Special to the Daily Journal
Published June 11, 2008
The San Francisco Giants may have gone a long way toward re-stocking it’s barren farm system with a strong drafting class in the recently concluded Major League Baseball draft. With four picks in the first four rounds, the Giants were well positioned in the draft.
In assessing the Giant’s positioning prior to the draft, Baseball America stated, “It is no secret that San Francisco needs help for its offense, or that its farm system isn’t prepared to contribute. … A college bat such as (South Carolina’s Justin) Smoak, (Florida State’s Buster) Posey, (Griffin, Ga. high-school shortstop Tim) Beckham or (University of Miami’s Yonder)Alonso would contribute faster.”
With a desperate need for batting being readily apparent, the Giants made great strides by selecting four quality positions players with their first four picks — catcher Posey (Florida State — 5th selection, the NCAA’s National Player of the Year), third baseman Conor Gillaspie (Wichita State — 37th), outfielder Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech — 82nd) and shortstop Brandon Crawford (UCLA —117th).
Pitching has been San Francisco’s focus in recent drafts. The Giants have drafted pitching talent eight times in the past nine years and 15 of their top 30 prospects are pitchers. Three of their current starting five pitchers are from recent drafts — Tim Lincecum (2006), Jonathan Sanchez (2004) and Matt Cain (2002).
ESPN’s Keith Law — after reviewing the Giant’s picks for the first six rounds of Thursday’s draft — rated the Giant’s draft the best of the 30 Major League teams. This is arguably the best draft ever for the Giants and should make fans ecstatic about the Giant’s future. The fact the Giants picked Posey with the fifth pick was part luck as many considered him one of the top-three picks in the entire draft. It was also gutsy because the Giants may have to ante up as much as $12 million to sign him.
This was the first time since 1998 — when they selected infielder Tony Torcato — that the Giants selected an offensive player with their first overall pick. It was the first year since 1989 that they used their first four picks on position players. Those players consisted of outfielder Steve Hosey (24 games with the Giants in 1992-93), infielder Clay Bellinger (183 games with the Yankees and Angels from 1999-2002), outfielder Jason McFarlin (five Minor League seasons) and catcher-first baseman Mike Grahovac (three Minor League seasons).
Of the Top 100 draft prospects noted in the most recent issue of Baseball America, 12 of the top 20 prospects are position players and six of those are strong college players that would have the quickest impact for the Giants versus high school prospects. The ratings for the Giant’s picks were as follows — Posey (4), Gillaspie (23), Kieschnick (44) and Crawford (134).
Posey is considered by many to be the best pure hitter in the draft. He played shortstop in high school and his freshman year at Florida State. He moved to catcher his sophomore year, showing his athleticism by easily making the transition. He is clearly the top catching prospect in the draft both defensively (Gold Glove – caliber) and offensively (many consider him the best amateur hitter in the nation). Posey currently leads Division I hitters in batting average (.468), RBIs (86), slugging percentage (.897) and on-base percentage (.572).
Posey was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle as being, “extremely excited” to be drafted by the Giants and when responding to general manager Brian Sabean’s comment about Posey being on the “fast track” he said, “That’s a great feeling. Hopefully I can and will be an impact player for the San Francisco Giants for a long time.”
Newly appointed scouting director John Barr believes Posey can be a franchise-type player.
“When you are trying to build a winning team and continue, this is the type of player that we think can help us achieve that goal,” Barr told MLB.com.
It is interesting to note that Barr and Sabean did not pick position players by design. They said that each amateur taken was the highest-ranked player on the Giants’ listings when the organization was on the clock.
“It was a hitter’s year,” Sabean told MLB.com.
The 2008 draft appears to bring the Giants some excellent position players. Hopefully the Giants’ first few picks will bring back memories of Will Clark, Matt Williams and other homegrown talent.