The 2026 Major League Baseball season had high hopes attached to it for the San Francisco Giants. However, it ended in extreme disappointment. 

The Giants finished the season with a 65-97 record, and their playoff drought extended to five straight years. Since winning 107 games in 2021, San Francisco has yet to post a winning record. 

The season started going south almost immediately, and President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey made the decision to trade away talented players such as Heliot Ramos, Luis Arraez and Robbie Ray. Even with the departures of those players, though, the Giants still have strong roster pieces in the building. 

One such player is designated hitter Bryce Eldridge. Let's review how his 2026 campaign went. 

Eldridge, 21, made his MLB debut on Sept. 15, 2025. Given that he debuted so late in the season, he only appeared in 10 games and struggled. 

Across those 10 games, Eldridge posted a .107 batting average, a .297 on-base percentage, a .179 slugging percentage, and a .476 OPS in 28 at-bats. 

Eldridge could have shrunk and ended up stuck in the minor leagues, but that was not the case. In May, he made his way back to the major-league roster and became a high-level contributor for the Giants in 2026. 

Eldridge appeared in 107 games for San Francisco during the 2026 season, and he logged a .269 batting average, a .364 on-base percentage, a .461 slugging percentage, and an .825 OPS, with 17 home runs. Given how young Eldridge is, it would not have been surprising at all to see him go back to the minors to continue to develop, but he proved why he belonged in The Show. 

Eldridge's splits throughout the season were also encouraging. In 53 games at home, he posted a slash line of .253/.358/.478 and an .836 OPS with 10 home runs in 186 at-bats. Over 54 away games, he posted a slash line of .285/.370/.445 and an .815 OPS with 7 home runs in 200 at-bats. 

Eldridge's only average month of the season was July, in which he hit .207 with a .318 on-base percentage and a .402 slugging percentage, with a .720 OPS across 25 games and 92 at-bats. Otherwise, he was effective at the plate throughout the year. 

Eldridge was also good as a defender. He appeared at first base in 41 games and made 39 starts, in which he posted a .997 fielding percentage and committed only one error. 

Overall, Eldridge is a promising young player with a lot of good years ahead of him that the Giants can utilize. There are a lot of questions surrounding the organization, but Eldridge is a player who has proved his worth and can become a mainstay for this franchise.