Why Hunter Pence disagrees with Bryce Eldridge's lack of playing time for Giants originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
To put it simply, the Giants have not been playing well during the 2026 MLB season. And with those struggles come increasing scrutiny of each and every decision.
Much of that scrutiny lately has been around San Francisco’s handling of top prospect Bryce Eldridge, who has seen inconsistent playing time since being recalled to the majors on May 4.
After Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey said earlier Thursday the team has a “day-to-day” mindset regarding Eldridge, former San Francisco star Hunter Pence joined 95.7 The Game’s “Willard and Dibs” show to share his thoughts on the situation.
“I don’t like that personally, and I’m not sure how they’re gonna figure that out, but it’s so hard to learn the big leagues, and this is a prospect that you’re looking at being a franchise kind of guy. He’s got that kind of talent. He’s still so young,” Pence told Mark Willard and Dan Dibley. “I would want him playing every day, personally, but these are decisions — they know Bryce Eldridge, he’s a very intelligent kid. Every time I talk to him, he understands the situation.
“But for me, I think you’ve got to play to get better and sitting on the bench can really wreck your confidence because your timing gets off. You start missing a pitch here and there just because, it could be the smallest calibration, and then you start questioning yourself. And that’s the last thing you want, is him to not be able to get in rhythm. When you’re playing every day, you’re going to have your 0-for-4s, you’re going to have your slumps, and you get back in there and you’re slowly solving it. You kind of fine-tune to the frequency of the speed of the game.
“And it’s the same in Triple-A, whether you’re in the big leagues, like, there is a step to learn, but everyday at bats, and you’re going to have to learn to adjust from that failure, but you need to get another day after an 0-for. You need to get another day after — you’re never going to allow a kid to hit a lefty if he never faces a lefty. You’ve got to give him the chance, and they’ll solve it. If you trust your scouts, you trust the talent of the player, you’ve got to have confidence in him, believe in him and give him the everyday at bats.”
This week, Eldridge admitted he’s “surprised” about his lack of playing time since rejoining the big league club. On the other hand, Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow said Wednesday that Eldridge hasn’t “earned” the right to more playing time yet.
The 21-year-old has started just nine of 16 possible games since his call-up, in addition to a pair of pinch-hit at-bats. Eldridge is slashing .156/.229/.281 in 35 plate appearances with a home run and 10 strikeouts.
MLB Pipeline’s No. 18 overall prospect is trending up as of late, though, going 3-for-8 — including a 113.4-mph RBI double — in this week’s series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.