Almost exactly one year ago, Hayden Birdsong was promoted from San Jose up to High-A Eugene, where he made his debut on June 17, 2023. That’s a rapid rise through the minors!
Yesterday, in news broken by….I guess….me, Bryce Eldridge made that same journey up I5 towards Oregon. The Giants determined that he had learned enough from Cal League pitching and have pushed him up to the next challenge. That’s considerably faster than they were willing to move a similar teenaged power prodigy, Marco Luciano, back in the wake of the lost 2020 season. Luciano stuck around in San Jose until the first week in August, and had just belted his 18th homer of the year when the Giants finally took pity on Cal League pitchers and moved him up.
Who knows where the journey will take Eldridge or how long it will take him to arrive at the top. But I have a feeling we’ll be experiencing the same electric excitement that last night’s Giants’ game brought over the big Bat Man one of these days. Debut days are fun! Especially around these parts, because they’re the days when the promise of this site — that there really R Giants stirring about on the farm — becomes literal. Good days…
HITTER of the NIGHT: Quinn McDaniel (Eug), 2 for 4, 2 HR (7), 3 R, 4 RBI, 1 BB
PITCHER of the NIGHT: Carson Seymour (Sac), 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
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