2018 Draft Day 2 Review and Day 3 Preview

As Covechatter and I hoped, the Giants loaded up on pitching on Day 2 of the 2018 draft.  I wlll post a more complete rundown of the draft at a later date as I simply don't have time now.  Rounds 3-5 produced 3 RHP's with very similar profiles, 1 from a 4 year college and 2 from JC ball:  Big bodies, Low-mid 90's FB's with strong K rates.

Round 3:  Jake Wong, Grand Canyon University.  Wong threw 6 shutout innings with 9 K's in the season opener against TCU.  He also K'd 10 in 6 IP against Penn St later in the season.  He starred in the Cape Cod League which is probably where he caught the Giants attention.  As a reliever he retired 34 of 36 batters at one point.

Round 4:  Blake Rivera JC(Alabama).  Wallace St is Craig Kimbrel's old school. The Giants drafted him in round 32 last year.  He returned to school and as they often do, the Giants re-drafted him in round 4.  Big kid at 6'4", He posted a 17-1 record with 170 K's in 122.2 IP over the past 2 seasons.

Round 5.  Keaton Winn, JC(Iowa).  Another JC pitcher who was drafted last year by the Giants, 20'th round who went back to school and moved up in the draft to Round 5.  Worked as a Closer in 2018 with 59 K's and 9 BB's in 36.1 IP.

Rounds 6 and 7 saw the Giants dip into the HS ranks for a couple of up-the-middle prospects:

Round 6:  PJ Hilson(Alabama).  Switch-hitting OF who can fly(speed tool rated a 70).  He stole 45 bases in 73 games.  He walked 42 times against 27 K's.  FB has hit 93 MPH.  Committed to Alabama where he could pitch and play OF, but the Giants generally sign HS prospects they draft in the top 10.

Round 7.  Edison Mora(Puerto Rico).  Skinny at 6'2", 165 lbs, but the frame looks like he can grow into it.  Nice looking kid with athletic movements.

The Giants finished the day with 3 more college pitchers:

Round 8:  Solomon Bates, USC.  Had 79 K's in 77.1 IP with a 3.14 ERA to lead USC pitchers in 2018.

Round 9.  Ben Madison, Central Baptist College(Alabama).  NAIA school.  FB touches 96 MPH.  172 K's in 96. 2 IP.

Round 10.  Alex Dubord, Faulkner(Alabama).  6'5", 3-sport athlete went 7-1 with 4.01 ERA, 55 K, 14 BB in 51.2 IP.

Giants passed on some names that were much better known from much bigger college programs.  This will be a test of their scouting acumen.

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Day 3 is rounds 11-40.  Wow!  We're already deep into names I'd never heard of before, so there should be some interesting names and places posted in the draft results.  I would not venture a guess as to who they might be.