Giants Draft Picks Rounds 5-16

For the sake of thoroughness, I am providing a list of the Giants draft picks for rounds 5 through 16, which takes us through the first 500 players selected in the 2009 draft.  For lower rounds (there are 50 in all), go to espn.com.

After the first three or four rounds of the draft, it’s a total crap shoot.  A few players drafted after the fourth round will develop and eventually become major league players.  Most won’t.

Still, these picks are important because there are so many of them.  After the fourth round, you still get to select another 46 players to fill out your rookie league and short season teams.  Usually, teams make lists of their top few hundred amatuer players and quite a few slip down to the lower rounds because other teams have not rated them as highly as you have.

Aside from the fact that good drafting means a higher percentage make it to the majors, having strong minor league teams is important too, because it gets your real prospects in the habit of winning and playing winning baseball.  It’s definitely easier to improve in a winning environment.

Here are the Giants’ picks in Rounds 5-16 with my comments:

5th — Brandon Belt, 1B Texas.  His currently playing for UT in the College World Series: Hook ‘em, Horns!  He had a .995 OPS last year, which looks good, but probably isn’t good enough for a college 1Bman entering pro ball.  That’s why he went in the 5th Round.

6th — Matthew Graham, RHP (HS) Spring, Texas.

7th — Nick Liles, 2B Western Carolina.  He had an .853 OPS in 2008 and a .989 OPS in 2009.  His 2009 OPS is quite good, but, of course, he did it at a small college.

8th — Karl Benusa, OF (HS) Oakmont, PA.

9th — Evan Crawford, OF Indiana.  He’s fast but not much of a hitter.

10th — Jeremy Toole, RHP BYU.  He had 68 K’s in 82.2 IP in 2009, but he’s wild.  He was selected mainly because the Giants like his arm.

11th — John Eshleman, SS Mt. San Jacinto JC.  He was won of the top ten California Junior College hitters in ‘09.  Mt. San Jacinto is in Riverside County, part of the Southern California baseball hot-bed.

12th — Christopher Heston, RHP East Carolina.  He went 7-0 with a 4.17 ERA and 32 walks and 88 K’s in 90.2 IP.  Even coming out of a small college, he looks like a good pick for the 12th round.

13th — Shawn Sanford, RHP South Florida.  Had a 4.68 ERA in ‘09, but he’s got a good arm with 173K’s in 194.1 college innings.  His control improved substantially this last year.

14th — Bryan Salsbury, RHP Mt. San Jacinto JC.  Another player from Mt. San Jacinto College.

15th — Kyle Vasquez, RHP Franklin Pierce. Vasquez was ace of the Franklin Pierce Ravens in ‘09, going 8-1 with a 1.93 ERA with 112 K’s and 21 BB’s in 93.1 innings.  Franklin Pierce is located in Ringe, New Hampshire and plays against colleges like Assumption, New Haven, Massachusetts Lowell, Stonehill and Pace.  In other words, he’s played against weak college competition, but you got to take guys like this by the 15 round.

16th — Ryan Cavan, SS UC Santa Barbara.  He had a .944 OPS last year, excellant for a middle infielder.  UC Santa Barbara is hardly known for its baseball team, but given its location, it plays some good schools over the course of its season.  Definitely a good pick for this late in the draft, assuming the Giants can sign him.  After the first 10 rounds, a lot more of the college players drafted go back to school for their senior year, hoping that another good season will get them taken higher in the draft next year.