MLB draft, rounds 7-10: Quantum Leapers and a Yalie

We were in 1969. The Giants came in a second place, 88-74, season, and were around .500 around the time of this year's repechage. They selected zero pitchers in the first ten rounds of the repechage. Fifty years later, the Giants used nine of their top ten picks on position players.

Full circle? Not really. But 50 is a nice round number. The first two days of Farhan Zaidi and Michael Holmes in their first Giants management project were memorable and, to some extent, related to the franchise's past. This part is much less important than the chosen talent, and if you read Roger's articles on Hunter Bishop and Logan Wyatt last night and Kevin's analysis on choices 3 to 6, then you know that the team has done really well play.

Or looking to swing. Something like that. The giants have become heavy bats. But before addressing the last four choices of today, let's look at the top 10 of 1969:

# 1 – Mike Phillips (SS), No. 2 – Jack Woolsey (OF), No. 3 – Horace Speed ​​(OF), No. 4 – Randy Mohler (SS), No. 5 – Raymond Lombardo (C) ), No. 6 – Steve Ontiveros (3B), No. 7 – Gary Thomasson (OF), No. 8 – Guy Homoly (OF), No. 9 – Peter Franklin (OF), No. 10 – Michael Fisher (OF ).

Half of them would qualify for the major leagues, and the peloton would combine for a force majeure of 11.7 (the Thomasson and Ontiveros accounted for the total of the total), Speed ​​-0.7 eliminated from Phillips 0.7).

But the year before, the Giants have selected the top 10 players at eight positions. The first was Gary Matthews. The bulk of its value (30.4 billion BWAR) came with other teams and only two other players from the overall Giants draft in 1968 even went into the hands of the majors (Jim Howarth and Rob Ellis) just like the 1969 draft (Skip Pitlock and Derek Bryant); so, you know, historically, this could bode to something bad, but on the other hand …

Baseball is totally different from 50 years ago, not only by the way the teams approach the repechage, but also by the way they develop their recruits. and how recruits approach the game itself. The analytic evolution has not been limited to a deluge of data and the confusion of new statistics involving constants, biometrics and proprietary algorithms, it has also triggered an evolution in the players as students.

This excerpt from the just-out The MVP machine, co-written by Ben Lindbergh and how the Astros have revolutionized the game, really helps to describe what I'm getting at:

Mindset is a psychological concept that has already won its own TED discussion. Carol Dweck, psychology professor at Stanford, has turned "state of mind" into a buzzword in business when she codified a difference in attitude that could help explain the separation between the least successful students. "People who believe that their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategy, and the contribution of others) have a state of growth," she wrote. "They tend to do more than those who have a fixed state of mind (those who believe that their talents are innate gifts)."

The Astros attach importance to the growth of their players and, more than anyone, they also embody it as a franchise. This is the best evidence of baseball that even elite performers have untapped talents.

The thought seems to have permeated the hive spirit of the industry, because if you consider the preliminary cover of last night, the only positive point about it is perhaps that the attention of the analysts was focused on the positive traits of each candidate. This should do a bit with the talent of the first and second round that is globally more screened, in addition to the live TV aspect and all the people associated with the production who must be heartless monsters not to be moved by the excitement of young people as their dream becomes reality. , but no just because of that.

It really seems that the value to be written does not lie solely in a fixed tool, but in the total development potential, and these subsequent tabulation reports give the impression of speaking of a "state" "spirit of growth", compared to the "old" it is a project ". "Or" that's what we have to work with. "

It seems that the giants have modified their program and use it to find a "hidden value" in the draft. All their choices this afternoon were not controversial, but it may have been an unconventional twist, but ultimately understandable. It looks like the Giants attacked players who had made a leap forward in their development during their university career:

7th round, # 206: Armani Smith, OF, UC Santa Barbara

Ht: 6-4 Weight: 215 B-T: R-R

Smith comes from Martinez, which is right across the Benicia Bridge on the east side of the bay. I spent every morning going to high school, which was the same school that Smith had gone to, De La Salle. His favorite team is the Giants and he is Cc. The nephew of Sabathia. So, really, this is my favorite project choice for entirely selfish reasons.

The reasons you should like this choice are pretty clear. This tweet says:

And the statistical proof of these adjustments can be clearly seen here:

2017 | 201 PA | .285 / .328 / .397 | 4.5% BB / 16.9 K% / 25.5 XBH%
2018 | 144 PA | .234 / .300 / .383 | 5.6% BB / 20.8 K% / 36.7 XBH%
2019 | 238 PA | .325 / .395 / .636 | 8.0% BB / 15.1 K% / 51.5 XBH%

He had a second year seizure and made adjustments. Now, the giants want to build on that to see if they can unlock even more talent.

Round 8, # 236: Caleb Kilian, SP, Texas Tech

Ht: 6-4 Weight: 180 B-T: R-R

Wow, a pitcher. I can not believe. The Giants broke their ranks of positional players to seize what was traditionally considered a "project" launcher. According to the tweets:

Kilian's three-year run at the university does not present the same difficulties as Smith, but he showed a steady improvement in a key area:

2017 | 38 IP | 1.52 K / BB
2018 | 72 IP | 2.25 K / BB
2019 | 71.2 IP | 3.63 K / BB

Maybe the Giants will find a front-line taker or, thanks to their new biometric training, they think they can adjust their motion to maintain a high average speed and a sharp slider. The fastball-slider combo is now the standard standard of the industry.

There is also this story earlier in the year that talks about Kilian's adjustments and perseverance:

So after four starts, Kilian was 0-2, 9.19 going into the beginning of the Big 12 conference game […]

Kilian rose to the challenge. He pitched seven scoreless innings, eliminated four batters and held Texas one hit and two goals. […] and the Red Raiders won 3-0.

Kilian attributed his change to a change of mentality.

"I talked to coaches and they said," It's a new start. It was spring training, we are starting again today, "Kilian said. "I think it helped a lot. I was more focused. "

Again, it seems reasonable that the Giants are trying to capture not only predictable physical skills, but also growth minds – or, at the very least, players making career adjustments that have already produced some success.

9th round, # 266: Simon Whiteman, SS, Yale

Ht: 5-10 weight: 165 B-T: R-R

State of mind of growth or simply intelligent types. Whatever the case may be, the Giants explored the brains of players as much as their bodies. This Whiteman was a Rhodes Scholar candidate and captain of the Yale baseball team.

By this tweet:

That's 213 shots over his four year career (789 AP). Virtually no power for most of the time (18.8% of XBH) but he stole 71 goals and was perfect 34/34 this year. That does not mean he did not make the same leap as Smith and Kilian, posting a .853 OPS after three years of .622, .777 and .674, but the final result was not as positive . remarkable as the other two.

Again! Here is further evidence of a fanatical work ethic and a "growth mindset":

With the help of Tucker Frawley, Yale's extraordinary assistant and field coach, Whiteman, a Trumbull graduate and graduate of Fairfield Prep, has gone from second base to short stint over the last two seasons and has become, in Stuper's eyes, the best player in the Ivy League.

"When you put the hardest worker I ever had with the best infrastructure trainer in the country, that's what happens," Stuper said. "It goes from a decent high school player to an excellent college player to a kid who, I think, will be selected in the first 10 rounds (from the MLB draw of 2019)."

Stuper has also never had a Rhodes Scholar candidate. But between his debut as .266 hitters and as a senior, who stole 28 goals in 28 attempts in 28 attempts in the Sacred Heart match on Wednesday, Whiteman also found time to dominate in the classroom. A major in STEM (Chemical Engineering), he's posted an average of 3.99 – an A-minus, all the rest, over his four years – and is a first American academic team.

"It was demanding," Whiteman said of his academic background. "In fact, I appreciate it a little bit. This forced me to stay organized … I am extremely efficient in time management. I really do not do much except baseball, school and my faith. Beyond that, I do not have time for many things. "

Whiteman also looks like a ruthless killing machine with baseball proportions:

We may still not know what the new organizational philosophy of the Giants is, but we are getting closer. Giants certainly have a guy.

10th round, # 296: Jeff Houghtby, SS, University of San Diego

Ht: 5-11 weight: 175 B-T: L-R

The final choice of the day has become the fourth short stop to be drafted by the giants until now. This is not an indictment of Brandon Crawford, it is an indictment reiterating the lack of stopping points in the organization.

Houghtby's senior year saw a similar increase in the OPS: 0.950 vs. 0.682, 0.695, 0.671 over the previous three years, as well as an increase in the market rate (11.3%, up nearly 3 % compared to 2018) and a decrease in the exclusion rate. rate (10.39%, down almost 5%).

Sayeth the tweets:

Senior signs are "cheaper" to the extent that the player has exhausted eligibility for the NCAA and has the choice between joining an independent league or league other than MLB for much less. or enjoy the bonus money offered by a major league team and a chance to visit the majors someday.

I could not find a feature article on Houghtby, but I imagine that if we published one in the coming week, it would highlight his hard work and the adjustments he made.

Giants have a guy.