San Francisco Giants: Early Mock Drafts A Mixed Bag

MLB.com’s most recent Mock Draft is actually from December. MLBPipeline.com’s prospect gurus, Jim Callis and Jonathon Mayo put together this “Top 10-picks” mock, and have yet to release a full mock draft. Here is what they had:

• Jim Callis: Ethan Hankins
• Jonathon Mayo: Nander de Sedas

Let’s take a look at Ethan Hankins first. Hankins is a right handed, high school pitcher from Georgia. He’s 6’6″, 200lbs, and has a college commitment to Vanderbilt University. His fastball received an 80 grade from MLBPipeline’s evaluation and he sits as their number two overall draft prospect.

Hankins might be a large flamethrower like Bumgarner, but according to their scouting report, he probably has more Johnny Cueto in him.

"To become a front-of-the-rotation starter, Hankins must come up with a reliable breaking pitch. His hard curveball showed improvement during the summer and he also began trying a slider, though both continue to lag behind his changeup. He repeats his low-effort delivery well and will vary its tempo, at times adding a Johnny Cueto-esque shimmy to add deception."

The best news about a guy like this is that his large frame, combined with an easy throwing delivery like a Cueto, is that for the most part he should be able to reduce the stress on his arm, while being able to keep the power on his fastball for quite some time.

The Giants lack a true ace quality pitcher anywhere in their farm-system, and haven’t really had one since Zach Wheeler. Wheeler had the potential, but you know what happens with the Met’s and their misuse of pitchers. Anyways.

Hankins would be a good pick, but what about this Nander de Sedas guy?

Nander de Sedas is a super “toolsy” short-stop who plays at the Montverde Academy in Florida. The switch-hitting infielder is the sixth overall draft prospect according to MLBPipeline, and committed to Florida State as well. He’s projected as average or above average in all areas except speed, which some have used as an opportunity to signal a future move to third. But the prevailing thought is his bat would fit the profile there as well, according to their scouting report on him. He even draws small comparisons to his Montverde predecessor, Francisco Lindor.

The Giants infield is getting older though, and it may behove them to go for an older, college infielder that’s a little more polished. But, de Sedas still isn’t a bad pick. Although, I might like this pick if the Giants were say, picking tenth overall and not second.