There is no better feeling than meeting a childhood hero.
When it comes to Giants rookie Bryce Eldridge, it was a moment he will remember forever, meeting his baseball idol, Bryce Harper, before an exhibition game between San Francisco and Team USA in Scottsdale, Arizona, this spring.
Eldridge recently spoke with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kylen Mills on the latest edition of “Kylen’s Kwik Hits” and brought up some eerie parallels between himself and the current Philadelphia Phillies star he grew up admiring.
“Growing up in [Washington], D.C. and being a young guy [with the] same name,” Eldridge said.
“He hits lefty. I remember his birthday is like a few days after mine, so I idolized him. I wanted to hit like him. I wanted my stance to be like his. I had a moment where I was in L.A., and I had my first career hit. It was a double off the wall at Dodger Stadium, and I remember that that was his first hit, [which] was a double off the wall at Dodger Stadium.
“He was 19, and I was 20, so that was a cool full-circle moment. But he was just telling me to keep having fun, and he appreciated that I followed him for so long. And I think he thought I was very cool, which is obviously [someone] I want to be like for kids younger than me too.”
Born in Fairfax, Virginia, Eldridge attended Washington Nationals games as a child and became a huge fan of Harper, who played in the nation’s capital from 2012 to 2018. Eldridge also has been open about mimicking Harper’s hitting and batting stance, helping him become the baseball player he is at the moment.
In his illustrious MLB career, Harper won the National League Rookie of the Year award at age 19, has appeared in eight MLB All-Star games, and has won NL Most Valuable Player honors twice, including once in 2015 when he was just 22 years old.
Eldridge certainly has the potential to become a star one day in the majors, as shown by his impressive 2026 MLB season, where he’s currently batting .285 with 16 RBI and six home runs in 38 games.
Despite the Giants reportedly moving closer toward selling at the 2026 MLB trade deadline after a disappointing start to the season, San Francisco, at least, has Eldridge and others such as Casey Schmitt and Jung Hoo Lee as key pieces for its future.