{"id":567691,"date":"2026-02-12T06:37:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T06:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/567691\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T06:37:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T06:37:25","slug":"bryce-eldridge-to-have-outfield-glove-mailed-to-him-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/567691\/","title":{"rendered":"Bryce Eldridge to have outfield glove mailed to him"},"content":{"rendered":"

The buzz out of Spring Training camp today came from the news that Bryce Eldridge will get some work out in left field. The Giants\u2019 San Francisco Chronicle beat writer Shayna Rubin has the full breadth of the story summed up in this social media post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s a sweet capper to the story and I hope there\u2019s a follow-up question in a couple of days asking what treat or gift his mom packed along with the glove.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

But the news is not a total shocker. Eldridge began his pro career getting some time in right field for the ACL Giants and San Jose Giants. He was also a pitcher. So, you know, he\u2019s an athlete. And he\u2019s just 21 years old. Trying him around the diamond \u2014 especially during Spring Training \u2014 just makes a lot of sense.<\/p>\n

Rafael Devers ought to be slated as the starting first baseman specifically because he\u2019s just 29 years old. Having lived through my twenties and now thirties, I have to say that people should wring as much physical activity out of their twenties as possible. I am of the belief that Devers\u2019 1,270 games at third base makes him a great candidate to play most of the time at first base, and while he wasn\u2019t amazing last season in the brief sampling he had with the Giants, he looked physically capable over there. Penciling him in there for the bulk of the work makes all the sense in the world. Rafael Devers isn\u2019t baseball young and not nearly as young Eldridge, but he\u2019s still young, so use the youth!<\/p>\n

The Devers situation makes the Giants\u2019 decision to callup Bryce Eldridge at the end of 2025 all the more questionable. He was already struggling at first base in the minor leagues. The team didn\u2019t put him in the outfield after 2023. On top of that, he didn\u2019t need to be added to the 40-man roster until after the 2027 season. So now, the Giants find themselves with the unenviable task of having to develop a 21-year old position player.<\/p>\n

Developing position players of any age has been tough for the franchise since their move to San Francisco and it\u2019s not a scenario any reasonable person should expect to work out well, even if you are feeling generous towards the Giants. Most prospects don\u2019t pan out. There are already whispers that Eldridge isn\u2019t going to be close to the player the Giants had hoped for \u2014 unless you want to discount Eno Sarris entirely<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There was already a lot of hype for and pressure on Eldridge, but with the September callup it would appear the Giants have transferred that pressure from the player and onto themselves. Maybe almost entirely. The Giants are tying up a roster spot on a 21 year old DH\/1B unless Tony Vitello college coaches him up to being a good enough defender to be flexible for left field, too. That doesn\u2019t seem like a guarantee, not only because Vitello has a whole roster to worry about, but because he\u2019s aware that Eldridge is still very much a prospect. In response to a question<\/a> about him being on the Opening Day roster, Vitello said of Eldridge:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s amazing that he was able to accomplish what he did last year but for right now I think he\u2019s just got to mature as a player. He\u2019s incredibly mature as a kid. But repetitions and conversations and just maturing so that he\u2019s a complete player I think is the key to him becoming the best version of himself. And if he becomes the best version of himself [\u2026] he\u2019s around the Giants pretty danged often and maybe even Opening Day.<\/p>\n

So, now the Giants have to find field time for him to keep him in the lineup to see if he\u2019ll hit his way onto the Opening Day roster. If he does, then that means the Giants have a meaningful power threat in their lineup. They also set themselves up for an extra draft pick through the Prospect Promotion Incentive<\/a>. If it doesn\u2019t work out it might become a reflection on the player down the road (especially if Eno Sarris\u2019s prediction proves correct), but let\u2019s not forget that the Giants have rushed him along because he\u2019s the one prospect in several years that the industry has mostly agreed is a good one and has the type of (theoretical) power the lineup has sorely lacked since the championship era.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The other part of this that I think is worth exploring is what happens if Eldridge does stick and proves capable in left field. What happens with the outfield then? Does Jung Hoo Lee get more time in center than Buster Posey envisioned when they signed Harrison Bader? Does Heliot Ramos DH a lot more? All of that would seem to fall in \u201cgood problem to have\u201d territory, but I can\u2019t imagine Eldridge\u2019s defensive ceiling being enough to supplant any of the current options, even if the bat plays. But at the same time, an outfield of Eldridge, Lee, and Ramos sounds, uh, pretty good \u2014 if all three hit to their expectations. I would hope that the Giants are trying to see if there\u2019s something to Eldridge in the outfield that can actually stick, because making a 6\u20197\u201d left-handed power hitter some sort of utility player strikes me as something that would\u2019ve been condemned by most of the fandom had it been the plan of the previous front office, and it doesn\u2019t seem like making a prospect positionless puts a prospect in the best position to succeed.<\/p>\n

Eldridge could wind up as a left-handed Aaron Judge, who didn\u2019t become AARON JUDGE until his age-25 season. So, development isn\u2019t linear and it usually takes a decent amount of time. I\u2019m not sure where \u201cfinding extra playing time for a prospect who has been rushed through the minors\u201d falls, exactly. Is it evidence of desperation and they\u2019re just trying to find something that makes him fit on the roster or are they simply trying to give him as many reps against major league competition as possible to aid in his development?<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s why we true baseball sickos watch Spring Training: to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The buzz out of Spring Training camp today came from the news that Bryce Eldridge will get some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2408],"tags":[106,5,710,6595,2178,68670,162,365,851,375,4,863,378,66,47026,4343,4340,4344,4341,4342,151,67,852,5824],"class_list":{"0":"post-567691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-aaron-judge","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-bryce-eldridge","11":"tag-buster-posey","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-eakin-howard-imagn","14":"tag-giants","15":"tag-harrison-bader","16":"tag-heliot-ramos","17":"tag-jung-hoo-lee","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-rafael-devers","20":"tag-san-francisco","21":"tag-san-francisco-giants","22":"tag-san-jose-giants","23":"tag-sanfrancisco","24":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","25":"tag-sf","26":"tag-sf-giants","27":"tag-sfgiants","28":"tag-spring-training","29":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","30":"tag-the-giants","31":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116056284914136769","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}