{"id":107132,"date":"2025-09-15T12:46:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T16:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=107132"},"modified":"2025-09-15T12:46:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T16:46:39","slug":"giants-promote-top-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/09\/15\/giants-promote-top-prospect\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants Promote Top Prospect Amid Unexpected Playoff Push"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The San Francisco Giants selected the contract of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/09\/10\/bryce-eldridge-giants-1b-future\/\" target=\"_self\">top prospect Bryce Eldridge from Triple-A Sacramento<\/a>, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported the move Sunday night. Eldridge, 20, will join the team today in Arizona for a crucial series against the Diamondbacks. Meanwhile, the Giants cleared a 40-man roster spot by designating infielder David Villar for assignment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Giants Promote Top Prospect Amid Unexpected Playoff Push<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">It&#8217;s Bryce Eldridge time.<\/p>\n<p>San Francisco is calling up the No. 19 prospect in baseball, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/susanslusser?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@susanslusser<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The surging Giants are just 1.5 games back in the NL wild card \ud83d\udc40 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nCG8CRHk7U\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/nCG8CRHk7U<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BaseballAmerica\/status\/1967567406781661583?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 15, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><b>Playoff Race Fuels Call-Up<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Giants sit one-and-a-half games behind the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/08\/27\/mets-prospect-jonah-tong-mlb-debut-friday\/\" target=\"_self\">New York Mets<\/a> for the final NL Wild Card spot with 13 games remaining. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/15\/sf-giants-acquire-rafael-devers-red-sox\/\" target=\"_self\">They sold at the deadline after going all-in on Rafael Devers<\/a>, and it looked like all eyes were on the final regular-season game to put an end to a disappointing season. On September 1, the Giants had a 2.1% chance of making the playoffs (per FanGraphs) and stood five games back of the final Wild Card spot. But a 3-9 stretch from the New York Mets gave San Francisco the opportunity needed to see a way into October. Today, FanGraphs gives the Giants a 9.4% playoff chance, justifying Eldridge&#8217;s bat for a Wild Card push. However, first baseman Dominic Smith suffered a hamstring strain on Friday, likely ending his season. Thus, San Franciaso called upon Eldridge\u2019s bat to boost their offense for the remainder of this tight playoff race.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Eldridge\u2019s Rapid Rise<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eldridge entered pro ball as the Giants\u2019 first-round pick (16th overall) in 2024 from Madison High School in Virginia. Initially, scouts hailed him as a two-way star, dubbing him the \u201cAmerican Ohtani\u201d for his hitting and pitching prowess. However, he focused on hitting and playing first base after signing for a hair under $4 million. In 2023, he hit .233 with 10 homers in 42 games across rookie and Single-A levels. Eldridge&#8217;s 2024 was slowed by a wrist injury, but his .291 average and 52 extra-base hits show strong progress. He began 2025 in Double-A Richmond, slashing .280\/.350\/.512 across 34 games before being promoted to Triple-A Sacramento. Eldridge\u2019s numbers since his promotion have been good, not great. A .249 average and .332 on-base percentage are serviceable, but his .836 OPS jumps off the screen. 18 home runs and 13 doubles show the power that comes with his six-foot-seven, 240-pound frame.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Diving into advanced stats, of players in Triple-A this season who have seen at least 1000 pitches, Eldridge is in at least the 95th percentile in xwOBA, xBA, xSLG, EV, max EV, 50th% EV, 90th% EV, barrel%, and hard-hit% (per Prospect Savant). The downside to the raw power is a 31.1% strikeout rate, validated by a 28.55% chase rate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Bryce Eldridge is being called up!<\/p>\n<p>2025 (102 G, 433 PA)<br \/>\n.260\/.333\/.510<br \/>\n21 2B, 25 HR<br \/>\n9.9% BB, 29.3% K<\/p>\n<p>In Triple-A&#8230;<br \/>\n95.7 mph AVG EV, 63.5% HH, 16.8% BRL<br \/>\n79.9% Zone Contact, 66.3% Contact<a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ORtwvkHhoH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ORtwvkHhoH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EricCrossMLB\/status\/1967573383748669590?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 15, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><b>Impact on Giants\u2019 Stretch Run<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eldridge ranks No. 13 on MLB Pipeline\u2019s top prospect list and No. 19 on Baseball America\u2019s. Moreover, his raw power could energize a lineup averaging just 4.1 runs per game. Yet, his defense remains raw, so expect platoons with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/03\/26\/giants-deal-designated-hitter\/\" target=\"_self\">Wilmer Flores<\/a> and splitting time between DH and first base with Rafael Devers. As the Giants attempt to squeak through the back door into the playoffs, Eldridge\u2019s debut offers excitement and hope.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The San Francisco Giants selected the contract of top prospect Bryce Eldridge from Triple-A Sacramento, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported the move Sunday night. Eldridge, 20, will join the team today in Arizona for a crucial series against the Diamondbacks. Meanwhile, the Giants cleared a 40-man roster spot by designating infielder [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5310,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,1071,35],"tags":[6474],"class_list":["post-107132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-giants","category-mlb","category-news","tag-bryce-eldridge"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107132"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107146,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107132\/revisions\/107146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}