If you’re a sucker for romantic baseball content, late February is probably high on your list of best times of the year. It’s not the Fourth of July, or the depths of October, of course. But something about those first few days of spring training is nostalgic. Even for fan bases with little to no hope for a coming season, reports of camp attendance, who’s showing up in the best shape of their life, and the therapeutic cacophony of balls smacking into gloves is enough to bring a smile to any baseball fan’s face.
The Giants certainly aren’t grouped in with fan bases who have no hope, but they also don’t have expectations in common with those vying for a World Series title in realistic terms. But the Giants, and their new brass, have brought substantial hope to a fan base beginning to grow restless now more than a decade after the last of three magical championships left them satiated for years. With 2025 getting off the ground this week in Scottsdale, Buster Posey and his beloved Giants franchise are ready to turn back those clocks.
The golden goose of the Giants’ offseason wasted no time starting a Scottsdale Stadium highlight reel early this week. Willy Adames, a free agent shortstop formerly with the Brewers and Rays, has smacked three home runs in live batting practice in the first two days of organized workouts. Adames took Sean Hjelle deep on Monday, then Logan Webb TWICE on Tuesday.
The other big off-season acquisition was future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander. Verlander, no doubt in the twilight of his epic career on the mound, figures to be a key piece in the Giants rotation.
He also brings invaluable experience to a staff that has some youth and inexperience to work through. Here, in a video shared on the Giants’ socials, he vocally helps out young right-hander Hayden Birdsong during a bullpen session.
You can’t forget about Bryce Eldridge. The 2023 first round pick is coming off a tremendous season in his first full professional campaign. He earned himself a non-roster invite to big league spring training this season. He’ll wear No. 88, the telltale spring sign of an unproven young buck in major league camp. Mike Krukow joined Murph & Markus on Tuesday morning, and the Giants’ most prized farm possession was a hot topic. Krukow, like everyone who has laid eyes on Eldridge in the box, is beyond impressed. But he preached patience as well.
“I don’t think you expect anything this year,” Krukow said regarding a potential big league contribution from Eldridge. “He’s got the hitting skill right now for the big leagues. But at 20, let him develop, he still has to develop.”
That doesn’t mean fans won’t see Eldridge in a Giants uniform in 2025.
“I think ideally they’d like to have him play the full year and be a call up in September.”