SF Giants: 5 Recent Draft Trends to Watch

SF Giants Draft Trends
3. Three-Year Starters

While Holmes’ drafts may have focused on players that took major strides in their final year of draft eligibility, that has not meant shying away from players with extensive college experience. In fact, it’s meant the opposite. Throughout the Giants’ past two drafts, they have targetted players that filled large roles on their college teams for at least three years. While that’s obviously the norm for top selections, it remained true for later-round picks like Carter Aldrete and Javeyan Williams.

This could be a short-term symptom of the Giants’ front-office turnover. Even with noticeable carryover from the previous regime, the Giants have still undergone significant turnover in their front-office and scouting ranks. It’s plausible that has led the team to prioritize players top executives were most familiar with. Many have pointed out that the Giants have invested significant capital in three players from North Carolina State. Holmes made his name scouting throughout the Carolinas and remains one of the most trusted evaluators of players in that region.

There’s a certain level of self-selection in this. Players that end up getting drafted are usually the best players on their high school teams and enter college as highly-ranked recruits. More draft picks are going to get early-career opportunities than not. However, extended playing time could become integral for the Giants if they prioritize players with draft-year breakouts. If players are not on the field early in their careers, it becomes far more difficult to identify if they significantly improved or found lightning in the bottle to post a strong draft-year performance.