SF Giants had a very welcome surprise visitor at Oracle Park recently

The MLB Trade Deadline is on Monday, and there hasn’t been a lot of good news for the SF Giants lately. Things got worse when it was announced this week that Trevor McDonald will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss all of next year, Casey Schmitt will miss the rest of the year to a torn meniscus, and Harrison Bader crashing into a firetruck with his scooter while he was supposed to be rehabbing. Fans will have to watch Robbie Ray, Luis Arraez and more depart for other teams in the coming days, so with the present being such a painful time, it’s recommended to start looking at the future.

That’s why Jackson Flora stopping by the Giants’ dugout was such a welcome sight on Wednesday. Flora, the Giants’ top draft choice in this year’s draft and the fourth overall pick, was the only pitcher taken with any of the first 15 picks. Flora grew up a Giants fan in Pleasanton, attending the same high school as Brandon Crawford before playing his college ball at UC Santa Barbara. He dominated there, leading all NCAA Division I pitchers with a 1.06 ERA and setting a school record of 133 strikeouts in his last collegiate year.

Jackson Flora could become a true ace for the Giants

Having a pitcher of Flora’s caliber in the minor league system is fantastic enough, but his local ties and fandom further cement him as a perfect fit and possible future face of the franchise. Hearing him speak to reporters in the dugout Wednesday, he did nothing but raise the bar of how excited we should be to see him in the orange and black.

“Ever since I started college baseball, and professional baseball really became a dream of mine since I was younger, the Giants have always been the team that I’ve wanted to play for, so I’m really excited that worked out. This is where I want to be, and this is the city I want to play in, so I’m excited,” he said in his interview. Most first-round picks say something complimentary when asked on the record about the team that drafted them, but in Flora’s case, we know it’s actually sincere.

Brandon Crawford and Logan Webb became homegrown heroes in part because they’re from the area, they grew up Giants fans and there was never any question that this is where they wanted to play and win. For a team that’s been passed up by numerous free agent stars for one reason or another, it gave us as fans that extra incentive to cheer for them, and it means a lot to Buster Posey as well that his players want to be here long-term.

During the third inning of Wednesday’s game, Flora also stopped by the broadcast booth and talked about his pitch grips with Mike Krukow, which probably was a surreal experience for him. Krukow is Giants royalty and has endless pitching knowledge, so he and other minds Flora will be able to lean on over the course of his development will be invaluable.

Flora suggested during his appearance that the pitch he gets the most swings and misses on is his sweeper, which is his slowest pitch as opposed to his blazing four-seam fastball that sits in the high-90’s and can occasionally touch 100. He also sports a hard slider, which he called his favorite pitch, and a changeup that’s the newest in his repertoire. We can all look forward to seeing his stuff live in game action, and going by his outstanding college career, he should be fast-tracked to what figures to be a very promising Major League future.

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