The Giants took 8 OFs in the 2012 draft, exactly 20% of their allotted 40 slots. 4 were selected on Day 2, and another 4 on Day 3. Day 2 selections included a Red-Shirt Junior Mac Williamson, some hijinx with the only High School player the Giants drafted with any intent to sign Shilo McCall, a draft eligible Sophomore and SEC stand out Ryan Tella and an AZ CC standout Tyler Hollick. Day 3 brought 4 college seniors: Brennan Metzger, Andrew Cain, Shayne Houck and Michael Blanchard. 6 of the 8 were drafted as CFs, a common theme with the Giants under John Barr, Williamson is a RF and Houck is a 3B/OF.

3rd Round/115th Pick Johnathan “Mac” Williamsonon, Wake Forest, NC, RF, R/R, listed as a SR but actually RS JR, 6'04" 240lbs DOB: 07/15/90

Coaches quote: "Mac is a five tool player who is just coming into his own as a hitter. This past summer he made great strides and has turned himself into an elite prospect. He is the kind of player who can take over a game. As he goes, so will we."

http://www.wakeforestsports.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/williamson_mac00.html

Williamson hit 286/396/589 with 7 2B and 17 HR, 23BB/13HBP/41K and 12/15 SB at Wake in 2012. If you want to be an optimist, he outslugged Richie Shaffer in the ACC in SLG, by a large margin with big flies 17 to 10, and had a BA 50 points lower and an OBP about 100 points lower. If you want to be a pessimist, his age and contact issues are 2 strikes against him. In a system starved for impact hitters and especially power, this is the cavalry. OK, the lone ranger. Personally I like the pick, if the hitting tool can take off he is a potential 5-tool player in RF with a canon of an arm. Former Team USA HS gold medal winner and the #1 pitching prospect from NC by BA out of HS. He converted to the OF at Wake. Plus power and plus arm, very fast for a big guy, its all about the hit tool coming along. I would much rather have Chris Stratton and Williamson than Shaffer and a pitcher in the third round, given the choice. Rated #236 by Baseball America.

9th Round/298th Pick Shilo McCall, Piedra Vista HS, NM, CF, R/R, HS, 6'01" 210lbs DOB: 06/02/94

Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of New Mexico. Worth noting that Alex Bregman got hurt early on, but still a prestigious honor. Also worth noting there were negotiating hi-jinx going on, the Giants wanted to draft him in the 5th round initially. Most people have seen the article, but here it is anyways:

http://www.daily-times.com/ci_20787513/piedra-vistas-shilo-mccall-drafted-by-san-francisco

The Giants scout responsible for McCall is Chuck Hensley Jr. Apparently the same representative and Hensley had danced with Jake McCasland two years ago. Slot for the 5th round was $224,500, 7th round was $144,000 and 9th round was $125,600. My take on this? The Giants have their big splash HS prospect lined up, but can’t sort out 25-50K in the budget. On one hand you have some pretty strict budget limitations, on the other hand if you like a guy, go grab him already. This might have had serious ramifications for the 6-10 picks, so it becomes sort of a big deal. The Giants look cheap and disorganized, but apparently they got their guy 4 picks later for overslot. We’ll see what it took in a bit. I reserve my right to take that cheap and disorganized crack back if there was more to it than meets the eye.

PerfectGame’s profile from 2011: Shilo McCall is a 2012 OF with a 6-1 205 lb. frame from Farmington, NM who attends Piedra Vista HS. Thick, very strong athletic build. 6.62 runner, quick first step, left field arm strength, can improve throwing fundamentals. Right handed hitter, spread stance hitting, aggressive swing with very good bat speed, looks to pull, maintains balance well, upper cut swing plate, gets extension out front, present power, can drive the ball hard. Nice speed/power combination. Very good student.

With his muscular frame and good speed, maybe the Giants got a less heralded version of Stryker Trahan. He seems like a very focused individual, good bat speed, and hey, we need some Right handed pull hitters. If he can’t hang in CF with his arm, then the tweener label comes out. Still, McCall is the most interesting position player the Giants drafted. Unranked by BA, ranked #3 in NM by BA.

11th Round/358th Pick Ryan Tella, Auburn, AL, CF, L/L, SO, 6'00" 185lbs DOB: 05/18/91

Hella wrecked! NorCal baby, Tella transferred to Auburn from Ohlone college. Irvington HS. He was the East Bay player of the year in HS, and the NorCal player of the year in JC. His hardware this year was 2nd team All-SEC, no small feat.

http://www.auburntigers.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/tella_ryan00.html

He put up a 360/448/508 line in 2012 with Auburn, 12 2B, 4 3B and 5 HR, 35BB/48K and 17/21 SB. That slash line led the team across the board and was among the top 10 in the SEC in all categories. Only lefty we drafted this year, he played CF the entire time. I was looking at Tyler Dugas as a possible grab, I like Tella better. This was a nice piece of drafting and hopefully they can get him signed. It is worth noting that although he is a draft eligible sophomore, his age is in line with the juniors in the draft class. Ranked #201 by BA.

14th Round/448th Pick Tyler Hollick, Chandler Gilbert CC, AZ, CF, L/R, J2, 6'01" 185lbs DOB: 09/16/92

Plus speed and good range in CF. Fla has dubbed him the Flying Canuck. His stats are crazy: 2012: .475/.605/.722 – 52 BB – 162 AB – 61/67 SB. I think the BB rate is something to excite the McCovern, and who doesn’t like a little Vvvooom. Now the Giants do have to get him out of his commitment to The Ohio State University, so don’t get too excited yet.

http://www.cgc.maricopa.edu/student-affairs/athletics/athletics-m/baseball/Pages/RosterDetails.aspx?athlete=173

BA tweeted that he should have been in the top 500. PerfectGame had this nugget: Scouts aren’t convinced that Hollick has the raw tools to warrant being drafted in the first 10 rounds, but his eye-opening performance this spring for Chandler-Gilbert keeps suggesting otherwise. He leads the national junior-college ranks with 55 steals in 61 attempts, and his .486 batting average places him in the top three.

22nd Round/688th Pick Brennan Metzger, Cal State - Long Beach, CA, CF, R/R, SR, 5'11" 180lbs DOB: 12/15/89

So Metzger is the first of the 4 seniors drafted on day 3. Let’s not hold that against the guy, the odds will be steep for sure.

http://www.longbeachstate.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/metzger_brennan00.html

Metzger put up 302/405/402, leading the team in all 3 slash lines. 22BB/15HBP/14K tells me he is a scrappy contact hitter who can take a HBP. 11/16 SB. He holds the Dirtbag school record for HBP, with 46. Batted leadoff and played CF through his career. Looks like a scrapper. Unranked by BA.

24th Round/748th Pick Andrew Cain, UNC - Wilmington, NC, CF, R/R, SR, 6'06" 220lbs DOB: 03/24/90

Giants grabbed another big man who can move some. Cain homered in his last collegiate AB while playing CF the entire year.

http://www.uncwsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=19800&ATCLID=3665591

Put up 322/416/523 with 12 HRs, 26BB/14HBP/54K and 23/26 SB. Holding down CF and running the basepaths that successfully is very impressive for a 6’6 guy. There is your long shot power project. Unranked by BA.

29th Round/898th Pick Shayne Houck, Kutztown University, PA, 3B/OF, R/R, SR, 6'01" 210lbs DOB: 05/29/90

Kutztown! They are very proud of Ryan Vogelsong as they should be, he’s all over the website. Houck seems like a very interesting player. He played a lot of 3B, not sure if he played LF or RF, he’s just listed everywhere as an OF. First off, quit bitching for a second about the lack of impact hitters and check out the press release:

http://www.kubears.com/news/2012/6/6/BB_0606121206.aspx

Then his profile:

http://www.kubears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1845

Houck was the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division Rookie of the Year. He was then the PSAC East Player of the Year his sophomore and junior years. He put up 329/473/588 this year with 9 HRs and 15 2Bs. 37BB/11HBP/24K. He may be more of a utility type than an OF, I don’t know. Don’t get in a drinking contest with a Pennsylvania country boy, it won’t end well for you.

30th Round/928th Pick Michael Blanchard, Austin Peay, TN, CF, R/R, SR, 6'00" 180lbs DOB: 08/01/89

The last OF the Gints drafted, Blanchard looks to be another speedy CF type.

http://www.apsugovernors.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=16900&ATCLID=3677763

He put up 290/405/379 with 45BB/63K and 16/20 SB. Made 2nd Team All-OVC for the 2nd year in a row. 22 bunted base hits, sneaky guy. Current Doyer AJ Ellis went to Austin Peay. Definitely a long shot to make it, Blanchard has a business major to fall back on.

Quick note: I was crazy enough to count up the birthdays for the OFs drafted. It doesn’t include every OF most likely, I noticed the Yankees listed Robert Refsnyder as a 2B for example. But for a general idea on the age curve here is the raw data:

3 1988 B-days

21 1989 B-days

47 1990 B-days

27 1991 B-days

13 1992 B-days

51 1993 B-days

47 1994 B-days

1 1995 B-day

The Giants took 2 of those 21 1989 Birthdays.

The Giants took 3 of those 47 1990 Birthdays.

Now that is a extremely rough sketch, without looking at the months born, it might even be called useless. But the general lesson is the Giants are taking guys who will be viewed as organizational filler and extreme long shots. I’m rooting for all of these OFs – they have interesting backgrounds – but I am also bummed out at the lack of youth in this draft class. With a 4MM budget was it likely to get a shiny 5-tool guy? No, it was not. But the Giants took the most conservative route possible here.

Still, Mac Williamson is yet another shot at the slightly dinged Power prospect parade. Young McCall sounds like an extra out of Lonesome Dove, may he be hard charging and true. These speedy CF types always have a place in our hearts. So I will say looking closer the Giants drafted some sneaky sleeper potential. Credit to their scouts, and raised eyebrows to their management and ownership.