Plus, the latest on Matt Chapman and Jerar Encarnación.
Every day, the San Francisco Giants decision to trade for slugger Rafael Devers looks a little bit better. Devers has hit well, anchored the lineup, and fit right in. And, unfortunately, he’s filling a roster hole that is now in even more need of filling, because top prospect Bryce Eldridge’s timeline just suffered a setback.
Eldridge, who is playing first base for AAA Sacramento, suffered a hamstring strain on Saturday when turning around second base following a double, his second hit of the day. On Tuesday, the Giants announced that it is a right hamstring strain, and that the tall lefty slugger will rehab at the team’s facility in Arizona for the next 3-4 weeks. With Eldridge starting to find his groove in AAA, it looked like the team was heading towards he and Devers splitting time at first base and designated hitter sooner rather than later. But this setback means that the 2023 first-round pick won’t be back in AAA until late July at the earliest, and he still has a lot of developing to do on both sides of the diamond when he gets there. It’s the second injury he’s suffered this year, after he missed the first few weeks of the season with an injured wrist. It’s still quite possible that Eldridge makes his MLB debut this season, but those injuries might push him back to 2026.
The Giants also offered up injury updates on another pair of sluggers, Matt Chapman (who is dealing with right hand inflammation) and Jerar Encarnación (who has a left oblique strain). The team announced that Chapman “will start swinging the bat today and will continue his groundball work.” According to the team’s beat reporters, the Giants are still hopeful that the third baseman will return before the All-Star break. That would put his likely return during the July 11-13 series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
As for Encarnación, the team stated simply that he “is rehabbing only this week,” so AAA appearances are out of the question for a while. It would seem he’s still a ways away from returning to action.