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New York Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
MLB trade deadline Urgency Index 1.0: Who needs what? Who needs it most?
We're less than 50 days to Major League Baseball's trade deadline — so there are less than 50 days for front offices to determine how much they like what they see, how much needs to change and how to value that change in acquisition cost. This far out from July 31, it's easier to pinpoint what team needs exist (or might arise in the next seven weeks) than to hammer down what players might be available as solutions, let alone the proper ones. So this week, The Athletic is introducing the first installment of its Urgency Index — a ranking of which teams are likely to need starting pitching, offensive help and relief pitching by July 31. It's a mix of obvious needs in the here and now, projecting what can change over the next several weeks, and analyzing how valuable even small improvements might be for teams straddling playoff contention. This week, it's Eno Sarris on starters, Tim Britton on bats and Aaron Gleeman on relievers. The Giants already shook up the offensive mix last week, designating LaMonte Wade Jr. and bringing aboard Dominic Smith. The bigger move for San Francisco's first-base issues might have been the one behind that one: Bryce Eldridge's promotion to Triple A after a solid six weeks at Double-A Richmond coming back from a spring wrist injury. Advertisement On the plus side, Eldridge's numbers in the Eastern League compare pretty well with those of fellow 6-foot-7 slugger Aaron Judge, and Eldridge posted them at 20 years old and not 23. On the minus side, Judge didn't break out in the majors until two years after he posted those numbers in Double A, and so it might not be wise for the Giants to bank on Eldridge saving them at first base down the stretch this season. No, this is a spot where a rental bat could be pivotal to the Giants' hopes of sticking with the Dodgers in the West or locking down a wild-card berth in the highly competitive National League. San Francisco's pitching staff, especially its bullpen, has helped it start the season this strong. Its offense ranks in the bottom half of the league, however, and FanGraphs projects only marginal improvement. The presence of Wilmer Flores permits San Francisco some latitude in positional fit: He can play first if needed, though he hasn't done so much this season as the Giants aim to keep him healthy. But adding one 1B/DH bat here could prove the difference between a postseason berth or another quiet October by the Bay. Sometimes a need arises out of the blue because of injury or unexpected underperformance. And sometimes a team enters the season with questions about its outfield's ability to produce, and it spends the first few months of the season justifying that skepticism. To the Royals' credit, they're very much in the postseason hunt in the American League, despite receiving the worst outfield production in the majors in 2025. Think of it this way: The Dodgers' Michael Conforto has been one of the most disappointing hitters in baseball all season, and he still owns a better wRC+ than Kansas City's collective outfield. (On the other hand, Toronto's Anthony Santander, whom KC pursued in free agency, would have actually made the outfield worse to this point.) Advertisement The Royals have already optioned MJ Melendez and released Hunter Renfroe. They've called up Jac Caglianone and tried out Maikel Garcia in center last week. They're trying. But the answer here should come from outside the organization. Get at least one more solid outfielder — and it doesn't have to be a superstar to be a marked improvement — and the Royals can compete in an American League without runaway wild-card contenders. The Royals are 30th in offensive production from their outfielders this season. The Guardians are 27th — a remarkable achievement considering how good Steven Kwan is in left field. 'Kwan has more hits this season than every other Cleveland outfielder' is a stat that isn't quite true but is close enough to make you do the math to be sure. Outfielders not named Kwan have more than 550 plate appearances this season and an OPS that is lower than that number of plate appearances. Nolan Jones, Angel Martínez, Jhonkensy Noel and, now back from injury, Lane Thomas have all struggled significantly. And none of them have provided the kind of defensive value that allows you to mitigate those struggles. Thomas was an imperfect trade deadline acquisition last season — though one postseason swing was, indeed, perfect — and Cleveland will have to get back on the outfield market if it wants to stick in that tough AL Central the rest of the way. Look, there are dozens of stats to express how disappointing the Rangers' offense has been this season. My favorite is this one: Texas' designated hitters — the players designated to hit — are batting .120 on the season. The worst batting average a team's DHs have ever compiled over a 162-game season is .174 by the 2022 Athletics — a team that lost 102 games and was pretty actively attempting to lose more. And these Rangers are 50 points worse! (Fair fair, batting average is out, slugging is more in vogue: There, Texas' .218 slugging percentage from its DHs is 60 points worse than the 1981 split-season Twins at the position.) Advertisement Of course, Joc Pederson will be better than this going forward and maybe even a well-above-average hitter from here on out. But the Rangers have underperformance at so many different positions that one of those 'of course this guy will be better' won't come to fruition enough to prevent Texas from needing some outside help — if it's even in position to add at the deadline. Only the Yankees and Red Sox have scored more runs per game than the Tigers this season in the American League. So yes, Detroit is an odd and somewhat contrarian pick here, based on projections that are less bullish on the offense moving forward. There's also this: With their outstanding start to the season, the Tigers should shift their ambition from building a potential division winner to building a potential pennant or World Series winner. And if that's what they're thinking about, there are possible avenues to improve, especially on the left side of the infield. Detroit is in the bottom five in baseball in offensive production out of shortstop, and your optimism for improvement there probably relies on Javier Báez continuing a rebound from three miserable seasons. Zach McKinstry has been terrific; his career OPS entering this season was .643, and compiling seven good months is harder than compiling two. Right now, no, Detroit doesn't need another bat. In 50ish days? We wouldn't be surprised. Honorable mentions: Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres Jordan Romano has been a bust thus far, and José Alvarado is suspended through mid-August and then ineligible for the postseason, making it clear the Phillies will need to shop for late-inning bullpen help if they're going to make another playoff run this October. That's nothing new for a Dave Dombrowski-led front office. Philadelphia switched up its bullpen at last year's deadline, bringing in Carlos Estévez and Tanner Banks while sending out Gregory Soto and Seranthony Domínguez. And multiple moves might be required again to solidify a unit that ranks 25th in ERA. Something resembling, say, a Jeff Hoffman replacement would work. Advertisement Atlanta isn't short on major problems, but the bullpen's issues can be summed up by the Craig Kimbrel debacle. Overall, the Braves' relievers have an average-ish ERA, but that number is trending in the wrong direction and repeated late-inning blowups have led to ranking 24th in Win Probability Added (WPA). For now, at least, this seems like too talented of a roster to give up on. But even if other areas of the team start meeting preseason expectations, the patched-together bullpen remains an obvious weakness. Braves relievers have taken an NL-high 15 losses while recording an NL-low 10 saves. Arizona has had the worst bullpen of any contender, by far, ranking 27th in ERA and dead last in WPA, but a sub-.500 start combined with Corbin Burnes' elbow injury makes it unclear if the Diamondbacks are actually contenders anyway. If they are going to stay in the playoff picture, relief reinforcements are a must. It wasn't always like this. Arizona had a functional bullpen through mid-April, but things unraveled after A.J. Puk went down with an elbow injury on April 17. Since then, Diamondbacks relievers have an ERA over 6.00 and their league-worst WPA is 50 percent worse than the No. 29 bullpen. And now Justin Martinez is out again. Andrés Muñoz has been amazing enough to carry the entire bullpen, but Seattle's non-Muñoz relievers have combined for a 4.17 ERA and sizably negative WPA. At minimum, the Mariners could use a reliable veteran setup man to help get leads to Muñoz intact. And the eighth inning, in particular, has too often been a problem. Brewers starting pitchers have been very good at preventing runs and very bad at eating innings, so the bullpen has been forced to carry tons of weight. Milwaukee's relievers have thrown MLB's second-most innings and haven't been very effective, ranking 24th in ERA and 23rd in WPA. Without help, this bullpen could crumble down the stretch. Honorable mentions: Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds It's not just that the Cubs' rotation has been mediocre this far into the season — their starters have been below-average whether you use Wins Above Replacement, ERA or strikeout rate to rank them. What's more worrisome is what their rotation is likely to do going forward. Over at FanGraphs, even with 81 more innings penciled in for Shota Imanaga, Chicago's rotation is projected at 23rd. And this isn't the case where a back-end arm is all the Cubs need: their top three starters are also bottom 10 in the league. With the Cubs' offense coalescing (they're second in the league in runs), and Kyle Tucker on an expiring deal, there's increasing pressure on this front office to get an impact arm at the deadline. Who that guy is might be a mystery until more sellers identify themselves in coming weeks, but this team needs that impact arm more than any other. Advertisement The Blue Jays' rotation has been worse than the Cubs'. Ranked 28th in starting pitcher WAR, Toronto's starters are 24th in ERA, 21st in strikeout rate, 14th in walk rate and 29th in home runs allowed per nine innings. Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt have been decent so far, but the projections think the latter two will add about a run to their ERAs – they're 17th going forward in projections, and even that top three is only 14th in the league among top threes. The Cubs do probably have their playoff starters, no matter what projections think of the big three in the T-dot. They might be able to spend less to get an arm that will get them there, rather than absolutely needing that player to start a playoff game. But if they want to be real postseason contenders, a top quality starter would go a long way. Cleveland has long been considered a pitching factory, but the gears are grinding a little bit these days. Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee are quality arms, but they're working through some of the adjustments that separate the young from the established. Ben Lively keeps getting decent results with poor peripherals and a fastball that barely cracks 90 mph, and the back end has been a problem no matter what numbers you look at. The Guardians' rotation ranks in the bottom 10 in the league in: WAR, ERA, strikeout rate, walk rate, home run rate, Stuff+, Location+, innings and wins. The Guardians are projected to have the 21st-best rotation going forward, and their top three isn't liked any better by the numbers. This team urgently needs a starter — will it go get one? The Yankees rotation has been better than it might have seemed when Luis Gil and Gerrit Cole went down in the spring. As a unit, it has floated between 12th and seventh in pitching WAR to this point in the season, as Clarke Schmidt and Will Warren have been indeed good enough to power the back end of the rotation on a team with a strong offense. The Yankees don't have to make a move here if everyone stays healthy. Theirs should be a top 10 unit going forward. But the temptation, especially for a team trying to get back to the mountaintop, has to be high to see if it can't get a Game 3 starter who can push the younger guys into support roles. This might be surprising to many: the Dodgers are projected to have the fourth-best rotation in baseball going forward. At a time when it seems like they don't know who will start their next game, this might seem ridiculous. But they have so many pitchers on the injured list that projections just shrug, give them all a little bit of innings because that seems most probable, and out spits a good rotation built on 60 innings each from Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin and Roki Sasaki. Advertisement Betting the under on those numbers? You wouldn't be alone. But it does point to how much this team has invested in this rotation, and how its young replacements have been good enough to power this team to another strong record. They won't get better on the market than their injured top-end options, and their kids are doing OK and, hey, the projections say they'll be fine. You can never count out the Dodgers from improving at the deadline, though, and if those injuries lag further, you can almost expect to see Los Angeles get a starter. Honorable mentions: Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Houston Astros (Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Top photos: Ezra Shaw, Greg Fiume, Samuel Corum / Getty Images)
New York Times
05-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Giants have cut top prospects Bryce Eldridge, Marco Luciano. What's the plan now?
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — First baseman Bryce Eldridge is the headliner in the San Francisco Giants' minor-league system. Newly converted outfielder Marco Luciano had been the top-ranked player for several prior seasons. Both prospects were among the first round of cuts the team announced Wednesday morning. Advertisement Right-hander Mason Black, who made his major-league debut last season but was behind others on the 40-man roster this spring, was among six pitchers who will join Eldridge and Luciano as they relocate their duffel bags from major-league camp to the minor-league complex at Papago Park. The cuts weren't surprising. Eldridge, 20, was invited to major-league camp for the first time so he could work with major-league coaches and be introduced to the Giants clubhouse. Perhaps the Giants left the door open for him to overwhelm them with his performance, but they certainly weren't anticipating that he would be a candidate to break camp on the Opening Day roster. Eldridge appeared composed and professional beyond his years and made an immediate impression with a 450-foot home run at Surprise in the Giants' Cactus League opener. But he struggled while making sporadic appearances, mostly as a designated hitter in the back half of games. He finished 2 for 11 with eight strikeouts and one walk in eight games; in his only appearance at first base, he misplayed a groundball into a double. He'll get more game reps as a first baseman in minor-league camp, Giants manager Bob Melvin said. 'It doesn't mean we can't bring them back at some point in time if we feel like there's a start for him,' Melvin said. 'He's very appreciative, had great things to say about the group, and so forth. I'm sure we're going to see Bryce Eldridge at some point in the future. But he just needs some consistent at-bats.' The Giants haven't determined where Eldridge will start the season after he rocketed through four levels last year, finishing at Triple-A Sacramento after just nine games at Double-A Richmond. But the Giants had Eldridge take that last step only because the Double-A season was ending and they wanted him to keep playing before sending him to the Arizona Fall League. Advertisement Given that Eldridge's Double-A stint was so brief, and the pitching in the Eastern League tends to make for a rigorous hitting challenge, it stands to reason that Richmond would be an appropriate place for the Giants to send him to start the season. The Virginia native would be playing in front of friends and family, too, which might ease his transition against upper-level pitching. Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey has said that he wants Eldridge to be well-rounded and display defensive competence before making his major-league debut. But the team's current projected roster appears light on left-handed run production. If the team is scuffling while Eldridge catches fire at the plate, it will make for some interesting conversations among front office staff and coaches. 'We don't want to rush him,' Melvin said. 'Once he gets it all together and feels comfortable defensively and puts up big numbers, that's when you'll see him here. Whether that's this year at some point, I'm not sure, but he moved up pretty quickly last year because of his bat.' As for the glove? 'He's made big strides here,' Melvin said. '(Special assistant) Ron Wotus will still be down there (at Papago) with him at times, working with him here in spring training. He works hard every day. We do special stuff with him, and talking to (coaches) Matt Williams and Mark Hallberg, they think he's made significant strides since he's been here.' Luciano, 23, also made a positive impression in the field while getting game experience in the outfield for the first time. The converted shortstop appeared confident while tracking fly balls and took good routes. But he didn't have much timing at the plate, and when you juxtaposed his at-bats with those of Jerar Encarnacion and Luis Matos, it was apparent that Luciano didn't play winter ball in the Dominican Republic. Luciano was 2 for 19 (.105) with one home run, three walks and five strikeouts in nine games. Advertisement Even with a better spring, Luciano would've been hard-pressed to wedge his way into consideration for at-bats in the outfield or DH to start the season. Encarnacion is out of minor-league options and is pummeling the ball this spring while emerging as the club's top DH option. He can also play credibly at first base and both outfield corners. With Heliot Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee and Mike Yastrzemski expected to start in the grass, the Giants likely have one outfield spot remaining and they hope Matos will assert himself and claim a role as Yastrzemski's platoon partner. For all the mixed messaging over Luciano's opportunities and mistakes that the previous administration made in his development, Luciano's path seems pretty clear now: Go to Triple A, produce at the plate and get comfortable in the outfield. 'We really want him to focus on going down there, playing every day, getting the outfield thing under his belt, which I think he's handled beautifully, and then the bat's going to start to play a little bit more,' Melvin said. 'I've had those conversations with Marco a few times last year (to send him down) and he's handled himself well. I don't know inside what he's thinking, but he always takes it well, and he tells me, 'I'm going to go down there and work.' And I think he did look forward to starting games and getting full games in as opposed to coming in a little later.' If Luciano is looking for inspiration, he can remember that Ramos, who made the NL All-Star team, was among the first round of cuts last spring. Like Ramos last year, Luciano will be playing his last season with minor-league options. So if he'll have any future in the Giants organization, he'll probably have to establish himself at some point in 2025. Luciano and Black were optioned. Eldridge, who was in camp as a non-roster invitee, was reassigned. So were five other NRI pitchers: right-hander Kai-Wei Teng, right-hander Cole Waites, left-hander Raymond Burgos, left-hander Miguel Del Pozo and left-hander Ethan Small. The most spirited competition this spring has been for the No. 5 starter and as many as three spots in the bullpen. The Giants may keep as many as two NRIs who remain in camp, with veteran right-hander Lou Trivino and left-hander Enny Romero currently at the front of the line. Advertisement It's a comment on the Giants' pitching depth that they sent down Black, someone they debuted out of necessity last season but was clearly behind a crop of pitchers that includes Landen Roupp, Hayden Birdsong, Kyle Harrison, Carson Seymour, Tristan Beck and Keaton Winn. 'You want him to go down there and get stretched out,' Melvin said. 'He's been in the big leagues before and it's going to be performance that gets him back. Sometimes the (velocity) is all over the place, sometimes the command can be a little bit off for him. But we've seen him pitch well in games and there have been times that he hasn't pitched well. So it's going to be consistency for him.' (Top photo of Bryce Eldridge: Norm Hall / Getty Images)
New York Times
27-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Giants top prospect Bryce Eldridge is no banjo hitter, despite bluegrass in his blood
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — It's become a daily sight during the Giants' morning workouts this spring: Coaches Matt Williams, J.T. Snow and Ron Wotus gathering on the infield grass, focusing their individual attention on one player and pouring more than 100 combined years of fielding wisdom into 20-year-old first baseman Bryce Eldridge, one ground ball at a time. Advertisement Eldridge, arguably the Giants' most heralded hitting prospect since Buster Posey, combines a 6-foot-7 frame with a surprisingly compact swing that has so much power potential that team brass might be tempted to develop the rest of it in the major leagues. But Eldridge is also learning a new position. His ability to play a sufficient first base might be the only thing holding back his debut. GO DEEPER San Francisco Giants 2025 top 20 prospects: Bryce Eldridge, James Tibbs III lead the way It's looking a little rough right now. Eldridge received his first exhibition action as a first baseman on Wednesday and misplayed a routine ground ball into a charitably scored double. He has everything to learn about positioning, bunt defenses and how to save his teammates errors on throws in the dirt. But Giants coaches and officials are confident that Eldridge will improve with time and practice. You might say it's in his genes. His grandfather was a Hall of Famer who could really pick it. Ben Eldridge's instrument was not a first baseman's mitt. His plaque is not in Cooperstown. But among bluegrass music devotees, he is regarded as one of the greatest banjoists in the history of the genre. He was a founding member of The Seldom Scene, the influential bluegrass jam band that was nominated for four Grammy Awards, recorded with countless stars including Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, and was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in Owensboro, Ky. The family's musical accomplishments extend to guitarist Chris Eldridge, Ben's son and Bryce's uncle, a nine-time Grammy Award nominee who beat out the likes of Joan Baez when his band, Punch Brothers, won the Grammy for best folk album in 2019. It's a family legacy that Bryce Eldridge is proud of, even if he decided to pick up a baseball instead of a banjo. 'Those guys can rip it,' he said. 'I didn't appreciate it much when I was younger because I didn't fully understand what was going on. I was 11 or 12 when my grandfather got inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. So I'm not sure I grasped how cool that was. But he was such a great guy and obviously he could play anything. He was a legend for sure.' Advertisement Ben Eldridge died last April at the age of 85. His funeral service was not a stiff and stoic affair. There were stories and laughs from his old friends and bandmates, hundreds of pictures that jogged thousands of memories, and of course, enough live music to fill a two-day festival. When you spend so much of your life on the road, memory lane becomes as full as a six-lane expressway. Now his grandson is the jewel of the Giants' minor-league system and poised to draw crowds of his own to watch him perform. He was so irrepressible as a 19-year-old in his first full professional season last year that the Giants promoted him three times — from Low-A San Jose all the way to Triple-A Sacramento — and then sent him to the Arizona Fall League to get additional work at first base. He was just about the youngest player at every stop yet he hit at all of them, including an all-too-short nine-game stint close to home at Double-A Richmond. In 116 games across four levels, he hit .292/.374/.516 with 23 home runs. Bryce Eldridge is not a banjo player. He's not a banjo hitter, either. 'What's most impressive about him — what I've heard from our reports and what my eyes have seen — is just his presence in the box,' said Posey, now the Giants' president of baseball operations. 'There are certain guys that just look like hitters and he's one of those guys.' The other thing that strikes Posey about Eldridge? 'That it's hard to believe he was 19 (last season),' Posey said. 'I mean, he looks like he's 30.' At no point in his life was Eldridge average sized. He was born three weeks premature yet weighed close to 10 pounds. From the time he was in kindergarten, he was the tallest kid in every class. He says in all seriousness that he might have been taller than his kindergarten teacher, too. His father, also named Ben, is 6-2. Bryce stood eye to eye with him by the seventh grade. Advertisement His older brother, also named Ben, was born 20 months earlier and 5-year-old Bryce would tag along to baseball practice with the older kids. From the start, Bryce was zipping throws, pelting balls off the pitching machine and understanding how to turn a double play. 'Other kids couldn't hit it past the mound and he's scorching them up the middle off a machine,' said Bryce's father, Ben Eldridge. 'He's been different from very early on.' His notoriety in baseball circles grew nearly as fast as he did. He was the star hitter and pitcher on his Little League all-star team in Vienna, Va., which won the state title three times and narrowly missed qualifying for the Little League World Series. He was 12 when the first Division 1 college program started recruiting him. He thinks he was in the eighth grade, maybe the seventh, the first time someone asked for his autograph. On May 6, 2015, Nationals star Bryce Harper hit three home runs in a home game against the Marlins. A few hours later that day, 10-year-old Bryce Eldridge hit three home runs for the Vienna Little League Major Braves. 'We're all huge Nats fans and Bryce Harper was his hero,' said Eldridge's mother, Beth Kenney. 'Then he left to sign with Philly and … well, it was game over for that.' For the Eldridge family, the games were just getting started: travel ball, showcase tournaments, Team USA. His parents, who separated when he was young, would take turns driving him and his older brother up and down the Eastern seaboard, bat bags clattering in the backseat. They considered every mile on the odometer to be an investment in what promised to be a special career path. There was just one problem, as Bryce's mother saw it. 'Bryce is the worst car mate,' Kenney said with a laugh. 'Any time you get in a car with him, he falls asleep. I don't care if he just rolled out of bed. We'll go on a long drive and forget about trying to have a conversation. I have so many pictures of him in the front seat, just lights out.' Advertisement Eldridge had more growing to do but even after starting at James Madison High School in Vienna, when he stood nearly 6-7 as a sophomore, he retained his compact swing path. When he spreads out in the batter's box, nearly straddling it from chalk to chalk, and takes one of his short and direct swings, it's not hard to see Harper's influence. Eldridge loved playing wide receiver almost as much as baseball and he was impossible to guard on a fade to the corner of the end zone. His favorite position was safety and he 'really enjoyed lighting people up,' his father said. But both his parents worried about the potential risks. The only way for defenders to tackle him was to take him out at the knees. So against Bryce's protestations and a slammed door or two, his parents held a united front. He would focus on baseball. There was no reason to narrow his athletic path any further than that. By the time he was a sophomore, pro teams were writing him up as a two-way prospect. And when the legions of scouts showed up to his games, it helped that they weren't necessarily there to see him. They were filing reports on James Triantos, who hit .700 with 11 home runs and just two strikeouts in his senior year before the Cubs drafted him in the second round in 2021. 'It was cool for me to see how he handled all that pressure,' Eldridge said. 'It was definitely something I tried to follow. It's like the scouts weren't watching me but they were watching me. I think it helped to not have that pressure on me but know I'm maybe putting some of them on notice.' Then came summer ball after his sophomore year. And a hitting slump that wouldn't end. 'It got to a point where I was growing so much that I was uncoordinated and didn't know my body,' Eldridge said. 'Everything was getting stretched out and hurting all the time. Once my growth plates closed, that's when my pain finally stopped and I started to put on good weight. Until then, it was harder to repeat my swing.' Eldridge started to hear whispers from scouts through his adviser and current agent, Tucker Ward. He learned what the 'PO tag' meant: pitcher only. Advertisement Eldridge looks back now and said he never considered giving up hitting. There might have been external pressure to focus on the mound, where his fastball reached 97 mph in the state championship game as a senior. But Ward provided reassurance from a credible source — his father, Turner Ward, is a former major leaguer who served as the hitting coach with the Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Reds and Cardinals. And he loved everything about Eldridge's swing. 'If you let this kid put the bat down, it'll be the biggest mistake of both of your lives,' Turner Ward told his son. 'You just don't see guys with longer levers who swing the bat the way he does.' In his junior year, while winning the first of two state titles, Eldridge heated up at the plate. He hasn't cooled down since. He hit .422 with eight home runs and a 1.716 OPS as a senior while winning Gatorade Player of the Year honors for Virginia. He was almost untouchable on the mound, finishing 9-0 with a 1.06 ERA and 66 strikeouts to eight walks in 39 2/3 innings. Then he was named MVP at the WBSC under-18 Baseball World Cup while winning the gold medal with Team USA. 'I was on the map because I threw hard but I knew I could hit,' Eldridge said. 'I always knew I could hit. Being a PO was never in the picture.' The Giants drafted Eldridge with the 16th pick in the 2023 MLB Draft and immediately sent him out for seasoning. They listed him as a two-way player on draft day and saw enough in a pre-draft workout at their Papago Park complex to be open to the idea of a dual development path. But it took just a handful of minor-league games and a few glimpses of his at-bats in instructional league to determine that he could be fast-tracked as a hitter. They did not force him to give up pitching. They hoped he would come to that decision on his own. Advertisement 'The only thing I told Bryce was that I didn't want him to regret his decision,' Kenney said. 'I think it goes back to what he told scouts when they interviewed him and asked what his dreams were. Most kids might say their dream was to get drafted. He said, 'I want to win a World Series and go to the Hall of Fame.' He understood that (hitting) was the fastest way to get there.' The Giants still had to determine a defensive position for someone who was mostly a pitcher and designated hitter in high school. Eldridge began his pro career as a right fielder where his arm strength figured to be an asset. Then the plan changed to first base last season. He was wiped out and had lost weight by the time the Giants sent him to the AFL last October, but the assignment had a specific purpose. They gave Eldridge an intensive course at first base with former All-Star Will Clark as his instructor. 'They couldn't believe it back home,' Eldridge said. 'I feel every one of my teammates' dads who we told had the biggest crush on him. My dad couldn't believe it. It was great. He's one of the funniest guys I've ever met.' GO DEEPER Top 100 MLB prospects 2025: Keith Law's rankings, with Roman Anthony at No. 1 This spring, Eldridge is a special assignment for Snow, a six-time Gold Glove first baseman who is in camp for a few weeks as a guest instructor. No lesson or tip is too basic to pass along. Earlier this week, Snow asked Eldridge where he's looking when a pitch is delivered. Eldridge said he watches the pitcher and follows the ball to the plate. Snow explained that it's better to be focused on the spot where you expect a hitter to make contact. It's a small adjustment that can improve reaction time. 'His instincts are really good,' Snow said. 'His setup and positioning, I was impressed. For a tall and lanky guy, I told him, 'You might have to work a little harder than a guy who's 6-1 to get down to the ball.' I'm impressed by his athleticism. The big thing now is repetitions. Patience is the biggest thing because he's young and learning. But he's further along than I thought.' Eldridge arrived in Arizona in mid-January and was eager to begin his first spring as an invitee to major-league camp, but the Giants didn't allow him to do early work at Scottsdale Stadium. They kept him at Papago until the day position players reported. He's almost certainly going to be sent back there during one of the rounds of roster cuts in the coming weeks. But it's no secret that the Giants lack left-handed power. They don't have a lefty DH candidate on the 40-man roster. Even if LaMonte Wade Jr. gets a day at DH, or starts in the outfield, there isn't another lefty hitter on the roster to fill in for him at first base. There might come a time when the Giants sorely regret not having a lefty complement who can shield outfielder Heliot Ramos against tougher right-on-right matchups. If the Giants get off to a rocky start, and Eldridge is lighting up pitching in the upper minors, the temptation will be strong to call him up regardless of how many throws he's able to pick at first base. Advertisement 'The goal here is just to make a good impression with all these guys and just build relationships,' Eldridge said. 'And leave here with these guys thinking that they need me on their team. That's the goal: whenever they send me back to minor-league camp or whatever the plan is, have them thinking, we want this guy back as soon as possible.' There are 62 players in the Giants' big-league camp. Eldridge is the youngest. Justin Verlander, the 42-year-old future Hall of Fame pitcher, is the oldest. When Verlander made his MLB debut in 2005, Eldridge was 7 months old. Eldridge has photographic evidence of an encounter with Verlander when Eldridge was 10 years old. The Vienna Little League was being honored on the field at Camden Yards and the kids had field passes to watch batting practice. Verlander, who was with the Tigers, stopped to sign autographs. The selfie that a grinning Eldridge snapped with Verlander in the background is having its viral moment on social media. We need an updated photo of Eldridge and Verlander — trev (@BayAreaTrev) February 17, 2025 On the day he arrived in the Giants clubhouse, Eldridge did not hesitate to reintroduce himself. 'I feel like two years ago I would be, like, really flipping out,' he said. 'But now I've got to act like a professional.' Eldridge grew up fast in more ways than one. His father marvels at how Bryce demonstrated mental discipline from a young age. But Ben Eldridge didn't fully appreciate it until Bryce was 15 and they traveled to spend time with his advisor in Nashville. They stopped by to visit Uncle Chris, who happened to be home and not touring with Punch Brothers. Small talk in the living room between his Grammy-winning brother and his teenage son turned into a deep conversation about the challenge of performing in front of thousands of people. 'I'm sitting there in amazement for almost an hour, listening to my brother and my son having this really cool conversation,' Ben Eldridge said. 'It was honestly one of the coolest nights of my life. Because I can't tune it out like they can. I love playing guitar and I'll go all night when there's 20 people at the house. But it's not fun to think about performing in front of thousands of people. That's a gift to be able to harness that fear and direct it. Whether it's baseball or music, they're both performing when you come down to it.' Advertisement Said Bryce: 'I think that's when my dad knew I was built for this.' Being the son of a legendary bluegrass banjoist makes for a pretty entertaining childhood, as it turns out. Someone famous was always passing through or showing up to jam, sometimes unannounced: John Denver's bandmates, the guys from Little Feat, Ricky Skaggs, the bass player from Lynyrd Skynyrd. 'Tony Rice would crash with us,' Ben Eldridge said. 'Here he is, one of the greatest acoustic guitar players ever, and I had to move my toys so he can sleep on our couch.' Thursday night at The Birchmere was like a midweek secular church service. The lines would be out the door at the legendary venue in Alexandria, Va., for The Seldom Scene's jam sessions that they called their 'weekly card game.' Stars would show up and get on stage. Future Vice President Al Gore was sometimes in the crowd. And to think, playing the banjo was a second job. The elder Ben Eldridge was also a mathematician who worked for Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory and conducted groundbreaking research in underwater acoustics for the U.S. Navy. 'There are people who know the rest of my family and then they find out who Bryce is,' the younger Ben Eldridge said. 'And they ask, 'How did you get all these genes?'' The musical gene might have skipped a generation. Or not. Bryce Eldridge said part of him regrets not picking up a stringed instrument with any purpose to learn to play. Then again, he just turned 20. He's too young to have regrets. And besides, the time spent honing his chosen craft appears to be well spent. As mature as he might look and act for a 20-year-old, Eldridge is still working on mastering some aspects of adulting. Last November, when he and his mother added Portugal to the list of European trips they've taken together, Kenney pulled into a gas station and told her son to fill the tank. They drove just a few hundred meters before the car started shaking and sputtering. Advertisement 'He filled it with diesel!' Kenney said. 'Not his finest moment. But we had fun. We always do. Bryce is not the kind of person who just sits on a beach. He loves history. He loves to see the sights. He wants to know what we've got planned for every day. We really travel well together.' He might even stay awake in the car long enough to carry on a conversation. 'He will be the guy in the clubhouse who's dialed in to make sure the focus is on winning,' Kenney said. 'He will never be OK with losing. And Bryce is the type of kid who befriends the new kid in class. They would assign special needs kids to his class because they knew he'd be a protector and supporter for them. He's a sweetheart, he really is.' One other thing might have to come with age. Bryce admits he doesn't listen to a whole lot of bluegrass music. He's more likely to have Chris Stapleton as his walkup music than anything featuring a banjo or mandolin. But tastes change as you get older. Maybe he'll even be strumming something from his grandfather's catalog before too long. 'Bluegrass, honest truth, I never liked it growing up,' he said. 'But Papa Ben's got a song called 'Wait a Minute.' That was the one song I loved as a kid. I had that one on repeat.' Wait a minute? That sounds like good advice for Giants fans.
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Eldridge makes loud statement in first Giants spring training game
Eldridge makes loud statement in first Giants spring training game originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Giants have tried their best over the past two weeks to slow the Bryce Eldridge Hype Train. The organization's top prospect is not a candidate to make the Opening Day roster, and behind the scenes, there are discussions about whether it makes sense to send him back to Double-A Richmond since he spent just nine games there last year before finishing up with eight in Triple-A. The defense at first base is a work in progress, and he is likely to mostly be a DH when he shows up in spring games. The 20-year-old is not expected to be in big league camp for long before heading to the minor league facility a few miles away, and there are some within the organization who wish he were getting his reps in there already, away from the spotlight of the big league clubhouse. Giants officials hope Eldridge debuts later this year, but won't commit to it. Sometimes, though, a prospect is so talented that he forces the issue. In his second at-bat in a spring training game, Eldridge hit a homer to dead center, sending a jolt through the dugout and announcing his arrival in the loudest possible way. The home run went an estimated 450 feet and left the bat at 110.4 mph. It was an absolute rocket, but the man who hit it wasn't really able to give much of a description. Bryce Eldridge hit a 450-foot homer to center in his first spring training game 👀 — Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) February 22, 2025 'I honestly blacked out for that whole thing,' Eldridge said, smiling. 'I really don't remember it. I remember looking at the outfielder and he was acting like he was going to catch it and I was like, 'I think I got that one.'' The homer nearly cleared the berm in center field, showing the power that has made Eldridge one of the sport's top 20 prospects after just one full season in the minor leagues. Eldridge cannot legally order a drink yet, but he might have the most power in the organization. Last season, the Giants had just one home run that went at least 450 feet and had an exit velocity in excess of 110 mph, and the man who hit it, Jorge Soler, is long gone. Eldridge struck out in his first at-bat and then fell behind 0-2 when he came up again in the ninth, swinging through one strike and taking another. He said he felt the game speed up on him the first time up, but with every pitch he saw Saturday, his heartbeat slowed. He kept telling himself to be short to the ball. 'I swung and missed on two fastballs in a row in back-to-back at-bats and in my head I was like, 'It's not happening a third time,'' Eldridge said. 'I'm lucky I caught up to that one. The timing still feels a little bit off but I ran into the first one. It was good to get that out of the way.' The first came with a large cheering section. Eldridge's mom arrived in town from Virginia late this week and was able to watch, along with his aunt, cousins and agent. As Eldridge hustled back to the clubhouse to catch the bus back to Scottsdale, he laughed and said he couldn't wait to grab his phone and see the reactions from his dad and brother. It shouldn't be long before the whole group is at Oracle Park, although the Giants will be as patient as they possibly can. They believe Eldridge is a franchise-altering hitter, and they want to make sure that when he's called up, he is up for good. The view internally is that his glove isn't yet ready for the big leagues, although that's not the 20-year-old's fault. Drafted as a two-way player, he was moved to first base last spring, and a lot has been thrown at him over the past year. Eldridge has worked hard at the position and talks excitedly of all he can pick up this spring. For the next few days, he'll learn from six-time Gold Glove Award winner J.T. Snow, in camp as a guest instructor. As he gets more and more comfortable at first, Eldridge will continue to get chances to face big league-caliber pitching as a designated hitter or late-game replacement. The Giants will continue to try to pump the brakes, but that'll get more and more difficult if Eldridge keeps showing that the bat is ready to attack Oracle Park's dimensions. 'For a guy his age, he certainly looks very calm,' manager Bob Melvin said. 'Two strikes, semi-trying to put the ball in play, and he hits it 40 feet over the center field fence. We've seen a lot of that in his at-bats in live (batting practice sessions) and BP. He just looks very hitter-ish all the time. It's nice to see him get off to a good start after his first at-bat, hitting a home run like that. It makes you feel good and it makes you feel like you belong.' Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast
