- Jackson Flora, college RHP (4th overall)
- Carson Bolemon, HS LHP (first round, 29th)
- Kaden Waechter, HS RHP (second round)
- Peyton Bonds, college CF (third round)
- Carlos Martinez, college RHP (fourth round)
ogc thoughts
All the pre-draft rumors and scuttlebutt was that the Giants were looking only at position players for the fourth pick overall. Both Lombard and Booth were pushed as potential picks, along with assorted outer position players. Then literally the day before the draft, maybe the Giants were looking at Flora.
Most Giants fans with an opinion thought that they should pick Flora, if the Top 3 are already off the board. And they were, in the way they were expected to, though for a moment I wondered if Lackey would fall to us (most profiles of him compares him favorably with Buster Posey, except that he’s more athletic than Posey). Then the Giants selected Jackson Flora.
Not only that, but four of their first five picks were pitchers. And, in the first ten rounds, they selected 8 pitchers out of 11 picks, and 12 in total out of 21 picks. So pitchers were the strong focus of this draft.
BPA is always the best policy, but generally prospects are rated by tiers, and after the first couple of rounds or so, position players and pitchers are basically rated the same, and so a team could focus more on certain farm system needs and/or preferences (like always going for up the middle talents). Thus I assume they leaned towards pitchers, especially ones that they can pay under slot, so that they can pay over slot for Bolemon and Waechter.
Like in Martinez’s case, he wasn’t ranked very highly (or at all), so even though he still has another year of eligibility left, he’s likely paid closer to the slot of 250th+ pick, as he didn’t make the rankings for some, than where he was at 118th. And Flora is likely to sign for under slot, as that’s been how the top of the draft has operated in the past. And with a high total overall bonus, they can go over by over $850,000 (5% of $17.35M), so that adds some to how much they can pay over slot to the high school players. And the Giants have always pushed to this 5% limit before, to maximize their talent pickup via the amateur draft. Altogether, they should have enough to get the two top HS pitchers, and if there is enough left over, perhaps some of the prospects drafted late in the draft.
Prospect Profiles
MLB Pipeline provided nice profiles of each prospect selected who were in their Top 250 Prospect ranking. Fangraphs has some too. Most of the info below will be from MLB Pipeline and Fangraphs, then I'll have a snippet from Keith Law from the link above and from Michael Holmes from the Guardado link. I’m also including ESPN draft rankings as well, then share my thoughts on each prospect.
Thought I should share this too, hat tip to Roger Munter, in his Substack, There R Giants, for pointing it out:
And Roger noted: “ … the good folks over at Prospects Live do a fantastic job of covering the draft, and their draft expert, Josh Catlett, gave the Giants his sole A+ for this year’s draft — which is pretty sweet!” I can understand that sentiment, they did pretty well with their first three picks.
Jackson Flora (Ranked 4th by MLB; 5th by KLaw; 4th by ESPN)
MLB: Scouting grades: Fastball: 70 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 55 | Overall: 60
Flora's combination of size and arm strength should intrigue most teams. The 6-foot-5 right-hander already offers premium velocity, with a fastball that sits in the 96-97 mph range and regularly touches triple digits, with good shape, carry and armside ride to it. He'll employ two different sliders, both of which can flash plus. There's a slower 78-81 mph sweeper with a lot of horizontal depth and also a harder, more gyro-like traditional slider, thrown 86-89 mph. He has plus feel to spin and just needs to gain a little bit more consistency with shape. His hard changeup is coming along, a kick change with downer splitter depth that now flashes plus.
Flora has an ideal pitcher's build and movement patterns at a loose-armed 6-foot-5. He was able to sustain upper-90s velocity for 102 innings in 2026, 30 more than the prior year, and posted a 1.06 ERA, which led Division I. Flora sits 96 and regularly touches 100 with plus extension. His arm speed makes the baseball very difficult to pick up out of his hand. Entering the season, his fastball and a couple of different sliders (one classified as a cutter here) made up 95% of his pitch usage, but he began using his unique changeup much more in 2026. It sails on him a good amount of the time but still played like a plus pitch, and it flashes nasty sinking action that plays against hitters of either handedness. He has great feel for locating lateral-action sliders and cutters to both sides of the plate, with some slower, near 80 mph, and others as hard as 89-91 mph.
Flora's mechanical and athletic foundation is very exciting, as is his arm strength and breaking ball feel. He entered the spring as the top ranked pitcher in this class even though he had some more pitch development to do, and he's already doing it. Flora blew people away at the Combine with his charisma and knowledge, and is likely to come off the board within the first few picks of the draft.
KLaw: He looks like a very likely major-league starter, no worse than mid-rotation, and could end up a No. 1 for someone if he tightens up the fastball command or maybe mixes in a two-seamer. There are some concerns about the lack of vert on the fastball, and he didn’t face a lot of great lineups in the Big West. That changeup is going to allow him to get to Double-A fairly quickly and buys him some time to work on trying to get better life on the fastball.
Holmes: “In our eyes, we thought he was the best college pitcher in the country,” Giants senior director of amateur scouting Michael Holmes said. “It’s a combination of size and athleticism, the way he moves on the mound. Obviously, we think his fastball plays velocity-wise, with the way it plays in the zone. Just an array of secondaries, with his two breaking balls and the kick-change. It’s just a real complete mix.
“Most importantly, he’s a really good strike-thrower. We had a chance to meet with him a couple of times, most recently at the Combine. We were really kind of blown away at the competitor he is, the person he is. It’s the type of person we want to put into the system. It’s always nice to be able to add local talent.”
ESPN: 50 FV Tier
Tools: Fastball: 60, Slider: 55, Sweeper: 55, Changeup: 55, Command: 50
Where he ranks in an MLB top-100 prospects list: 49
If it doesn't work out, what's happening? His stuff and fastball command doesn't progress and he stands on the border of middle reliever/backend starter.
Flora is the picture of a pitching prospect in many ways, at 6-foot-5 with physical projection, a pretty delivery that hits the key checkpoints at the right time, a heater up to 100 mph and four above-average pitches with starter traits. You'd really be nit-picking to bring up a weakness, but I'll mention some so you can understand why he isn't first on this list.
He didn't face great competition pitching in the Big West and his miss rates were still more good than great. Flora's stuff is more above average to plus and his command is mostly average rather than earning true potential ace-level grades, even though he can look a tick better on both counts at times. I have Flora as a projected midrotation starter with a chance to become a frontline starter.
ogc: I wonder if the Giants purposefully released false intel about them being position player oriented for most of the last month, especially if one of the top three fell to them, so that none of the teams above would decide to select Flora instead. Because the Giants need pitching, and Flora, by most accounts, was the best pitcher by far in his draft. Lance Brozdowski, a substack author, wrote (and noted on the Peacock broadcast of the first round of the draft) that internal teams’ WAR estimators had Flora 2-3 times that of any other pitcher in this draft. And yet, by many accounts, Flora is likely not as good as the top pitchers in recent drafts, either.
In any case , I’m very happy that the Giants drafted him. We need pitchers and soon, so we needed a college pitcher, and he has a great fastball, reaching 100 occasionally, and two plus breaking pitches, and above average control. And the Giants love strike throwers like Flora. The negative I saw in descriptions is that he’s a middle rotation starter likely, with the potential to be an ace. Well, we already have Webb and Roupp, and hopefully the Giants will pick up a good pitcher in this offseason or next, so he could slot in as a back of rotation starter in 1-2-3 seasons and work his way up, like Cain and Lincecum did.
I like that he has good, above average breaking pitches. Moreover, Grant Brisbee of The Athletic noted that he learned a new pitch last season, which bodes well for him being willing to be coached and reach his potential with the Giants. That’s a key for any pitcher to be good and then stay good, adjusting his pitch repertoire as he ages and loses the effectiveness of some pitches.
Despite the negatives noted, I wonder how much negatives get overblown, and the positives then get ignored or minimized. That he didn’t face elite competition is a minor quibble, for me, because he was still elitely good, just a hair above 1.00 ERA. And about hin not missing enough bats, it was mentioned that he has a unique changeup (and the Giants like elite skills, Roupp has a great curveball, Whisenhunt a great changeup, Harrison a great fastball) and a kick-change, both of which he didn’t use much, but enough to be mentioned as part of his repertoire. The most important thing is the Giants got a pitcher who should reach the majors sometime soon and contribute nicely, and hopefully can develop into more.
Also: great chat about Flora by Alex Pavlovic on YouTube. Flora not only sounds like a good baseball player, he sounds like a fun personality, so that could make post game interviews more interesting. Players who can be playful (for example, the old Joe Montana and John Candy story), hopefully are not cowed or intimidated by the big moments in the game.
Carson Bolemon (Ranked 24th by MLB; 28th by KLaw; 41st by ESPN)
MLB: Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 60 | Slider: 60 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 60 | Overall: 55
Bolemon didn't allow an earned run as junior while striking out 101 in 42 1/3 innings, winning Gatorade's South Carolina prep player of the year award and leading Southside Christian HS (Simpsonville) to its fourth consecutive state 3-A title with a 19-strikeout no-hitter in the championship. Then he dominated on the showcase circuit as well and was the ace of the U.S. National Team that won the 18-and-under World Cup in Japan in September, fanning 17 in 11 scoreless frames. He entered 2026 as the consensus best pitching prospect in the Draft -- college or high school -- and while he didn't quite live up to that billing, he repeated as a Gatorade honoree and state champion.
Bolemon's stuff is beyond reproach, starting with a 91-94 mph fastball that reaches 96, and he can throw it to either side of the plate with carry or downhill plane. He has a pair of plus breaking balls, with evaluators slightly preferring his 78-82 mph downer curveball to his low-80s sweeper. He also does a nice job of killing spin on a mid-80s kick changeup that could become a solid offering with more use.
There's much more to Bolemon than just pitch quality. The Wake Forest recruit has a projectable, athletic frame and a clean delivery that allows him to pound the zone with his main three offerings. Scouts love his makeup and mound presence as well. The only blemishes on his résumé are a partial elbow tear in eighth grade that required internal brace surgery and the fact that he'll turn 19 three months before the Draft, but neither is a concern.
KLaw: Live blog analysis: Lefty Carson Bolemon was the No. 2 high school pitcher on my board, working up to 96 mph with four pitches, headlined by an above-average curveball that gets good two-plane break and an above-average slider. He’s been a strike-thrower. He’s already had internal brace surgery when he was 15, and his arm is late relative to his landing, so there’s some risk here beyond him just being a 19-year-old pitcher.
Keith Law scouting report: Bolemon was a little slow to ramp up this spring, so he’s no longer the top high school lefty on my board, but he’s still close and should get paid like a first-rounder. He’s up to 96 with a four-pitch mix, with the velocity a tick lower this spring, and he gets good depth on two breaking pitches from a three-quarters arm slot, with the curveball the better of the two. His arm is extremely late relative to his landing — he already had an internal brace procedure when he was about 15. He’s committed to Wake Forest.
Holmes: “Just a big, strong physical kid. Very athletic. He swung the bat in high school and was a really good hitter. Elite makeup. Two distinct type breaking balls that he can land both for strikes. We think it's a really polished high school pitching kind of product. But we think there’s some things that we can help him with that he’ll be able to continue to improve.”
ESPN: 40+ FV Tier
ogc: The Giants have historically liked prospects who have competed in events like playing for the U.S. National Team, winning the World Cup, and performing well, like Bolemon did. Plus they love makeup, and Holmes mentioned it. And under Barr, they like to pick up prospects who were rated highly previously, like Bolemon here, who entered as the consensus best pitcher, college or HS (or Brandon Crawford, who was ranked Top 10 overall preseason, but an average season dropped him in the draft).
Again, the positives way outweigh the negatives. He’s a physical specimen, with many above average pitches and good control. He dominated the league he played in, with Gibson peak level ERA, then dominated when playing against other elite prospects in showcases and international competitions, striking out a lot. There is a chance that his development will get delayed by an injury, because of that elbow tear, but that seems to be par for the course for many pitching prospects in the MLB today. One just have to look at how good the prospect is - Bolemon, while only 18, already has four above average pitches, and his control is a 60 - and hope for the best regarding his health.
I was very excited about Bolemon before the draft, much like Flora, because the Giants were already mocked to select him and so I read his profile, and excited to see the Giants select the two pitchers I fell in love with. He even fell a bit from preseason expectations, so we could be buying low on him. I look forward to seeing how he progresses in the minors. It’s exciting that one evaluator saw Flora and Bolemon as the top two pitchers in the draft. The Giants need this!
Kaden Waechter (Ranked 57th by MLB; 31st by KLaw; 79th by ESPN)
MLB: Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Slider: 55 | Cutter: 50 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 55 | Overall: 50
Kaden Waechter, whose father is the former major leaguer Doug Waechter, is a product of the same Jesuit High School in Tampa that produced future big league right-handers like Brad Radke and Lance McCullers Jr.
Waechter offers an exciting combination of MLB family ties, projection in a 6-foot-3 frame, athleticism and feel for pitching. His fastball typically registers average velocities, sitting around 93 mph, though he can reach back for 95-96 mph, and there could be more in the tank to come. It plays up because it has good life to it, and he can command it to both sides of the plate. His top secondary offering right now is a slider that works best as an out pitch in the 84-86 mph range. He’ll crank it up a bit and turn the pitch into an upper-80s cutter, and he has some feel for a changeup, though he can drop his elbow on it at times.
All of Waechter’s arsenal comes from an easy and repeatable delivery. He’s willing to throw all of his offerings at any point, pitching backwards when he needs to, filling up the zone consistently. Ceiling and pitchability don’t often come in one package, and that’s why scouts will be watching this Florida State recruit very carefully in the spring.
KLaw: The son of former Rays starter Doug Waechter, Kaden comes from a low three-quarters slot and produces huge induced vertical break on his 91-95 mph fastball, while showing good feel and above-average control of his four-pitch mix. He takes an enormous stride towards the plate, and his arm just barely keeps up, and gets low in his landing for that coveted lower release height, getting down to about 4-foot-8. His slider is his best secondary pitch, coming in the mid-80s with short but very sharp break, and he also throws a cutter up to 91 and a straight changeup he only uses for left-handed batters. It seems like he’s slid behind some other high school pitchers with higher ceilings, but he may have more probability of sticking as a starter since he has some command already and doesn’t rely on huge velocity.
Holmes: “His father was a Major Leaguer, so we have bloodlines, but he’s a really, really good athlete. We really liked the way he moves on the mound. We like his mix. Two distinct fastballs, kind of one that goes up and one that sinks with a slider and a change. A really good strikethrower.”
ESPN: 40+ FV Tier
ogc: Waechter looks very accomplished for a high school pitcher, which I credit to him being trained by his MLB dad. The Giants under Posey has stated their love for strikethrowers, and Kaden has good command and control already, as well as knowing how to pitch backwards, so he’s a throw back in that he’s a pitcher who doesn’t rely solely on velocity to get outs, and has a good feel for his pitches. He’s a pitcher and not a thrower.
As my draft analysis showed, the odds of finding a good player even in the second round is pretty low, 5% range, so he could provide added value by simply being a starting MLB pitcher, or maybe a good reliever. Because hoping for a good player is long odds, but hoping for a player who can contribute is a more doable objective, as the 2026 Giants could use either a backend starting pitcher or a good reliever. I like that Law thinks the odds favor that he can stick, because the Giants need pitchers to go with the hitters coming up.
Peyton Bonds (Ranked 81st by MLB; as interesting beyond 100 for KLaw; 118th by ESPN)
MLB: Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 40 | Run: 50 | Arm: 50 | Field: 60 | Overall: 50
Yes, it is that Bonds. Peyton is the son of Bobby Jr., who played 11 years of pro ball with the Padres, Giants and in indy ball, grandson of Bobby, whose big league career spanned 14 years, and nephew of Barry. Also an outfielder, Peyton Bonds went from Franklin HS in New Jersey -- where he was a teammate of A's prospect Joshua Kuroda-Grauer -- to Campbell University for his freshman year. He then returned to the Garden State to play for Rutgers, where he had a solid sophomore season, then turned his performance up a notch this spring, though a hamstring injury suffered in an April series against UCLA kept him off the field for a spell.
At 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, Bonds looks like he was sent down from central casting, even if his current offensive profile doesn't quite fit the body type. He has a really good feel to hit, with excellent in-zone bat-to-ball skills. There's plenty of bat speed and high exit velocities, but it hasn't translated to power just yet, with some thinking there could be more unlocked with some bat path adjustments at the next level.
While Bonds has average speed, maybe a tick better, he might not be a pure base stealer. But he can really play center field, with outstanding instincts to stay up the middle for a long time. He gets high marks for his plus makeup and passion for the game, perhaps handed down from his father, who grinded it out in the Minors for more than a decade.
Fangraphs: Bonds is Barry’s nephew. He’s a center fielder with above-average power and feel for contact, but his swing is conservative, with a downhill bat path. He ran high groundball rates in school, in part because he’s so good at getting the barrel on the ball that he’s able to tap pitches he’d be better off taking. Defensively, he projects as an average center fielder with enough speed for the job. It’s a fourth outfielder’s skill set with everyday upside if a team can help him lift the ball out front a little better.
KLaw: Bonds missed nearly half the spring for Rutgers after getting hurt diving for a ball, but he did return at the very end of the regular season and was able to go to the MLB Draft Combine. He shows huge top-end exit velocities, but it hasn’t translated into in-game power, with 11 total homers in 93 games for Rutgers over the last two years.
He’s had better luck hitting for average, with high contact rates, even though he swings at everything, with a 40 percent chase rate on the spring that put him in the bottom 1 percent of all Division I hitters, and a 32 percent chase rate on stuff well out of the zone. He’s a 55 runner who plays plus defense in center, so there’s a hypothetical ceiling here of 25-30 homers and +5 runs or more saved on defense in center field, just an unlikely one. He turns 21 about a week after the draft. Oh, and Barry is his uncle.
Vitello: “Anytime you get a guy named Bonds, you’re crazy if you don’t get excited.” –- Giants manager Tony Vitello
ESPN: 40+ FV Tier
ogc: The scouting is not all that encouraging, especially since so much ink is spent on his bloodlines, but that’s what you normally end up with, when you get out there in the 90th pick range and beyond. The odds are even longer here than for Waechter, more like 2%. The good news is that it sounds like he is likely to stay in CF, which his grandfather and uncle were not able to do. Of course, grandpa had the great Willie Mays in his way.
The major pluses here is that he is a good hitter, which is the normal huge obstacle for most position players, and that he plays a premium defensive position like CF, which does not require as high an OPS threshold to produce value as a player. This combo increases the odds that he can reach the majors and perhaps be a good complementary player on the team.
The oddity here is that he has horrendous chase rates, especially for pitches out of the zone, and yet he’s a good hitter. If the Giants can teach him to not chase as much, and focus on pitches he can do damage to, then he’s a much better prospect, as he would get more walks and even more hits. Moreover, if he can change his swing from a downhill bat path, to an uphill swing, which most major leaguers use.
It’s surprising that someone with such prime MLB talent as uncle Barry, would not know how to swing the bat properly for the MLB. And the real oddity here is that this type of swing is taught to fast runners, and he’s slighly above average or simply average, per the scouting reports. Hopefully the Giants (or uncle Barry) can teach Peyton how to hit like his uncle. Given the hard hit and contract skills he already has (it seems like he’s a bad ball hitter), teaching him to swing at good pitches and with an uphill swing, should help him translate his hitting skills into hitting and power skills. That and good CF defensive skills would be very valuable, and he would be a good player.
Carlos Martinez (Not ranked by MLB or KLaw; 212th by ESPN)
MLB: Not ranked.
Bats/throws: R/R
School: Hofstra
Martinez sat out the 2025 campaign due to Tommy John surgery, but he returned to pitch well as a redshirt junior this year, going 6-3 with a 3.30 ERA and 96 strikeouts over 76 1/3 innings in 13 starts.
KLaw: Not ranked
Holmes: “We liked him quite a bit last year, even though we didn’t see him pitch last year. But we liked him coming into the year. We had some conversations with him last year, and he really wanted to go back to school. He did, and he did exactly what we thought he was going to do. Just another guy that we’ve watched his progression over the last couple of years and feel like he’s about ready to take off.” -- Holmes
ESPN: 35+ FV tier; college player who could be picked in the fourth or fifth round.
ogc: Given he was picked way ahead of where he was ranked, Carlos Martinez appears to mostly be included for his willingness to accept a lower slot, as he was the 118th pick, but seen as more in the 250+ range. The bonus slot value is $658,100 for 118, and $283,000 for the 212th pick (which is where ESPN ranked him), and the 251st pick is $220,100 (or lower). I believe that his bonus will be closer to $300,000 than $658,100, which will save the Giants a significant amount, depending on what he’s willing to accept.
Still, one thing I liked about how the Giants handled the draft last season, was that no pick is wasted. So even when picking seniors to pay under slot, they picked up someone like Trevor Cohen, who is now ranked 8th on MLB's Top 30 Giants prospects, So I would bet the Giants were already targeting Martinez for later in the draft, but called him ahead to work out a cheaper deal than slot.
I would not put a lot of hope into him making it, but I would not dismiss outright either. Belt seemed like a meh pick - outfielder with no power, viewed as over draft, meaning like Martinez, he was expected to be picked much later - but then blasted off almost immediately. So you never know, Martinez could push his way up quickly as well. It is just that it is not likely to happen. I wish him good luck!
ESPN Giants Prospect Rankings
ESPN updated their Top 10 Giants ranking, and had Flora ranked 2nd and Bolemon ranked 7th, plus Waechter just missed the Top 10. That’s pretty good drafting, adding two prospects into the Top 10, and having a third narrowly miss. And it is not like the Giants didn’t have a strong Top 10, with Level, Gonzalez, Hernandez, Davidson, Jordan, and Kilen in there, though Eldridge graduated. Also, Martinez and Bresnahan was in there too, as well as Rodriguez.
Great Draft, Great Future
The ESPN re-ranking, as well as the A+ grade, illustrates just how great a draft this was. Flora and Bolemon doubled the number of pitchers, from two (Martinez and Bresnahan), plus Waechter was pretty close to Bresnahan. The Giants farm system went from being very position player heavy to being more balanced with these three pitchers adding to the top.
And given that Bolemon was once identified as the best pitcher, and simply started slow, one could feel that the Giants greatly improved their top end pitching prospect inventory. Especially since Flora and Bolemon are ranked higher than the current pitchers in the farm system.
Moreover, all three top pitchers are viewed as having a good repertoire, good breaking pitches, good strike throwers, good pitchability, and good makeup. They could be in the rotation in the next 2-4 seasons, if they can progress well. And aligns well with when Eldridge should be hitting his peak as a player.
This alignment appears to confirm that the Giants are aligning their assets to take the team upward with Eldridge. Especially if they can trade off one or two of their bigger contracts, and get young players who can develop in the next few seasons. With Webb and Roupp as key starting rotation pitchers going forward, these pitchers will join them a few years, with Eldridge as the star who leads the team.
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