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2007 Draft: Giants Take Pitching Early

Sticking to their same formula they have kept over the past 5 years, the Giants targeted pitching with their first pick in the 2007 major league baseball amateur draft. With the Giants lacking position playing talent in their system, the general thought was that the team would try and re-stock their positional talent this draft, but they took two pitchers right off the bat and let one of the draft's more intriguing bat's pass through. I was not an expert on this draft, but have studied projected first round picks over the last week or so. What was considered a high-school rich draft, it shouldn't be too surprising to see that all 3 of the teams' first round picks were taken out of high school. Here is my breakdown of the Giants top 3 picks of the draft:

1. LHP Madison Bumgarner (10th overall): After watching scouting videos on this guy, it's easy to see why the Giants made him worthy of the number 10 pick. He has a smooth, easy delivery that somehow slings the ball out of his hand at 94-95 mph with consistency. His arm motion is very similar to Billy Wagner's. The only knock on him is his lack of secondary pitches. He throws out of a high three quarter release, which tends to flatten out his breaking pitches. His curve has been clocked at 81 mph, but it's more of a slurve-slider than a curveball at this point, and he has an average changeup. Some felt that the Giants should have taken the drafts top power hitter, Beau Mills, with this pick. Draft Grade: B+

2. RHP Tim Alderson (22nd overall): The physically intimidating, 6'-7''Alderson was the surprise pick of the first round for the Giants. A lot of people felt Alderson had the stuff to be worthy of a top 10 pick, but his uncanny delivery raised red flags for a lot of teams. After taking a guy with the same type funky delivery and the same concerns last year (Tim Lincecum), the Giants may feel like they have gotten another steal. Alderson has pitched his whole high school career out of the stretch so placing him into the bullpen could make some sense. I would have rather seen the Giants get Fred Porcello with this pick even though he did come with Scott Boras. Grade: C+

3. OF Wendall Fairley (29th overall): This is the guy I am most excited about for the Giants in this years draft. He is one of the top athletes in the draft and has a very smooth left-handed swing. He can run, hit and throw (touched 97 mph as a pitcher) and he is a guy who I think can catch the fast track to the bigs. Another guy who could have been a top 10 talent, except for some troubles off the field. Scouts who have watched him extensively say that he controls at bats with his patience and ability, the same thing a guy named Bonds has done for the past 20 years in the big leagues. He has been compared to Carl Crawford at this stage in his career. Draft Grade: A

More draft coverage to come......

Comments

Anonymous said…
With three 1st round picks, it seems reasonable to take at least one pitcher...I obviously have no idea what they were scouting for or what they saw, but it seems fathomable that taking two pitcher that the valued over the available pitchers seems fair

Not to mention, pitchers tend to be the best athletes/players overall
5:30 PM
Anonymous said…
Bonds will volunteer to take the rookies under his wing for a good "conditioning program".
5:44 PM
Anonymous said…
The old saying, JuT, is TANSTAAPP. That applies less to, say, polished college pitchers than to high schoolers, though.
5:45 PM
Anonymous said…
Of all the drafts, it seems that MLB's is about as anonymous as the WNBA's. I've always wondered why the MLB draft is in the middle (close to) season rather than at the end. So where do these guys end up playing after the draft but before spring training? Where do they go from here?
5:52 PM
Anonymous said…
If they sign, they report to rookie leagues and a ball level...I think
5:54 PM
Anonymous said…
Okay. Come to think of it, one rarely - if ever - a broadcaster or columnist comment about any MLBer draft positon or round selection. Seems to me that it really is a complete crapshoot for baseball scouting.
11:39 PM
Anonymous said…
Its obviously a lot of luck, but compared to the NFL, where talent is funneled through college, you can see why its a crap shoot...if the nFL had to scout through HS, it'd be a crap shoot too...

Look at the NBA...i wonder what the stats are on HS players who made the leap...there's gotta be a kwame brown for every lebron james...

anyone?
12:03 AM
e-e-c said…
The reason why the MLB draft isn't as glorified is becuase it is 50 rounds long. But if you look back and compare the amount of players that were drafted in 2002 in both baseball and baseketball, and counted how many are actually playing professionally, it would be about the same. It just takes a lot longer for a baseball player to make an impact imediatley than it is for a basketball and football player, it's not a sport where you can get by on athleticism alone. If the MLB draft was condensed into 7 rounds, It would be a lot more hyped.
12:43 PM
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