San Francisco Giants 2018 MLB Draft: Day Two Live Thread

The San Francisco Giants have a top pick in each round of the MLB Draft. With the second overall pick already in place, they’re looking to fill out some strong organizational depth throughout the rest of the draft. We’re following the draft through all of Day 2!

In the first day of the draft, the San Francisco Giants did mostly what you could expect. They selected a strong candidate to take over Buster Posey‘s role in the future. Joey Bart of Georgia Tech was the second overall pick as the Tigers predictably took Casey Mize.

Bart’s 6’3″ frame and strong body shows he may have the physique to be as good as Posey was at the plate. He also has an advanced feel behind the plate, as he already calls his own games, which is mostly unheard of in college ball. He has a massive future ahead of him and the Giants went safe and smart with their first pick.

The San Francisco Giants took Sean Hjelle with the 45th pick, their second round draft selection. Hjelle is a stud starter from the University of Kentucky, a 6’11” stud who won SEC Pitcher of the year in 2017. Hjelle comes with very solid mechanics, virtually unheard of for a player his size. Check out our deeper look at what Hjelle could bring to the table:

"2018 MLB Draft: What Sean Hjelle Can Bring to San Francisco Giants"

Now that we’ve recapped day 1, here is our live thread of what’s taking place on Day 2:

Round 3, pick 80: Jake Wong, RHP, Grand Canyon University

Jake Wong has drawn comparisons to Dan Straily, and looks to be a fourth starter of sorts for his ceiling. He has a grade 60 fastball, and sits at 50 for everything else. He was Grand Canyon University’s ace the last couple years and made an amazing performance against TCU this season.

Over his two seasons of starting for GCU, he has a 3.59 ERA and a 2/1 K/BB ratio. If he can control the walks he might be good to go as a starter, but has experience in the bullpen in the Cape Cod League and could eventually go there if he can’t control the walks over a long start. He had a 2.66 ERA in 16 appearances in the Cape Cod league, 15 of them being in relief. He then posessed a 0.75 WHIP and just over a 7:1 strikeout/walk ratio.

Here is a video of his strikeouts and performance against a strong TCU squad:

Round 4, Pick 106: Blake Rivera, RHP, Wallace State CC (AL)

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Rivera was actually drafted by the Giants in the 2017 draft, just 28 rounds later. Rivera denied the Giants in round 32 last year, but this year the Giants get him early. He is being recruited by Auburn, but the idea of getting into the Giants organization, for a much higher price than the 32nd round should do the trick.

Rivera draws comparisons to Craig Kimbrel, a former Wallace State grad, with a booming fastball and nasty curveball.

He added in a changeup in his second year at Wallace State. In 2018, he’s struck out 72 in 55.2 innings so far this year, and holds an ERA at 1.94.

Rivera is seen more as a reliever, but some believe that his changeup might develop him into a starter. MLBPipeline gave him 60 grades for both his fastball and curveball, and a 50 for his changeup. His control was given a 45 grade. We’ll see what he does in the coming weeks!