SF Giants prospects position preview chat: Outfielders

SF Giants prospects position preview chat: Outfield Part 2

M: Ramos is clearly the safest bet, and I ranked Matos the highest of them all, but I do think it’s fair to say Matos is as risky as BIshop, just in different ways. We’ve yet to see Matos against high-caliber prospect competition and there are legitimate questions about his power ceiling. Bishop, of course, has the contact questions you mentioned. After them, what do you see as the next tier of outfield prospects?

W: I agree with you that Matos and Bishop both have similar risks because they have not really faced better competition. However, power tends to comes last in development, and with the kind of hit tool that Matos could potentially have, I think Matos is just a touch safer.

In terms of the next tier, Alexander Canario is definitely not far behind. I actually have Canario ranked above Bishop (#6 for Canario, #7 for Bishop) with similar FVs (45), characteristics, and risks. However, Canario suffered a severe shoulder injury last fall. He’s been hitting the cage at the moment and I heard that he will be ready to play around June. I did like what I heard about the progress that Canario made last year in instructs though, particularly with his plate discipline. He still gets beat by sequencing, but he seemed to be moving in the right direction.

After Canario, there’s a pretty big gap in terms of FVs but it’s also a mix of youth and experience. Specific prospects that I really like are Grant McCray, particularly his ability to put the barrel to the ball with advanced plate discipline while playing three sports in high school. His issues are strength-related and I can definitely see him tuck in pounds to become better.

Another one is P.J. Hilson, who is kind of an enigma in the prospect community. Dazzling tools but further away from his ceiling than anyone else in the org. However, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel in his offensive game when I talked to him last year about the strides that he’s made during the quarantine, particularly knowing specifically his issues in his batting stance. I think he’s going to break out this year.

The list can go on all day, Marc, but those two are the particular outfield prospects that I really like outside the top 4 at the moment.