Giants’ Bryce Eldridge decision receives warranted ‘head-scratcher’ criticism originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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It’s not a secret that year one of Tony Vitello’s tenure with the San Francisco Giants is going poorly.
With a 19-27 record, nine games back in the NL West and 8.5 back in the Wild Card, the Giants are not having a good season so far.
But it’s not just that the team isn’t playing well; it’s that the decision-making has been odd, too. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale levied criticism of the Giants’ way for one reason: the team’s decision with Bryce Eldridge.
“The San Francisco Giants’ decision to call up slugger Bryce Eldridge but not play him every day is a head-scratcher,” Nightengale writes.
This criticism of the Giants’ plan with Eldridge, a top prospect who’s languishing in the Majors without significant playing time, is well-warranted.
Giants receive warranted criticism for Bryce Eldridge’s decision
The Giants promoted Eldridge to the Majors on May 4th, and the 21-year-old slugger, who had five homers in Triple-A this season before his big-league promotion, was someone fans could look forward to seeing.
However, since his promotion, he’s played in eight games, sitting out four of the twelve matchups they’ve had since his promotion.
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To call up someone like Eldridge and play him so sparingly is a massive blunder from the Giants. Either they needed to call him up and play him full-time, or let him sit in the minors to get everyday playing time.
Instead, he’s started just seven games and is hitting .083 with one homer in 24 at-bats. He is also sporting a .393 OPS, which is an absolutely brutal number.
The Giants’ promoting Eldridge wasn’t that strange, but their decision-making since then, leaving him out of the lineup often during the time he’s been up in the big leagues, has led to criticism that’s well warranted.
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