'I'm the best guy': Eldridge makes grand statement with first Triple-A homer

When the Royals summoned Jac Caglianone to the big leagues earlier this week, it spawned a discussion about the best power-hitting prospects of all-time. While Bryce Eldridge may not have carved out a corner in that discussion, the Giants' top prospect ranks alongside Caglianone with a 70-grade power tool, the top mark handed out in 2025 by MLB Pipeline in that category.

In just his second game with Triple-A Sacramento this season, Eldridge showed off that prodigious pop by whistling a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning en route to an 8-3 victory over Sugar Land at Constellation Field on Thursday night.

Hitters like hitting ahead in the count, and that's definitely been the case for Eldridge. The No. 20 overall prospect has an .838 slugging percentage this year with the count in his favor vs. .314 when he’s behind. So after Eldridge didn’t offer at a first-pitch slider out of the zone from right-hander Nick Hernandez (Astros), he was in a spot to slug. And when the next slider flattened out, the 20-year-old didn’t miss.

“In those situations, I'm just looking at what he throws with runners in scoring position and what pitches he likes to go to,” Eldridge said. “There was a high slider usage in that situation and he'd been throwing his slider, I think they said 60 percent of the time the last few weeks. So that's the only pitch I was looking for until I got two strikes and he threw one above the zone. He kind of hung it for me.

“I just try and keep it simple, keep the approach simple. Every time I go out there, in my mind, I'm the best guy. I'm the better man of the matchup and I think that's just what's gotten me to the point I'm at now. I'm confident no matter who's on the mound.”

It has long just looked like Eldridge sizzles the ball, but now that his outings are backed by verified Statcast data, it’s even more apparent. His grand slam came at 109.8 mph off the bat and sounded even louder. That’s harder than any ball Eldridge hit in his eight-game Sacramento stint last season, but of his 20 balls put in play, 11 came at 95+ mph (classified as hard-hit).

Eldridge’s first introduction to Cactus League games came this spring, and while he went 2-for-11, one of those two was a gargantuan 450-foot wallop.

After a wrist injury ended Eldridge’s Spring Training run early and cut into the start of his 2025 campaign, he came back with a vengeance on April 22, homering in his first at-bat of the year for Double-A Richmond. He endured a 13-game homerless drought, but ultimately pushed his way to the Minors’ highest level after slashing .280/.350/.512 with a 148 wRC+ in 34 games for the Flying Squirrels.

When Eldridge found out he was Sacramento-bound earlier this week, it started to sink in. He had donned the “Sactown” threads before and faced Sugar Land in 2024, but that was a trial run before embarking on the Arizona Fall League. To put it in his own words, he described his second callup to Triple-A as “this is real this time.”

When longtime Giants fan favorite Lamonte Wade Jr. was designated for assignment earlier this week, it essentially freed up first base for one player to grab it by the horns. Dominic Smith was signed and immediately inserted into the spot, and he's gone 3-for-8 with a pair of RBIs to begin his tenure, but San Francisco's future at the cold corner is starting to crystallize. The question remains when that future merges with the present.

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Eldridge hears and sees all the clamor about his arrival and the “call him up!” comments that dot every post of his home runs on social media.

“I mean, only my wildest dreams could I ever imagine that a professional club’s fan base would be so excited about me,” he said. “Obviously, I think a lot of kids grow up dreaming about it and I'm living in it. I just give all glory to God and I’m just gonna keep focusing on getting better day by day.”