Giants select NC State catcher with 1st-round pick
The San Francisco Giants are building around a core group of young prospects with the hope of creating a sustainable blueprint for success in the 2020s.
The latest addition to the talent pool? First round draft choice Patrick Bailey.
The Giants tabbed the North Carolina State catcher with the 13th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, which has been shortened from 40 rounds to five following a negotiation between MLB and the Players Association to designed to alleviate financial issues created by the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision to draft the switch-hitting Bailey was a mild surprise considering San Francisco took another catcher, Joey Bart, with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 draft.
The slot value for the No. 13 pick is $4,197,300 this year, but the Players Association agreed to limit teams to paying out a maximum of $100,000 to each draft pick in 2020. Half of the remaining money draftees expect to receive from the contracts signed this year will be paid out July 1, 2021 with the other half due on July 1, 2022.
Bailey joins a franchise that has overhauled its farm system over the last three-plus years and added several top-tier prospects with the potential to become everyday players in the majors. A first-team All-ACC player in 2019, Bailey hit .288 with a .513 slug
ging percentage and 10 home runs last season.
Position players including Bart, 2017 first round pick Heliot Ramos and 2019 first round choice Hunter Bishop help anchor a farm system that also includes an impressive group of international prospects headlined by shortstop Marco Luciano, infielder Luis Toribio and outfielder Luis Matos.
The farm system has become highly-regarded in the last year thanks in part to the addition of several prospects at the 2019 trade deadline including infielder Mauricio Dubon and outfielder Jaylin Davis who have already made their major league debuts.
The Giants also added another first round talent to the organization in December when president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi swung a deal for Bailey’s former college teammate, shortstop Will Wilson, the Angels’ first round selection in 2019 who Giants executives had their eyes on in last year’s pre-draft process.
Giants executives are optimistic the prospects can form an exciting homegrown core akin to the championship-caliber homegrown group led by Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey in the 2010s.
Bailey is the first of seven players who will be selected by the Giants in the 2020 MLB Draft as the team is tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the most picks of any MLB team.
The Giants will make their remaining six selections Thursday when rounds 2-5 take place. San Francisco holds five of the top 85 picks this year including the No. 67 and No. 68 selections, which are compensatory picks that were awarded to the franchise after free-agent pitchers Madison Bumgarner (Diamondbacks) and Will Smith (Braves) turned down one-year qualifying offers from the Giants to sign elsewhere.
After the fifth round of the draft, undrafted amateur players can begin signing with MLB organizations at 6 a.m. PT on Monday, June 14. Teams are allowed to sign as many undrafted players after round five as they wish, but signing bonuses are capped at $20,000.
Pitching is expected to be a priority for the Giants on day two of the draft as amateur scouting director Michael Holmes told this news organization he believes the 2020 draft features the deepest class of college pitchers in the last 10-to-12 years.
Eight of the Giants’ top 10 prospects ranked by MLB.com are position players and Bailey is expected to join the group when new rankings are released this summer.
Prior to the start of the MLB Draft, the Giants announced they will continue to pay their minor league players $400 weekly stipends through September 7, which was previously set to mark the end of the 2020 minor league season.
The Giants had previously committed to paying their minor leaguers weekly stipends only through June 30.