SAN FRANCISCO — Giants rookie first baseman Bryce Eldridge will have surgery to remove a bone spur in his left wrist, the Giants announced Wednesday.

The team expects Eldridge to need about eight weeks of rehab, so Eldridge will likely be ready for the beginning of spring training.  The surgery will be performed by Dr. Steven Shin in Los Angeles.

Eldridge, 20, missed the beginning of the minor-league season due to a left wrist injury and didn’t make his debut with Double-A Richmond until April 22. The Giants’ top prospect was called up to Triple-A Sacramento in June, then promoted to the majors in mid-September with 13 games remaining in the regular season.

Over 10 games with San Francisco, Eldridge went 3-for-28 (.107) with seven walks. Despite minimal offensive production, Eldridge impressed during his brief time with the Giants by making consistently hard contact and minimizing his chase rate.

Eldridge, who hit 54 homers over 249 games in the minors before his promotion, could open next season as the Giants’ starting first baseman. Buster Posey and Zack Minasian iterated during Wednesday’s end-of-season press conference that the team will wait until spring training to determine whether Eldridge, a first-round pick in the 2023 MLB draft, or Rafael Devers will get the bulk of playing time at first.

“I think we’ll try to stay open-minded,” said Minasian, the team’s general manager. “We’ll go into spring training with the idea of what’s best for the Giants and what’s best for Bryce. Hopefully for him, the offseason focus is just getting healthy, getting that wrist back to 100 percent, come to spring training ready to go and we’ll see where it goes and what the options are for us. I think he did a great job while he was here.”

“Like Zack said, I think we don’t get too far ahead of that one,” said Posey, the team’s president of baseball operations. “I thought Bryce — I was really impressed. I thought he looked really good at first. I know he’s been working his tail off to improve his defense. I thought Devers got more comfortable at first. It’s a good problem to have, to have two guys that you’re really excited about that are left-handed power bats.”

With Devers and Eldridge in the mix, it’s difficult to imagine the Giants having room on their roster for either Wilmer Flores and Dominic Smith, both of whom are free agents. Minasian said he wouldn’t “close the door” on Smith, citing his performance and prior experience in the outfield.

It will be interesting to see what the Giants prioritize next spring when determining whether the 20-year-old Eldridge or 28-year-old Devers (they both celebrate birthdays this month) get more playing time at first base.

Eldridge, at least statistically, made significant strides defensively in his second full season at first base. After making 18 errors over 100 minor-league games in ’24, Eldridge only committed nine errors over 96 combined games in the majors and minors in ’25. Along with his towering six-foot-seven frame, Eldridge, a former two-way player, has an above-average arm.

“I think I could go out and play an above-average first base in the big leagues. That’s how I feel,” Eldridge said before his debut in September. “I think a lot of people downplay, maybe not the work I’ve done on defense, but how well I think I’ve done on defense. I think I’ve had a great year over there.

“Everything that was advertised is what we’re seeing,” Devers said of Eldridge through team interpreter Erwin Higueros. “He’s really good. He has a lot of power. He’s been playing really good first base. You look at the numbers in the minor leagues, they will translate to this level.”

Devers, for his part, looked good at first base despite having no prior experience to playing the position. He went through his share of growing pains but finished the season worth +2 defensive runs saved (but -1 outs above average) over 29 games.

“Nothing has been discussed yet, but I’m ready to play anywhere they want me to (play),” Devers said through team interpreter Erwin Higueros. “That’s not my decision. That’s management’s decision. They’re going to decide where I play.”

Originally Published: October 1, 2025 at 10:23 AM PDT