3 big overreactions to Tony Vitello's first SF Giants spring training lineup

Cactus League play is here for the SF Giants! The team will play its first spring training game later today against the Seattle Mariners and the team’s first lineup has been dropped. It probably doesn’t mean a whole lot, but we can still overreact to it.

Tony Vitello's first lineup as skipper of the Giants can be viewed below:

3 overreactions to first SF Giants spring training lineup

Bryce Eldridge batting cleanup

While the Giants may be wiser to let Bryce Eldridge start the season in Triple-A, if he has a great showing in spring training it will be hard to keep him off the team. He will bat cleanup in the team’s first game so he has an immediate chance to impress.

Last year he homered in the team’s first spring training game so maybe he can do the same this season.

Jerar Encarnacion is also in the lineup and he may be the biggest impediment to Eldridge making the roster given he is out of minor league options and could serve as the designated hitter.

New leadoff hitter?

In thinking of different leadoff hitters for the Giants this season, the most likely candidates probably would have been Luis Arraez or Jung Hoo Lee against right-handed pitching or maybe Heliot Ramos against lefties.

Bader is another potential option. In his career he has been the leadoff hitter in 49 games and has a slash line of .268/.335/.416. However, for the vast majority of his career he’s batted in the 6-9 spots in the order.

Still, he has some speed so he could make some sense as a table-setter. He probably won’t get a lot of opportunities as a leadoff hitter this season unless some guys get hurt, but it’s a fun thing to experiment with in spring training.

A return at shortstop 

Back in 2024 one could have said that Tyler Fitzgerald was the shortstop of the future for the Giants and they wouldn’t have been laughed out of the room. Then 2025 happened and his struggles at the plate had him end the year in Triple-A.

Late last season the Giants were trying to use Fitzgerald in the outfield more and it seems clear that if he is to have any path to a spot on the roster this season it will be as a super-utility guy. 

It would not be a surprise to see Fitzgerald play all over the diamond this spring and, who knows, maybe we’ll even see him at a few different spots in today’s game.

As for who will get the start on the mound for the Giants, that honor will go to Hayden Birdsong who is trying to bounce back from a disappointing 2025 campaign.

It’s just the first game of spring so we shouldn’t read too much into things, but it’s spring training and we haven’t had baseball in months so why not overreact just a little bit?