Draft Day Two and the Weekend in Washingon

You can find all the draft picks that the Giants made on day two of this years draft with the MLB Draft Tracker, a very handy tool to track and see some light scouting reports on all the picks.

The Giants drafted 44 additional players on the second day of the draft. I won’t go through all of them because information on many of the players is scarce, but I will hit on a few that look promising. The Giants loaded up on pitching in the 2nd day of the draft, especially left handers. They took 6 straight pitchers to start the 2nd day, 4 of them were lefties. Let’s check out a few picks.

LHP Aaron King, Surry CC, 207th overall – Baseball America had King as the 145th best talent in the draft by their pre-draft rankings. I love his pitching motion on the MLB Draft Tracker video, check it out if you haven’t yet. He’s very fluid but has a high leg kick and almost throws from a sidearm angle.

Here’s what BA had to say about King before the draft:

He has all the things scouting directors love, as a 6-foot-4 lefthander who pitches in the low to mid-90s. Possibly the best lefthander in the junior college ranks, King is a strikeout pitcher, pitching off his fastball and putting hitters away with his slider. He also throws a changeup. He’s athletic on the mound and still has projection. His delivery is somewhat unconventional and causes him to be erratic at times. The question with King, at it is with most juco pitchers, is whether he will throw enough strikes. His K-BB ratio this season was close to 3-1. He will at least be given a chance as a starting pitcher in the pros. He’s a freshman at Surry and relatively new on the scouting radar, and he wasn’t drafted out of high school.

I love this pick. Lefty, throws decent heat, and has a little bit of a wacky motion. It also sounds like King will sign with the Giants, the Mount Airy News has the following article on his draft selection.

With contract negotiations ahead, King plans on staying in tip-top shape during the summer.

“I throw every week, not every day, three or four times,” he said. “I run, to get my conditioning in. This Sunday, I’m taking a beach trip with my family to get away from the madness.”

By Friday afternoon, King was sure. He was definitely going to sign with the Giants.

“I’ll sign when the Giants come down to Hickory to negotiate over the summer,” he confirmed.

Doesn’t sound like a bad find for the 7th round. I always like picks like this from the Giants because they have a pretty good track record of finding pitchers later in the draft and turning them into something useful.

LHP Scott Barnes, St. Johns University, 237th overall - Barnes, another lefty picked on the 2nd draft day, was ranked by Baseball America as the 128th overall prospect in their pre-draft rankings. Again, like King, not a bad pickup at this point in the draft. If you thought King’s delivery was wacky, Barnes is even more weird. It’s very segemented and choppy, he sort of juts his arm out behind his body as he motions towards the plate. It’s hard to describe, watch it on the MLB Tracker if you can. He’s definitely adding a little deception in his delivery that I’m sure helps his fastball seem a lot faster than it actually is. From the scouting video on the MLB Tracker, he was topping out around 89mph but a comment from BA states that he improved his tempo in the 2nd half of the season and was working 90-92 at times. He has an average slider with good tilt and a good feel for the changeup. Good find for the Giants.

CF Juan Carlos Perez, Western Oklahoma State, 387th overall – Perez was the first position player taken on the 2nd draft day by the Giants. He played at a Division II school so compeitition could have been a little weak, but check out his line: (.465/.530/1.102) with 37 HR’s, 24 2B’s, and 1 3B in 215 AB’s. Those are video game numbers. He also swiped 29 bags in 35 attempts, so he should be somewhat athletic. I can’t find hardly anything on this guy other than a few articles talking about some Div II records that he broke.

Perez, a freshman from Bronx , N.Y., had an incredible record breaking season leading the Pioneers to a 52-12 record, including a Region 2 and a Southwest District title along with a berth this year’s NJCAA Division II World Series. Perez led all NJCAA divisions of baseball with 37 homeruns and 102 RBIs. His home run mark shatters the previous Division II record of 23 (Carlos Figueroa; Kirkwood Community College, Iowa; 1998) and his RBI total eclipses the previous DII record of 96 (Larry Gempp, Jr.; College of Lake County, Ill.; 2002).

The freshman, who had not played organized baseball for the past two years before joining the Pioneers in the fall of 2007, also posted a .465 batting average for the season with a team high 24 doubles while posting a remarkable slugging percentage of 1.102. Perez also drew 26 walks and had 29 stolen bases this year.

Interesting comment about not playing organized baseball for 2 years until he joined the school. I wonder if that means he’s older than a normal freshman? If anyone has any information about him, please post it in the comments. A interesting fact about Perez is that he’s teammates with Danny Almonte, the Little League pitching sensation who turned out to be two-years too old to play Little League.

Craig Ziegler, University of Arizona, 477th overall – Ziegler was drafted in ’07 by the Cardinals in the 37th round but he didn’t sign and went back to college for his final year. As a senior at the University of Arizona, Ziegler had a fine year. He hit: (.338/.425/.667) with 20 HR’s, 17 2B’s, and 1 3B in 240 AB’s. Ziegler looks like your typical slugging college first baseman, maybe this year’s Andy D’Alessio? Because he went late in the draft I assume there were doubts that he’ll be able to hit MLB pitching, but you never know and for a pick this late in the draft, it’s not a bad pick at all.

The Giants also had some interesting picks by name alone, players like: Ryan Mantle (the 3rd cousin to Mickey), Thomas Musick (Rock on Doobie Bro’s), and Francois Lafreniere. As with the 1st rounders, the Giants will have until August 15th to get these players signed.

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The Giants started their 4-game series this weekend against the Washington Nationals with three wins. The Nationals are one of the few teams in the NL that have an offense that’s worse than the Giants. Their EqA of .231 is the worst in the majors and wouldn’t you know it, the Giants have climbed from a bottom five team by EqA and have moved closer to league average with an EqA of .255. The team still has a long ways to go, but sizzling starts from Aaron Rowand and Bengie Molina have kept the offense afloat.

John Bowker, who had cooled off considerably, is getting hot again. I vote Bowker as one of the streakiest hitters on the Giants, he’ll blow up in a series just as easily as he will go cold. From May 16th till June 4th, Bowker was only hitting (.150/.244/.150) in 40 AB’s. But in 12 AB’s in this Washington series he’s hit (.333/.429/.833) with 2 HR’s — one was a grand slam — and 7 RBI’s. Kudos to Bochy for getting Bowker in the lineup. Of course it also helps that the Nats have one of the worst rotations in the NL — a FIP of 4.57, only the Brewers and the Astros are higher — but I’ll take it.

Barry Zito got a rare win in yesterdays game but he’s still walking hitters at an alarming rate — BB% of 12.7%. He walked 4 in 5 innings before leaving and has yet to pitch 7 innings this year in a start. Chances are that when ZIto’s pitching, so is the bullpen, which can wear down relievers over the course of a season. For those wondering, Zito’s longest start of the year is 6.1 innings against the Marlins on May 23rd.

Don’t look now but Jonathan Sanchez is 2nd on the team for starters in ERA+ with 113. Lincecum is first with a outlandish ERA+ of 194. Sanchez’s ERA is a 3.70 after a solid start on Saturday. Sanchez went 7 innings, giving up no runs, striking out 4, and walking 2. To date Sanchez has a very solid K% of 22.9% but his BB% still needs work, it’s at 11.9%. Sanchez, unlike Zito, can live with that BB% more easily because he’s got the ability to strike hitters out, Zito’s K% is almost 5% below league average at 11.1%. I’m very happy that the Giants have given Sanchez a chance to start this year and with Noah Lowry’s career in jeopardy, it’s turned out to be the right move.

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Tonight Matt Cain (2-4) takes on Tyler CIippard (0-0) in the series final. If Cain can get back-on-track against any team, it should be the Nationals because of their poor offense.