Jackson Flora, RHP

The Giants took the best pitcher available in the draft with their #4 pick. It's a smart choice. And he's a local boy: born in Walnut Creek, went to Foothill HS in Pleasanton, pitched for UC Santa Barbara. There's a lot to like here. He's a big guy (6-5, 205) in a well-established NCAA pitching program. He went 12-0 in 16 starts for the Gauchos with a ridiculous 1.06 ERA (only 55 hits in 102 IP with 133 K). He's the real deal.

There are no sure things, of course. But this is the best the Giants could have done. He's the consensus #1 amateur pitcher in the nation. No one knows how it will all play out but it is certainly exciting to get a young, live arm who is also a polished pitcher. He apparently can hit 100 mph.

In the meantime the Giants lost a stinker on Friday but pulled out a nice win today.

The Giants picked a HS southpaw from South Carolina named Carson Bolemon with the #29 pick. With the #55 pick they took another HS pitcher, Florida righty Kaden Waechter. And with the #90 pick they nabbed Rutgers OF Peyton Bonds, nephew of you-know-who. His dad is Bobby Lee Bonds, Jr. (brother of Barry), who played pro ball for eleven years but never made the majors.

I have to say I'm happy. There was a lot of talk about the Giants getting Flora because three players (UCLA SS Roch Cholowsky, Texas Christian HS SS Grady Emerson, and Georgia Tech C Vahn Lackey) were considered the best prospects overall and were expected to go right away. The Rangers took a HS lefty with the #16 pick and the Guardians took a college righty at #19. They were the only other pitchers in the top 20.

Trevor McDonald gets the final start (1:05 PT) before the Break.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

5th inning: 9-9

 1st inning: 6-12

2nd inning: 8-10

3rd inning: 8-10

4th inning: 7-11 

5th inning: 9-9 

The 10-1 win to open the Toronto series was the 90th game of the season. I'm a little tardy once again on my "innings" post. We've had five 18-game stretches, five seasonal innings, and we've four more to go. As you can see, things are just piddling along like before. Well OK, they at least had a .500 spell. 

They lost the next two to the Jays. Logan Webb gave up his first-ever grand slam. There are four more games (with the Rockies at home) before the blessed relief of the All-Star Break. The 38-54 (.413) Giants are only the fourth-worst team. The Royals, Rockies, and Angels are worse but just barely—the whole bunch is separated by a mere two games. Colorado is 38-56 (.404) so I expect a free-wheeling brawl-a-thon for the NL West table scraps.

There's talk of the Giants drafting UC Santa Barbara righty Jackson Flora with the #4 pick. A high school shortstop (Jacob Lombard) is also supposedly on the radar.

Webb and Luis Arraez will represent San Francisco at the 96th ASG in Philly next week.

--M.C.

Giants hang on for win

SF 6  AZ 4

The Giants finally beat the Diamondbacks. They had a 6-0 lead but almost blew it. I couldn't watch the 9th. Thankfully Caleb Killian got it done.

The hitting stars were Heliot Ramos and rookie Victor Bericoto. Both had two hits (one a homer) and two RBI. Luis Arraez went 0-for-5 which is not something you see often.

It took another good start to subdue Arizona, this time it was Trevor McDonald who threw six scoreless and allowed only one hit. Ryan Walker was a disaster in relief (4 batters, 4 H, 4 R). This team really needs to improve the pitching staff!

Travel day tomorrow—they go to Colorado for the weekend.

I'm on the road today and will be back next week. Have a Happy Fourth and Go Giants!

--M.C.

Draft history, pt. 4

The dominant name from the 2023 draft was number one pick (from LSU) Paul Skenes. He spent barely any time in the minors and was Rookie of the Year in 2024, Cy Young winner in 2025, and has made 17 starts this year for the Pirates. That's the kind of impact people hope for from a #1 pick!

The #2 pick was LSU OF Dylan Crews who made his debut for the Nationals the very next year. The Tigers took HS OF Max Clark with the #3 pick. The Rangers scored with the #4 pick, Florida OF Wyatt Langford whose 11.5 bWAR is second only to Skenes' 16.

The Giants took Bryce Eldridge with the 16th pick and I think we have to be pleased with that one. Bryce won't be 22 until October and he looks like a major-leaguer already.

In 2024 the #1 pick was 2B Travis Bazzana from Oregon State. He made his debut with the Guardians this year. Wake Forest P Chase Burns was #2 and he made it to the bigs in 2025. This year he's made 16 starts for the Reds. The Rockies took Georgia OF Charlie Condon at #3, he's still in the minors. The #4 pick, Wake Forest 1B Nick Kurtz, jumped to MLB last year and continues to be a stud this year.

The Giants took James Tibbs III with the 13th pick. The Florida State OF was part of the package for Rafael Devers. The Red Sox traded him later to the Dodgers and he's at AAA.

No one from the 2025 first-round draft class has MLB bWAR. The Giants chose Tennessee 2B Gavin Kilen. The 22-year old is at A+ Eugene. The top pick that year was HS SS Eli Willits (Nationals), #2 was Santa Barbara P Tyler Bremner (Angels), #3 was LSU P Kade Anderson (Mariners), and the #4 pick was HS SS Ethan Holliday, son of Matt, grabbed by his dad's team (Rockies).

--M.C.  

Another good start, another win

SF 3  ATL 2

If you get good pitching then good things can happen. The Giants (mostly) dinked their way to a 3-0 lead against Chris Sale and it held up. Robbie Ray had another excellent start, going eight innings and yielding just one (unearned) run. He only struck out two, unusual for him, but he only walked one, also unusual. That's three strong starts in a row for Ray: 6-1/3 in Atlanta (2 H, 0 R), then 8 IP against the A's (2 H, 1 R), and now tonight, also against the Braves. I hate to be cynical and say he's "auditioning" as the trade deadline approaches. Ballplayers have good stretches and not-so-good stretches. I ought to be enjoying a good stretch of pitching.

Caleb Killian made it interesting in the 9th (leadoff double that eventually scored) but he nailed down the save and sent the fans home happy.

The team travels to Arizona for three (all at 6:40 PT), there's a travel day Thursday, and then they play a weekend series in Colorado. They are 0-6 against the Diamondbacks this season.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Undefeated in the second half

SF 5  ATL 0

It was another brilliant start from Logan Webb, this time seven innings of one-hit ball against a tough Braves lineup. Webb's June has been as good as it gets in MLB: five starts, 38 IP, 20 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 29 SO and only one homer allowed. The Giants have gone 3-2 in those five games. Ryan Walker (8th) and Sam Hentges (9th) put up zeroes to secure the win.

The hitting star was Rafael Devers. He led off the 2nd with a homer and then hit another in the 3rd with two guys on. It was Rafi's bobblehead night so he delivered the goods for the fans. It's hard to believe but his 39 extra-base hits are tied for seventh-most in MLB with Ben Rice and Kyle Schwarber. Yordan Alvarez and Byron Buxton lead everyone with 41, and three guys are tied with 40 (Corbin Carroll, Brandon Lowe, Matt Olson).

Friday was Game 81, the halfway mark. Thus tonight was the first game of the second half of the season. 

Sunday's game is at 1:05 Pacific and Robbie Ray will take the hill.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Draft history, pt. 3

The 2022 draft produced one player with 10+ WAR and that's the Angels SS Zach Neto. He was a college pick (Campbell) and was the #13 selection overall. HS SS Cole Young was the 21st pick, he's the Mariners 2B and has 2.7 bWAR. Cubs starter Cade Horton (2.3 WAR) was a college pitcher (Oklahoma) and the #7 pick. Reds IF Sal Stewart was the #32 pick, he was a HS 3B and is listed at 1.6 WAR.

Rounding out the top five is HS SS Jackson Holliday (son of Matt) who has tallied 0.8 WAR as an Orioles infielder. He was the #1 pick that year.

Of interest to Giants fans is the #4 pick: Temarr Johnson (HS SS) went to the Pirates. He's in AAA right now. There's talk the Giants (with the #4 pick) will take HS SS Jacob Lombard.

The Giants took 2-way player Reggie Crawford in 2022 with the #30 pick. He's no longer a pitcher and has battled injuries. He's had fewer games in the minors than he did in college.

However the Giants made out OK with that draft as they've traded for the #19 pick (Daniel Susac) and the #28 pick (Drew Gilbert).

We'll take a look at 2023 and 2024 next.

--M.C.