What Should the San Francisco Giants do with Their First 3 Picks in MLB Draft?

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May 9, 2017; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A view of an official Rawlings baseball at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /

The 2017 MLB Draft begins on Monday, June 12, so we’ll take a look at what the San Francisco Giants should do with their first three picks.

The San Francisco Giants possess three picks within the top 100, including the 19th overall pick. They also have picks 58 and 96. And then they will have the 21st pick in each round from rounds 4-40.

Earlier this week we looked at the past 20 years of the MLB Draft and how the 19th overall pick has fared. You can read that article here.

As you’ll see in that article, there is a lot of success with the 19th overall pick. Most of that success comes from taking college arms with the 19th overall pick.

That’s exactly what I think the Giants should do this year. They did that in 2014 and 2015 when they took Tyler Beede and Phil Bickford as college arms.

Beede is now one of the San Francisco Giants top prospects, and Bickford was used to land Will Smith.

When you’re picking in the back-half of the first round, I think you should be more conservative. Nothing is more conservative in the MLB Draft than a college arm.

Whatever the San Francisco Giants decide to do at 19 will obviously determine their next two picks. If they do go the conservative route at 19, then they can be a little risky at 58 and 96.

However, if they take a risk at 19 by selecting a high school pitcher or bat, then they should be more conservative with their next two picks.

Bottom line, you have to get some value from at least one of these top three picks.

Here are some of my personal preferences for the San Francisco Giants at picks 19, 58 and 96.

Apr 12, 2017; San Francisco, CA, USA; A general view of AT&T Park as the Arizona Diamond Backs warm up prior to their game against the San Francisco Giants. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Villa-USA TODAY Sports /

Pick 19

There are several really good college arms in this years draft that should be available at 19.

On the high end, they could get Alex Faedo from Florida who is ranked as the 11th best draft prospect by MLB.com.

If he’s taken, then there is Griffin Canning out of UCLA who I profiled in a recent article.

Tanner Houck out of Missouri should be available at 19. We also profiled him earlier this year in an article you can read here.

My personal hope is that they take Alex Lange out of LSU. I watch a lot of college baseball, and he’s the best starting pitcher in the country in my opinion.

I would be ecstatic if the San Francisco Giants take anyone of those arms with the 19th pick.

It’s my belief that you take a safe bet with a pick in the back-half of the first round. You can be more risky earlier in the draft and take the high-upside guy. But when you only have three picks in the top 100, you want to make sure you get someone who is proven.

The San Francisco Giants would certainly get that with any of the players I just mentioned.

If they do go the high school route, pitchers Shane Baz, D.L. Hall and Sam Carlson could still be on the board. We mentioned Hall as a possible pick for the San Francisco Giants in the first round earlier this year.

Whatever the San Francisco Giants do here, they need to do it carefully. They didn’t have a first round draft pick last year, so they definitely don’t need to waste this one.

Oct 11, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; A general view of AT&T Park before game four of the 2016 NLDS playoff baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Chicago Cubs. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

Pick 58

Here is where things get a little more tricky. If you go with the safe pick at 19, then you can certainly take some risks at 56.

Clarke Schmidt, a pitcher out of South Carolina, would definitely be a risky pick here. But he could also be a huge steal.

If it were not for injury problems, Schmidt would be a top 10 pick in this draft. So if the San Francisco Giants want to get a little risky here, I think Schmidt is the way to go.

However, Schmidt is ranked at 49, so there’s a chance he’s off the board for this pick anyway.

If they want to play it safe and get a bat, there should be a lot of college bats available at 58. You have SEC Player of the Year Brent Rooker from Mississippi State who is ranked 50th.

Brian Miller out of North Carolina is ranked 59th and would be a good pick here. A couple of Wake Forest bats in Gavin Sheets and Stuart Fairchild should be available.

Another power bat out of the SEC, Greg Deichmann from LSU, would also be a good pick here.

Other pitchers who would be available at 58 are Tristan Beck from Stanford and Blaine Knight from Arkansas.

I wrote an article on Beck earlier this year as a potential first round pick for the San Francisco Giants, but injury problems (non arm relate) prevented him from playing this year; thus, his MLB draft stock has fallen. Beck is someone who could go early if a team is willing to take a chance, or another team could get a high-upside pick later in the draft.

If the San Francisco Giants do take a college arm at 19, I would love to see them go after Stuart Fairchild or Greg Deichmann with this pick. Both are outfielders, something the San Francisco Giants need.

If not, then hopefully they can get either Schmidt or Beck here.

Pick 96

Feb 14, 2017; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; a general view of a baseball bat and glove on the field during New York Mets spring training workouts at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /

Honestly, after the top 30 picks or so it’s really hard to guess what any team will do. So I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing and mention some possible names that I like.

Looking at the top 100 prospects list by MLB.com, the first name that stands out to me around 96 is Glenn Otto. He’s a relief pitcher from Rice, and one of the best closers in college baseball. MLB.com has him ranked right at 96.

On that same topic of relief pitchers, South Carolina’s Tyler Johnson is ranked at 97. I recently got to watch Johnson and he has an overpowering fastball.

I think either of these guys could help out in the San Francisco Giants bullpen as early as 2018.

There are a couple of Oregon State pitchers that might be available at this spot as well.

Drew Rasmussen has shot up draft boards lately. He missed most of 2016 and 2017 after having Tommy John surgery, but he’s slowly been working his way back.

He started the regional final game for Oregon State last weekend and gave up just 1 run on 5 hits and 1 walk with 5 strikeouts in 4 innings.

His teammate, Luke Heimlich, has the best ERA in college baseball at 0.76. He tossed seven shutout innings with 8 strikeouts in that same regional last weekend.

There aren’t too many high-upside guys at this spot, so the safe play might be the way to go. Unless they want to take a chance on a high school player here. Jeremiah Estrada and Chris McMahon, both pitchers, should be available at 96.

Next: San Francisco Giants 2017 MLB Draft: Recent 19th Overall Picks and How They Turned Out

My preference here would be to go with either Otto or Johnson. The San Francisco Giants could definitely use some bullpen help, and those guys can give it to them in a hurry.

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The 2017 MLB Draft begins on Monday, June 12, so we’ll take a look at what the San Francisco Giants should do with their first three picks.

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