The San Francisco Giants have a top two pick in the MLB Draft for the first time since 1985. Executive editor of Baseball America JJ Cooper joined the latest episode of The Krueg Show Podcast with Larry Krueger, and broke down the Giants options with the No. 2 overall pick.
Cooper says that there isn’t a consensus No. 2 player this year behind Auburn pitcher Casey Mize, a lock to be selected first overall.
“You say who’s the number two player in this draft class, and if I ask 10 different people in 10 different front offices, I may get six, seven different answers,” Cooper said. “There’s no clear number two. And so I had one agent put it to me this way he said, ‘I’m pretty confident that (Giants scouting director John Barr) has more miles this year than any scouting director ever. Because he’s got to see a ton of players as the Giants decide who’s going to be the guy they take at two.’”
Cooper did point out two players, one of which who could be the future successor to Buster Posey, who the Giants may target.
“You talk about Joey Bart, who is a catcher at Georgia Tech, who draws comparisons to earlier Georgia Tech first-round catchers Jason Varitek and Matt Wieters,” Cooper said. “You’re looking at him, and that’s a guy who would not shock me at all if the Giants went to him at No. 2. He’s had a very productive year at Georgia Tech, he’s good both offensively and defensively, especially offensively as far as his power, and the reality of it is that again, you don’t draft for need, but it wouldn’t shock me if Joey Bart moved relatively quickly. By the time he’s ready, it may be about that time for Buster Posey to catch less and less and slide over to first base. It’s a nice bonus that you would have a guy who would fit very well.
“At the same time, if they wanted to go a little riskier, a little more upside, you’ve got a guy like a left-hander like Matthew Liberatore, who draws comparisons to some of the better high school lefties in recent years. I don’t think it’s a perfect comparison by any stretch, but you have had people say ‘Hey, Giants picked Madison Bumgarner a few years ago and that worked out really well for them.’ So there are options there.”
Listen to the full podcast below.