SAN FRANCISCO -- The lion’s share of attention from Monday’s Giants roster moves understandably went to No. 1 prospect Bryce Eldridge. Jesus Rodriguez, San Francisco’s No. 18 prospect, joined Eldridge from Triple-A Sacramento and seemed like an afterthought. Eldridge knew better, and told reporters to watch Rodriguez bat.
Tuesday night's crowd at Oracle Park got to see what Eldridge was talking about when Rodriguez, in his second big league game, flared an RBI single to right field against Walker Buehler in the second inning of a 10-5 loss to San Diego, then hit a rare opposite-field home run in the seventh.
Right-handed batters had previously done that just 80 times since Oracle Park opened in 2000. Rodriguez was the first to do it for his first big league homer.
Rodriguez joined the Giants’ organization only last year in the midseason trade that sent closer Camilo Doval to the Yankees, but he knew enough about San Francisco’s waterfront ballpark not to assume his ball would reach the right-field arcade because even left-handed hitters struggle to clear the high brick wall.
“I know it’s tough,” Rodriguez said, “but thank God it went out.”
Rodriguez got the ball back from the fan who snagged it. It cost him only one bat.
Eldridge said he was thrilled that Rodriguez could join him in San Francisco, saying, “It couldn’t happen to a better guy.”
Reporters asked Eldridge for a scouting report on Rodriguez and he obliged.
“I loved hitting behind him [in Sacramento],” he said. “I tell everyone that with two outs and him at the plate, I know I’m hitting that inning. He’ll find a way to get on base.”
Rodriguez’s start behind the plate Tuesday was eye-opening because he supplanted Patrick Bailey, who had caught all but two of Logan Webb’s 41 starts since the beginning of last season. In fact, Bailey was on the bench for the third straight game.
The Giants appear to be letting Bailey take a step back to do extra pregame work on his hitting and agility drills after he started 26 of the team’s first 32 games behind the plate, an unusually high early-season workload for a catcher.
Rodriguez could earn more starts if he keeps hitting, but Bailey is the Giants’ best defensive catcher and a switch-hitter. Manager Tony Vitello said that also will factor into who catches on any given night. But Vitello noted that Rodriguez plays other positions, too, so he and Bailey could be in the lineup together.