Some years, I have been intensely interested and in others such as this year not as much, so I'm not going to be as critical as I have been in past years about the player selected or as far as a player that was not picked in favor of the selected choice.
The Giants selected first of the teams here in the tenth position and attacked a position that with one exception is weak on the major league roster, let alone in the minor league system.
The selection of outfielder Hunter Bishop of Arizona State is an attempt to take a player that has broken out in the 2019 season and one that they think could progress quickly to the big league squad.
The lefthanded-hitting Bishop is thought to be athletic enough to perhaps play centerfield and could deliver power to a franchise in desperate of it after launching 22 homers for the recently eliminated from the postseason Sun Devils.
The good news- Bishop is very athletic (committed to Washington on a football scholarship before deciding on baseball at ASU), improved every season at Arizona State, could play center, which playing in spacious Oracle Park would be a tremendous advantage for the Giants.
And the developed plus power that suddenly arrived this season, Bishop could even be a corner outfielder if he couldn't make it in center.
I've read reports that had Bishop as one of the best three players in the draft and being among the elite in the physical tools in the draft.
So, if all of that is true, how on Earth did the Giants manage to land Hunter Bishop at the tenth spot in the draft?
Well, for all of the tools that Bishop possesses, he only performed well in one of his three Tempe seasons and before this season, had hit only ten homers in the two seasons previous combined and
had shown a serious vulnerability to the curveball.
Is Hunter Bishop a developing potential star that took a few seasons to find his stride?
Or is Bishop someone that played well as an upperclassman and happened to have a strong final season (Bishop could return to ASU, but highly likely to sign with the Giants)?
The consensus seems to have Bishop having star potential, but with only one top-notch season, there are question marks as far as Bishop's proven production that has been enough to at least make some wonder.
The Giants chose upside over floor and that's something that I applaud in first round picks in the MLB Draft.
There are few things that I hate worse in the baseball draft than low upside college players that project as safe and when they make the majors are usually role players at best.
I'm much more understanding when a risky player that has the potential to be a star doesn't work out than I am when the safe pick turns out to be average, such as the parade of Indians college outfielders have shown through the years.
And speaking of the Indians, I'll be writing about their first round pick next time.
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