SF Giants: What to look for on Day 2 of the MLB draft

SF Giants MLB Draft Day 2 targets

The Over-Slot Fallers: Jarred Kelley, Cole Wilcox, J.T. Ginn

Expect them to go quickly, otherwise, don’t be shocked if they don’t get selected at all. Kelley is a classic example of a power first-round talent that falls through a combination of bad luck and high bonus demands.

A Refugio, Texas native, Kelley has a powerful fastball that can up into the high 90s and touch 99 mph. He’s old for a high school senior and has already filled out his 6’3” frame pretty well, but his stuff has already shown enough to dream on. His delivery is very well put together and is able to control his fastball very well. It pairs with a changeup that flashes above-average and a breaking ball that needs further development, but I tend to have more faith in players to develop breaking stuff than a changeup.

Wilcox was one of the top high school prospects a couple of years ago and old for his class, Wilcox is a draft-eligible sophomore. Now listed at 6-foot-5, 232 pounds, Wilcox has put on substantial bulk that has helped him hold his high-90s velocity later into appearances. He pairs it with a potential plus slider and a changeup that needs more development but also flashes above-average. Wilcox would not have been a huge surprise with the Giants 13th selection. In fact, Roger Munter, Brian Recca, and I selected Wilcox at 13 in a mock draft for Prospects Live a couple of months ago.

Both Wilcox and Kelley would be tremendous steals for the Giants today. Either one would have made some level of sense with their first-round selection, but it’s hard to know how much both players require them from foregoing the pros. Both were more late-first round options, which suggests a $2.5MM signing bonus should be enough to get it done, which would only require the Giants to cut about $650,000 below-slot elsewhere.

Still, it’s hard to see either of them lasting too long on Day 2 and if they are signable, one would expect teams like the Orioles or Marlins both would be premium options to take either one before the Giants given they both cut significant costs yesterday.

At the beginning of the spring, Ginn was the best prospect of this group and seemed primed to be a top 10, maybe even top five, selection. Ginn is old for his class and so he’s a draft-eligible sophomore, but put off upperclassmen level production last season in his first collegiate season. However, before anything got underway, Ginn’s season was ended by Tommy John Surgery. Obviously, that took a big hit to his draft stock, but there’s still plenty to dream about.

Ginn combines two potential plus-plus (70 grade) pitches at the top of his repertoire that makes it easy to dream. His fastball combines premium velocity with fantastic movement and his sweeping slider flashes an elite strikeout pitch. Scouts are also relatively confident his changeup will become an average pitch, which would give Ginn a potential top of the rotation pitch mix. As with Kelley and Wilcox, it’s still impossible to read what Ginn’s market really looks like. All three of these players could be options for the Giants at 49, off the board before they pick, or unsignable to anyone.