SF Giants select the son of longtime catcher in the 11th round of the 2025 MLB draft

The 11th round in the MLB draft was an interesting one for the SF Giants. They selected catcher Rod Barajas Jr. out of Saddleback College. Barajas Jr. is the son of former big league catcher Rod Barajas.

SF Giants select the son of longtime catcher in the 11th round of the 2025 MLB draft

The 11th round can be interesting for a few reasons. Most notably, that is the round that teams tend to pick players who slide due to signability concerns.

The slot value only applies to the first 10 rounds of the draft. After that, teams can offer a signing bonus of up to $150,000 without it counting against their bonus pool. Any amount above that does count. If teams feel like they will have some leftover bonus pool money, they can leverage that to sign a high-upside player that teams would normally find in the earlier rounds.

The Giants did that in 2019, when they selected Trevor McDonald out of George County High School. He agreed to a $797,500 signing bonus to forego his college commitment.

For the Giants, this year's 11th-round pick has ties to a former big leaguer. Barajas Jr. slashed .289/.421/.472 with six home runs and 30 RBI in 199 plate appearances this season.

The Giants targeted several players with low strikeout rates in this year's class, and Barajas Jr. is another example of that. The left-handed bat tallied more walks (29) than strikeouts (23) this year.

The younger Barajas has catching in his bloodlines. The elder Barajas appeared in parts of 14 major league seasons. His final year came with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2012. He always hit for good power, recording double-digit home runs in eight seasons.

Barajas never veered far from baseball when his playing career concluded. He immediately began coaching in the minor leagues, and has had stints on the San Diego Padres (2019 - 2021) and Miami Marlins' (2023 - 2024) coaching staffs. In those stints, he worked as a catching coach and quality control coordinator.

Now, the younger Barajas could begin his pro career as soon as this summer. It remains to be seen if he will sign, but the Giants should have some bonus pool flexibility.