While I appreciate pitching very much this was a very good start to a team building draft. Posey will play well in the community, clubhouse and on the field. Gillaspie reminds me of both Wade Boggs and Bill Mueller. What’s not to like about a toolsy OF? Not as high as Grant is on Crawford but if he can revert to form he could surprise. And finally some pitching.

It is going to feel as if the Giants got a bonus pick when Wendell Fairley finallty steps on the diamond at S-K.

Kieschnick. a lot.

and I’m very glad we got Brandon Crawford where he was. Not so sold on conor Gillaspie’s swing. And the lack of power kinda doesn’t make me do wonders.

Pure and simple though, Posey was the wrong pick. It should have been smoak.

Blorange is a word.

two points on this

1. You can prefer Smoak, or anybody else for that matter, but there is no way anybody can call Posey a bad pick (as many people did at the time). Posey was ranked in the top 3 of every list and was strongly considered for the #1 pick, he is a great talent to get with the 5th pick.

2. I know that a lot of you are convinced the Giants front office is run by a bunch of complete idiots who know nothing about baseball. But after the Giants passed on Smoak, the Marlins, Reds (who actually opted for a different 1B), White Sox, Nationals, and Astros all passed on him too. So unless all of those organizations are also run by complete idiots then maybe the Giants were on to something here. I liked Smoak a lot myself, but it seems to me if we passed on Jesus himself as many people seemed to think at the time, then he would have gotten snapped up within the next couple of picks.

As one of the pro-Smoak street team, I am a tad disappointed. That said, I’ve backed off the ledge and am OK with Posey and absolutely thrilled with the next three picks.

With the first two picks, we got two college position players who are about as sure to have meaningful major league careers as you can get in the draft. So we get a mid-90s Jason Kendall and a Bill Mueller…can you say “All-Star” and “Batting Champ”? (Yes, Smoak is pretty close to a sure thing, too…shut up little voice in my head).

Big props to Barr, who in one draft took a long step toward changing the culture of a team seemingly afraid or unable to draft college bats. As much promise as Bumgarner and Alderson have, this is a franchise that needs to expedite the restocking of the major league hitting cabinet (hwah?). You know what I mean. Don’t pretend you don’t. And, I’ll leave you with some thoughts by Kevin Goldstein of BP from the chat today:

Kevin Goldstein (4:24:28 PM PT): bravoatoc (Tulsa): So, I know we aren’t near being done, but what are your initial views on who had the best draft and who had the worst? Actually who is having the best draft, the Astros ARE having the worst.

I haven’t had time to digest it all, but as weird as this sounds. I really like the Giants draft.

Yeah, weird.

Mimicking the relationship between Pavlov and his dog, every time Grant writes the word “hope”, Josh reflexively posts this link. (And speaks in the third person, apparently.)

the position players anyway. Posey looks like a future all-star, Gillaspie as a solid contributer (who will post good OBP’s to make up for his relative lack of power to the position), and Kieschnick and Crawford should be at least good bench options, if not decent starters

reminds me a bunch of hunter pence for some reason. awkward swing, good speed, surprising pop.

hopefully he comes without the douche-iness.

Goldstein said he’d rate Posey over Anvil by a “nosey” (har har) but where would Gillaspie fit into our top prospects for now? Obviously this is ridiculously early, but speculation is neat!

Just throwing this out there…

1. Posey
2. Villalona
3. MadBum
4. Sosa
5. Alderson
6. Schierholz
7. Gillaspie
8. Noonan
9. Tanner
10. Fairley?

I’m not too good at this, any idea where the new kids fit in?

I’m ecstatic that we picked Crawford. I just hope he pans out for us.

ground into a quadruple play, silly. There are only three outs in an inning!

Yeah I know it’s only the first day. But the disproportionate value of the first means I don’t feel like waiting.

Seriously, two good drafts in a row? This might be a trend? The Giants can has farm system?

I’ve seen the value of a guy like Tony Gwynn and the downright peskiness of a hitter who’ll get the two out single and foul off eight or nine pitches to rope a gapper. Gillaspie…if he can be a Gwynn-type with a bit more power (and none of the girth…ever!) would play very well in our ballpark.

As a Smoaker, the issue isn’t that Posey is a bad pick, it’s just that Smoak would have been a better pick. I don’t know if that’s actually true, but as someone who is keen on the Giants having a power hitting first baseman as soon as possible, it was kinda disappointing to see Posey get tabbed.

As for the Gallaspie pick, I don’t mind having Bill Mueller again, but the team needs to add some significant power if it wants to win in the long run (and be more exciting). Third base is a position that a lot of power resides and if power production isn’t going to come from there, it’s gotta come from somewhere else like SS or 2B. When we had Mueller, we also had Aurilia and Kent up the middle and they provided significant power, so the power outages at 3rd and 1st didn’t hurt as much (we also had that guy in LF).

But, I like the Kieschnick and Crawford picks for the power potential they provide.

so far, it seems like a solid draft that could really pay off if the Kieschnick and Crawford both pan out.

who are still in good touch with crawford and they are saying that he doesnt want to be paid like a 4th rounder, so signability could be a problem. coming out of high school he told scouts (he had lunch with scott boras) that if he didnt make at least a mil he was going to go to ucla. i donno what exactly he wants now but im hoping the giants pay up because if he goes back to ucla and becomes as good as people thought he originally would be, then we are goin to be kicking ourselves for letting the dodgers draft him in the first round next year.

Well, I was a bit :( when I found out it was Posey and not Smoak this morning, but looking at the whole draft, I’m really quite happy.

My buddy saw a lot of him with the Shockers (best team name in college baseball, by the way) and said the guy just looked like a big league hitter, spraying line drives throughout the field with authority. He also thinks that Gillaspie could develop some power as he gets older, but that’s based only on a hunch.

One interesting note: he has reservations about his ability to stay at third, citing a middling arm and range. He’s got good instincts (they play on a weird fast turf at Wichita State) that may counterbalance that, but it might mean a move to second in the future.

My gut? Mark Loretta.

I’m thrilled. I totally understand why people wanted Smoak, but my three favorite prospect experts - Jim Callis, Keith Law and Kevin Goldstein - all rated Posey as the better prospect.

Gillaspie was the guy I was hoping for at pick at No. 37, and we got him. Just because he’s a polished player doesn’t mean he lacks upside.

Kieschnick was a nice way find in the third round, as he gave us another Top 50 talent. Brandon Crawford is a great risk in the fourth round. He was considered a Top 30 prospect after his freshman and sophomore years. Sure, he’ll probably amount to something along the lines of Brian Bocock, but he’s got plenty of upside, too.

And finally, it’s clear that the Giants went for the best talent available rather than go cheap. Posey, Gillaspie and Crawford are going to want above-slot bonuses.

I’m hoping we sign all these guys. John Barr did a great job as far as I’m concerned.

Jason (Palo Alto, CA): KLaw, great chats! Also stellar coverage of the draft, enjoyed it very much! Would you rate the Giants as having one of the better drafts this year since they were able to get 2 players that were rated in your top 20? Also, can you give a little insight on SS Crawford from UCLA? Thanks again!

SportsNation Keith Law: (2:31 PM ET ) I rated their day one the best overall. Crawford’s a good defensive shortstop who can’t hit. He should play in the big leagues, though.

Jason Varitek might be a good comp, but that was almost 15 years ago, and Varitek wasn’t quite as heralded as Posey is right now on either side of the ball.

Varitek and Posey are a great comp. Here’s Tek’s baseball cube trivia:

He played mainly third base at Lake Brantley High School in the late 80s and 1990.

He was a 3-time All-American and member of the 4th-place United States Baseball Team at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

Varitek was the winner of Baseball America’s College Player of the Year in 1993 and College Baseball’s Golden Spikes Award in 1994 while at Georgia Tech, where he was a teammate of Jay Payton and Nomar Garciaparra; both of whom he played with on the Boston Red Sox. His number 33 is the only number retired by Georgia Tech and he is a member of the Cape Cod League Hall of Fame.

Sound familiar?

2008: A Brooks Wallace Award Preseason Watch List candidate…Collegiate Baseball first team, preseason All-American and NCBWA third team, preseason All-American.

Golden Spikes Award finalist: 2008 ACC Player of the Year Buster Posey led the NCAA in batting average (.472), on-base percentage (.572) and slugging percentage (.908). An accomplished pitcher as well, the junior led Florida State in saves (6) and did not give up an earned run in eight appearances. Posey was named ESPN Academic All-American of the Year, and he was a member of the 2004 USA Baseball 18U National Team.

in the Super Regional game 1 between the Shockers and Seminoles.

Gillaspie is 2/4 with a 3 run HR
Posey is 1/2 with a solo shot

I don’t know a huge amount about pitching mechanics, and I know far less about hitting mechanics. Still, from the limited videos I’ve seen of Posey, especially the MLB.com video, I have not been especially impressed with his swing. It’s kind of long, it seems to me.

I wonder, is the main reason for the general pessimism about his power potential due to his low homer total in previous years, or have some people spotted some power-sapping mechanical flaw? Otherwise, despite my general impression for his swing, those are some very nice numbers.