SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Bryce Eldridge used two different gloves on the backfield at Scottsdale Stadium on Wednesday morning. One belonged to him; the other belonged to Jung Hoo Lee.
Eldridge dedicated the early part of his morning to working on infield defense, beaming with joy as he described his first fielding session with new infield coach Ron Washington. Then, as the first position player groups took batting practice, Eldridge grabbed Lee’s glove and headed out to left field to shag fly balls alongside outfielder Drew Gilbert.
To be clear, Eldridge isn’t changing positions anytime soon. He is a first baseman, and barring the unforeseen, he will continue to be a first baseman. But his presence in the outfield might be a common sight this spring.
Eldridge told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that manager Tony Vitello wants him to shag fly balls just in case a need suddenly arises. The Giants’ top prospect added that he will just be shagging and he won’t be taking reps with the team’s actual outfielders.
“(Vitello) said he wanted me to take shagging seriously out there. Never know if something happens and they need me in the lineup, put me out there — or at least make me feel comfortable enough to put me out there and know that I’ve been working on it,” Eldridge said. “That was his thought process. … My mom’s shipping my outfield glove that I’ve never used because I haven’t played outfield in the last two years.”
Eldridge, 21, isn’t completely unfamiliar with the outfield. In 2023, Eldridge played 26 minor-league games in right field after the Giants selected him in that year’s draft. The following year, San Francisco moved Eldridge to first base, the only defensive position he has played the last two seasons.
“I never really got a chance to get comfortable out there. I never played out there in high school, so for what it’s worth, I felt comfortable enough,” Eldridge said. “Obviously, it probably wasn’t pretty. You can ask the Low-A (San Jose) coaches if it was pretty or not. I felt like I did a good job.”
Eldridge, in all likelihood, won’t be anything more than an emergency outfielder in the same way that teams have an emergency catcher.
The Giants will always carry at least one, if not two, outfielders on the bench, and utility players Tyler Fitzgerald and Christian Koss have professional experience in the outfield. Even new second baseman Luis Arráez has played 48 games in left field, though he hasn’t played the position since 2021. For Eldridge to see time in the outfield, multiple things would have had to go off the rails.
Still, as Eldridge put it, you “never know.”
“We got Devers, we got Arráez, we got a lot of guys who can go and play first base and DH,” Eldridge said. “Not that I’ll be a full-time outfielder. If they can trust me to go out there, that’s always a good thing, right?”
Eldridge said he jogged out to left field on Wednesday because that’s where the fewest outfielders were present. Gilbert, a plus defender in his time with the Giants last season, provided Eldridge with some tips.
“I was kind of just running around there. I would run for one, then I saw another one in the air and go sprint,” Eldridge said. “He’s like, ‘Dude, just take a rep, take it seriously, go reset.’ I’m kind of out there doing cardio. I’m like, ‘I don’t know how you’re supposed to do it.’”
While Eldridge hasn’t taken any actual reps in the outfield, he’s gotten plenty of legit work in the infield since the year started.
Eldridge, who is full go after undergoing left wrist surgery in October, has been in Arizona since January and has been taking grounders for over a month. After completing fielding drills with Washington and Jolbert Cabrera, the fundamentals coach for Triple-A Sacramento, Eldridge listened intently to Washington’s defensive guidance for several minutes.
If Eldridge has a good spring, he and Washington may both be standing on Oracle Park’s third-base line on Opening Night.
Eldridge will be one of the biggest storylines to monitor over the next six weeks. The Giants’ top prospect isn’t guaranteed a spot on the Opening Day roster, and it’s possible he starts the season with Sacramento despite making his debut last September.
“I knew coming into (camp) last year that I didn’t really have a chance to make it, so it’s definitely different,” Eldridge said. “It makes it easier to relax and have fun. We heard a good message from Willy (Adames) and (Matt) Chapman in a camp the other week, saying everyone just has to be themselves and don’t try to impress (anybody). I feel like being myself is what got me here, so I’m just going keep being myself.”
There are valid arguments on both sides of the aisle regarding Eldridge. He has an .872 OPS in his minor-league career and made lots of loud contact during his brief time in the majors last season, but he’s also played just 74 games in Triple-A. When president of baseball operations Buster Posey was asked on Monday what boxes he wants to see Eldridge check, Posey responded, “it’s really just the all-encompassing playing well.”
“It’s defense, it’s baserunning, it’s obviously the offensive side of it,” Posey said. “To me, somebody that has the potential, the ceiling that he has, you’re hoping to see little strides forward in every part of his game.”
“It’s amazing that he was able to accomplish what he did last year,” Vitello said. “But for right now I think he’s just got to mature as a player. He’s incredibly mature as a kid, but repetitions and conversations and maturing so that he’s a complete player is the key to him becoming the best version of himself.”
Worth noting
- Vitello said it’s “more than likely” that Logan Webb will be the team’s Opening Day starter. If Webb gets the nod, it will be his fifth straight time starting the Giants’ first game of the season, tying Madison Bumgarner for the second-most since the team moved to San Francisco.
