The Giants’ season is in free fall as they sit at 38-63 with the second-worst record in the MLB. With the year looking like a throwaway, that would seemingly provide San Francisco with an opportunity to test out some of their young talent in the major leagues. However, the various Giants prospects that have been called up – Orlando Calixte, Christian Arroyo, Austin Slater and others – have been a mixed bag at best, with somewhat inconsistent play across the board.
ESPN MLB reporter Pedro Gomez told Murph & Mac on KNBR 680 Tuesday that the Giants can just look at their biggest rival for the blueprint to be successful in recent drafts and have sustained success.
“It’s really difficult to maintain a high level for decades,” Gomez said. “What the Giants have accomplished in the last decade is phenomenal, but of course that doesn’t make it any good right now. It is a poorly constructed roster and it is going to take some time. You look down south at the Dodgers and you see what drafting at a high level does. (Former Dodgers scouting director) Logan White, who’s now with the Padres, was one of the best when it came to putting together draft boards and being able to select the right guys. That sets up your future and weather you are going to contend on an annual basis or not.”
Gomez said that one of the biggest contributors to the Giants’ recent woes is the lack of first-round talent that San Francisco has been able to draft in the last six years or so.
“You’ve got to draft right in the first round especially,” Gomez said. “You’re going to hit on some guys that you draft lower and they make it through your system and just flourish but you’ve got to hit in the first round. You saw it with the Royals when over the course of a six-year span they drafted Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas. You saw it with the Astros when they took Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman and George Springer. The Giants did hit back in the middle part of that first decade of this century (with Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey) but you’ve got to hit consistently, otherwise you are going to feel the pain.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Gomez’s comments on the Giants’ recent draft history skip to the 2:31 mark.