What the Giants’ draft approach means for their farm system

The Giants entered the MLB Draft with the goal of creating more balance in their farm system. By using 14 of their 20 picks on pitchers, they’ve done just that.

Giants amateur scouting director Michael Holmes led the organization’s draft efforts, which culminated with the final 10 rounds on Tuesday ahead of the All-Star Game. After using nine of the Giants’ first 10 picks on position players in his first draft under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi in 2019, Holmes and his scouts flipped the script this week and put a major emphasis on college arms who should immediately bolster the farm system’s starting pitching depth.

Holmes said Monday the Giants have hopes that all nine pitchers the club selected in the first nine rounds of the draft will enter the organization as starters including eighth-round selection Ian Villers, a Northgate High (Walnut Creek) and Cal product who mostly pitched out of the bullpen in college.

Of the five pitchers the Giants drafted in rounds 11-20 on Tuesday, three were starters for their college teams this season while 16th-round selection Julian Bosnic of South Carolina and 17th-round pick Brett Standlee of Oklahoma State primarily pitched in relief. Bosnic, however, was ranked as a top 200 draft-eligible prospect by MLB.com and Baseball America. He could have a shot to remain a starter if he signs with San Francisco.

“(Bosnic) is a guy I actually sat down and met with at the (MLB Draft Combine) and I really enjoyed getting to know him personally,” Holmes said. “He’s a power arm, left-handed who can really spin the breaking ball and miss bats.”

One of the more intriguing selections the Giants made Wednesday was 11th-round pick Donovan McIntyre, an outfielder out of

Marian Catholic High in Illinois who became the first of three high school position players drafted by San Francisco. McIntyre emerged as a favorite of Giants area scout D.J. Jauss, the son of Dave Jauss, who threw batting practice for 2021 Home Run Derby champion Pete Alonso at Coors Field on Monday.

“(McIntyre) is a guy that our area scout, D.J. Jauss, has been on for quite some time, he’s got a lot of passion about the player, the individual and the makeup,” Holmes said. “What we have with him is a really athletic middle of the diamond type outfielder with bat-to-ball skills. He’s got room to grow physically. There’s a speed component to his game and kind of like that prototypical center field profile.”

Of the 10 players the Giants drafted Tuesday, five including 12th-round pick Landen Roupp of UNC Wilmington spent the 2021 season playing in the Carolinas where Holmes has spent much of his life and where he began his career in pro ball as an area scout.

“It’s an area of the country that I take a tremendous amount of pride in, one because it’s really good,” Holmes said. “There’s a lot of small colleges, there’s a lot of good high school players, there’s a lot of Power 5 schools there and they’re very productive at getting guys to the big leagues.”