panic went my high school..great talent, saw him in college too. can help out the middle infield for giants..... he can hit too

Thanks for the detailed analysis, GiantsObsessiveCompulsive! Love the way you covered all the bases and your optimism :-). I like the idea in the short run of Panda at catcher, his self-proclaimed favorite position...

To appreciate the Panik draft pick, read Perfect Game's nice and detailed profile of our newest first round draft pick, best details I've seen on-line: http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?art... As far as they are concerned, he was picked right where he could have been picked, as he was a late riser in the draft ranks. In fact, they would not have been surprised if he was selected before Wong, which most mocks had going in the low 20's in their draft. The problem with a lot of the draft descriptions is that they quote stats but don't give any meaning to them. Panik LED his league in BA, OBP, and OPS, and was third in SLG and second in ISO, and fifth in HR. In fact, he hit better than George Springer, who is in the same league, though just slightly. And he did this with the new bats, as colleges stopped using aluminum bats, where other hitters struggled with the change, plus he hit well with wood in Cape Cod (but, then, so did Todd Linden). Most do not mention that he walked almost twice as much as he struck out, and that he didn't strike out very much. The problem, as noted here, is that he's probably maxed out his potential already as he does not have a lot of tools (average-ish defense and probably at 2B, not SS; no speed, steals on savvy basically; no power despite performance, probably gap power hitter, and lefty in AT&T is never a good thing; no arm). That's where his intangible values kicks in and why analysts are not as enamored with him. Unlike Linden, who probably has as much intangibles as Panik does in its pinky, Panik looks likely to make his way up to the majors and deliver, partly because he does not have that high a ceiling, partly because he has the "guts" and "gamer-tude" to work, or if you prefer, grind his way up. Not that I think he can match this great, but I would compare him with Pete Rose, who didn't have much discernable skills other than hitting but those intangibles should lead him to maximize whatever skills he does have. And there is no consensus on whether he will have to move to 2B or not. And the way I see it, they probably move him to 2B now and start the conversion process, much like they did with Noonan, another tweener SS. We already have the top of our future lineup: Brown leading off, with Sandoval, Posey, Belt in the middle. Panik looks like a great OBP guy with some pop, who knows how to steal a base when the opportunity is there, despite lack of speed, and that would fit great batting 2nd. Add in defensive SS with no bat (which we already have at minimum in Crawford) who can bat 8th in the lineup, then all we need are two corner OF (assuming Belt plays 1B) or corner OF and corner IF (depending on where Sandoval and Belt ends up) who can provide some OBP and some power batting 6th and 7th, and our lineup is all set. Neal looks like he can be one of those, and so does Nate. We also have Peguero as a potential there, plus Parker and Jones, Dominguez and now Oropesa as potential corner IF (pushing Belt to LF), and Adrianza is a backup solution as starter should Crawford falter. On top of that, we now also have Susac, who could eventually take over catching duties in 3-4 years, maybe he could be the starter, Posey the backup catcher but starting, say, 2B if Panik don't pan out, or corner OF, or even 3B, he has arm, maybe can learn positioning and such there. Things are lining up nicely for the Giants offensively, I think.

the same scouts who said ryan zimmerman wouldn't hit for much power and had major holes in his swing? the baseball draft is a crapshoot and players really can't be evaluated until they hit AA. Especially hitters in the Eastern League. If you can hit and walk there, chances are you can do it anywhere. Let's wait and see what happens

Let's be real, none of us have ever seen this guy play. We've never even heard of him. There's no reason for any of us to judge this pick until we see him play or at least see some minor league stats.

The Giants have earned a small benefit of the doubt the last few years. Of course, that was after losing that benefit in the preceding years. A middle infielder who takes walks is not the worst thing, though at least with Brown you could say he had tools. Did money play a role? I'm going to assume no for the time being, but the Giants are, despite some extra being World Champions money, a mid-market team. That's one of those things armchair GMs like me don't have to take into consideration.