The Giants made a couple head turning picks in the first and second round of the 2022 MLB Draft.
At 30th overall, San Francisco took two-way prospect Reggie Crawford out of UConn, a left-hander whose fastball reaches 102 and who’s shown excellent power at the plate.
In the second round the Giants selected left-handed pitcher Carson Whisenhunt, who entered “2022 as the best healthy college left-hander available,” per MLB.com, which ranks him as the 30th overall prospect in this year’s draft.
On Monday, San Francisco selected eight more players, six of which were pitchers. That’s now eight total pitchers with their first 10 picks. Here’s some info on those picks per the Giants:
With their third selection, the Giants drafted RHP William Kempner (106th overall) out of Gonzaga University. The San Jose, CA native posted a 3.43 ERA in 25 appearances (17 starts) in his three seasons as a Bulldog.
In the fourth round (136th overall), the Giants selected RHP Spencer Miles out of the University of Missouri. The 6-foot-3, 175-pound right-hander led Missouri in strikeouts (67) and innings pitched (69.2) over 13 starts in 2022.
RHP Liam Simon was the Giants’ fifth round selection (166th overall) out of Notre Dame. The Freehold, NJ native tallied multiple strikeouts in 13 of his 16 appearances in 2022, while holding opponents to a .188 average against. Overall, he struck out 56 batters in 30.2 innings this past year.
The Giants drafted RHP Hayden Birdsong with their sixth-round selection (196th overall) out of Eastern Illinois University. The Mattoon, IL native went 5-4 with a 3.35 ERA in 20 appearances for the Panthers in 2022.
For their seventh selection (226th overall), the Giants drafted C Zach Morgan out of Fresno State. The Stockton, CA native was First Team All Mountain West and one of the three finalists for the Buster Posey National Catcher of the Year Award after starting all 55 games at catcher in 2022 while posting a .381 batting average (led team and ranked fifth in the conference) with eight home runs and 41 RBI.
In the eighth round (256th overall) of today’s draft, the Giants picked OF Wade Meckler out of Oregon State. The Yorba Linda, CA native was the only Beaver to appear in all 66 games in 2022 and batted .347 with 23 doubles, three triples, two home runs and 32 RBI en route to being named to the All-Pac 12 First Team. During his three seasons at Oregon State, Meckler had a slash line of .326/.435/.467.
LHP Jack Choate, the Giants’ ninth round selection (286th overall) out of Assumption University (MA), went 6-2 with a 2.43 ERA (19er, 70.1ip) in 13 appearances (10 starts) for the Greyhounds in 2022. The 6-foot-8 southpaw led DII pitchers with a 16.25 strikeouts-per-nine average in 2022 while ranking second in hits-per-nine (4.61) and fifth in strikeouts (127). In three seasons with Assumption, Choate averaged a career 15.97 K/9 and allowed a combined four homers over 100.1 innings of work.
With their 10th pick (316th overall), the Giants selected LHP John Bertrand out of the University of Notre Dame. Bertrand was named Third Team All-American in 2022 after going 10-3 with a 2.81 ERA (34er, 109ip) with 111 strikeouts in 18 starts.
Day three of the Draft on Tuesday, July 19th will begin at 11:00 a.m. (PT), featuring picks in rounds 11-20, with no time delay between selections.
