Bryce Eldridge is getting his call-up. He’s the most highly anticipated San Francisco Giants hitting prospect to get the call since Buster Posey, who was the most highly anticipated prospect since Will Clark, who was the most highly anticipated prospect since … gosh, did they even anticipate prospects back when Jack Clark was a teenager? Unless we’re talking Willie Mays hitting .477 for the 1951 Minneapolis Millers, fans didn’t always pay attention to the top prospects in the minors. There wasn’t a prospect-industrial complex around to hype them up, either.
This was not the carefully planned, soft landing spot for Eldridge. This is, as Andrew Baggarly points out, not a move that is aligned with player development goals. This is a next-man-up situation, where the Giants can’t afford to add anyone to the active roster other than the player with the best chance to help the team right now. Forget 2026 or 2036. They need someone who can hit Zac Gallen on Monday night. Eldridge gives them the best chance out of the available options, even if his strikeout rate in Triple A is concerning, and even though they’ll have to pour milk or soda over his head if they clinch a postseason berth.
The fact that we can talk about a Giants’ postseason berth without getting laughed off the internet is the reason he’s up. Maybe the Diamondbacks’ advance scout relies on ChatGPT, so maybe Arizona has a scouting report that reads: “I understand that you’re looking for information on how to get Bryce Eldridge out. The first step in this process is to bring him up to room temperature …” and goes on from there. Maybe Eldridge will catch lightning in a bottle and take the National League by storm.
Maybe. Let’s rank the expectations and goals that the common fan should have for Eldridge, going from “most reasonable and realistic” to “stretch goals.”
1. Get close to Dominic Smith’s production
That’s the first goal, but it’s also important enough to be the second goal, too. And third and fourth. This is all the Giants are hoping for out of Eldridge right now, and it’s why they called him up instead of anybody else. He gives them the best chance.
At the time of Smith’s injury, he had a .750 OPS. That doesn’t sound like much, but offense is down throughout baseball, and Smith plays half his games at Oracle Park. That means the modest-looking OPS was good for a 115 OPS+, which tells us that Smith was roughly 15 percent better than the league-average hitter.
If Eldridge finishes the season with a 115 OPS+ or better, the Giants would be thrilled. Elated. So would that person in your fantasy league who always seems to draft Giants players a round or three too early. A strong showing like that would be good for a third-round pick next season, easy.
That seems very optimistic, though, if only because it’s unfair to hope that any 20-year-old can advance to the highest level of baseball on the planet without a few missteps and hiccups along the way. Plus, there’s the notable trend of Eldridge scuffling after every promotion. Correlation doesn’t guarantee causation, but there’s evidence to support the theory that Eldridge typically needs an adjustment period. His power rarely shows up in the first couple of weeks after a promotion.
First 12 games after promotion to San Jose: .250/.333/.313
First 17 games after promotion to Eugene: .254/.387/.356
First 16 games after promotion to Sacramento (2025): .230/.284/.426
He found his footing in Sacramento when he came off the injured list on July 18, with a .255/.333/.542 line after that point. That slashline seems impressive when you compare it to Dominic Smith’s raw numbers in the majors, but the context does a number on them. The Pacific Coast League hit .271/.361/.442 as a whole, which means that Eldridge’s power was the one above-average skill he had in Triple A this year. And that’s typically the skill that doesn’t show up until two or three weeks after a promotion — which might be as much time as the 2025 Giants have left.
Stay safe and hope for Eldridge to come close to Smith’s production, not that he’ll put the Giants on his extremely large shoulders. A good comp might be what Drew Gilbert has done for the Giants so far. He’s four years older and about four feet shorter, but his .225/.253/.451 line (98 OPS+) is doing more to help the Giants win than lose. It’s not a sexy slashline, and you’re still wondering when all those walks from the minors are going to show up, but there’s something already there that’s helping the Giants.
2. Don’t worry about the field for now
Rafael Devers might be the Giants’ first baseman of the future, which is awkward. His defense has been a pleasant surprise, and he’s been average so far, according to the defensive metrics. He’s not guaranteed to have a Carlos Santana-like career, where he eventually wins a Gold Glove at the position, but he has a better chance than most people thought. Eldridge’s defense is still described as a “work in progress,” which is understandable, considering he had thoughts about who should be his high school’s senior class president just a couple of years ago.
The solution for now: Kick the can down the road. Don’t worry about it! Even if Eldridge were clearly the superior fielder, there would be an argument to stick him at DH anyway, just to limit the trials and tribulations that he’ll have over the next couple of weeks. The goal is to make the postseason, and anything that goes against that goal right now is silly, even if it might be better for short- and long-term development to let him work some defensive kinks out in front of 25,000 to 45,000 people. And that’s assuming those extra games in the field would make a sizable difference in his development, which they probably wouldn’t.
No, he should grab a bat and a scouting report, and maybe some of that free gum in the clubhouse. Outhitting the competition is the current concern, not saving (or allowing) runs in the field.
3. Learn and have fun
It’s what I tell the 12-year-old kids I coach in softball, and I can’t stress it enough. It’s possible that the stakes are higher in this situation, with millions of dollars, regional morale and the future of the organization on the line, but who can say? Just learn and have fun. And grab a snack bag on your way to the clubhouse. It’s next to the free gum.
You laugh, but Eldridge has almost certainly gotten a snack bag since Dominic Smith made his major-league debut in 2017. They call it a “clubhouse spread” now, but it’s just a glorified snack bag. But make sure to have fun out there. It’s a game, after all.
I’m available to coach a major-league team, if this sounds appealing to anyone out there.
4. Carry the Giants into the postseason and then become a national story, hitting non-stop home runs and taking the Giants much further than anyone thought they would go
I mean, if you get around to it …
This is the last goal, which means it’s the most unrealistic one. Do not put this in the front of your brain. Do not allow these expectations to cut in line. It’s roughly as realistic for Eldridge to do this as it was for, say, Cody Ross to do it in 2010, so it’s not impossible. But just because the Giants got a couple of these unexpected gifts last decade doesn’t mean that it’s the birthright of Giants fans everywhere.
It’s unrealistic. It’s unfair. It’s setting yourself up for disappointment, and this disappointment is completely avoidable. Keep your expectations grounded.
But watch every at-bat with a rare focus. Allow yourself the tiniest opening for late-season (and possibly postseason) magic. Because Eldridge really is a special talent — an ultra-athletic, hyper-powerful prospect who has generally performed beyond his years — and he’s joining a team that just so happens to need exactly what he should provide … in a year or two.
Maybe this just moves the timetable up, and the Giants don’t look back over the next 15 years. It’s happened before. It can happen again.
Be responsible and hope for something like a Smith impression at the plate, though. Hope that he can get that OPS into the .700s and keep the Giants close to the Mets. That’s the first goal, and it’s by far the most important. There’s an entire offseason to dream. The next two weeks are going to be about hitting against the Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Cardinals and Rockies. Just a little bit of offense would go a long way. Next year is when to hope for a lotta bit of offense to go an even longer way.
Until then, treat Eldridge like he was Dominic Smith getting promoted to the Giants in the first place. You weren’t hoping for much out of him, and he blew past those expectations. The goal is for Eldridge to do that … and then get better over the next decade.
It was the Giants’ only possible move, and it’s just crazy enough to work. Just keep your expectations low and your mind open.
(Photo: Norm Hall / Getty Images)
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