A pretty straightforward headline, but I was curious to see how many votes Bryce Eldridge would actually receive after the announcement that he wasn’t a finalist. It turns out he received two (2) of the thirty (30) votes and both were for 5th place — not enough to land him that spot. The top 5 vote-getters:
- Sal Stewart, Reds — 170 points
- Carson Benge, Mets — 107
- JJ Wetherholt, Cards — 99
- Nolan McLean, Mets — 70
- TJ Rumfield, Rockies – 49
And he actually had fewer votes than #6 on the list, Logan Henderson. He tied with Atlanta pitcher Didier Fuentes, and both had one more vote than another Mets rookie: outfielder A.J. Ewing.
Now,
if you want to know why Stewart got it, the answer is simple: 32 home runs and 112 RBI. Otherwise, his 112 wRC+ was just 6th. Eldridge led the NL rookie pack at 131. By fWAR, his 1.8 was outside the top 6th, but Stewart’s was just 2.0 thanks to -8.8 Defensive Runs Above Average. What could have been, had Eldridge’s season not been cut short by a doorway… right?
By straight WAR, the vote would’ve gone Wetherholt (4.6), Benge (4.3), Rumfield (2.6), Miami’s Joe Mack (2.2), and the Stewart. Benge had 20 homers, trailing Stewart by a wide margin, but what if Eldridge had avoided that doorway and gotten to 20 or 21 himself? It might’ve been an interesting discussion.
As it stands, Eno Sarris’s bet has paid off in year one.
Cincinnati will receive the Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) draft pick because they put Stewart on their Opening Day roster. The Giants didn’t want to do that, but as the #4 most important story of the season, there’s a certain what could’ve been quality to his season. The kid showed he could hang in the big leagues and adjust back against the league’s adjustments to him. This happened to one of the other finalists.
Carson Benge was hitting .204 through his first 36 games but then .301/.362/.454 (.817 OPS) over the rest of the season with 17 homers and 54 RBI, along with superlative defense. Eldridge was down to .248/.342/.426 (.768) after 76 games, but in his final 31 (138 PA) he slashed .319/.413/.543 (.956 OPS) with 6 homers and 29 RBI. Wetherhold faded down the stretch (along with missing time due to injury) and hit .213/.310/.276 over his final 34 games (145 PA). Sal Stewart hovered around a .720 OPS over the final weeks of the season but, rather crucially, he played in all 162 games. But, to be clear, and to take off the fan hat: this is some serious competition. This was a very tough field. Eldridge would’ve had to get much closer to those counting stats to make up for the lack of defensive pizzaz and to overcome the games played disparity with Stewart.
It’s not the ideal outcome for such a promising season, but this has the chance to be a quaint footnote in his professional story. He made a big impression at age 21 but didn’t even sniff the Rookie of the Year Award, but went on to become a perennial All-Star and a notable slugger in Giants history. I mean, that’s the hope, right?
The real shocker in this is how the Bay Area writers stayed away. Eldridge’s two votes came from David Venn of MLB.com from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s Arizona chapter and The Athletic’s Charlotte Varnes from the Philadelphia chapter. Eldridge didn’t even face the Phillies this season and in Arizona he hit just .286/.286/.333 in 21 PA (5 games); though, overall: .311/.367/.467 with a homer and 8 RBI in 49 PA (12 total games).
The SF chapter votes were from Jaeho Kim (MK Sports) and Shayna Rubin (The Chronicle). Rubin’s 5 were the top 5 (slight difference in order) and Kim’s ballot omitted Benge in favor of Didier Fuentes.
