SF Giants: Complete grades of their 2021 MLB draft class

The 2021 MLB draft concluded on Tuesday and the SF Giants selected twenty different players in the new 20-round format. In one of the most pitching-heavy classes in franchise history, San Francisco did not select a hitter until the tenth round and ultimately drafted 14 pitchers, three outfielders, and three infielders. While none of the players have officially signed professional contracts, it’s only a matter of time before the majority join the organization. Here are complete grades and analyses for every player they selected.

SF Giants 2021 MLB draft grades:
1st round (14th overall): Will Bednar, RHP, Mississippi State

Will Bednar was a notable riser throughout the draft process. Aided by Mississippi State’s run to the national championship, Bednar helped lead the Bulldogs through the College World Series. He finished the year with 139 strikeouts across 92.1 innings pitched with 26 walks and a 3.12 ERA. Young for the class, Bednar turned 21 just a few weeks ago and has already performed on the biggest stages in college baseball against the toughest competition.

Bednar’s fastball generally sits in the low-to-mid 90s and has touched 97 mph, but it seems to have the characteristics that will help it play above its velocity. His slider is easily his best secondary offering, with sharp sweeping action that consistently left hitters flailing. His changeup remains unproven, but the Giants appear confident that it’s further developed than many anticipated because Bednar did not have to go beyond his fastball and slider against most amateur hitters.

While Bednar is immediately one of the best pitching prospects in the farm system, the Kahlil Watson question will hang over this entire class. Watson was considered by many to be one of the five or ten best prospects in the draft but fell all the way to the Marlins with the 16th overall pick. He’s going to be most closely associated with Bednar, since he was the player taken two picks before the prep shortstop, but the Giants scouting department made that decision thinking about more than just one player.

We’ll see what each player receives when their signing bonus terms are announced, but it’s not out of the question that Watson’s signing bonus will be larger than Bednar’s by a greater margin than the slot values for any of the Giants remaining picks in rounds 2-10. Obviously, they could have made it work by targeting some less costly prospects later, but that would change the entire fabric of the class.

With that said, Watson was one of my favorite prospects of this cycle. I probably would have taken the shortstop and figured the rest out knowing I landed one of the best players available in the draft with the 14th pick.

Grade: B-

SF Giants 2021 MLB draft grades
Round 2 (50th): Matt Mikulski, LHP, Fordham
Round 3 (85th): Mason Black, RHP, Lehigh
Round 4 (115th): Eric Silva, RHP, JSerra Catholic HS (CA)

Matt Mikulski was a mid-round prospect coming into the spring, but reworked mechanics unlocked premium velocity and added some intriguing deception to the southpaw’s repertoire. Against Fordham’s relatively weak competition, Mikulski recorded an elite 1.45 ERA, struck out 124 hitters, and walked 27 in 68.1 innings pitched (11 starts). He finished his collegiate career with 272 strikeouts over 213 innings pitched with 92 walks and a 3.17 ERA.

On the flip side, Mason Black looked like a potential Day 1 prospect heading into the season but seemed to make some mechanical adjustments that limited his pitch arsenal. He’s flashed the ability to sit in the high 90s and consistently reach 99 and 100 mph, but this season, he mostly worked around 91-94 mph. His slider has looked like a plus pitch at times but similarly seemed to take a step back this spring. As with Mikulski, Black seems to have a decent shot of ending up in the bullpen, but it’s not a bad gamble in the third round.

The Giants passed on Watson to give them more flexibility for later in the draft, and a decent chunk of that savings will probably go to Eric Silva to pull him away from a commitment to UCLA. Silva was not one of the biggest prep pitchers in the draft but was viewed by many public draft boards as a second to fourth-round prospect. As with Black, the Giants are betting on their ability to develop Silva’s premium arm. Time will tell if it pans out.

Silva is a bit undersized, listed at around 6’0,” but has elite arm action and a smooth delivery. He has shown the ability to sit in the mid-90s, touching 98 mph. However, it dipped by the end of the JSerra season, raising questions about his durability. He’s shown a good feel for a low-80s slider and has had occasional flashes with a changeup, but his fastball is his carrying pitch right now.

Silva is more of a control than command pitcher at this point, consistently finding the strike zone while struggling to locate with much precision when there. Of course, that’s fairly normal for a prep prospect. Other than size, he looks exactly like the kind of athletic prospect with easy velocity and consistent delivery that scouts want to see at his age.

Grade(s): B

SF Giants 2021 MLB draft grades
Round 5 (146th): Rohan Handa, LHP, Yale
Round 6 (176th): Seth Lonsway, LHP, Ohio State
Round 7 (206th): Nick Sinacola, RHP, Maine
Round 8 (236th): Ian Villers, RHP, California

When Yale canceled its baseball season this spring, Rohan Handa dedicated himself to working out, and all of a sudden, he transformed from a middle-of-the-pack Ivy League starter to a legitimate pro prospect. He’s started touching 98 mph with a wipeout slider in the mid-80s. He has made five starts in the Northeast Collegiate League and struck out 25, walked eight, and recorded a 1.06 ERA. It’s hard to know what to make of such a massive popup prospect, but at this point in the draft, the Giants are betting on some captivating upside. Handa also is the fourth Indian-American player to be selected in the MLB draft.

Seth Lonsway has been a draft prospect since his senior year in high school back in 2017. Back then, he was an intriguing lefty with a projectable fastball and a potential plus curveball who faced questions about his control. Four years later, the scouting report is basically the same. He consistently racked up strikeouts at Ohio State but also racked up walks. He could move quickly as a reliever if he finds even 35-grade command, but he has the arsenal to stick in a rotation if he can find a way to throw strikes more consistently.

Lonsway and Handa both come with a significant amount of risk but are two of my favorite picks in this class.

Nick Sinacola put up huge numbers without standout stuff at Maine. He’ll likely sign for a significantly below-slot deal as well. He struck out nearly 16 batters per nine innings and averaged nearly 6.2 innings a start. He walked just 23 batters over 79.1 innings and recorded a 2.04 ERA.

Selected as the American East conference pitcher of the year, Sinacola relies on a high-80s fastball that has touched 93 mph but mostly works from 88-92 mph. However, as Giants fans may be accustomed to, Sinacola actually threw his slider, which works in the low-80s, more than his fastball. He’s shown a splitter, but it’s far from a usable big-league pitch at this point. Sinacola is a hard player to project since he probably lacks the velocity to end up in the bullpen but seems like a fringey candidate to start.

Ian Villers is easily the biggest player selected by the Giants in this year’s draft. Listed at 6’6”-245, Villers still looks like he has room to fill out. Nonetheless, primarily a reliever over his career at Cal, Villers is one of the easier selections to project to the back of the bullpen.

He has never racked up the strikeouts most would expect from a premium college reliever, striking 36 in 38 innings this season. However, he did show significantly improved command of the strike zone in 2021 (11 walks) after struggling with that in the past. His fastball velocity has oscillated between 90-97 mph, but it can sit around 96 mph at its best. Unlike most relief prospects, Villers also has three average potential MLB offspeed pitches in a changeup, curveball, and slider. None stand out at the moment, but it is a unique toolset in a college reliever. He’s actually been stretched out a bit at the Cape Cod League this summer. It would not be a complete surprise if the Giants gave him a chance to develop through longer, more abbreviated, outings.

Grade(s): B

SF Giants 2021 MLB draft grades
Round 9 (266th): Mat Olsen, RHP, Central Arizona Junior College
Round 10 (296th): Vaun Brown, OF, Florida Southern
Round 11 (326th): Donovan McIntyre, OF, Marian Catholic HS (IL)

Mat Olsen got three years at the junior college level and took a huge step forward this spring. He struck out 133 batters in 88.2 innings against 30 walks and posted a 2.13 ERA. Committed to Arizona State, the Giants will likely give him an above-slot bonus to keep him away from the Pac-12. As I reached out to more industry sources, Olsen seemed like a prime candidate to breakout next year, reportedly touching 97 mph with his fastball alongside a repeatable delivery and sharp curveball.  I’d heard his stuff was relatively average, but he made up for it with pitchability. It may look like the Giants are paying a premium now, but they think they are buying low on someone who could have ended up going in the first couple of rounds with a strong showing for the Sun Devils.

Not ranked on virtually any public draft boards, Vaun Brown is a classic senior sign. A fifth-year senior out of Division-II Florida Southern, Brown saw a huge surge in power this spring, hitting .387/.462/.793 with 13 homers in 26 games. He carried that strong performance over into the Florida Collegiate Summer League but still had concerning strikeout and walk rates given the competition he played against. He’ll likely receive a bonus around $25,000 and hope to make an impression in his pro debut.

Donovan McIntyre will likely receive a bit of the slot pool savings the Giants accumulated on the first two days of the draft. Committed to Kent State, McIntyre is mostly known for plus speed and a projectable body. He has not recorded particularly high exit velos, but he drew interest from the Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, and St. Louis Cardinals leading up to the draft as well.

Grade(s): B-

SF Giants 2021 MLB draft grades
Round 19 (566th): Irvin Murr, 3B, Winter Springs HS (FL)
Round 20 (596th): Vance Honeycutt, SS, Salisbury HS (NC)

Fans might not want to get too attached to either Irvin Murr or Vance Honeycutt. Neither are locks to sign at this point in the draft. Honeycutt is particularly hard to see signing since he’s committed to a top program at UNC-Chapel Hill, the same school his father played at. Murr is a bit harder to read. He’s currently committed to a junior college but might have been unsatisfied by his draft interest this year and could plan to change that in 2022.

Murr is an obvious corner bat with massive power potential. Even though he’s just a teenager, he’s already putting up exit velos north of 100 mph, including a massive bomb that featured a 116 mph exit velocity in a home run derby held last year.

Honeycutt is a traditional shortstop with a strong arm and flashes of plus potential on the dirt. While his body still has more room to fill out than Murr’s, he has some power potential of his own. He’s a bit gangly, listed at 6’3”-190lbs, and probably has to settle down some inconsistent movement in his swing, but at this point in the draft, he’d be a fantastic get.

Grade(s): A

Whenever a well-known prospect falls, every organization that passes on said prospect will have their class defined by that decision. The Giants passed on Khalil Watson, and that will probably be on many fans’ minds for years to come. San Francisco clearly thought the pitching depth throughout this draft class was too strong to lose flexibility for later picks on Watson. While I can see how they came to that place and am very intrigued by the collection of arms they’ve assembled, I don’t think they did enough. My opinion would change significantly if they signed all of their picks, particularly Murr, Honeycutt, and Bosnic. While none of them are considered on the same tier as Watson or even Silva, it would add some upside (Honeycutt and Murr in particular) that could make me buy into the method a bit more.

Final Grade:
C+ if Bosnic, Murr, and Honeycutt do not sign
B- if Bosnic signs
B if Bosnic and Murr or just Honeycutt signs
B+ if Bosnic, Murr, and Honeycutt sign

Stay tuned to Around the Foghorn for all the latest news and updates on the SF Giants prospects and farm system.