SF Giants: Three Prospects Ranked in BA’s Top-100

Baseball America released its top-100 prospect list (subscription required) on Monday and three SF Giants minor leaguers made the list.

According to Baseball America, shortstop Marco Luciano (no. 12), catcher Joey Bart (no. 41), and outfielder Heliot Ramos (no. 83) rank as some of the best and most exciting prospects in baseball.

For years, the Giants struggled to get even one name on the list, so it is a modest improvement that they have three prospects. However, Roger Munter of There R Giants notes that the Giants still have a lot of work to do:

All three were brought into the organization under the prior regime. That is not necessarily an indictment of Farhan Zaidi’s draft performance thus far. Since Zaidi has taken over as the Giants president of baseball operations, he has managed two drafts.

The 2019 draft class, highlighted by outfielder Hunter Bishop, has limited minor league experience due to the lost season in 2020. Furthermore, the 2020 draft class has no pro experience at all.

Teams did hold an expanded instructional league this fall to make up for the lost 2020 season, but videos were scant and no stats were officially recorded.

With many recent draftees, there is not a lot of recent track record to base evaluations, so there is definitely a caveat with these prospect rankings. That said, Bishop, catcher Patrick Bailey, and outfielder Luis Matos received top-150 prospect votes, so the Giants could add more than three prospects on the list in the near future.

Interestingly, of the three who have made the top-100 list, Joey Bart has already made his major league debut.

Across 111 plate appearances in 2020, the right-handed bat slashed .233/.288/.320 with five doubles, two triples, zero home runs, and seven RBI. He struggled to control the strike zone as he posted a 2.7 percent walk rate against a 36.9 percent strikeout rate. However, his struggles are not surprising, and this tough 2020 campaign could end up being a positive experience for his development.

While the rebuild of the farm system continues to take place, the SF Giants do have a few intriguing prospects who could appear (or in Bart’s case reappear) at Oracle Park soon.