Hunter Bishop while at Arizona State. Cheryl Evans/The Republic-Imagn Content Services, LLC
Sure, the faces of the upper levels excite Hunter Bishop. Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos are “some of the most extremely talented baseball players I’ve ever seen,” the extremely talented Bishop said.
But it’s lower down the Giants system, with prospects the majority of the public may or may not know, that Bishop sees so much hope.
“Guys like Marco Luciano, guys like [Luis] Toribio — there are some guys that you’ve never really even heard of,” the Giants’ 2019 first-round pick, a top-rated outfielder, said on KNBR on Tuesday. “I just saw them in spring training and I saw them in the minicamp before spring training started. Man, I am blown away by how talented our organization is. I really think that we’re going to explode in the next few years. It’s pretty special to see.”
Luciano is the organization’s second-ranked prospect, an 18-year-old shortstop out of the Dominican Republic, while Toribio (No. 7) is a 19-year-old third baseman. Bishop, a San Carlos native, got a couple call-ups to major league camp and made an impression.
It sounds as if when he returned to minor league camp, which was set to open, an impression was made on him.
“[Farm director] Kyle Haines and Farhan [Zaidi] are doing an exceptional job,” the 21-year-old Bishop told Mark Willard. “Seriously, wait until you see the talent coming up in the next few years.
“… I saw we got the 10th-ranked farm system in MLB.com or something like that. I think that’s low. I think that people are going to be real surprised when they see some of these guys come out and play. We can really — some of these guys can really play. I’m excited to see how it’s going to turn out.”
Bishop was accurate, the Giants just cracking the league site’s top 10 in March. Many Giants fans know about the top of the system. And the depth can be improved in this year’s draft, in which San Francisco will have four picks in the top 68.