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LHG
Former Californian. Hesitant Tennessean.
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I'm going to post the last of these reviews today since I'll be on the road for the next week and a half. Brandon Belt is the high water mark for the Giants drafting at this round.
2015 – Ronnie Jebavy – An outfielder taken one round before Steven Duggar, the Giants were pretty high on Jebavy’s glove and had hoped his bat would come around. It never did. He did post a .722 OPS (292 PAs) with Salem-Keizer so the Giants decided to bump him up to San Jose for 2016. He didn’t do so well there, with a .690 OPS in 586 PAs, so they sent him back to San Jose for the 2017 season. He did worse (.652 OPS in 327 PAs). Yet he got moved up to Richmond in 2018. He did miss some time with injuries (and spent 5 games in the AZL on rehab) and posted a .525 OPS in 76 games with the Flying Squirrels. He was let go that offseason and never played professional baseball again.
2016 – Ryan Howard – Had FZ drafted this guy, he would probably have been on the big league roster multiple years (with multiple dfa’s as well). A 31st round pick of the Giants the previous year, the Giants seemed high on the versatile middle infielder. He didn’t show much with the bat his first year, though, posting only a .683 in 246 PAs with Salem-Keizer. Moving directly to San Jose the next year, he posted a respectable OPS of .739 with the little Giants (565 PAs). One to Richmond in 2018, he posted a nearly identical OPS of .732 in 475 PAs in a notorious league for pitchers. Howard was on the verge of the big leagues in 2019, playing with Sacramento but his .636 (167 PAs) got him demoted back to Richmond, where he was even worse (.572 OPS in 337 PAs). He got one more shot in 2021 but his .649 OPS with Richmond that year earned a mid-season release.
2017 – Jason Bahr – A promising pitcher who had injuries kill his career, he wasn’t with the Giants’ organization for very long. He started 7 games (with 6 relief appearances) for Salem-Keizer and put up good results (3.51 ERA, 1.172 WHIP). He started with Augusta and earned a promotion in June with 13 strong starts (2.75 ERA, 1.063 WHIP) He continued his dominance with San Jose in 3 starts (1.69 ERA, 0.875 WHIP) before the Giants traded him to the Texas Rangers. He did struggle in 8 starts with their high A team (5.80 ERA, 1.514 WHIP) but did much better in 2019. Starting 11 games with their high A squad and another 12 with their AA squad, he posted an ERA of 2.80 and WHIP of 1.074 combined. He was placed on their AAA team in 2021 but mainly for relief and got knocked around in 21 games (5 starts) to the tune of a 9.00 ERA and 2.030 WHIP in 33 IP before being shut down due to injuries. The injury bug would bite him again in 2022, where he only pitched in 20 games (5.90 ERA, 1.790 WHIP) and losing out completely on pitching in the 2023 season. He hasn’t thrown a pitch since 2022.
2018 – Keaton Winn – Another draft repeat by the Giants (they took him in the 20th round the year before), Winn is the only member of this group to see the big leagues so far. Like most other picks, he started in Salem-Keizer and was mediocre there (4.81 ERA, 1.442 WHIP). He didn’t get bumped past Augusta though, pitching 20 starts (6 relief appearances as well), he had a good year (3.32 ERA, 1.170 WHIP). After missing 2020 due to the pandemic, Winn would also miss 2021 due to injury. He got into 11 starts with San Jose, 8 starts with Eugene and 6 starts with Richmond. His numbers in San Jose (4.81 ERA, 1.586 WHIP) and Richmond (4.15 ERA, 1.352 WHIP) were a bit rough but he did well with Eugene (3.16 ERA, 1.297 WHIP). So the Giants moved him up to Sacramento for 2023. His numbers weren’t great in 14 starts (3 relief appearances) there (3.81 ERA, 1.586 WHIP) but the RiverCats’ pitchers usually hit hammered a lot worse than that so he got a chance to starts 5 games and pitch in relief for another 4 games with the Giants (4.68 ERA, 1.039 WHIP). He started well with the Giants in 2024 but got figured out by the league and got hammered to the tune of 7.16 ERA and 1.373 WHIP before being shut down for the year.
2019 – Garrett Frechette – The 2nd of 3 1st baseman taken in this draft by the Giants, Frechette did get a little bit of outfield in his career but the high schooler’s comparison with Eldridge ends there. He hit okay for an 18 year old in short A ball, posting a 729 OPS with Salem-Kezier in 2019. Then he got assigned to San Jose in 2021, where he struggled tremendously (.558 OPS in 123 PAs), getting demoted down to the ACL (.826 OPS in 188 PAs). Back with San Jose in 2023, he fared even worse (.540 OPS in 90 PAs) and spent more time back in the ACL (.830 OPS in 122 PAs). The Giants assigned him to Eugene for 2024 but he got barely any playing time, getting into 22 games over the first 2 months of the season, and hitting about the same as he has in previous seasons outside of rookie ball (.647 OPS). The Giants cut him and he landed in independent ball, where he struggled in 11 games (.385 OPS).
2020 – Ryan Murphy – The last pick of the Giants in 2020 was arguably the hottest in 2021. He started the year with San Jose and posted strong numbers in 15 starts (2.96 ERA, 1.013 WHIP) that earned him some time with Eugene where he got even better in 6 starts (1.44 ERA, 0.670 WHIP). He continued his strong pitching in 2022 with Eugene (7 starts – 2.90 ERA, 1.032 WHIP) and got bumped up to Richmond, where things suddenly went bad. He made 2 starts there (9.35 ERA, 2.192 WHIP), got injured and spent 2 games in rehab appearances (1 each in the ACL and San Jose). He spent 2023 mostly injury free and made 27 starts with Richmond, posting better numbers (4.36 ERA, 1.425). The Giants decided to put him back in Richmond for a 3rd year and he made 11 starts, improving even further (3.35 ERA, 1.233 WHIP) but has shut down mid season due to injuries.
2021 – Rohan Handa – I don’t know if players’ careers get ruined due to injuries as often as the guys on these lists or if the Giants just target more injury prone players than other teams. If it is the latter, Handa is the poster boy for their woes. Handa threw exactly 0 pitches in a professional game before retiring prior to the 2024 season.
2022 – Liam Simon – Oh look, another injury prone pitcher. The narrative is way too common. He did pitch in 6 games in 2022 (2 with San Jose and 4 with the ACL squad) and was good (2.38 ERA, 1.059 WHIP). However, he only got into 6 games in 2023 with San Jose (3.86 ERA, 1.286 WHIP) and only 11 games with the ACL Giants in 2024 (12.19 ERA, 2.710 WHIP).
2023 – Quinn McDaniel – Oh look, another middle infielder drafted in 2023 (4th in the first 5 rounds)! Now he has played a bit of center field but almost all his innings in professional baseball has been in 2nd base. He posted strong numbers in 2023 (.919 OPS combined between the ACL and San Jose). He spent all of 2024 with Eugene and hit decently in 511 PAs (.735 OPS).
2024 – Jakob Christian – Only the 3rd pick of the Giants in 2024, and the third outfielder that they took, Christian started off promisingly, hitting .267/.378/.500 in 9 games with San Jose.
2015 – Ronnie Jebavy – An outfielder taken one round before Steven Duggar, the Giants were pretty high on Jebavy’s glove and had hoped his bat would come around. It never did. He did post a .722 OPS (292 PAs) with Salem-Keizer so the Giants decided to bump him up to San Jose for 2016. He didn’t do so well there, with a .690 OPS in 586 PAs, so they sent him back to San Jose for the 2017 season. He did worse (.652 OPS in 327 PAs). Yet he got moved up to Richmond in 2018. He did miss some time with injuries (and spent 5 games in the AZL on rehab) and posted a .525 OPS in 76 games with the Flying Squirrels. He was let go that offseason and never played professional baseball again.
2016 – Ryan Howard – Had FZ drafted this guy, he would probably have been on the big league roster multiple years (with multiple dfa’s as well). A 31st round pick of the Giants the previous year, the Giants seemed high on the versatile middle infielder. He didn’t show much with the bat his first year, though, posting only a .683 in 246 PAs with Salem-Keizer. Moving directly to San Jose the next year, he posted a respectable OPS of .739 with the little Giants (565 PAs). One to Richmond in 2018, he posted a nearly identical OPS of .732 in 475 PAs in a notorious league for pitchers. Howard was on the verge of the big leagues in 2019, playing with Sacramento but his .636 (167 PAs) got him demoted back to Richmond, where he was even worse (.572 OPS in 337 PAs). He got one more shot in 2021 but his .649 OPS with Richmond that year earned a mid-season release.
2017 – Jason Bahr – A promising pitcher who had injuries kill his career, he wasn’t with the Giants’ organization for very long. He started 7 games (with 6 relief appearances) for Salem-Keizer and put up good results (3.51 ERA, 1.172 WHIP). He started with Augusta and earned a promotion in June with 13 strong starts (2.75 ERA, 1.063 WHIP) He continued his dominance with San Jose in 3 starts (1.69 ERA, 0.875 WHIP) before the Giants traded him to the Texas Rangers. He did struggle in 8 starts with their high A team (5.80 ERA, 1.514 WHIP) but did much better in 2019. Starting 11 games with their high A squad and another 12 with their AA squad, he posted an ERA of 2.80 and WHIP of 1.074 combined. He was placed on their AAA team in 2021 but mainly for relief and got knocked around in 21 games (5 starts) to the tune of a 9.00 ERA and 2.030 WHIP in 33 IP before being shut down due to injuries. The injury bug would bite him again in 2022, where he only pitched in 20 games (5.90 ERA, 1.790 WHIP) and losing out completely on pitching in the 2023 season. He hasn’t thrown a pitch since 2022.
2018 – Keaton Winn – Another draft repeat by the Giants (they took him in the 20th round the year before), Winn is the only member of this group to see the big leagues so far. Like most other picks, he started in Salem-Keizer and was mediocre there (4.81 ERA, 1.442 WHIP). He didn’t get bumped past Augusta though, pitching 20 starts (6 relief appearances as well), he had a good year (3.32 ERA, 1.170 WHIP). After missing 2020 due to the pandemic, Winn would also miss 2021 due to injury. He got into 11 starts with San Jose, 8 starts with Eugene and 6 starts with Richmond. His numbers in San Jose (4.81 ERA, 1.586 WHIP) and Richmond (4.15 ERA, 1.352 WHIP) were a bit rough but he did well with Eugene (3.16 ERA, 1.297 WHIP). So the Giants moved him up to Sacramento for 2023. His numbers weren’t great in 14 starts (3 relief appearances) there (3.81 ERA, 1.586 WHIP) but the RiverCats’ pitchers usually hit hammered a lot worse than that so he got a chance to starts 5 games and pitch in relief for another 4 games with the Giants (4.68 ERA, 1.039 WHIP). He started well with the Giants in 2024 but got figured out by the league and got hammered to the tune of 7.16 ERA and 1.373 WHIP before being shut down for the year.
2019 – Garrett Frechette – The 2nd of 3 1st baseman taken in this draft by the Giants, Frechette did get a little bit of outfield in his career but the high schooler’s comparison with Eldridge ends there. He hit okay for an 18 year old in short A ball, posting a 729 OPS with Salem-Kezier in 2019. Then he got assigned to San Jose in 2021, where he struggled tremendously (.558 OPS in 123 PAs), getting demoted down to the ACL (.826 OPS in 188 PAs). Back with San Jose in 2023, he fared even worse (.540 OPS in 90 PAs) and spent more time back in the ACL (.830 OPS in 122 PAs). The Giants assigned him to Eugene for 2024 but he got barely any playing time, getting into 22 games over the first 2 months of the season, and hitting about the same as he has in previous seasons outside of rookie ball (.647 OPS). The Giants cut him and he landed in independent ball, where he struggled in 11 games (.385 OPS).
2020 – Ryan Murphy – The last pick of the Giants in 2020 was arguably the hottest in 2021. He started the year with San Jose and posted strong numbers in 15 starts (2.96 ERA, 1.013 WHIP) that earned him some time with Eugene where he got even better in 6 starts (1.44 ERA, 0.670 WHIP). He continued his strong pitching in 2022 with Eugene (7 starts – 2.90 ERA, 1.032 WHIP) and got bumped up to Richmond, where things suddenly went bad. He made 2 starts there (9.35 ERA, 2.192 WHIP), got injured and spent 2 games in rehab appearances (1 each in the ACL and San Jose). He spent 2023 mostly injury free and made 27 starts with Richmond, posting better numbers (4.36 ERA, 1.425). The Giants decided to put him back in Richmond for a 3rd year and he made 11 starts, improving even further (3.35 ERA, 1.233 WHIP) but has shut down mid season due to injuries.
2021 – Rohan Handa – I don’t know if players’ careers get ruined due to injuries as often as the guys on these lists or if the Giants just target more injury prone players than other teams. If it is the latter, Handa is the poster boy for their woes. Handa threw exactly 0 pitches in a professional game before retiring prior to the 2024 season.
2022 – Liam Simon – Oh look, another injury prone pitcher. The narrative is way too common. He did pitch in 6 games in 2022 (2 with San Jose and 4 with the ACL squad) and was good (2.38 ERA, 1.059 WHIP). However, he only got into 6 games in 2023 with San Jose (3.86 ERA, 1.286 WHIP) and only 11 games with the ACL Giants in 2024 (12.19 ERA, 2.710 WHIP).
2023 – Quinn McDaniel – Oh look, another middle infielder drafted in 2023 (4th in the first 5 rounds)! Now he has played a bit of center field but almost all his innings in professional baseball has been in 2nd base. He posted strong numbers in 2023 (.919 OPS combined between the ACL and San Jose). He spent all of 2024 with Eugene and hit decently in 511 PAs (.735 OPS).
2024 – Jakob Christian – Only the 3rd pick of the Giants in 2024, and the third outfielder that they took, Christian started off promisingly, hitting .267/.378/.500 in 9 games with San Jose.
