The Scenario: The Giants are hanging across the periphery of the NL wild card race and simply misplaced Dom Smith, one in all their extra constant and dependable hitters, for the remainder of the common season to a hamstring pressure. Moderately than deliver up an organizational participant, President of Baseball Ops Buster Posey pushed in his chips to name up the most effective offensive prospect the franchise has had in a era.
Background: The Giants chosen Eldridge out of a Virginia highschool with the Sixteenth-overall choose within the 2023 draft. Eldridge had starred the earlier 12 months for Group USA as each a hitter and a pitcher, hitting a house run and tossing a scoreless inning within the 18U staff’s gold medal recreation in opposition to Taiwan. The Giants referred to as his identify on draft night time as a two-way participant, although Eldridge and the group agreed virtually instantly to desert any aspirations on the mound. Save for a stint within the outfield in his first few weeks in low-A, the Giants have primarily developed Eldridge as a primary baseman, and he’s taken off since then. He hit .291/.374/.516 with 23 homers throughout 4 ranges—largely A ball—as a 19-year-old in 2024 and has usually maintained that tempo this 12 months in opposition to extra superior competitors in double-A and triple-A. Had the Giants not traded for Rafael Devers and obtained found-money contributions from Smith, Eldridge could have been pressed into responsibility sooner if just for his energy potential.
Scouting Report: And there’s numerous that energy potential from the 6-foot-7, 240-pound 20-year-old. Eldridge generates ridiculous energy, notably on balls up within the zone, with a number of the highest peak and common exit velocity figures amongst any hitter within the minors, not to mention triple-A. Regardless of some very actual whiff issues (extra on that in a second), Eldridge additionally has extra dexterity with the bat within the strike zone than most hitters his measurement and sprays the ball round, going the opposite means almost as usually as he pulls the ball. At his finest, Eldridge has saved his strikeout charge within the 20%-25% vary, although that quantity has understandably crept up this 12 months as he’s confronted Pacific Coast League pitchers a number of years his senior. He’s working a strikeout charge proper round 31% as of his call-up, and it wouldn’t shock to see that quantity get even larger as soon as major-league pitchers attempt to persistently exploit his major vulnerability to tender stuff down. And but even with the underwhelming contact information, and it’s price mentioning that Eldridge doesn’t flip 21 till subsequent month, he nonetheless has fairly straightforward 35-homer potential at his peak. That is the sort of energy that even the chilly night time air in Oracle Park can’t simply knock down and the sort of precocious offensive expertise that the Giants haven’t been capable of develop and name upon since at the least Will Clark.
Eldridge is rather more of a challenge defensively than on the plate and has spent a lot of the summer season working intermittently with former Gold Glovers Clark and J.T. Snow along with the Sacramento teaching employees to get extra snug shifting across the bag, choosing short-hop throws and the nuances of taking part in the chilly nook. Nobody’s ever going to mistake Eldridge for Paul Goldschmidt or Christian Walker defensively, however he has loads of room to develop on condition that he didn’t play a lot first as a prep and is younger sufficient that he was in pre-calculus lessons simply over two years in the past.
Rapid Large-League Future: The Giants have one other first baseman/DH-type participant in Devers so it stays to be seen how supervisor Bob Melvin and firm will mix Eldridge into the beginning lineup. The chase and make contact with issues are such that Eldridge will virtually assuredly have just a few seasons hitting within the low .200 vary with probably uncomfortable strikeout charges. The Giants will fear about these issues later if he pops just a few homers over the subsequent two weeks, nonetheless.
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