The Giants were the last pick of the draft. That's because they had the best record in baseball last season! Here's a list of their picks and a quick summary:
1. (#30) Reggie Crawford, two-way player at Connecticut, lefty reliever and first baseman. High risk pick but the Giants like his size (6-4, 235) and athleticism (he was a HS state champ in swimming).
2. (#66) Carson Whisenhunt, lefty starter at East Carolina. Here's a video of him being interviewed in college. Seems like a really solid pick.
3. (#106) William Kempner, RH starter at Gonzaga, he's from San Jose and grew up a Giants fan.
4. (#136) Spencer Miles, RH starter at Missouri.
5. (#166) Liam Simon, big (6-4, 230) righty reliever at Notre Dame.
6. (#196) Hayden Birdsong, another big (6-4, 205) righty reliever, this time at Eastern Illinois.
7. (#226) Zach Morgan, catcher (plus 1B/3B), RH hitter at Fresno State, from Stockton.
8. (#256) Wade Meckler, IF/OF, RH hitter at Oregon State, from Anaheim.
9. (#286) Jack Choate, huge (6-6, 249) lefty starter at Assumption University (div. II, Worcester, MA).
10. (#316) John Bertrand, another big (6-3, 205) lefty starter, this time at Furman and Notre Dame.
11. (#346) Sam Bower, RH starter at St. Mary's, from Visalia.
12. (#376), Tyler Vogel, RH reliever at Jacksonville.
13. (#406) Thomas Gavello, infielder, lefty hitter at Pacific, from Antioch.
14. (#436) Nomar Diaz, righty hitting HS catcher from Puerto Rico (Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy), turned 18 in April.
15. (#466) Tanner O'Tremba, Honorable Mention All-Name Team, outfielder, RH hitter at Texas Tech and Arizona.
16. (#496) Andrew Kachel, infielder, lefty hitter at Fresno State, from San Jose.
17. (#526) Justin Bench, IF/OF, RH hitter at Mississippi, NOT related to Johnny Bench.
18. (#556) Tanner Thach, full-grown (6-3, 215), lefty hitting HS 1B from North Carolina.
19. (#586) Cade Perkins, HS lefty pitcher (and 1B/OF) from Kansas.
20. (#616) Ethan Long, 1B/3B, righty hitter at Arizona State.
It's worth remembering that it takes a minimum of three years for most ballplayers to make it to the majors and five years is quite common. We won't see the impact of this draft for some time. I'm certainly no scout or talent evaluator, I leave that to the professionals. And I should also note that not all the players a team drafts will sign with that team. Some will go back to school, some will want to negotiate, some will drop off the radar for other reasons. We'll see who will stick in the organization in the next few weeks. Giants are generally good about signing their picks. I believe they signed everyone last year.
For now, I'll just go with "Welcome aboard!" to the new crew of youngsters.
--M.C.
5 comments:
Thank you for the draft update.
You bet!
Some roster updates: Giants acquired two pitchers, Aaron Fletcher and Alex Young.
Fletcher is a lefty reliever who was picked up on a waiver claim. He was later released but then signed a minors deal. He's 26 and has about 20 IP MLB time. He's at AAA.
Young was picked up in a trade (for "cash considerations") and is on the 40-man, assigned to AAA. He is 28 and has MLB starting experience from his time in AZ but has mostly been a reliever since. He's also a lefty.
Jakob Junis is back from the IL (he pitched Sunday in relief of Webb) and I expect he will get the 5th spot in the rotation as soon as he builds up his pitch counts.
BCraw goes on the IL for 10 days. Should be back by the home series at the end of the month.
Longo is back. Mauricio Llovera goes to the IL.
I forgot to mention the Giants also picked up a 24-year old rookie righty reliever from the Cardinals on a waiver claim. He is Angel Rondon--ya gotta like the name--and was a starter in the minors.
Another pitcher on a minors deal: Kyle Tyler, 25-year old righty with 16 IP MLB time.
how many guys picked up on the scrap heep does it take to find one decent major league player. It seems Farhan did a good job on this in the past, but the law of averages suggest this time it may not be so easy.
Sometimes you just need depth in the minors so a more valuable prospect can be handled a certain way, or to provide competition, or even a role model. And sometimes you just need a guy for a week or two on the big club to cover an injury.
Every once in a while a guy blossoms and you get a solid player.
I don't think there's any strategy that works forever, other than to always look to improve the level of talent on your rosters. I figure at this point every PoBO/GM out there has their version of The Zaidi Churn.
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