The San Francisco Giants have called up first baseman Bryce Eldridge, one of the top hitting prospects in baseball, the team announced ahead of Monday’s contest against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In corresponding moves, the Giants optioned outfielder Luis Matos and designated spare infielder Brett Wisely for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-player roster.
At midseason, CBS Sports ranked Eldridge as the No. 15 prospect in all of baseball. Here’s part of R.J. Anderson’s write-up:
Eldridge, who recently received the call to Triple-A, is a 6-foot-7 lefty whose immediate pathway to a big-league job became more complicated with the Rafael Devers trade. I have to imagine he’s still the long-term plan at first base for the Giants — beginning, perhaps, as soon as later this summer. For now, there’s no harm in letting him have more time to develop given that his upside is a slugging first baseman with walks and strikeouts aplenty.
Eldridge, who doesn’t turn 21 until Oct. 20, is a former No. 16 overall pick out of a Virginia high school. This season, he’s split time between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. In 100 combined games at those levels, he’s slashed .259/.331/.513 with 25 home runs and 21 doubles. He’s also shown elite exit velocities (95.7 mph on average) and hard-hit rates (63.5% of his batted balls have left the bat at 95 mph or greater). For his minor-league career, Eldridge has an OPS of .873 across parts of three seasons.
In San Francisco, he’ll be thrust into a heated race for the third and final wild card spot in the National League. The Giants at 75-74 trail the Mets by 1 ½ games in that race, and the Reds also remain in the mix. The Giants have struggled to get reliable production from first base this season, as their first basemen have combined for an OPS of just .614 this season. That’s inadequate for a bat-first position, and the hope is that Eldridge provides an immediate upgrade.
