Your 2018 Giants Draft: Mock Drafts and Draft Thoughts

With the Giants holding the second pick overall in the June draft, only a couple of weeks away, I thought I would go through some mock drafts, and discuss a few possibilities.  I will probably write up on the final mocks just before the draft. 

2017 Amateur Draft Mock Drafts

I'm not as into the draft this season as seasons' past, but thought I would share some information for those who are interested.  The draft starts today with Round 1, and continues over a total of three days.  This site has a lot of good info on the event, which starts at 4PM PDT today:

Draft Primer  

In addition, the MLB.com Pipeline always provides a nice scouting report on their Top 200 prospects, this is a nice resource to know some key facts on each prospect, plus most of the top ones should have video links too:

MLB.com Pipeline Prospect Watch

Also, Baseball America published their Top 500 list.

Here are the mock drafts I'm looking at today:
Baseball America 4.0
Baseball Amercia 4.5
MLB Pipeline
MLB Pipeline:  Jim Callis
CBS Sports

My Current Baseball and Giants Blog Links

Intro:  this post has some of the links I used to have on the side of my blog content.

Ugh, Blogger just did something to lose all my links.  But it didn't remove the widgets that shows posts, so I'm going to post the links in this post, and widget this post.  While this is slower to get to, I don't really think that many of you are using my links anyway to get to places, I assume most of you are savvy enough to have them bookmarked somewhere so that you can get to what you want when you want.  In addition, I can't remember every link I had, so I'm going with the ones I can remember, for the most part.  But let me know if you prefer links on the side and I'll think about complying.

This was last updated May 3, 2018.

Your 2015 Giants Draft

I try to write about the draft every season.  Of course, it's important to the team to find good players, so that this dynasty can continue.  I also have a strong interest because of my draft study that I did long ago.  And, really, after the excitement of the Lincecum draft, listening to the broadcast over the internet, wondering whether he would fall to us or not, I got hooked.  Of course, that was a rare one, you really need a high pick to hope to have such an experience, and all you need is one or more teams going off mock to really mix things up, and make a mock, well, mockable.

I've gotten more involved over the years.  First, of course, I read the reports, saw the mocks.  Then I started tracking the names of players, their positions, and the various mocks by writing them down on paper.  Now I create spreadsheets so that I can view the evolution of how some players rise up the mocks, and others fall out of the first round.

There are usually some Giants rumors, but most seems to be off.  But you never know, the rumor could have been right, but the player got plucked before the Giants could pick the player.  Still, I've only seen one rumor come to fruition, Kiley McDaniels was the only draft expert to note that the Giants were interested in Christian Arroyo.

So my philosophy for the draft is to have some ideas who the better prospects are, particularly in the range where the Giants are selecting, and just follow along.  I will fall in love with some prospects, like Tuki and Grant Holmes (not the Dodgers!), but not get too hung up, as the Giants will go their own way, and, so far, successfully so.

Your 2014 Giants: Drafty Thoughts

As I do every year, I'm posting my thoughts on the Giants draft, based on the mock drafts that I've been perusing.  If you know the draft already or seen the mocks, I'm not going to be adding much knowledge to you, this is for the people who don't have the time to read all this stuff.

2012 Amateur Draft

I was able to find the following mock drafts and Top prospects lists just before the draft:

• Baseball America's Jim Callis's mock
• MLB's Jon Mayo's mock
• BP's Kevin Goldstein's mock
• John Sickel's mock
• John Sickel's Top 100
• Baseball America's Top 500 list

Giants Thoughts

I will start off with a quote from one source that has put their mocks behind their paid wall, Perfect Games.

Due to the lack of a clear cut No. 1 prospect, many have unfairly labeled the 2012 draft crop as weak. I would contend that the available talent base is sound, but don't be surprised to see teams take players earlier than where they have been projected since you could make an argument for 50-60 different players to be selected among the top 30 picks.  

The biggest wildcard remains Lucas Giolito, who I don't have projected to be selected in the first round. I won't be surprised if he is taken early by a team that has seen enough of him in the past, which will indicate that they are confident in his overall health, but history suggests that players, particularly pitchers, that suffer injuries and subsequently don't pitch in the weeks (or months) leading up to the draft typically fall. In fact, things are so quiet on that front that some have speculated that he may have a deal in place with a team, thus not needing to share medical reports more openly.

And that gels with what I've been reading in other places, that while there is no clear-cut top prospect, there is a deep well of talent that can fall almost anyplace in the first couple of rounds.

Mayo in his latest mock (first and only full first round mock) projects that the Giants are looking at high school arms, and Brian Johnson is his projected Giants pick, because Johnson has pitched well of late and could be quick to the bigs.  (Mayo was the one who turned me on to the possibility that we could draft Lincecum, though he thought we would pass on him and select Daniel Bard, who ended up with Boston later in the first round)

Mayo noted in his prior mock, covering only the top 20, that "the Giants will discuss college hitters and high school pitchers" for this pick.  He noted that Nick Travieso, Lance McCullers, and Walker Weickel should all get a look, but the power of Richie Shaffer, who can play the corner infield positions, might be too intriguing to pass up, and so he projected Shaffer in that mock.

Mayo no longer projects that the Dodgers to select Travieso with the 18th pick (in fact he falls out of the first round), so he could be available by the Giants pick.   He had projected the Rockies to take Piscotty 10th but now have him falling to 30th to the Yankees.

BA's Callis says his best guess (in his 4th and final mock draft) is that the Giants will go with a high school arm, such as Ty Hensley or Nick Travieso, Zach Eflin or Walker Weickel (the last three of whom are RHP from Florida), and he ended up projecting the Giants to select Travieso.  He projected the Giants to select Travieso in all his mocks.  He also noted that if Shaffer or Stephen Piscotty is still available, the Giants could look to upgrade their offense.

Callis, however, projects Shaffer to be selected 16th by the Nationals, Piscotty to be selected 19th by the Cards, leaving only the pitchers.  And he projects Ty Hensley to be selected by the Dodgers 18th.  He had Eflin going 25th, Weicker 30th.

As noted, Callis also projected Nick Travieso in his 3rd mock.  He had the A's selecting McCullers with their 11th pick, Indians selecting Richie Shaffer with their 15th pick, Dodgers selecting Ty Hensley with their 18th pick.  Piscotty was 23rd, Eflin 30th, and Weickel 31st.  This was done just last Friday, June 1st.

BP's Goldstein also projects the Giants to select Ty Hensley.  He also noted Walker Weickel as a possbility.  He sees McCullers selected by Toronto #17.   He has Shaffer picked #23 and Piscotty 30th.  He does not list Travieso, Eflin, or Weickel, so they all would be available to the Giants at their pick, if they want them.

Sicke's just released his mock draft today.  He also has the Giants selecting Travieso, noting that the "sturdy hard-throwing high school arm" seems like a good bet for them.  He also notes that Ty Buttrey, Walker Weickel, Zach Eflin, Shane Watson, and Lucas Sims are all logical here too.  He noted that if they want a bat, "Gallo or Seager would make sense."  He has Shaffer going 11th to A's, McCullers going 9th to Marlins, Hensley to Dodgers.

His partner, Matt Garrioch has the Giants selecting Andrew Heaney, LHP for Oklahoma.  "Could be one of the quicker players to reach the bigs and is a safe bet to be a #3 starter or better."  He has Shaffer going 11th to A's as well ("best college hitter"), McCullers #15 to Indians, Hensley #23 to Cards

Sickels also provided list by talent.  Here are the names noted above in the mocks, plus some other interesting names that might come into play for the Giants:

• Lucas Giolito, HS RHP, #9, #2 for  him if no injury (reports I have read are that he could fall far due to elbow injury; Mayo do not see him in the Top 20)
• Lance McCullers, HS RHP, #12
• Andrew heaney, LHP, Oklahoma State, #17
• Richie Shaffer, 3B, Clemson, #18
• Deven Marrero, SS, Arizona State, #20 (Giants pick so I thought I would highlight)
• D.J. Davis, HS OF, #21 (again, close to Giants pick)
• Stryker Trahan, HS C-OF, #22 (again, close to Giants pick)
• Stephen Piscotty, 3B, Stanford, #23
• Ty Hensley, HS RHP, #24
• Victor Roache, OF, Georgia Southern, #25 (I've seen his name in Giants draft discussions)
• Joey Gallo, HS 3B-1B, #27 (For some reason his name pops out to me, I must have read about him at some point; Sickel's mock came out before I wrote this comment)
• Matt Smoral, HS LHP, #28 (Similarly, plus power lefty, Giants like those)
• Mitch Brown, HS RHP, #30, Throws hard, throws strikes, diverse arsenal, great makeup, stock rising. I like him better than many of the warmer-weather HS arms with more press.  University of San Diego commitment (Looking at names after 20, this description reads like a checklist of things Giants like to see from their pitchers, so I included him).
• Nick Travieso, HS RHP, #33 Notes Great fastball/slider combo, and that his command is improving.
• Walker Weickel, HS RHP, #34
• Zach Eflin, HS RHP, #35

BA also released the Top 500 listing, here are the names and ranking:

• Lucas Giolito, #9
• Lance McCullers Jr., #13
• Deven Marrero, #14
• Andrew Heaney, #17
• D.J. Davis, #20
• Richie Shaffer, #21
• Victor Roache, #22
• Ty Hensley, #23
• Matt Smoral, #24
• Stephen Piscotty, #26
• Stryker Trahan, #27
• Zach Eflin, #31
• Joey Gallo, #33
• Walker Weickel, #37
• Nick Travieso, #40  (BA must have inside info to have Giants select him in every mock and yet they rank him so far back)
• Mitch Brown, #44

And, of course, BA provided an updated Top 50 listing today, so here are the rankings for the above, kept in the same name order:

• Lucas Giolito, #9
• Lance McCullers Jr., #13
• Deven Marrero, #15 (fell one)
• Andrew Heaney, #10 (rose 7 spots)
• D.J. Davis, #20
• Richie Shaffer, #22  (fell one)
• Victor Roache, #24  (fell two)
• Ty Hensley, #21 (rose two)
• Matt Smoral, #25  (fell one)
• Stephen Piscotty, #27  (fell one)
• Stryker Trahan, #28  (fell one)
• Zach Eflin, #33 (fell two)
• Joey Gallo, #23 (quite a jump up, 10 spots)
• Walker Weickel, #38  (fell one)
• Nick Travieso, #30  (jumped up 10 spots, but still far from the Giants #20; then again, rankings had Panik in the 40's and beyond)
• Mitch Brown, #44

Mayo has his top 100 here.

• Lucas Giolito, #8
• Lance McCullers Jr., #13
• Deven Marrero, #14
• Richie Shaffer, #16 
• Andrew Heaney, #17
• Stephen Piscotty, #18 
• D.J. Davis, #21
• Zach Eflin, #25
• Ty Hensley, #26
• Victor Roache, #27
• Matt Smoral, #28
• Stryker Trahan, #29
• Walker Weickel, #31
• Nick Travieso, #32
• Joey Gallo, #33
• Mitch Brown, #51

There are also some pre-draft buzz, here is one from Mayo, this is the MLB draft news area, Baseball America has a section on the draft, Sickels has a discussion plus will open up a new thread, plus I would recommend reading all the mock drafts, there are usually some discussion about the vagaries of this draft.  And of course there are all the tweets with late minute rumors.  Strongly suggest checking out Twitter and view the show on MLB.com.  

It's Inconceivable!

It is almost impossible to guess who the Giants will pick with a pick this late in the first round, even in the first 20.  Invariably, there will be teams ahead of the Giants who will go off the script that the mock drafts have them picking.  That then dominoes down to the Giants pick.  Who knows who is the Jeter or Lincecum among the Top 20 who may fall into Sabean's lap down that deep (two picks that were expected to be gone by the time it was for Sabean's team to pick).

In addition, the Giants often goes off script from what the prognosticators had them picking.  Daniel Bard was the popular choice for the pick the Giants used to get Lincecum.  Most the pickers had them picking a hitter when they ended up with Bumgarner, like Mills.  And nobody had the Giants picking Brown or Panik, thinking that both were more likely to be picked in the supplemental first round, though I would note that someone had the Giants selecting Brown in one of the early mocks, but he fell when he was injured.  Many had the Giants going for a number of HS starting pitchers for the Panik but they were all selected by the pick, so perhaps Panik was the consolation prize.  One can never tell when a team will go off the script.

That is why I felt I should include Lucas Giolito.  Very high ranked but his injury might push him back, depending on the picker's opinion of how injured he is.  Callis thinks he'll be selected by Blue Jays #17, Goldstein #12.

I've seen a number of these names on DrB's blog in this various discussions regarding the draft.  Hensley is a name I saw a lot in his discussions regarding who the Giants will pick.   Roache too.  He and Shankbone have discussed a lot of the suspects there.  Shankbone also ran the Sickel's mock draft for the Giants, and selected Ty Hensley with his first pick.

So the likely suspects, based on the mocks are Ty Hensley and Nick Travieso, with Zach Eflin and Walker Weicker as other common names noted.  That said, someone higher like Lucas Giolito or Lance McCullers Jr. or Deven Marrero or Andrew Heaney might fall to them, as the Giants, at least under John Barr, appears willing to draft players whose stock had fallen prior to the draft or who might have fallen to the Giants pick and they had rated him higher.

Your 2011 Giants: Draft Day Thoughts

The draft will be happening today, with MLB broadcasting it LIVE! again starting at 3PM.  I am going to SFGiants.com to check out their free broadcast (free for now, I expect them to exclusively do this at MLB.com and MLB Network eventually, but they are trying to build this up to be like the NFL and NBA.

Personally, I doubt it will happen, those two sports are drafting potential stars and starters for the next season, whereas baseball is lucky to have anyone provide significant production in 2-3 years, let alone the next season.

DrB has a great delineation of the prospects that he thinks the Giants might be selecting and selecting from at his great site, When the Giants Come to Town, check it out.  He has his take on each one as well.

Speaking of which, don't know if you missed it but DrB noted in a comment on my previous draft post that the Giants Draft Director John Barr made some enlightening comments in an interview that I thought would be great to include here as well:

To a large extent, Draft order doesn't matter to Barr or his colleagues. Like a solid ballplayer, Barr has learned the value of a consistent approach.

"We're preparing the same way as if we were picking fifth," he said.

For the Giants, that means ranking the top 800 prospects, in order and by position. Barr compared the process to gathering "all the players in one playground. Who are going to be the best players in five years?"

This system reflects Barr's belief in taking the best player available when the Giants' turn comes, rather than drafting to fill a particular void.

"You can't force a selection," Barr said. "'I really want a third baseman.' Well, there might not be a third baseman there."

Live coverage of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft begins with a one-hour preview show Monday at 3 p.m. PT on MLB.com and MLB Network, followed by the first round and supplemental compensation round. MLB.com will provide exclusive coverage of Day 2 and 3, featuring a live pick-by-pick stream, expert commentary and Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of every Draft-eligible player. You can also keep up to date at Draft Central and by following @MLBDraft on Twitter. And get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with#mlbdraft.

Barr acknowledged that the array of available pitchers appears unusually strong.

"I think you have more depth in pitching than I've seen in a while," he said.

... 

Barr believes that the Giants still amassed sufficient information on intriguing prospects by focusing on each players' performance in summer and fall leagues.

Besides their first-round selection, the Giants have a pick in the compensation round, 49th overall, for losing free-agent infielder Juan Uribe to the Los Angeles Dodgers. That will give the Giants an additional chance to replenish the talent that played a major role in ending their 56-year championship drought. San Francisco employed an entirely homegrown starting rotation of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner in last year's postseason. Ten of the 25 members of the Giants' postseason roster played for high-Class A San Jose at some point during their ascent to the Majors.

"We're going to end up selecting some really good players at those two slots [29th and 49th] and throughout the draft," Barr said confidently.

Here's a glance at what the Giants have in store as the Draft approaches:

In about 50 words

Being shuffled to the back of the first round doesn't faze the Giants. They began building their 2010 World Series-winning team with such a late pick: right-hander Matt Cain, who went 25th overall. By the end of 2005, Cain had reached the Majors to stay.

The scoop

The Giants genuinely believe that a player ranked in the top 15 on their Draft board will fall to them. They felt this way last year, when they took outfielder Gary Brown with the 24th overall selection. Brown is currently thriving at San Jose.

First-round buzz

The possibilities are endless, if you pay attention to mock drafts that predict the Giants will take a right-handed pitcher, a left-handed pitcher, a corner infielder or an outfielder. Though the Giants have focused more on position players since Barr arrived in 2008, surmising that the Giants will lead off by selecting a pitcher is always a good bet.

I have been following Jonathan Mayo's mock drafts since he was the one who gave me the idea that the Giants even had a chance of drafting Tim Lincecum, as he noted that teams were wary about his overall package (alas, he also had the Giants passing and drafting the guy I think the Red Sox drafted, some big type that people had pegged the Giants and Sabean as being in love with).  His latest is here.  His latest scoop is that Pittsburgh will go with Cole, I have found that he has the top 10 or so picks usually scoped out via sources, so I like him a lot.

He has the Giants selecting OF Brian Goodwin, mainly because the Giants selected Gary Brown last year, another toolsy outfielder; just very hard to know what the Giants are thinking, unfortunately for most mocks, so they grasp at some connection.  I think the best generalization one can note about the Giants is that they will go for a lot of pitching, particularly with the first pick (though 2 of 3 under Scouting Director John Barr have been position players; he was brought in to give the Giants better scouting on position players).  Mayo rightly noted that the Giants might nab someone projected higher who slides to them.  Others who would be available to the Giants in his scenario are:  OF Josh Bell, C Andrew Susac, C Austin Hedges, RHP Dillon Howard.

Well respected Baseball America has come out with their latest mock draft a few days ago (list only; detailed analysis available to subscribers though).  They still have the Giants selecting RHP Joe Ross, a local SF Bay Area product (though probably A's fan since he is a high school student in Oakland).  Like Mayo, Jim Callis usually have the first 10 or so picks accurately via sources.  I would follow the tweets of both.

In this mock, the following players who were thought to be available for the Giants to select (and that caught my eye as potential Giants draftees) are gone by their pick:  LHP Tyler Anderson, OF Josh Bell, 1B C.J. Cron, SS Levi Michael, RHP Alex Meyer, 2B Kolten Wong, RHP Dillon Howard, C Austin Hedges, RHP Robert Stephanson, LHP Daniel Norris.  That left prospects such as LHP Sean Gilmartin, OF Brian Goodwin, LHP Henry Owens (seen one mock having Giants select him), C Blake Swihart, C Andrew Susac, RHP Matt Purke, OF Jackie Bradley Jr., RHP Tyler Beede, OF Brandon Nimmo, LHP Josh Osich.  I discussed a little about each in my last draft post.

John Sickels ran his annual mock draft using blog regulars acting as a team's GM, and these are the players that the Giants mock draft GM selected, along with John's comment, which he posted in a post on the NL West picks:

1-29) Tyler Beede, RHP, Massachusetts HS

1-49) Brad Miller, SS, Clemson

2) Riley Moore, C, California HS

3) Cory Mazzoni, RHP, North Carolina State

COMMENT: Good balance here: one prep arm, one prep bat, one college arm, one college bat. Beede seems like he would do well in the Giants system if they can buy him out of Vandy, Miller represents an on-base threat, Moore strikes me as underrated in the scouting press, and Mazzoni is very polished and could move quickly. Looks good to me.

John also provided his draft board at that time, though he noted it will probably look considerably different today (but I assume that means that he won't be publishing his updated one, so I thought I would include this in here for additional bits of info).  Based on that, RHP Dillon Howard is the 29th best prospect, and out of his top 15, only #7 Josh Bell look to fall to the Giants pick in most drafts.  #17 Brandon Nimmo falls to the Giants in most drafts, also because of signability, same with #19 Blake Swihart.  Also, most have #25 Brian Goodwin available.  Lastly, some have #18 Andrew Susac available.

Frankie Piliere, formerly with AOL but now with Scout.com, has his third mock draft out already, fresh from yesterday (third here, second here).  He had the Giants selecting LHP Josh Osich both times, noting:

This one makes a ton of sense on a lot of levels. Osich is a power lefty, and the Giants had high-ranking scouts in attendance for his no-hitter at UCLA. They will let things play out and likely take the best arm available here.

For him, he sees Ross going to Tampa 5 picks ahead, as well as a number of the other players who looked like they might be possible Giants picks, leaving prospects such as C Austin Hedges, LHP Tyler Anderson, OF Brian Goodwin, OF Josh Bell, 1B CJ Cron.

Perfect Game's Dave Rawnsley published their last pre-draft mock draft over the weekend.  They have the Giants selecting RHP Anthony Meo:

The Giants may be World Series champions, but they need to get more athletic and address their long-term offensive woes. They are not the type of organization, though, that will pick more-risky players like Wyoming outfielder Brandon Nimmo or Florida junior-college outfielder Brian Goodwin in this slot. The fallback is the best college pitcher still on the board, which would be Meo, but might also be one of two lefthanders, Florida State’s Sean Gilmartin or Vanderbilt’s Grayson Garvin.

I've seen his name get picked around the Giants pick previously, but mostly he has been available when the Giants select with their 49th pick, so I can't really see the Giants doing this.  The other two names, maybe, particularly Gilmartin.

I would also recommend going to their site for other great information, such as their 50 on 50 series covering 50 top amateurs (see in archives).  There should be one on the guy the Giants selected 29th (unless they go off the reservation to the extreme) plus maybe the guy the Giants select with the 49th pick (Giants during the John Barr era has gone for top prospects who have fallen with their first few picks after the first round).  Go to their draft website for a lot of great info.  They also will have a live app that you can use to follow their coverage of the draft live, though I haven't figured out yet how to find and run that app.

Also, just noticed that they made their Top 100 ranking available now, with a one sentence description.  They don't think much of Brandon Nimmo, ranking him #46, though his line is pretty good:  "Complete package; + hitter with + stroke/approach, power will come; all tools to excel in CF (arm, ++ speed)."  That would be nice to put in corner OF for Giants with Gary Brown in CF.  None of their top 15 appear likely to fall to Giants, highest is probably #18 OF Josh Bell, followed by #27 C Andrew Susac and #28 LHP Andrew Chafin.  Will be a source I'll be checking out up to and including the Giants pick.

Last, but not least, Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus also published his final mock draft.  He has the Giants selecting LHP Henry Owens, noting that he has heard nothing but high school arms for them and that should Joe Ross make it to them, the Giants would select him.  This also fits in with all the talk about Robert Stephenson as well.  Of course, the Giants are typically tight-lipped about anything they do, so take this with a grain of salt.  Goldstein also has a nice rundown of his previous mock with additional source and scouting information that he hopes will show the reader how "the sausage is made."  More good sources of follow-up information once the draft starts and once the Giants select someone.

OK, now last is Keith Law.  He does not make his mock draft publicly available, but his Giants pick was posted, so I'm going to report it:  Robert Stephenson, which is who he had the Giants selecting in his other mock drafts that I was able to find.

Giants Thoughts

It was hard enough when the Giants were selecting within the first ten picks of the first round, basically impossible by the 29th pick, which they have this season because three teams failed to sign their draft pick last season.  The best one can do, I believe, is to take the mocks of well known draft analysts, such as the ones above, and see who might fall to the Giants and who probably won't.  There is a wide variety of prospects available to the Giants by 29th, which basically shows the diversity of opinions over whether that particular prospect will be able to solve their problems and make it to the majors.

Side note: one of my wonderings about the draft, which I noted previously, I believe, regarding the pick where we picked Zack Wheeler (mea culpa on that, he's a great pick), is whether teams might start purposefully select a prospect with huge signability concerns and basically punt the pick so that they get a pick in the following year's draft. That is a strategy that makes sense when you are not that interested in the pick you are getting in the year you are punting and/or think that there should be pretty good pickings projected for the next year's draft.

I liked getting some insight into the Giants draft methodology, that was a nice interview with Barr.  Wow, 800 prospects, that's quite a list!  That will get them easily into the 30th round and might give them names to pluck into the 40's (last round is typically 50th, though some teams end sooner and teams are allowed to go beyond 50).

Very interesting is that confident comment he made about being sure that one of the top 15 players in their list will make it to them at their pick.  That suggests that a number of prospects who might fall because of signability issues are on the Giants Top 15 list and will be drafted by the Giants with the intent that they will pursue him vigorously and aggressively in order to sign the prospect (though the actual signing probably won't happen until the day before the deadline because the MLB does it that way).  Implies the Giants are willing to pay way over slot if necessary to get a prospect who they think is good.

This fits in line with Bill Neukom's edict for the baseball operations to bring to him baseball decisions and then to let him worry about whether the Giants can finance it or not.  I was not sure how sincere that promise was when he made it, because all news I could find up to then regarding his wealth was that he only had about $100M in stock options and a large chunk of that was donated/gifted to his law school alma mater, but in Andy Baggarly's great book, a Band of MiSFits, he noted that Neukom was worth somewhere in the $600M range (I heartily recommend the book to any Giants fan wanting to know more about the Giants players and personnel who had a significant hand in helping the Giants win the 2010 World Championship, I loved reading it and when through it quickly, lots of great inside information; Andy has been holding autograph sessions where he also sells the book, check out his tweets or blog for the next signing, which happens to be this coming Thursday at Momo's across from AT&T).

If I had to bet, I would bet that the experts didn't get the Giants pick right.  Not because they don't provide good information, but rather that they are working with imperfect information and do their best to interpret things.  Last year, only one analyst had the Giants going for Gary Brown, and that was his first mock, he changed it by the second one.  None of the analysts thought that Brown was worth drafting before the Giants selected.

Be sure to follow the draft, whichever way that you can, but I've been doing it via MLB.com the last few years, has a nice pop-up window showing each pick and who is next.

2011 Giants Draft: Initial Scout's Mock Drafts

Some might remember that I was going to post some of my latest analysis on the draft, but I turn around and the calendar already says that the 2011 draft is happening soon.  So change in plans.

The Giants this season have the 29th and 49th picks in this year's amateur draft.  That is a result of having one of the best records in the majors, as well as replacement picks for some teams got for not signing their picks, and thus pushing the Giants even further back in the draft.  And, of course, Juan Uribe's bolting for the D-gers gave us the 49th pick (Thanks Juan and Ned!).

For this post, I compiled the mock drafts that are out (and one was actually a talent ranking - BP) to get an idea of who might be available to the Giants when they pick 29th (only Sickels looked at the supplemental first round):

• Frankie Piliere of Scout.com
• Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com
• John Sickels of Minor League Ball (suppl. first round)
• Patrick Ebert of Perfect Games
• Jim Callis of Baseball America
• Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (Talent Top 20)
• Baseball America 2011 Draft Top 200 by Talent