The Giants have openly said that they believe they have to draft and develop their own power because the won't be able to attract FA's with power to play in AT&T Park. While they continue to look for up the middle talent in the first round of the draft, in recent years, they have drafted at least 1 hitter with raw power in rounds 2 or 3 of each draft. If that is the case again this year, I think I've found just the guy they are looking for, Tyler Horan out of Virginia Tech.
Horan is a redshirt junior so is a bit on the old side for a college junior. He's has a big body at 6'2", 220 lbs, but does have some speed and athleticism enough to profile as an average to above average corner OF. He throws R but bats L. Here are his college and summer league stats:
2011 NCAA .396/.434/.771 with 3 HR in 48 AB
2011 NECBL .341/.410/.651 with 7 HR in 129 AB.
2012 NCAA .282/.400/.585 with 15 HR in 188 AB.
2012 CCBL .342/.410/.717 with 16 HR in 152 AB.
Horan appears to be a patient, selective hitter, but that gets him into 2 strike counts where he is vulnerable to the called third strike. His K rates are in the 20-25% range. His offensive production in the Cape Cod League was actually better than league MVP Phil Ervin although Ervin can play CF which will get him drafted higher.
Horan could move up in the draft, but I don't find his name in any first round mock drafts or top 50 draft prospect lists, so as of right now, he looks to be available in round 2 or even round 3 and certainly fits the profile of what the Giants are looking for there.
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Great find. That hits every branch on the John Barr MO on its way down.
ReplyDeleteAgree.
DeleteShortest OGC post in history!
DeleteLooking around, I got a few other names for the pot: Tyler Molinaro, OF, Lefty Bat from UNC Wilmington - got drafted out of JC by the Yanks 15th round in 2011. This will be his Senior year coming up, Sept 1990 b-day.
Like Horan, he will not make age/level enthusiasts very happy!
I'm sure you'll do a post on DJ Peterson at some point, it'll be interesting to see how much hype he gets. Him and Kris Bryant could get a ton of helium, or get the Dominguez treatment and be available down the draft.
I think the Giants will be looking more at OF power guys than 1B types, but its worth noting a couple sleepers: Eric Jagielo and Trey Mancini on Notre Dame, Ryon Healy on Oregon State, and Chase McDonald on East Carolina. All those guys really need to hit because they look like 1B for sure as the typecast.
Like what I've read about Jagielo a lot. I'll read up on the others. I don't see how Kris Bryant is not a top 15 guy at least.
DeleteYep, as we are waiting on MLB news I've been draft surfing. Saw your comment on the big league futures mock from last month about Aaron Judge - agree with you about them tall fellas having bust potential. Bryant, Justin Williams will both go high. I bet those Stanford guys will go as well. We should have some interesting college players and HS pitchers to choose from. Not holding my breath on the HS bats.
DeleteActually, I've had shorter ("+1") and was contemplating that for this one, but decided to go with what I had written first.
DeleteI agree with the focus on OF power guys, because if they slide down the defensive scale, they would end up at 1B, kind of like the downside to Josephs when he was drafted, all the talk was about him moving to 1B eventually, but the Giants worked with him and he advanced enough to win some sort of defensive award when he was at San Jose, if I recall right.
Tall guys do have high bust potential, but the Giants (i.e. Tidrow) seems like like tall guys, he wanted CC, they signed Randy Johnson, they went after that JC pitcher for three years in a row (seemingly forever) who was very tall, 2012 I would have bet on them picking him again, but he wasn't picked by the Giants this season, not sure if another team grabbed him or what.
I"m much more suspicious of tall hitters than tall pitchers. Tall pitchers have problems repeating their delivery but seem, on average, to function better than tall hitters who just can't seem to get a handle on that tall strike zone.
DeleteAZ grabbed Andrew Barbosa, he tore through High A and pitched ok in AA with good K and a bit shaky BB. Foiled!
DeleteWatched Jagielo in cape this summer. Ball explodes off his bat. Found nice bio on him at bigleaguefutures.net
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