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The Bryce Eldridge Watch is officially underway.
Eldridge moved a step closer to Oracle Park on Tuesday when the Giants promoted him from Double-A Richmond to Triple-A Sacramento.
The next step is crushing baseballs to all fields from the batter’s box at Third and King, and it’ll come at a time to be determined — the sooner the better for many Giants fans who are tired of the team’s constant offensive woes.
The Giants had a need for a big bat yesterday. They have a need for a big bat today. They’ll have a need for a big bat tomorrow. The trick is finding the best time and circumstance to call up the 20-year-old first baseman because once he’s up, the Giants want him up to stay.
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It’s a fine line between exercising patience with Eldridge’s development and aggressively beefing up an offense that has stopped producing —Tuesday night’s 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Padres was the latest example.
But one thing has become clear. The Giants aren’t committed to waiting until 2026 for their top prospect to make a splash. Or even September.
President of baseball operations Buster Posey hinted that Eldridge, the Giants’ first-round pick in 2023, 15 years after Posey himself was a first-rounder, doesn’t necessarily need to be in Sacramento long-term. The Giants might not be able to afford that luxury.
“I think all of these decisions and conversations are fluid,” Posey said. “Things can change. I still think that for Bryce, it’s best to get reps. But again, things change, so we just kind of will continue to have conversations and watch his progress.”
The 6-foot-7 Eldridge was hitting .280 at Richmond with a .350 on-base percentage, and an .862 OPS. He produced seven homers and eight doubles in 39 games. He joined the River Cats Tuesday in Sugar Land, Texas, for a weeklong series against the Astros’ top affiliate.
In conversations with Randy Winn and Kyle Haines, who oversee the farm system, Posey concluded that promoting Eldridge was “the natural progression, just to challenge him more, see some different pitching.”
The perception is that Pacific Coast League pitchers, with more advanced and powerful arsenals, will go after Eldridge differently, especially relievers with a higher degree of spin and velocity. It won’t be his first experience in Triple-A. He was with Sacramento for eight games in 2024 as part of his whirlwind season in which he played at all four minor-league levels plus the Arizona Fall League.
This time, it’s not an experiment as much as the final step on his journey to the big leagues.
“We’re monitoring his progress,” Posey said. “We most definitely want to put him in a position to succeed. But yeah, ultimately, the goal is to win games at the big-league level.”
That’s where Eldridge could make a difference. Tuesday’s loss extended the Giants’ streak of scoring four or fewer runs to 16 games, their longest such stretch since a 19-gamer in 1965. Heliot Ramos hit a two-run homer in the third, but closer Camilo Doval coughed up two runs in the ninth, and the Padres won it on Jake Cronenworth’s 10th-inning single.
The Giants have scored just 32 runs in the 16-game funk, their fewest over that many games since 1992. So, yeah, all eyes will be on Sacramento’s new first baseman. If Eldridge flourishes and the Giants’ offense continues to flounder, he might force the team’s hand.
Eldridge’s defense remains a work in progress. A pitcher and designated hitter in high school, he played the outfield in his first year in pro ball and took up first base last season. It hasn’t been a smooth transition, but he has made strides working with Will Clark, Joe Panik, and a slew of minor-league coaches.
“The most promising aspect of not only seeing it with your eyes that he’s getting better is just his willingness to work and willingness to take direction from the staff,” Posey said. “He’s just eager to learn, eager to get better. He wants to be great at it. He still has a lot of work to do. I think he knows that as well, but it’s nice that he’s moving in the right direction.”
The Giants have received little production from their first basemen, especially LaMonte Wade Jr. Casey Schmitt, a third baseman by trade, isn’t polished at the position. In recent days, the Giants released Sacramento first baseman Jake Lamb and called up Jerar Encarnación, paving the way for Eldridge’s arrival.
Tuesday, the Giants were contemplating the next step for Wade, who left Monday’s opener after getting drilled on his right hand. X-rays showed no break, just a contusion, and he tried doing some basic baseball drills to determine if he’s equipped to keep playing.
While the slumping Wade’s preference is to stay on the active roster, one option is to go on the injured list, which would give him a chance to exhale with a minor-league rehab assignment while trying to regain his groove and refresh his mind.
Posey hasn’t lost all faith in his former teammate, saying, “We’ve been as consistent with him as we have because of the track record, and there’s nothing saying that he can’t turn it around. … Look, I watched this guy play for quite a while now, and I know that it’s in there. We’ve just got to find a way to get more runs across the board as well as we’ve pitched.”
Encarnación, who was being primed as a first baseman in his short rehab stint at Sacramento, played right field for the Giants the past two nights and made a tremendous running catch Tuesday to rob Xander Bogaerts of extra bases and preserve a shutout bid by Landen Roupp.
Posey suggested it doesn’t matter where Encarnación plays as much as, “We’re just looking for offensive production. Obviously, it’s been a rough two and a half weeks, so we’re trying to find some ways to spark the offense.”
On the day Robbie Ray was named National League pitcher of the month for May, Roupp (1.73 ERA in five May starts) continued his own pitching dominance over 6 ⅓ scoreless innings. Doval’s meltdown was rare; he entered with a 20 ⅔-inning scoreless streak.
Along with Eldridge, the Giants promoted reliever Trent Harris to Triple-A after he posted a 1.69 ERA with 25 strikeouts and four walks in 16 innings at Richmond. Posey praised the right-hander’s “unique” breaking ball that keeps hitters off balance.