Giants Aim To Set Bryce Eldridge Up For Success
First baseman Bryce Eldridge has the size, power and maturity to become the Giants’ next big thing. That can be both a blessing and a curse, according to Randy Winn.
Winn, a switch-hitting outfielder who spent five of his 13 big league seasons with San Francisco, became the Giants’ vice president for player development in November. Winn believes the Giants’ 2023 first-round pick “has the body, the build . . . the makeup and just has a tremendous upside.”
Still, Winn cautions against expecting too much too soon from the 6-foot-7 lefthanded hitter who turned 20 in October.
“I am very wary of how much as an industry, as a culture, we tend to crown people too early,” Winn said. “I’ve seen a lot of guys come and go in this game, and it is very tough to live up to the hype . . .
“Do I think Bryce Eldridge is super talented? Yes. Do I think he’s going to have a great career? Yes. But I’m always just very wary of saying he’s the next or he’s this or any of those things. I would like him to be Bryce Eldridge and come into that whenever that might be.”
Eldridge hit 23 home runs with a .292/.374/.516 slash line at four full-season minor league levels last season. Winn said beyond Eldridge’s power, what separates him from other hitters is “that he’s shown the ability at a young age to keep his hands inside the ball and to be able to drive the ball the other way.”
Buster Posey, the Giants’ new president of baseball operations, can relate to Eldridge’s situation. San Francisco selected the catcher from Florida State with the fifth overall pick in 2008. He had 17 at-bats as a September callup in 2009 before joining the big club for good in late May 2010.
“Buster has his own experience about being a very high pick and having huge expectations and being thrown into a big league team,” said Winn, who was Posey’s teammate in September 2009.
Posey’s background surely will play a role in how quickly or not-so-quickly the Giants believe Eldridge will be ready to join the big club.
