San Francisco Giants Executive Offers Insight on Franchise's Promising Talent

A member of the San Francisco Giants front office shared an interesting take on the team's star prospect and development in general.

Jul 26, 2023; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants 2023 first-round pick Bryce Eldridge before the game against the Oakland Athletics at Oracle Park. | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants made a huge splash early in free agency when they agreed to terms with shortstop Willy Adames.

He signed the largest contract in franchise history, a seven-year, $182 million deal, addressing what many thought was the team’s biggest need coming into the winter. His addition will enable the Giants to move 2024 breakout rookie Tyler Fitzgerald to second base full-time.

That gives them a really solid trio of players on the infield to build around with Matt Chapman entrenched at third base for the long-term after signing a six-year, $151 million extension near the end of the season.

The only question mark remaining is at first base, where the team could turn to LaMonte Wade Jr. to take a majority of the playing time in 2025.

Alas, whoever is playing the corner infield spot is just keeping it warm for the team’s top prospect, Bryce Eldridge.

A first-round pick in the 2023 MLB June Amateur Draft, he has rapidly moved along the organization’s farm system. Last year, he started at Single-A and closed the season out at Triple-A.

That meteoric rise didn’t stop over the fall, as he performed well at the Arizona Fall League as well.

Will we see him with the Major League club in 2025?

Fans would certainly love it, as he has performed well at every stop thus far as a professional. But, the president of baseball operations, Buster Posey, threw some cold water on the idea.

"I think Eldridge, best case scenario is for him is to get a solid year in the minors and go dominate. he might be beating the door down and forcing our hand, we'll see... We believe in what these guys are going to do. We have to continue to bring in talent through the draft and international signings,” he said, via KNBR when asked about the star prospect and the team’s developmental process as a whole.

That certainly sounds like San Francisco is going to be patient with their star prospect and not rush things along. But, if he is performing at a high level, they may not have a choice but to bring him up.

Based on how the team has operated this offseason, it certainly seems like there is a chance they could add Eldridge to the mix earlier than anticipated. If he wasn’t close to making his Major League debut, they would have been more aggressive adding a first baseman to the mix.

With only 147 games of Minor League experience under his belt, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to get him more reps.

But, there are some players who are special and ready for the challenge right away. Eldridge certainly looks like he could be that caliber of player.