Among MLB-Players Association negotiations and a pandemic that has forced the Giants’ spring training facility to close and a nationwide reckoning with police brutality and treatment of minorities, there’s still baseball work to be done.
The Giants successfully sold themselves to a third known undrafted free agent. Tyler Forner, an outfielder from Camas High School in Washington, announced he would be joining the organization. The signing is not yet official.
“All glory to the man above because like always I am nothing without him and couldn’t be more thankful for the San Francisco Giants organization’s for having confidence in me as a player and more importantly as a person,” Forner wrote on social media late Friday night, attaching an image of his name on the Oracle Park scoreboard.
Forner, listed at 5-feet-11, 185 pounds, was set on turning pro after graduation, according to SB Live, and turned down several Division I offers. For a senior who wanted his final high-school season to be his springboard to the pro ranks, though, there was no time or season to impress scouts once the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
Forner, a righty hitter and lefty thrower who also starred as a linebacker at Camas, becomes the third player the Giants have convinced to join them for a maximum of $20,000, a result of MLB and the Players Association agreeing upon a shortened draft and undrafted prospects who then would get short-changed. San Francisco also agreed to deals with NC Central outfielder Carter Williams and Illinois pitcher Ty Weber.
— tyler.forner (@FornerTyler) June 20, 2020