SF Giants need to have a Bryce Eldridge conversation sooner rather than later

While this SF Giants season has been a major disappointment, one of the few bright spots has been the emergence of Bryce Eldridge. He’s forced his way into the National League Rookie of the Year conversation and he has also forced the Giants to have a conversation they probably don’t want to have.

All around MLB, more and more teams are signing their young prospects to contract extensions. Some of them have done it even before the prospect has had a single big league at-bat. Eldridge has quickly proven that the hype surrounding him was warranted as he’s currently hitting .298/.389/.516 with six homers and 16 runs batted in.

He’s now one of the most exciting hitters to watch in the lineup and the Giants are certainly hoping he’s going to be a presence in the middle of the order for many years to come. So why not try to lock him up to a long-term deal now?

While other MLB teams are doing it, the Giants have seemed like they won’t follow the trend. President of baseball operations Buster Posey seems to be more of a “prove it” kind of guy and since the Giants already have so much money tied up in veteran players it would be a risk to sign Eldridge to some sort of long-term deal as well.

Giants need to make a future-focused move by extending Eldridge

There’s no real rush to get anything done since Eldridge will not be a free agent for years, but if he continues on his current pace and has a great rookie season then his price tag is only going to go up. Why not sign him to a ten-year deal that will keep him in San Francisco for longer rather than likely watching him depart in free agency someday?

It seems pretty clear that the Giants view him as the future face of the franchise. He already views himself that way and with the team’s reported willingness to move on from Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, and Rafael Devers it certainly feels like the Giants are shifting their focus to the future.

While it could certainly be seen as a risk to give a long-term deal to a guy who has played in less than 50 games in his MLB career, his early success seems sustainable. In addition to his obvious power, he’s drawing walks and has a great eye. His strikeouts were a concern at the minor league level but he pretty much always has a competitive at-bat.

Giants fans learned even last year in his brief stint in the big leagues that even when the 6-foot-7 slugger makes outs they’re often loud ones. That trend has continued in 2026 as well.

In short, he seems like a legit big league hitter. This does not seem like some short-lived fluke which is why the Giants should be having internal discussions about extending Eldridge right now.

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