SF Giants now have a surplus of shortstops after Luis Hernandez signing

The SF Giants have had a quiet offseason, but they did make a signing on Thursday that could pay dividends. San Francisco signed shortstop Luis Hernandez, who many considered the top international prospect available.

Now, the Giants have an organizational surplus of shortstops which is not a bad problem to have. The question now becomes whether the Giants will trade any of these young shortstops they have accumulated.

SF Giants now have an organizational surplus of shortstops

The Hernandez signing comes a year after the Giants signed shortstop Josuar Gonzalez, the top prospect of last year's international class. Gonzalez has quickly moved up the prospect ranks and has drawn comparisons to Francisco Lindor as a switch-hitting shortstop.

San Francisco also signed international free agent Jhonny Level in 2024. The 18-year-old shortstop showed some promise in A-ball last season so he seems to have quite a bit of upside as well.

Last year, the Giants selected shortstop Gavin Kilen out of the University of Tennessee with their first-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. He played under manager Tony Vitello and has great bat-to-ball skills which reflects an organizational shift in philosophy under president of baseball operations Buster Posey.

Of course, the Giants also have a pretty solid shortstop at the big league level in Willy Adames. He was signed to a seven-year, $182 million deal prior to the 2025 season so he has six more years with the Giants and will be in his mid-30's when that contract is up.

Adames should still have a few more seasons left in his prime, but in a few years the Giants may need to move him over to another position. That is why it is nice to look at San Francisco's top prospects and see that so many of them are shortstops.

Maybe one of Kilen, Level, Gonzalez, or Hernandez will one day inherit the mantle from Adames and take over at shortstop.

At the same time, the Giants saw a top prospect shortstop not pan out in Marco Luciano so they are well aware that these international prospects, and any prospect for that matter, is far from a sure thing.

That is why the Giants could also decide to trade away one or two of these young shortstops in exchange for a proven player. Maybe the Chicago Cubs would start listening on Nico Hoerner if the Giants dangled someone like Gonzalez.

The Giants have a lot of interesting young talent at the shortstop position which is not a bad thing, and with none of these young players knocking on the door of the big leagues any time soon the Giants now have some trade chips at their disposal should they choose to use them.