MLB Draft Deep Dive: San Francisco Giants

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 944 | Signed 635 | Pitchers Signed 334 | Position Players Signed 301
Total WAR 255
Total Players to MLB 115

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 7 to MLB | WAR 3.0 | High WAR 1.8, LHP Erasmo Ramirez, 11th rd
1999 | 3 to MLB | WAR 2.5 | High WAR 3.5, RHP Jerome Williams, 1st rd
2000 | 7 to MLB | WAR (0.3) | High WAR 0.5, LHP Erick Threets, 7th rd
2001 | 8 to MLB | WAR 9.8 | High WAR 10.0, LHP Noah Lowry, 1st rd
2002 | 8 to MLB | WAR 40.9 | High WAR 29.1, RHP Matt Cain, 1st rd
2003 | 8 to MLB | WAR 13.9 | High WAR 5.6, RHP Brian Wilson, 24th rd
2004 | 5 to MLB | WAR 0.2 | High WAR 2.4, LHP Jonathan Sanchez, 27th rd
2005 | 5 to MLB | WAR 9.1 | High WAR 10.2, RHP Sergio Romo, 28th rd
2006 | 7 to MLB | WAR 16.2 | High WAR 19.7, RHP Tim Lincecum, 1st rd
2007 | 9 to MLB | WAR 36.9 | High WAR 34.2, LHP Madison Bumgarner, 1st rd
2008 | 8 to MLB | WAR 63.0 | High WAR 41.3, C Buster Posey, 1st rd
2009 | 7 to MLB | WAR 29.1 | High WAR 22.7, 1B Brandon Belt, 5th rd
2010 | 7 to MLB | WAR 7.6 | High WAR 5.9, 2B Adam Duvall, 11th rd
2011 | 10 to MLB | WAR 11.1 | High WAR 7.0, SS Joe Panik, 1st rd
2012 | 6 to MLB | WAR 12.3 | High WAR 8.7, SS Matt Duffy, 18th rd
2013 | 4 to MLB | WAR (1.6) | High WAR 0.0, RHP Dan Slania, 5th rd
2014 | 3 to MLB | WAR 0.3 | High WAR 0.3, C Aramis Garcia (2nd rd) & OF Austin Slater (8th rd)
2015 | 3 to MLB | WAR 1.0 | High WAR 1.1, OF Steven Duggar, 6th rd
2016 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest WAR to date, both individual and total, is from 2008 with C Buster Posey (1st round, 41.3 WAR) at the top of the pack. Posey and SS Brandon Crawford (4th round 2008, 23.3 WAR) have both played their entire careers for the Giants. Posey was the National League Rookie of the Year in 2010, NL MVP in 2012 and is a six-time All-Star. He has also collected four Silver Sluggers, one Gold Glove and three World Series rings (2010, 2012, 2014). Crawford didn't make his debut until 2011 so he only has two rings, but he has three Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger to go with his two All-Star nods.

2018 DRAFT
40 Drafted | 35 Signed | 19 Pitchers | 16 Position Players
25 College | 23 Signed | 14 Pitchers | 9 Position Players
10 JC/CC | 8 Signed | 5 Pitchers | 3 Position Players
5 HS/NS | 4 Signed | 0 Pitchers | 4 Position Players

Notable: The Giants signed their first 16 draft picks and 32 of their top 33 picks. The top holdout was 17th round University of Mississippi OF Ryan Olenek.

PITCHERS
Of the 19 pitchers signed (16 RHP, 3 LHP), all but one (college lefty Bryce Tucker, 14th round) logged at least some playing time. Four players were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level (all to Advanced A). Three of the pitchers debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Giants, one as a Top 10 prospect.

Top Prospects

🔟 RHP Sean Hjelle, 2nd round, University of Kentucky, SSA
21.1 IP | 12 G / 12 GS | 5.06 ERA | 1.313 WHIP | 4 BB : 22 K

RHP Jake Wong, 3rd round, Grand Canyon University, SSA
27.1 IP | 11 G / 11 GS | 2.30 ERA | 1.244 WHIP | 6 BB : 27 K

RHP Blake Rivera, 4th round, Wallace State Community College, SSA
19 IP | 9 G / 8 GS | 6.16 ERA | 1.632 WHIP | 11 BB : 14 K

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

RHP Ryan Walker, 31st round, Washington State University, A+
32.1 IP | 20 G / 0 GS | 2.51 ERA | 1.052 WHIP | 6 BB : 31 K

In total, the Giants 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 4.04 ERA and a 1.348 WHIP over 437 innings as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
All 16 position players signed (3 3B, 3 SS, 6 OF, 4 C) logged at least some playing time. One player was promoted beyond the Short Season A* level (to Full Season A). One player debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Giants as a Top 10 prospect.

Top Prospects

🔟 C Joey Bart (R/R), 1st round, Georgia Institute of Technology, SSA
51 G | .294/.364/.588/.952 | 13 BB : 47 K | 15 2B / 3 3B / 13 HR | 40 RBI

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

3B David Villar (R/R), 11th round, University of South Florida, SSA
62 G | .282/.342/.535/.877 | 20 BB : 72 K | 23 2B / 13 HR | 47 RBI
(Villar led the entire 2018 Draft class in doubles)

In total, the Giants 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .248/.333/.384/.717 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of late December and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres

COMING NEXT
NL West 2018 Draft Summary