SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Giants announced their first wave of roster cuts on Wednesday morning, with first baseman Bryce Eldridge and outfielder Marco Luciano among the eight players who were sent over to the Minor League side.
Eldridge, who headlined MLB Pipeline’s list of Top 30 Giants prospects for 2025, made a loud statement by crushing a 450-foot home run in his spring debut against the Rangers on Feb. 22, but he finished 2-for-11 with eight strikeouts over eight exhibition games. The 20-year-old slugger ended up starting only one game at designated hitter over the first two weeks of Cactus League play, so the Giants felt it was best to send him down so he could get more regular playing time.
“It’s great that Bryce got a taste here,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s very appreciative and had great things to say about the group and so forth and so on. I’m sure we’re going to see Bryce Eldridge at some point in time in the future. He just needs some consistent at-bats.”
While Eldridge is viewed as a precocious hitter, he’s still working to get comfortable at first base, a position he only started playing full-time last season. Eldridge made a defensive miscue in his lone appearance at first base against the Cubs on Feb. 26, misplaying a routine grounder that ended up being scored a double, but the Giants believe he’s already shown improvement at the position after being coached by guest instructor J.T. Snow, third-base coach Matt Williams, special assistant to the front office Ron Wotus and others.
“He’s made big strides here,” Melvin said. “Ron Wotus will still be down there with him at times, working with him here in Spring Training. He works hard every day. We do special stuff with him. Talking to Matt Williams and [first-base coach] Mark Halberg, they think he’s made significant strides since he’s been here. Obviously, he only got into a game one time defensively, but that will come.”
Eldridge climbed from Single-A San Jose to Triple-A Sacramento last season, but Melvin said the Giants still haven’t decided where he’ll start the 2025 campaign. Eldridge has appeared in only 17 games above High-A Eugene, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him go back to Double-A Richmond and then try to force his way up from there. The Giants currently have LaMonte Wade Jr. and Wilmer Flores projected to split time at first base, so they can afford to be patient with their top prospect.
“I know at this point in time we don’t want to rush him,” Melvin said. “Once he gets it all together and feels comfortable defensively and puts up big numbers, that’s when you’ll see him here. Whether it’s this year at some point in time, I’m not sure, but he moved up pretty quickly last year because of his bat.”
Luciano, 23, is also learning a new position after transitioning from the infield to the outfield this spring. While he’s looked fairly comfortable in left field, he went 2-for-19 with a home run over nine Cactus League games and should also benefit from getting more consistent reps in the Minors.
“He got some innings, he got some at-bats, but I think it was only a couple of starts,” Melvin said. “We really want him to focus on going down there and playing every day. Getting the outfield thing under his belt, which I think he’s handled beautifully, and then the bat is going to start to play a little bit more.”
The most notable cut on the pitching side was right-hander Mason Black, who gave up five runs over 3 1/3 innings (13.50 ERA) in two Cactus League appearances this year. Black, the Giants’ No. 12 prospect, was among the group of young starters who were vying for the fifth rotation spot this spring, but he’s lost ground to others like Kyle Harrison, Hayden Birdsong and Landen Roupp on the starting depth chart.
“There’s some guys ahead of him right now,” Melvin said. “Once these starters start to get stretched out a little bit more, the innings become a little more difficult for a guy like him. We want him to go down there and get stretched out. He’s been in the big leagues before, and it’s going to be performance that gets him back.”
The five other players who were reassigned to Minor League camp were left-handers Raymond Burgos, Miguel Del Pozo and Ethan Small and right-handers Kai-Wei Teng and Cole Waites.