How can Giants realistically get top prospect Bryce Eldridge on the field?

LOS ANGELES — There was only one logical landing spot for the first home run of Bryce Eldridge‘s career. On Monday, two days after he hit it, Eldridge flashed a wide smile and said the souvenir is headed for his mom’s house.The rest of his Mother’s Day weekend and the surrounding days, however, were puzzling. Eldridge was out of the starting lineup on Friday and then hit an impressive homer down the right field line on Saturday. His reward was a spot on the bench to start Sunday’s game, and when the Giants showed up at Dodger Stadium on Monday, he was again out of the lineup.During his pregame session with reporters, manager Tony Vitello spent most of his time answering questions about the 21-year-old top prospect. Asked to define Eldridge’s role, he said he’s “a threat.” He didn’t talk in absolutes, but said a three-day window without a start “would be a painful pill to swallow.”Mostly, the answers left the impression that Eldridge’s primary job, at least right now, is to pinch-hit.“I’m hopeful it would be almost every game, and (he would) at least get one at-bat,” Vitello said. “I think that that isn’t how Barry Bonds got in a rhythm every day, but I do think that is consistent enough (with) appearances, preparation and things like that and seeing live pitching to where he can stay in a necessary rhythm to do what he’s capable of.”The first game at Dodger Stadium came and went without an Eldridge at-bat, and it showed why it’s so difficult to take this approach with young players. Vitello noted before the game that he had five straight right-handed bats after Rafael Devers, and there was a loose plan to get Eldridge involved that way, perhaps even early enough in the game that he would get multiple trips to the plate.The best opportunity came in the seventh, when righty Will Klein entered for that pocket of right-handed hitters. But in a one-run game, that was not a spot where the staff would want to send Eldridge up for Heliot Ramos, who already had a two-run double and a single. Or for Willy Adames, who wasn’t hit for or given days off even when he was slumping. Ramos struck out, but Adames ended up lining a two-run single.When the Giants hit around in the ninth, Eldridge strolled to the on-deck circle to bat for Casey Schmitt, who had led off the long frame with a walk. But Luis Arraez made an out, ending the inning and sending Eldridge back to the dugout. “I think ‘the future is bright’ is an understatement, and I think anything to do justice by his development is smart,” Vitello said after the 9-3 win. “But also, we’re trying to win games.”Vitello said Eldridge will start Tuesday, and for the time being, this might be a question he’s faced with after just about every game. Eldridge is the best Giants prospect in a decade, and his use — or lack thereof — will be a daily talking point. Vitello was asked a half-dozen questions about Eldridge before batting practice on Monday, but what he cannot say is perhaps just as pertinent.The Giants have an infield logjam. A poorly-producing logjam, but one nonetheless.Vitello inherited three veterans — Devers, Adames and Matt Chapman — with about &dollar;450 million left on their combined deals. The Giants then signed Arraez, who has been their most valuable player by fWAR. That still would have left the DH spot for Eldridge, but Schmitt has broken through and has been the team’s best hitter. Schmitt is also homegrown, and at 27, he is theoretically entering his prime. He started at first base Monday.“As much of a threat as Bryce is, our biggest threat in the lineup is Rafi,” Vitello said. “Our best producer so far has been Casey. So it does kind of make it that triangle of bodies there. It does make it a little bit of a puzzle to solve.”So, what’s the easy answer to that puzzle for a first-year manager? Vitello sat Chapman on the day Eldridge arrived, but that’s not a card he can play often. Adames has not gotten a day off since the roster shakeup, but he finally seemed to get his swing going over the weekend and drove in three runs Monday. Devers has found his stride, too.Vitello has been put in an impossible spot. Does he occasionally bench the team’s most expensive players, a pair of whom are the clubhouse leaders? Does he regularly sit Arraez or Schmitt — who have been his two most valuable position players — at a time when the Giants are barely holding on to the lifeboat? Or does he pick his spots with the rookie?Vitello spent his entire career before this year in college, even recruiting Eldridge when he was at Tennessee. In theory, he would be the type to pick the development path, but that’s much easier said than done.Instead, the Giants will try to sell this as a different way to develop Eldridge, and while it generally seems like a flawed plan, there are some benefits for the player himself besides living the big league life.Eldridge does defensive drills every afternoon with Ron Washington, and that might be as valuable as any grounders he would get in Triple-A. The reps he gets this week will be somewhat limited, but it’s not too big a stretch to argue that any pitches he sees from a Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Emmet Sheehan or Blake Treinen will be just as valuable to his development as starting against the Round Rock Express in Triple-A this week.Of course, the much better plan would be to just let him do it all for four days at Dodger Stadium. Get four at-bats a night and mix in some time at first. Run the bases. Soak in the rivalry from the dirt, not the dugout. That would be the most valuable path for the organization’s most important prospect since Buster Posey, and at some point, the Giants will have to make a difficult decision to ensure it can happen, especially if they keep losing games. The path of least resistance would be trading Arraez, a free agent at the end of the year, which would open second base for Schmitt and DH for Eldridge. Posey doesn’t follow traditional MLB timelines, as he reminded everyone over the weekend when he moved Patrick Bailey, but that deal would be a lot harder to swallow for a front office that is desperate for consistent offensive production.Arraez is popular in the clubhouse and has been a surprising Gold Glove-caliber defender at second base. But if they are committed to developing Eldridge in the big leagues this year — and by all indications, they do not want to send him back to Triple-A — they will have to find some way to open a starting spot.That’s a puzzle Posey will have to sort through in the coming weeks and months. Short term, the answer might have come Monday afternoon, while Vitello was speaking to the media. In the outfield, Schmitt was taking fly balls.Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

How can Giants realistically get top prospect Bryce Eldridge on the field?

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