SF Giants 2023 MLB Draft: Everything you need to know, how to watch

The 2023 MLB Draft is right around the corner and the San Francisco Giants will get yet another chance to load up their minor league system with talent that should help them for years to come. The Giants are generally not afraid to take the best player on their board regardless of the demographic, so all options are on the table when it is their turn to pick.

The ins and outs of MLB Draft are not as well known to a lot of casual fans like the NBA and NFL drafts because coverage of the draft in baseball has only started expanding beyond a very niche thing in the last few years. Most (but not all) types of draft picks can’t be traded which takes some of the intrigue out of things and the players picked go straight to the minor leagues and won’t make it to big leagues for a few years. 

Here is a look at the basics of the 2023 MLB Draft from the Giants perspective and what you can (probably) expect as a Giants fan come draft time.

SF Giants Draft Picks and Draft Bonus Pool

The Giants are in the weird spot at the moment as they aren’t good enough at present to be consistent playoff contenders, but aren’t bad enough to pick high enough in the draft to be able to target high end talent. Case in point: in the 2023 draft, they will be picking 16th overall in the draft in the first round and close to that range for the rest of the draft (they have a couple picks that are a bit higher because of pick shuffling ahead of them). They were also awarded the 69th overall pick in the comp round between the second and third round for losing Carlos Rodon in free agency. 

Unlike other drafts, the MLB Draft uses a bonus pool system that allows teams to spend more or less than a pick’s slot value in the first 10 rounds (although there are escalating penalties for exceeding the overall bonus pool). The Giants have a bonus pool of $9,916,900 which is right in the middle of the pack league-wide.  

Who could the Giants pick in the 2023 MLB Draft?

Once you get past the top 10 picks, it is really hard to accurately predict who is getting picked where and even that is pretty sketchy at times. This year is no different as there are some generally accepted “tiers” of draft prospects, but those tiers get bigger and bigger as you get further down the list and they are also very, very fluid. A look at the most recent mock drafts from MLB Pipeline and Baseball America gives us some general ideas of who could be in play.

Tommy Troy, a shortstop out of Stanford who is more hit over power, has been mocked to the Giants a couple of times. Matt Shaw, an infielder from the University of Maryland that can really hit, has been mentioned as has high school shortstop Walker Martin who has put together a stellar season thanks to tons of athleticism and the ability to hit the ball to all fields. 

How to watch the 2023 MLB Draft

July 9th: Rounds 1-2

Start Time: 7 PM EST

Where to watch: ESPN and MLB Network

Streaming: MLB.com

July 10th: Rounds 3-10

Start Time: 2 PM EST

Where to watch: Streamed on MLB.com

July 11th: Rounds 11-20

Start Time: 2 PM EST

Where to watch: Streamed on MLB.com

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