{"id":789258,"date":"2026-07-09T13:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/789258\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T13:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:22:15","slug":"answering-questions-about-the-giants-and-the-2026-mlb-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/789258\/","title":{"rendered":"Answering questions about the Giants and the 2026 MLB Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Francisco Giants hold the No. 4 and 29 picks in the 2026 MLB Draft<\/a>, and I\u2019d like to tell you that they can\u2019t screw it up. But they can. Teams can absolutely screw up their high draft picks without derailing the franchise. The Tampa Bay Rays drafted fourth in 2017, and they took Brendan McKay, a two-way player whose career was shortened by injuries, yet the franchise has been excellent ever since. The Pittsburgh Pirates took a toolsy high school shortstop (Termarr Johnson) with the No. 4 pick in 2022, and he\u2019s currently languishing in Triple A, but the team is still contending this season. There are a lot of teams thriving right now despite recent draft mishaps.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just so, so, so much easier to build a roster around a high draft pick who does what you hope he will do. It\u2019s a cheat code in some cases, equivalent to a GM mashing the \u201cadd good (and cheap) player\u201d button when it flashes. Nick Kurtz is one of the best hitters in baseball, and all the Athletics did was take him with the No. 4 pick in 2024, pat him on the butt and say \u201cgo get \u2018em, kid.\u201d Bryce Eldridge wasn\u2019t selected until the 16th pick in 2023, and he\u2019s quickly evolved into a cornerstone of the Giants\u2019 future.<\/p>\n

You believe the Giants should draft one of these \u201cplug-and-play\u201d star-type players. So do they. It\u2019s settled, then.<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s not entirely up to the Giants. There could be complications. Surprises. Twists of fate. Baseball gods spilling their drinks in the control room, so to speak.<\/p>\n

You have questions about the draft. I have questions. Let\u2019s answer them together.<\/p>\n

So the Giants have the No. 4 pick. Let me guess: There\u2019s a consensus top three, but it gets muddier around the fourth pick?<\/p>\n

Correct! But it\u2019s not as dramatic as it sounds. It\u2019s not like the talent level falls off a cliff. It\u2019s just that there are three players who are unlikely to get to the Giants. They are:<\/p>\n

\u2022 UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, whose ceiling is \u201c2021 Brandon Crawford, but, like, all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey, a defensive whiz behind the plate with a strong chance to hit, and an overall profile that\u2019s not dissimilar to Buster Posey\u2019s in college.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson, a tooled-up prospect who is currently projected to go No. 1<\/a> by The Athletic\u2019s Keith Law.<\/p>\n

It is unlikely that any of these three players will reach the Giants. However, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s impossible. When the Giants acquired the 29th pick in the Patrick Bailey trade, they added not only an extra pick but also more money to their draft bonus pool. There was speculation that the extra pool money was a way to whisper sweet nothings in Cholowsky\u2019s direction, hoping he and his agent would fold their arms and warn the Chicago White Sox, Rays and Minnesota Twins that he would sign only with the Giants for a record-setting bonus. The plan falls apart when you realize the White Sox and Rays can still pay him more, and the Twins have nearly as big a bonus pool, but it was fun to dream for a second.<\/p>\n

A likelier way for one of the players to fall is if the White Sox, Rays or Twins are in love with someone outside of the top three, like the top pitcher in the draft, University of California, Santa Barbara right-hander Jackson Flora. It could happen. It probably won\u2019t, but it wouldn\u2019t be the \u201cbiggest surprise of the last five drafts,\u201d or what have you (Flora\u2019s UCSB teammate Tyler Bremner was a surprise pick at No. 2 just last year, for instance). It would be a modest surprise, at best.<\/p>\n

Wait. The best pitcher in the draft should be available with the fourth pick, and he\u2019s a college pitcher. That\u2019s obviously who the Giants are drafting, right?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to get greedy when thinking about Flora, who has a wipeout slider and a fastball that\u2019s touched 100. He\u2019s not exactly a command-and-control pitcher, so he\u2019s not so polished that you can guarantee that he\u2019ll be in the majors within the next two seasons \u2026 but it\u2019s a pretty safe bet, at least as far as the draft goes. This would align with the Giants\u2019 eventual goal of \u201cpreventing runs\u201d instead of their current one, \u201callowing all of the runs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, I know my audience. You love some local ties, don\u2019t you, folks? Brandon Crawford looking sad at Candlestick. Logan Webb zipping touchdown passes just an hour\u2019s drive up I-80. Uh, Kyle Harrison before he was unceremoniously dumped, like Mauricio Dub\u00f3n before him. You get the idea. Well, Flora is from Pleasanton (Foothill High, same as Crawford). Get used to seeing his family if he makes the majors with the Giants.<\/p>\n

Except the chatter around the industry, from our own Keith Law to Baseball America, is that the Giants aren\u2019t in on Flora at all. Just because the pitcher fits a profile that makes sense doesn\u2019t mean the scouting department is enamored of him. If they don\u2019t like a pitcher\u2019s long-term (or even short-term profile) more than they like one of the hitter profiles, then it\u2019s as simple as that. Teams don\u2019t draft for need, and they never should.<\/a><\/p>\n

Even if it would be really, really cool if this specific player worked out.<\/p>\n

OK, so pretend the top three are taken where they\u2019re supposed to and the Giants aren\u2019t keen on Flora. Who does that leave?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Jacob Lombard, the son of former major leaguer (and current Detroit Tigers bench coach) George Lombard, and the brother of top New York Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr. Jacob is more advanced than his brother was at the same age, and he has almost everything you\u2019d want in a shortstop prospect \u2014 power, speed, patience, plus defense. That \u201calmost\u201d is doing a lot of work, though, because what he doesn\u2019t come with are a lot of bat-to-ball skills. There\u2019s a question about how much contact Lombard will make, and it\u2019s going to be up to the drafting organization to help him along. The Giants might be that team.<\/p>\n

Eric Booth Jr. is a high school center fielder with classic tools for the position. If it works out, he\u2019ll not only be the fastest player on any team he\u2019s on and challenging for a Gold Glove every season, but he\u2019ll also hit for average with a little power while stealing plenty of bases. We\u2019re talking about the fourth pick of the draft: everyone\u2019s best-case scenario is a perennial All-Star, if not a Hall of Famer. Booth\u2019s ceiling is easier to imagine than most, if only because Giants fans have been desperate for a true center fielder who can hit for over a decade now.<\/p>\n

Hydration break: Remember that we\u2019re talking about teenagers and college kids, and that there is so much that can change before teams can expect contributions from them. Consider that Heliot Ramos was drafted almost a decade ago, yet Giants fans can still have a good-faith argument about his ceiling.<\/p>\n

The Giants already have three teenagers who are shortstops and top-100 prospect-types. I know teams are always, always, always looking for the best player available, but isn\u2019t that going to factor into their decision, even if just a little bit?<\/p>\n

Nah. If Josuar Gonzalez and Luis Hern\u00e1ndez and Jhonny Level and Gavin Kilen and, say, Jacob Lombard all dominate minor-league pitching for the next couple seasons, then the Giants will have five really good players. They\u2019ll use them at other positions. They can trade them. Too many good baseball players is not a problem, especially when they\u2019re starting out at a premium defensive position.<\/p>\n

Now remember that these are baby turtles, and most of them will be eaten by large gulls, metaphorically speaking. (The large gulls are 91-mph sliders, and they\u2019re hungry.)<\/p>\n

Aren\u2019t there any college hitters? Where are the Nick Kurtz-types? Gimme a JJ Wetherholt! Make it snappy!<\/p>\n

Right-handed hitting Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress has been one of the best (and most consistent) hitters in college baseball for years now, but he\u2019s a bit undersized, so the Giants would have to believe that his ceiling is closer to Andrew McCutchen than, say, Randal Grichuk, especially if he doesn\u2019t stick in center. But he\u2019s always hit, and it\u2019s possible that the Giants will care about that more than what he can\u2019t do.<\/p>\n

Left-handed hitting LSU outfielder Derek Curiel is \u201can extremely safe college position player,\u201d according to Law<\/a>, but that\u2019s a description that suggests a higher floor at the expense of a higher ceiling. He\u2019ll make the majors, but might not be a star.<\/p>\n

Kentucky shortstop Tyler Bell was a second-round pick out of high school by the Rays in 2024, which is probably a good sign. There\u2019s no shame in peeking at the other team\u2019s old exams. Bell doesn\u2019t have the loudest tools, but the switch-hitter also doesn\u2019t have any lacking ones, either. Law has him as the third-best prospect in the draft<\/a>, citing superior exit velocities and plate discipline. This might be the closest there is to a Wetherholt-type fast-mover, with the eternal caveat that it\u2019s foolish to expect such a thing. Bell also played through a left shoulder injury all season and still performed at a high level, which means he could even be a little underrated.<\/p>\n

The Giants aren\u2019t going to take a high school pitcher, are they? <\/p>\n

Probably not, at least not at pick 4. There aren\u2019t any ranked that high, and there aren\u2019t any pre-draft deals to cut with players who have the leverage of a strong college commitment. There are a lot of paths the Giants could take, from high school infielders to college pitchers, but this seems like the safest profile to cross off your list.<\/p>\n

Any other college pitchers?<\/p>\n

Liam Peterson is a right-hander out of Florida, but the first words of Law\u2019s capsule on him are \u201cPeterson is stuff over performance,\u201d which should make you nervous. Always be skeptical when first-round stuff doesn\u2019t absolutely overwhelm NCAA hitters (or when his flashiest starts come against teams like the High Point University Panthers<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Logan Reddemann is a UCLA right-hander who would have been an option at the fourth spot before he got hurt in April. He came back to throw at the MLB Draft Combine, with reduced velocity, so the Giants would have to be pretty danged sure about his medicals. Hands up if that fills you with confidence. (In this parenthetical, I leave the possibility that he could wind up as the best player drafted, which makes all of this worrying seem funny in retrospect. Could happen!)<\/p>\n

What about the 29th\u00a0pick? Is there a way for the Giants to do some sort of shenanigans with the bonus pool?<\/p>\n

If the Giants take someone we haven\u2019t mentioned here on a pre-draft deal with the No. 4 pick \u2014 say, Alabama shortstop Justin Lebron \u2014 it could free up money for a high-school player with first-round talent who slides down to pick 29. If the Giants have a draft crush on someone who isn\u2019t widely expected to go among the top five players, this kind of strategy would make a lot of sense.<\/p>\n

If the Giants\u2019 first pick on Saturday isn\u2019t someone who\u2019s been mentioned here, don\u2019t freak out (more than usual). It just means the draft-crush-savings theory is likely in play.<\/p>\n

Who are you hoping for?<\/p>\n

Listen, you pay money to read my knock-knock jokes and analysis of the major-league team, but you have to know that my opinion on amateur players is worth about as much as the average commenter on this here website. I\u2019m reading the same sources as most of you and watching the same videos.<\/p>\n

That written, my personal ranking would be something like this:<\/p>\n

1. Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA<\/p>\n

2. Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech<\/p>\n

3. Grady Emerson, SS, Fort Worth (Tex.) Christian High<\/p>\n

4. Eric Booth Jr., OF,\u00a0 Oak Grove High (Hattiesburg, Miss.)<\/p>\n

5. Jackson Flora, RHP, UCSB<\/p>\n

6. Tyler Bell, SS, Kentucky<\/p>\n

7. Jacob Lombard, SS, Gulliver Prep (Pinecrest, Fla.)<\/p>\n

The contact tools for Lombard scare me too much. I know his brother is thriving in the Yankees\u2019 system, and I know the Giants\u2019 player development team has had a lot of recent successes with their prospects, but it\u2019s a knee-jerk reaction to the idea of a top prospect needing to be taught bat-to-ball skills.<\/p>\n

Who are you predicting?<\/p>\n

Lombard. I\u2019ve played this game before. If you single out one prospect out of a half-dozen that you have reservations with, that\u2019s the one the Giants will take. (It\u2019s worked out fine in the past<\/a>, though.)<\/p>\n

The Giants have a farm system on the rise, and they\u2019re about to add two more first-round picks, including one near the tippy-top of the draft. It\u2019s only going to get better, at least on paper. The major-league team isn\u2019t very compelling, but at least there\u2019s stuff like this to distract you. It\u2019s a consolation prize that doesn\u2019t have to be there in the worst seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco Giants hold the No. 4 and 29 picks in the 2026 MLB Draft, and I\u2019d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,5157,85],"class_list":["post-789258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}