SF Giants continue hopeless pursuit of attempting to land top draft prospect

The SF Giants have continued their pursuit of landing top draft prospect Roch Cholowsky. They were reportedly one of three teams to meet with the UCLA shortstop at the MLB Draft Combine, per Sam Blum of The Athletic.

The other two teams? That would be the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, both of whom draft ahead of the Giants in the first round. Oddly enough, the Minnesota Twins, who hold the No. 3 pick, did not meet with Cholowsky.

The MLB draft is about a month away. The mock drafts have shown a lot of consistency in terms of which players will go with the first three picks. Cholowsky, Grady Emerson (Fort Worth Christian School), and Vahn Lackey (Georgia Tech) have consistently been mocked to all be selected within the first three picks. The order varies slightly, but that is the consensus.

The No. 4 pick is the first wild card of the draft, which also happens to be the selection the Giants hold. They have been connected to UC Santa Barbara pitcher Jackson Flora and prep shortstop Jacob Lomard.

SF Giants continue to pursue top draft prospect at MLB Combine

The earlier mock drafts had the Giants targeting Flora, but the recent ones have connected them more to Lombard. Pitching is an obvious need for the Giants' farm system, so Flora would check that box.

That said, teams do not draft for need in baseball. They target the best player available, which may be Lombard. Lombard is a middle infielder out of Gulliver Preparatory School in Pinecrest, Florida. Many of the Giants' top prospects are middle infielders, so Lombard would add to that strength.

Of course, the Giants are hoping they might land another middle infielder in Cholowsky. They added fuel to that rumor when they shipped Patrick Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians. The Giants received pitching prospect Matt Wilkinson, along with the No. 29 pick and the corresponding $3.2 million slot value.

This move gave the Giants more spending power in this year's draft. They could leverage this to offer Cholowksy the largest signing bonus in baseball history, but they would need three teams to pass him before that happens. That seems unlikely, as all three teams have similar spending power.

Despite this, they have continued to pursue Cholowsky. While that pursuit may prove to be futile, they are doing their due diligence.

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