Great potential
Very young
But not ready for the majors
Very little discipline at the plate
I don’t see the potential. I see a tall, lanky fellow that’ll never be able to hit consistently.
Time will Judge
I wouldn’t call Judge lanky.
He crushed it in the minors at a rly young age and at high levels. Arguably the best power of any prospect today.
Buuut he strikes out a ton. And didnt do much in a late sept call up. Probly not gonna hit more than .250. Playing in a pitchers park 81 games doesnt help either. But maybe 30 hr at some point?
Yep, Richie Sexton was terrible
Just a bit late for the three true outcomes approach…
@sadler So he doesn’t pass your eye test? Wow, I guess there’s really no hope for him then.
It’s his lack of being able to hit the baseball that I don’t like. Hitting .250 in the PCL is pretty bad.
He was 20 years old in last year AAA.
Jerar will hold his spot on the roster until he slumps, or Bryce forces the issue.
And Koss had his spot sewed up way before Schmitt which apparently Anthony did not realize.
But all those naysayers about Eldridge will be eating their words soon enough. The guy is so young. He’ll be fine.
I’ve been rooting for Matos over Jerar. Matos is still young and seems more well-rounded.
Jerar seems like another low avg, streaky guy with just enough pop for them to keep giving him a try.
A 40% strike out rate is a hard no.
Yeah that’s tough. He probably makes it even if that k% would’ve been cut down to 30%.
30% is five less strikeouts in S.T. I don’t think it’s a factor.
Bryce and Jackson seems to be a very popular name these days. I’ve seen a lot of Cade’s and Kaden’s too.
Waiting for the day we see a player named Jackson Bryce (last name here)
It’s the right move. No need to rush him (like Luciano and Matos) and spoil his development.
Teams that relentlessly promote guys so they’re “two years younger than their level” and the like, pay the price often. Eldridge has always had a big K problem, and pure TTO hitters like him just don’t produce enough to be an elite MLB first baseman. He’s not close, and Giants fans are delusional if they think he is.
He’s a top prospect. These guys are normally among the youngest players at every level they reach. You’re delusional if you’ve already written him off as a bust.
F he was my first pick in fantasy league this year!
Your 1st pick was Richard First and we all know it.
Richard Fitts. Autocorrect fixed that for me three times before I could get it right.
Saw that name this morning and it made me laugh
In other rather surprising former Giant news Wilmer Flores signed in Mexico for this season just today. I’m kind of shocked nobody ended up offering him a big league deal but I’m guessing he will try to mash down there and get some better offers mid season.
Wow seems like he’d still be pretty helpful for many clubs. Whenever we had a RISP, I always wanted him at the plate.
Tyler Fitzgerald just has not shown back up his soft hitting wont play well — he should go to that Driveline to hit harder
Maybe Eldridge should too they may be able to correct his whiff rates
Don’t worry about Eldridge.
When is last time a Rule 5 draft pick became a back up catcher? Usually see teams keep a pitcher they picked on roster more than a position player.
The Giants did it in 2023 with Blake Sabol
Liam Hicks just last year with the Marlins was their backup catcher and will serve that role this year as well.
One big difference is Sabol and Hicks also played other positions. I guess Susac could end up playing some 1B and DH this season. If the A’s can move Soderstrom to LF, I guess anything is possible for a catcher they didn’t put on roster to protect from the rule 5.
Susac, Schmitt, Matos, and Brennan would be my guess for the bench
Koss
They could option Schmitt, whose wrist might still not be 100%. Koss has had a great spring.
I sure liked Bericoto. He raked this spring. Basabe and Olivawere fun to watch as well.
Been an eventful spring this year.
remember spring training is “Practice”
I have seen plenty ty cobbs or babe ruths coming swinging hard during spring then real game comes they look overmatched at the plate.
I remember a guy back in the 70’s growing up. Randy Elliott. His spring training was incredible. Hit over.500 with a bunch of homers and great D. As soon as the bell rang… career -1.7 WAR.
I just said they were fun to watch.
Randy had his best year with SFG yet they kept LeMaster and his mighty 12 years -5.4 WAR
Johnny “Disaster”! He wore “Boo” on the back of his jersey one day!
Spencer Jones 2.0
I had liked Eldridge as a potential RoY candidate, seems unlikely with how his spring went.
Johstnyxon Garcia at improved his odds as did Carson Benge. McClain is still the pick.
If he’s like all the other recent Giants position-player prospects not named Posey, Eldridge will flame out and either: (1) sink out of sight, or (2) become an All-Star somewhere else…
Eldridge ‘could’ be an issue. He had issues in AA, AAA and MLB last year, and his ST was awful. OTOH, he was promoted at (too) early an age, so he has some developmental time. Probably should’ve stuck with AA a while longer.
@JoeBrady
Puzzled by your take
If your point was BE has a strikeout problem that is obvious
But his OPS in AA and AAA were well into the .800’s and his hard hit rate was 70% where average is 40%
His small sample size in MLB showed an elite average exit velocity
His demotion may be more to see who Jerar E is than about Eldridge
His hard hit
Anthing is possible. I just find those K-rates don’t usually work. I said that about Adell and Angels fans were taking out the pitchforks. And Jordan Walker. And currently, Eldridge and Lawler.
Yeah, those 37 bombs hit by Adell last year didn’t work at all.
I guess that you didn’t get my point. At age 26, he became a passable player (1.2 bWAR). But at age 21, he wasn’t a good player.
Adell has only two service years left, and has accumulated a career 0.6 bWAR.
Got to make contact to achieve consistent exit velos though js…
Joe, His K rate is too high, but it’s not definitive that he’ll be another Jo Adell. Aaron Judge, in admittedly a small sample, had a 44.2% SO rate at age 24. In a larger sample, ages 24-27, he had a SO rate of 31.4%. Eldridge has struck out at a 35.1% rate.
Judge has reduced his SOs to less than 25% over the last 2 years. We’ll see if Eldridge can reduce his. I’m not comparing them, since Judge has a lot of defensive value that Eldridge lacks. Eldridge is no Aaron Judge, but if Eldridge can be half the hitter Judge is, he’ll have a fine career.
Plenty of people wanting Eldridge to fail. Unsurprising. Just another Tuesday in baseball fandom.
Another guy people expected in the majors too soon.
People just lose their minds over prospects now instead of letting them appear in their own time. Probably because of all the MiLB games that are televised now. Guys look great but people don’t realize that is MiLB rather than big league competition.
It looks like Jerar, Matos, Koss and Schmitt for the bench. Jerar, Arraez and Schmitt can back up Devers at first and rotate at DH with Devers.
Bericoto has had the best spring on the team. If Matos or Jerar gets traded, he’d be my choice over Brennan.
People hating on Eldridge are idiots. He was 20 years old last year.
They aren’t hating. Pointing out his rather high K-rate is what rational people do. The number of times I’ve seen this over the past 30 years is too high to count.
Maybe you can explain it too me, but I don’t have the foggiest idea why a fan wouldn’t want to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their own prospects.
Most of them are. You are extremely naive if you don’t recognise that. Anyhow, he is 20. If writing off highly rated 20yo’s is your thing, so be it. Stellar crystal ball work if you turn out to be right.
As a RS, I am concerned about KC. And I had concerns about Chavis and Dalbec. OTOH, I had all but given up on Duran. Just talking BB.
I get it. It’s the age that gets me. Would be still playing at college in a normal world ?
I’m sure there’s been a few 20yo with high early SO rates that have gone on to meet expectations. Give the boy a chance !
In Brennan’s favor is he is the only LH bat of the group and is the only true CF. Plus he has veteran status and is quietly having a really good spring.
I forgot about handedness. Had Matos as favourite. But yeah. Could be in trouble.
You forgot about a Catcher.
Bench should be Susac, Schmitt, Brennan,
And Koss.
Encarnacion’s ability to DH play 1B, and Corner OF is trouble for Matos.
Yes Koss.
You mean Jerar can play IB, while Matos can’t/hasn’t. Not sure that’s enough for them to go with him over Matos. Matos can also DH. Arraez and Schmitt can play 1B, as well as Eldridge when he’s recalled. If it comes down to Jerar or Matos, IMO they aren’t going with Jerar.
Posey has made it clear that prospects have to earn their spot on the team. Too many under previous FO were rushed, Luciano and Bart among others, and set up for failure. Doesn’t mean he won’t be up this year, maybe sooner then later, but he still needs more development.
The decision might’ve been forced by the addition of Arraez. Tough to sign someone for $12M and have him sit on the bench.
They should have traded him while they had the chance. He’s going to end up a k machine at the plate and a dud
As someone who listened to every SF Giants Cactus League games this year (and saw 10 Giants spring training games in person):
Victor Bericoto + Jared Oliva > Luis Matos + Jerar Encarnación
For once, I wish the Giants wouldn’t overcomplicate matters, and just ride the hot hands. Oliva was amazing in CF and on the base paths. Bericoto was the best Giants hitter all spring.
Are the Giants really worried about losing Matos and/or Encarnación on the waiver wires? Would other MLB teams really be falling over themselves to claim these two fringe talents?
First of all ST stats are small samples, and can be very misleading. The Giants aren’t going to risk losing 2 players based on ST performance. There are too many variables in ST, like all the MiL pitchers guys will face. And ML pitchers don’t care that much if someone gets hits off them if they’re working on a particular pitch.
Encarnacion and Matos aren’t equal. For one thing Jerar is 4 years older. You may be correct about Jerar, but I have no doubt Matos would be claimed in an instant. The Giants would look really stupid if they lost Matos on waivers, and he went on to have a big season, and Bericoto cooled off facing ML pitching every day.
I like what I saw in Bericoto, but scouts have ranked Matos at 60 power, and 55 overall, while Bericoto has a 45 power ranking and a 40 overall. I do like Matos more than others, and think a breakout this season is possible.
Teams just don’t let players go, when others can be optioned. If they did it locks them in to certain players without alternatives when there’s injury or performance issues. If someone falters Bericoto or Oliva can be called up. Their choice just gives them flexibility.
I appreciate your optimism in Luis Matos. Wish I shared it.
Well, no other way to say it; I was as wrong as wrong can be. As a fan all I have to go on are the numbers. Matos’ numbers at the same ages in both MiL and MLB are much better than Ramos’. The Giants’ FO are the experts, and I am definitely not. I would love to know the thought process behind the decision.