San Francisco Giants: Grading the 2014 MLB draft class

In the days leading up to the 2019 MLB Draft, we’ll be taking a look back at every San Francisco Giants draft since 2000. Next up, the 2014 draft class.

The San Francisco Giants had the No. 25 pick in the 2014 draft after going 76-86 to finish third in the NL West during the previous season.

The team had 40 total selections and wound up signing 23 of the players that were picked.

The highest unsigned selection was right-hander Benton Moss in the 15th round. He was a sixth-round pick by the Tampa Bay Rays the following year.

Of the 23 players that signed, only four have reached the majors so far.

Here’s a closer look at a few notable selections:

First Pick: RHP Tyler Beede, Vanderbilt—1st round, 14th overall

Beede was one of the most dominant pitchers in the nation during his sophomore season at Vanderbilt when he went 14-1 with a 2.32 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 101 innings. His ERA jumped up to 4.05 during his junior season and he issued 4.2 walks per nine innings, but the Giants still saw enough to take him with the No. 14 overall pick.

After posting a 2.81 ERA with 135 strikeouts in 147.1 innings at Double-A in 2016, Beede began the 2017 season as the No. 1 prospect in the Giants system and the No. 89 prospect in baseball, according to Baseball America.

However, after a mediocre 2017 season (4.79 ERA, 109.0 IP) and a disastrous 2018 campaign (6.64 ERA, 80.0 IP), his stock was way down heading into the current season.

An overhauled repertoire seems to have kicked things back into gear and he looked sharp in his second start of the year at the MLB level on Thursday, allowing five hits and one earned run in six innings of work.

There’s still hope for this one.

Passed On: LHP Sean Newcomb (15th overall), 3B Matt Chapman (25th overall), IF Michael Chavis (26th overall), RHP Michael Kopech (33rd overall), RHP Jack Flaherty (34th overall)

Reached the Majors

• RHP Tyler Beede—1st round, 14th overall
• C Aramis Garcia—2nd round, 52nd overall
• RHP Sam Coonrod—5th round, 148th overall
• IF/OF Austin Slater—8th round, 238th overall

This group has combined for 0.1 WAR at the MLB level. Three of these players have seen time in the majors in 2019, and all four could be regulars on the roster by season’s end.

Notable Prospects

• No. 5: RHP Logan Webb—4th round, 118th overall (Double-A)

Four players who currently appear on the San Francisco Giants top 30 prospect list at MLB.com were selected in the 2014 draft. We’ve already mentioned three of them in Beede, Garcia and Coonrod.

The other is No. 5 prospect Logan Webb, who posted a 2.00 ERA with 31 strikeouts in 27 innings at Double-A to start the 2019 season before he was slapped with an 80-game PED suspension.

Final Thoughts/Grade

There is still time for this to be a solid draft class. Tyler Beede and Logan Webb both have the stuff to be major pieces of the future pitching staff, while Aramis Garcia could at least factor in as the backup to catcher-of-the-future Joey Bart.

For now, this class gets a wait-and-see grade.

Grade: C

We’ll be running through every San Francisco Giants draft class since 2000 leading up to the 2019 MLB Draft on June 3rd, so be sure to check back here for more.