Scottsdale, Arizona – Bryce Eldridge has not forgotten the first time he took the practice in the stick at Oracle Park. Mainly because it is still a little disturbed.
Eldridge, as custom, took a few hacks on his future stadium after having officially signed with the Giants, who selected it with the 16th choice in total to the MLB 2023. He did not leave the stadium without hit a circuit. But a splash – at least one on the fly – is always on its route.
“I brought one in the water,” said Eldrige, the best prospect of the giants. “I am always upset to date. So, I hope, at some point this year, we will get there. »»
If Eldridge, 20 years old, currently in the camp of major leagues for the first time in his career, continues his current trajectory, he could benefit from many opportunities to win a ball at McCovey Cove at one point this year. These ample opportunities, however, will probably not be in the spring. Or summer, by the way.
During the winter meetings in Dallas, the president of Baseball Buster Posey operations tempered expectations concerning the possibility of Eldridge to make his debut this season. Posey did not completely exclude it, but stressed that the team wanted to make sure that Eldridge receives the necessary experience before being called. Eldridge, for his part, understands that his season will not start in the bay region.
When he asked him on Monday his objectives for training in the spring, he recognized that the giants would probably send him to the camp of minor leagues at a given time. While he knows that he is starting this season with Triple-A Sacramento, he wants to finish his year in San Francisco.
“I think the goal here is to make a good impression with all these guys and to build relationships,” said Eldridge. “You just have to create relationships and leave these guys here by thinking that they need me in their team. This is the goal. Whenever they send me back to the minor league camp – or whatever the plan for them – make them think: “We want this guy to come back as soon as possible”.
“I will do it by continuing to have a good mentality, to treat these guys, to be respectful, to do the right things and it will take care of itself.”
The good attitude will not harm Eldridge while he tries to evolve from Sacramento River Cat to the giant of San Francisco, but the best way to transform Oracle Park in his home office is to strike. In his first full season, Eldridge struck.
Eldridge began last year with Low-A San Jose, jumped to High-A Eugene in June, made a cameo with Double-A Richmond and ended the regular season with Triple-A Sacramento, putting results everywhere and everywhere. In 116 games on four levels, Eldridge had an average of the stick of .291 and a punch percentage of 0.516 with 23 circuits and 92 points produced. At Arizona Fall League, Eldridge posted an oblique bar line. 293 / .348 / .512 with two circuits in 10 games. Despite his youth, he has already drawn the attention of the new man of $ 182 million from the Giants.
“He is a giant,” said the new Second stop Willy Adames. “I watched a few videos to hit her bombs. I think it could be a really important element of this organization whenever it appears. I hope this year – at the start of this year – because we need all the help we can get. Regarding (personality), I think he is an incredible guy so far.
“There is a certain patience in what he does,” said manager Bob Melvin. “There is power. He uses the whole field. It is advanced for (20 years). »»
But by playing a lot of games in many uniforms in many stadiums, Eldridge has lost a lot of weight.
Eldridge did not specify how much, but at the end of the season, his weight fell to the high 100 instead of the low 200. He admitted that he did not feel well by the Arizona Fall League, and while ‘He embarks on the last stage of his career as a minor league, he wants to stay hard.
While Erdridge has enough pop to be a threat of being able in any stage – Fangraphs has evaluated its future “raw power” as 80 on the 20-80 scale – the biggest domain for him is with The glove.
Initially drafted as a two -way player, Eldridge made his professional debut in the right field before the Giants passed it to the first goal of last year. He knew his hosquet share during his first full year at the post, making 18 errors on 100 field games. Fortunately for him, he will have the opportunity in the camp to rely on two of the first emblematic players of the franchise.
Eldridge has already worked with Will Clark, sharing that his father could not believe that he had the opportunity to learn from the thrill. With Clark, the list of guest instructors includes JT Snow, a winner of the Gold Glove prize six times that Eldridge called a “first guru of the base”.
“This is something that I could really use in my life right now,” said Eldridge.
Eldridge, which will wear the number 88 this spring, was delighted to finally go to the Scottsdale stadium after spending about a month in the facilities of the minor league team on the other side of the city, joking that the Giants “Had to suppress me behind this place. The list of players he already met includes Justin Verlander, with whom he took a selfie when he was a child when Verlander has always launched for the Detroit Tigers. Eldridge will probably enter his just part of matches during the camp, and although he manages high expectations for himself, the giants will not put pressure to perform their superior prospect – the one who is not yet of age of age Legal drink.
Over time, Eldridge enters the box of the left striker at Oracle Park and will aim for McCovey Cove. For the moment, the party bridge beyond the wall of the right field of the Scottsdale stadium will serve as a beautiful consolation.
California Daily Newspapers
