Checking in on the SF Giants' first 3 picks from their 2025 draft class

It’s been a bad season for the SF Giants thus far. 2026 has been the type of year that makes disgruntled fans yell, “Play the kids!” It’s an understandable instinct when the current product on the field is so obviously lacking. Everyone wants a taste of the future when the present is no fun.

The 2025 MLB Draft was the team’s first with president of baseball operations Buster Posey at the helm. While Buster is taking a lot of heat from fans right now and is responding to it in a pretty defensive manner, the way he can get back in the good graces of fans is if the organization starts to develop some talent from within.

San Francisco’s minor league affiliates are thriving this season and there’s a lot of promise wherever you look. But with the MLB Draft coming up in July, it’s worth taking a look at last year’s draft and seeing how Posey’s first three picks have fared so far.

Posey's first 3 Giants picks from 2025 have potential, but it'll take time to realize it

Round 1, Gavin Kilen

Looking back, this was one of our first big hints as to just how much San Francisco’s front office liked the operation Tony Vitello was running at the University of Tennessee.

The Giants drafted Kilen, a shortstop who can also play second base, after a monster final year with the Vols due to his impressive bat-to-ball skills.

Kilen was not all that impressive in his debut with the Giants last year down in San Jose. It was only 10 games, but he hit .205/.279/.282 in 39 at-bats.

Nonetheless, the Giants moved him up to High-A Eugene to start 2026 and he has been very solid with the Emeralds, hitting .302/.367/.470 with four homers and 37 runs batted in.

It wouldn’t be a shock if he earned a promotion up to Double-A Richmond at some point this season.

Round 3, Trevor Cohen

The Giants went with outfielder Trevor Cohen out of Rutgers with their second pick in the 2025 draft. They did not have a Round 2 pick because they lost it by signing Willy Adames the previous offseason.

Cohen is another guy known for his bat-to-ball skills and he impressed in San Jose last year hitting .327/.438/.402 in 28 games.

He too began 2026 in High-A Eugene and was struggling early on, but he’s turned it around and is now hitting a respectable .264/.381/.365.

Cohen’s lack of power is noticeable so he’s going to have to be a guy who gets on base a ton and plays great defense if he wants to be a valuable player in the big leagues someday.

Round 4, Lorenzo Meola

The Giants have their fair share of impressive young shortstops so Lorenzo Meola is easy to overlook. 

The 22-year-old was drafted out of Stetson and played in San Jose last year which is where he began this year as well. His numbers were not all that pretty to start 2026, but he’s gotten hot as of late and has quickly hit four home runs in his last seven games. He’s now hitting .231/.327/.388 with four homers and 16 runs batted in.

It’s too early to pass judgment on any of these picks. Kilen is obviously the one with the most promise but all three players have shown some positive signs thus far.

Obviously, Posey and the front office will be judged on whether these guys become big league contributors so if at least one of them turns out to be a solid player for the Giants someday that would be a great success.

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