This is the same draft that produced Jackson Williams for the Giants, whom I think is still overrated. Sorry wil. If you want to come at me, I’ll be waiting around back with a broken glass bottle and we can settle this once and for all.

My point: Culberson probably will go down as another grossly overrated pick. Sucks, because I was behind him last season. It’s still early, but he’s showing no signs of improvement on defense yet.

Plus-plus error making skills!

How’s his arm?

Perhaps Culberson will one day toe the rubber in The City.

Who exactly had high hopes for Culberson last year? I’ve never met ’em.

The Culberson pick was odd on draft day, and it’s not looking good two years later.

is a great baseball name… for the dead ball era.

I think the answer is pretty evident there: their scouts didn’t agree on the potential of those pitchers.

And it is nice 20/20 hindsight as well. Both of the prospect books after Zimmerman was drafted thought he was a mid-rotation pitcher, at best a #3 starter. While nice, that’s not a player you build off of when re-building a team. But he continued to develop and now could be a top rotation guy, a #2.

You can always find some player who a team should have picked. The most well-known story is of how the Dodgers traded one of the best catchers in MLB history, Mike Piazza, past the 50th round (when most teams have stopped drafting), as a favor to Tommy Lasorda, as the Piazza’s were a friend of his family, if I recall correctly. But that goes for just about any pick you want to complain about in any draft, with the odds so poor in finding a good starting player, the good ones stick out like a sore thumb. But if they were so good in the first place, why did that team draft another, now lesser player, earlier, risking losing that player.

For example, the A’s passed on Huston Street with multiple picks who haven’t done as much as Street has, yet if they were so smart in selecting him in the first place, why didn’t they pick him first instead of risking losing him? Because, like every other team, there were question marks that made that particularly player fall that far in the first place. Only because he solved those question marks while the other players didn’t makes him stand out.

Thus, if you are going to argue over who should have been selected over whom (and in evaluating trades, while I’m at it), you also need to take into context the situation the way it was when the decision was made, not how it looks in retrospect, when further information that would chance the decision comes into play.

Thus, I see why Jackson Williams was selected, he was considered a very good defensive catcher, skilled enough to already be calling pitches on his own, and we needed one for the future. In Culberson’s case, while we needed a SS, his offensive abilities were considered a big question mark, though there was some hope. One of my prospect books noted that he’s “athletic with excellent instincts that allow tools to play up. Bat speed and aggressive approach produces moderate power, but lacks plate discipline which will make BA inconsistent.” The other (BA) ranked him our 14th best prospect, just behind Clayton Tanner and Mike McBryde and ahead of Waldis Joaquin, Osirus Matos, and Jackson Williams, in 2008.

Oh, and about Williams, BA noted in 2008: “… the Giants are captivated by his skills behind the plate and think he’ll be a big leaguer if they can make him just a serviceable hitter. As a bonus, his first pro manager at Salem-Keizer happened to be former big league catcher Steve Decker, who knew he was watching something special the first time Williams threw to second base. He has a slightly above-average arm but his lightening-quick release helps him get a pop time consistently below 1.95 seconds on throws to second base. He was able to control the running without pitchers even bothering with a slide-step, leading the Northwest League by throwing out 43 percent of opposing basestealers. Williams also has terrific footwork, blocks everything in the dirt and runs well for a catcher. He works hard on his line-drive swing, has a bit of gap power and does a decent job putting the ball in play.”

This year: “There’s no doubting his Gold Glove-caliber skills behind the plate. Augusta manager Andy Skeels, who played with Sandy Alomar and Benito Santiago, said Williams has a quicker release and a more accurate arm than those two former all-stars. He threw out 45 percent of basestealers last season. He blocks balls in the dirt, keeps pitchers focused and calls a good game.”

So Williams is special defensively, the key is figuring out how to get him to hit better. Remember, also, that it usually takes catchers much longer to figure everything out and make the majors. So by the time he figures out how to hit well enough, Posey might be ready to move from C to another position to save his legs, much like Biggio did. Or Posey could be double-switching, with Williams taking C, Posey taking an infield position, for defensive purposes late in the game (say for Sandoval at 3B or perhaps someone in the OF). If need be, Posey could always move back behind the plate in case something happens to Williams and we have no other backup catcher.