Bryce Eldridge, SF Giants’ top prospect, makes big first impression in 2025

SAN FRANCISCO Delayed by a wrist injury to start the season Bryce Eldridge didn t waste any time making up for lost time The Giants -year-old top prospect made his season debut for Double-A Richmond on Tuesday and homered in his first at-bat Batting cleanup the -foot- first baseman led off the second inning by using his left-handed swing to deposit a low-and-away latest ball over the right-center field wall All right well get him here now manager Bob Melvin joked before the big-league club hosted the Milwaukee Brewers Eldridge s home run happened moments before the manager took his seat in the dugout for his pregame media session and Melvin watched it for the first time on a reporter s phone He looked up before the highlight was over I don t need to see where it landed he commented The ball easily cleared the wall and landed in the Flying Squirrels bullpen but Melvin is already acquainted with the prodigious power of the club s first-round draft pick Invited to major-league spring training for the first time this year Eldridge made a similar first impression homering in his second at-bat Eldridge however was slowed after that by inflammation in his wrist which resulted in him remaining in Arizona for extending spring training It wasn t a given that Eldridge would begin the season at Double-A after he advanced through four levels in and ended the year at Triple-A Sacramento When the regular season was over he was assigned to the Arizona Fall League but was shut down after games Eldridge hit with home runs in at-bats across all levels in but only reached Richmond during the final month of the season playing all but of his games for Single-A San Jose and High-A Eugene As far as when he could arrive in San Francisco Melvin explained We ll take a hard look at him and hope he gets off to a good start does his thing and see where it goes from there Moments later the manager watched the clip of Eldridge going deep Not a bad start Let s see how his second at-bat goes Melvin cracked Considered the No prospect in the sport by Baseball America and No by MLB com Eldridge s arrival has been highly anticipated ever since the ball jumped off his bat during his rookie league debut months after the Giants drafted him th overall as a prep two-way participant The Giants have gotten chosen of the least production in the majors out of first base so far this season but Melvin expressed confidence that LaMonte Wade Jr would turn it around Their first basemen have been the sixth-least valuable of any crew led by Wade who entered Tuesday batting with a OPS The designated hitter spot is more settled with Wilmer Flores among the league leaders in home runs and RBIs Related Articles Wilmer Flores Jung Hoo Lee come up big again for SF Giants in win vs Brewers Willy Adames keeps on showing joy through early struggles with SF Giants SF Giants end road trip with whimper as Walker blows save against Angels SF Giants even series as Roupp dominates everyone but Angels Mike Trout SF Giants put Casey Schmitt on IL their first transaction of the season I do believe LaMonte s going to pick it up and we ve gotten good production out of Flo Melvin stated Eldridge is going to have to perform to get here and that s something Buster Posey the president of baseball operations has stated The assignment for Eldridge is threefold Get more seasoning in the upper levels of the minor leagues first and foremost Improve his defense at first base where he only began to play in the pros and is still considered a below average fielder And cut down on his strikeouts after whiffing at a rate in I think he s going to surprise several people with his hit ability he s got a really short swing Randy Winn the Giants director of sportsman growth revealed last month of the expectations for the club s top prospect this year I just want him to continue to improve in all facets of the tournament The mental side of it as well How do you deal with failure How do you hit in certain situations How do you hit if somebody is pitching around you How do you hit if you re not feeling great Those are all the things that he s got to learn but you can only learn that with more reps