How Can the Giants Make Sure Bryce Eldridge Is Here to Stay?
The top prospect has been recalled after impressing in Triple-A. Even with a crowded infield, the Giants are hoping he's here to stay.
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One could argue that Bryce Eldridge is the best prospect the San Francisco Giants have seen since the guy who’s now calling the shots — Buster Posey.
Sure, names like Marco Luciano or Joey Bart had their moments as top-tier prospects, but both clearly had flaws in their game that kept them from becoming impactful big leaguers.
With how often the organization has hindered the development of young talent and missed in the first round of recent drafts, they can’t afford to screw this one up. When combined with his age of just 21 years old, Eldridge’s talent, which is led by his power, provides real optimism of a player who can dramatically change the future of the franchise.
In the midst of one of the worst offensive starts in San Francisco’s history, they decided to recall the top prospect on Sunday evening after a winless road trip on the east coast.
Whether it was a decision based off his Triple-A production or desperation for an offensive spark plug, the Giants are hoping that this time, Eldridge is up for good.
Stats were taken prior to play on May 5.
Perfect Timing?
When Eldridge failed to make the Opening Day roster out of spring training, the front office made it clear that they wanted him to be scorching at the plate when they finally decided to make the call.
With how he’s performed over the last few weeks, it makes sense that we’re seeing the towering first baseman now. Since April 10, Eldridge is slashing .348/.430/.551 with four home runs. Those numbers place him towards the top of the Pacific Coast League with a 160 wRC+ and .981 OPS.
Eldridge was still striking out 29.9% of the time in Triple-A, but he mitigated that with an impressive 14.6% walk rate. Standing at 6-foot-7, it appears that the Giants have finally accepted that the whiff and strikeout problems are always going to be apart of his game.
The real question is whether he’ll be able to out slug those concerns and become a staple in the middle of their lineup.
What’s the Issue?
Clearly, San Francisco wants Eldridge to play as much as possible. They envisioned that when he got called up this season, it would be the last time.
While there’s some seasoning that still needs to take place, they now think that can happen at the big-league level. The problem? San Francisco doesn’t just have a crowded infield, they have an expensive one.
Rafael Devers, Willy Adames, and Matt Chapman are the stars of this roster and are all getting paid like it. However, none of them are performing as such. By wRC+, the leaders of this team are the three worst qualified hitters on the roster.
Naturally, we can assume that they’ll get going relatively soon based off their track records, but there’s a variable that San Francisco could not have predicted. Due to the crowded infield, Casey Schmitt has been the designated hitter for the majority of the year thus far.
Going into the season, we would’ve guessed that’s where Eldridge could split time with Rafael Devers once he was called up. However, the Giants can’t afford to take Schmitt’s bat out of the lineup due to the fact that he has been their best hitter by a wide margin.
Schmitt’s .901 OPS is 162 points higher than the second-best qualified hitter on the Giants — Luis Arraez, who currently holds a .739 OPS.
When asked about the situation, Giants’ president of baseball operations Buster Posey made one thing clear: Schmitt’s playing time isn’t going anywhere.
“Casey has been playing well. I don’t think he should be punished because others have not played well. It’s going to be a little bit of mixing and matching and trying to get some matchups that are favorable for us with Casey in there, and he’s shown in the past that he can move around and play some different positions.”
– Buster Posey via NBCSBA’s Alex Pavlovic
This leaves a tricky situation for first-year manager Tony Vitello. Do you sit one your veteran, highly-paid infielders on a nightly basis in order to keep both Schmitt and Eldridge in the lineup? Do you throw one of Schmitt or Eldridge in left field and take at-bats away from Heliot Ramos?
Either way, it’s time for a change. The Giants offense has been the worst in baseball by a wide margin.
We have officially entered the Bryce Eldridge era in San Francisco, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. With the best power tool in the minor leagues, he looks to be the boost this clubhouse and lineup needs to finally get going.
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Michael Monreal got his start in baseball media when he started his own website covering the San Francisco Giants after playing two years of college baseball.…