Just in case it has somehow escaped your attention: San Francisco\u2019s lineup has been remarkably bad this season.<\/p>\n
The Giants are currently in last place in the National League West, winners of just two games in their past 10, and they rank last in MLB in both run-scoring (3.12 R\/G) and home runs (19). The team has already been shut out seven times. Things are bleak.<\/p>\n
Not an ideal start to the year, all things considered.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, one of baseball\u2019s better hitting prospects has been thriving at Triple A for San Francisco, and the team has finally decided to promote him to the big leagues<\/a>. Bryce Eldridge<\/strong> has slashed .333\/.445\/.518 at Sacramento with 11 extra-base hits, including six homers. He\u2019s feasted over the past week, too, hitting three bombs and driving in 11 runs in his past eight games.<\/p>\n At 6-foot-7 and 250-plus pounds, this is a young player with significant power potential:<\/p>\n BRYCE ELDRIDGE HOMER<\/p>\n \ud83d\ude80 110.1 MPH (!!!) \u2014 Sacramento River Cats (@RiverCats) April 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Strikeouts are definitely part of the profile with Eldridge (30.3 K%), but that\u2019s often the case with batters of unusual size. He belongs very much to the three-true-outcomes<\/a> tradition of power-hitting first basemen.<\/p>\n Without question, the Eldridge callup is the simplest and most obvious way for the Giants to shake up a lifeless lineup, although he\u2019s blocked at his natural position. Rafael Devers clearly isn\u2019t going anywhere despite his early struggles. Casey Schmitt has stubbornly refused to yield the DH spot in the batting order, but he offers a degree of positional versatility, allowing Eldridge to find regular at-bats.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re playing in a competitive league, the 21-year-old deserves an immediate add.<\/p>\n Jack Perkins owns the ninth for A\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n Save-chasing fantasy managers have spent the past six weeks flirting with various A\u2019s relievers, including (but not limited to) Hogan Harris, Joel Kuhnel and Mark Leiter. Finally, after weeks of uncertainty, a clear favorite appears to have emerged in the A\u2019s bullpen.<\/p>\n Jack Perkins has earned three of the team\u2019s past four saves while stringing together six straight scoreless appearances and piling up strikeouts. The 26-year-old converted starter has a closing-quality four-pitch arsenal, including high-90s velocity and elite swing-and-miss stats (30.9 K%, 33.1 Whiff%).<\/p>\n Officially, ninth-inning responsibilities for this team might still be in the hands of a committee, but Perkins has established himself as its chairperson. He\u2019s been exceptional all season, with only one hiccup on his game log. For the year, he\u2019s punched out 17 batters in 13.1 frames while issuing just three walks. Perkins remains widely available on all platforms, but he\u2019s clearly atop the relief hierarchy for a frisky team. Go get him wherever you can.<\/p>\n Alas, the buy-low window on Kazuma Okamoto may have just shut<\/strong><\/p>\n Okamoto ranks among the leaders in average exit velocity (92.8 mph) and hard-hit rate (51.9%) this season, so it was only a matter of time before the on-field stats caught up with the underlying numbers. He\u2019s been a bit contact-challenged (28.6 K%), but there\u2019s no doubting about his raw power.<\/p>\n Behold:<\/p>\n Kazuma Okamoto hits a 453-foot rocket to put the @BlueJays<\/a> within one \ud83d\ude80 pic.twitter.com\/jaFEMNgtpO<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLB (@MLB) May 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Okamoto averaged 33.1 home runs per season in Japan between 2018 and 2024, and, following a weekend binge in Minnesota, he\u2019s now up to nine for the Jays over his first 33 MLB games.<\/p>\n He may not ultimately hit for average, but he also seems unlikely to be stuck in the .230s for the balance of the season. Okamoto should cruise past the 30-homer plateau this year, assuming good health. He found his way to thousands of waiver wires a couple weeks ago when his batting average dipped below .200, so he might still be available to a few of you.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for a power boost, Okamoto remains a sensible trade target, even if this week\u2019s price is not last week\u2019s price.<\/p>\n Joe Mack is up for the Fish; Agustin Ramirez sent down<\/strong><\/p>\n We don\u2019t need to react to this promotion\/demotion situation in any sort of dramatic way, because a great deal of Mack\u2019s prospect appeal involves his plus-defense. If you suddenly need to replace Ramirez in a one-catcher league, you can probably do better than Mack. He has modest power, but he was hitting .244\/.388\/.378 at Triple A.<\/p>\n One thing Mack is fully capable of doing, however, is throwing out the occasional baserunner. Ramirez and Liam Hicks have combined to cut down only three runners on the season while allowing a combined 42 steals. Not great. And Hicks has been the hotter hitter in the early weeks, so here we are.<\/p>\n Long term, Ramirez still has the most fantasy-friendly profile from this group and he was actually batting second for the Marlins on the day of his demotion. The team knows he\u2019s a quality future asset. He\u2019ll be a player of interest whenever he\u2019s recalled.<\/p>\n If you stream it, you can do it<\/strong><\/p>\n For those who dabble in the streaming arts, the following two-start pitchers are approved for use in the week ahead:<\/p>\n\n
\ud83d\udcd0 28\u00b0
\ud83d\udccf 434 ft pic.twitter.com\/L2LyANzmwu<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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