The Giants Baseball Blog

We recently had a chance to catch-up with our draft/amateur baseball expert and webmaster of The College Baseball Blog , Brian Foley, to get a little bit better look at some of the players the Giants selected in the '10 draft. Here is the interview: Q: With their first pick in the 2010 draft, the Giants took speedy centerfielder Gary Brown out of Cal State Fullerton. What's your take on him and how quickly do you see him moving through the Giants' system? BF: Brown was injured late in the 2010 college season which cost him a chance to play in the NCAA Tourney . He is a speedster who I was surprised was drafted so high but on all the draft boards that I saw he was included as a number 1 pick. I saw him in the Cape Cod Baseball League where he was a decent player but I thought there was a couple of other better outfielders with five tools. Q: Is Brown the guy you would have taken at pick 24? There were some really good hitters still on the board. BF: Not at all, I would h...

Madison Bumgarner couldn't have asked for a tougher assignment to start his 2010 big league season. The 20 year-old lefty was opposed by the Boston Red Sox's dominant lineup and their prize young righty , Clay Buchholtz (who actually left the game after the first inning). Bumgarner didn't throw particularly bad, as his line for the day was 7 IP , 5 hits, 4 runs, 5 K's and 1 BB. His only blemishes though came on two pitches, to Darnell McDonald and Mike Cameron in the 1st and 2 nd innings, that both left the yard. Other than that though, he was nails, and Bruce Bochy and Dave Righetti have to be pleased with how he rebounded after those rough first couple of inning s. I think like with Buster Posey , Bumgarner is going to be given every opportunity to let this be his last call-up, and I think he's going to respond. The way he threw against Boston will definitely give him confidence. I'm kind of surprised the Giants couldn't get to the Red Sox's bu...

It shouldn't come as a surprise to most Giants fans, but Mark DeRosa was officially pronounced out for the season and placed on the 60-day DL on Wednesday. DeRosa hadn't played since May 8th, and when he was playing, you could tell there was something going on with him. He was hitting just .194 with a homer and 10 RBI in 93 at-bats and was really hurting the offense more than he was helping. This has to be a disappointment to the Giants, who added DeRosa on a 2-year, 12 million dollar deal this winter. My thinking at the time was that even though I didn't necessarily like the deal, but in the worst case scenario, DeRosa would be a highly-paid utility guy if the Giants had better options. I certainly didn't envision him getting hurt and missing basically %75 of the season. The addition of Pat Burrell is looking even better now and fortunately for the Giants, I don't think they're going to miss him as badly as they were thinking. Buster Posey's emergence alon...

During a few of his starts towards the end of May, Tim Linceucm was not himself. He put together a 3-start stretch in which he failed to complete 6 innings, and losing 2 of those 3 games in the process. However, any concern that arouse with Lincecum's struggles in May have been pretty much wiped away as he's had a much more "Lincecum" type of month this June. His most recent start Wednesday, clinched the series victory for the Giants over the Orioles, and Lincecum was absolutely dealing. The Giants bench got a slight scare though in the 6th inning when Migeul Tejada comeback liner nailed Lincecum right on the back-side of his throwing shoulder. The ball ricocheted right to Freddy Sanchez who threw Tejada out at first which ended the 6th inning, and Lincecum didn't come out for the 7th. His pitch count was high though the 6th inning was going to be his final inning regardless, but I'm just curious as to what would have happened with him had it occurred in the 4...

Bruce Bochy has used so many different lineups throughout this year, that it's been extremely rare to see the exact same bunch thrown out there for more than 1 or 2 days at a time. However, over the last week or so, Bochy has found a starting 8 that have meshed terrifically. The Giants are 7-2 over their last 9 games, and they have done it with offense. In that 9-game stretch, the Giants have averaged about 6 runs per game. With their pitching, if they can score 5-6 runs per night, they are going to be very tough to beat. A big part of the Giants recent offensive surge has been the play of the newest Giant, Pat Burrell. The guy who most casted off as done and washed up has really shown new life here in San Francisco. The 33-year old outfielder has played in just 10 games here in San Francisco, and has only 27 at-bats, but he's contributed plenty, hitting .407 with 2 homers and 5 RBI heading into play Tuesday night and seems to have solidified his spot in the starting lineup. Bo...

We recently were approached by Fantasy Baseball Hot Stove for a quick interview talking Bengie Molina, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Madison Bumgarner. Here is one of the questions, the others can be seen right here . "FBHS: With Bengie Molina really struggling of late, do you foresee any plan to make Buster Posey the regular catcher? GBB: The Giants are definitely starting to ease him into the position. Posey has been on fire since his call-up and it's becoming more obvious with each day he plays that he needs and everyday spot right now. A lot will depend on how the team is doing though too. If the Giants are in the playoff hunt come August and September, then Molina will be playing, he's too valuable to the pitching staff even when he's struggling offensively. However, if they do fall out of contention, I'd be surprised if Posey's not preparing to take over the full-time catching spot in 2011."-FBHS Giants Split W/ Reds : Unfortunately, the Giants c...

The Giants have notoriously gone after pitching at the top of their drafts in recent years, but they switched things up in 2010, taking a couple of speedy centerfielders with their top-2 picks in the 2010 draft. The draft kind of crept up on us this year, and wasn't as highly anticipated on the Giants front, because they didn't have a top-10 pick for the first time in years. Instead, they picked 24th in the first round, and with that pick, they took Cal State Fullerton speedy ce nterfielder Gary Brown. The 22 year-old has improved each year at the plate, and has always been amongst the most polished baserunners and basestealers during his time at Fullerton. He's a very good hitter, with the potential to be a plus leadoff hitter in the future, but I don't think he was the best available hitter at that point and I feel the Giants could have made a better selection. Zack Cox and Kyle Parker went with the following 2 picks after the Giants took Brown, and I think a lot of f...

Within a week of signing Pat Burrell to a minor league deal, the Giants wasted no time in getting his bat onto the 25-man roster and into the starting lineup. Burrell played just 5 games in Fresno but performed well in that brief stint, going 5-16 with a homer and 6 RBI. The Giants are hoping they will get that type of production upon his arrival, and not the Burrell that hit just .213 with 16 homers and 77 RBI in 146 games in about 1 1/3 season in Tampa. He got his first start as a Giant on Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh, but went just 1-4 with a strikeout. Bochy had him hitting out of the 6 hole in between Aubry Huff and Buster Posey . As expected, Burrell got the start in left field, pushing Huff into right and Andres Torres to center field. I don't think we'll see much of that outfield alignment at AT&T Park, but I do expect Bochy to use that mix on occasion during road trips. As good as Aubrey Huff has been in his stint in the outfield for the Giants, I believ...

All year long, actually ever since they drafted him in 2008 really, Giants fans have been anticipating the arrival of top prospect Buster Posey. He got his feet wet in September of last year in a brief stint, but this time, it looks like he's here to stay. Posey arrived at AT&T Park in time for Saturday's game vs. the Diamondbacks and Billy Buckner. The 23 year-old catcher turned first basemen went 3-4 in his 2010 big league debut and drove in 3 runs in the process. Coincidentally, the Giants scored a season-high 12 runs in the ballgame as well. The offense just seemed to click with Posey in their in the fifth spot behind Pablo Sandoval and Aubrey Huff. Buster followed up his 3-hit, 3-RBI debut with another 3-hit game, including 2 doubles and an RBI vs. Ian Kennedy on Sunday. With Posey in the lineup at first base, the Giants have decided to move Huff out to left field for the time being and their lineup has improved drastically. Unfortunately they were shutout on Monday, w...