Major League Baseball, for reasons no one is entirely sure of, chooses to hold the draft not only during the baseball season, but smack dab in the middle of a busy day of games. Which means the San Francisco Giants day game against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday fully took place during the draft … before the game had started, the Giants had already made their first-round selection. And when the game was over, the Giants were still busy making picks.
For some teams, the actual baseball being played
is more important than the results of the draft, which won’t impact the roster for many years. The Los Angeles Dodgers, for instance — who are attempting to defend their back-to-back titles, and didn’t have a first-round pick — are one such team. But for the Giants? Well, they entered the day 16 games below .500, with their highest draft pick in eight years. And as such, the actual baseball took a firm backseat to the future baseball that we were able to spend the day dreaming about.
What mattered on Saturday was that the Giants used their lottery luck to draft the consensus top pitcher in the draft who, by the way, grew up in their backyard, attended the same high school as Brandon Crawford, and is a Giants fan. What mattered was that they used the No. 29 and 55 picks — the former acquired when they traded Patrick Bailey — on deeply intriguing high school pitchers who hopefully can develop into quality Major Leaguers. What mattered was that the first position player they took — with the 90th overall pick — is an elite athlete with stellar contact skills and power that might make you think he’s related to Barry Bonds … because he is.
But what took place at Oracle Park? That didn’t matter so much. Except, if you squint, it kind of did.
The Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2, avenging Friday night’s ugly and painful defeat. This won’t be an in-depth recap, because I had 1.75 of my eyes tuned to Jackson Flora, Carson Bolemon, Kaden Waechter, Peyton Bonds, and Carlos Martinez, and only 0.15 of my eyes on the Giants game (forgive me, bosses and readers alike: the other 0.10 was on the England – Norway game).
But while the attention was turned towards the future in the draft, the Giants on the field were … well … playing for the future as well. Veteran Tyler Mahle had one of his best starts of the year, pitching seven excellent innings while allowing just five hits, three walks and one run … which came on a bizarre, delayed balk call that ultimately led to Tony Vitello picking up the second ejection of his career.
The attention leading up to the trade deadline has been centered around Luis Arráez and Robbie Ray, but Mahle shouldn’t be overlooked. Sure, he’s having a difficult season, but he’s also a trusted veteran who is not long removed from being a very solid pitcher. He won’t return as much as Arráez and Ray will, but, especially if he can string together two or three nice starts in a row, should still bring the Giants an intriguing prospect or two when he’s inevitably dealt.
That’s good for the future.
The Giants tied the game in the fifth inning thanks to a pair of rookies: Bryce Eldridge started the rally with a double, and Jesús Rodríguez ended it with a follow-up double. Eldridge is a foundational part of the Giants going forward; Rodríguez is someone who can be.
That’s good for the future.
They took the lead an inning later thanks to Casey Schmitt. After Heliot Ramos and Arráez led off the frame with back-to-back singles, Schmitt stepped up against Kyle Freeland, who had been excellent to that point. His night looked less excellent after Schmitt sent an absolute tank into the left field bleachers.
San Francisco will surely receive calls asking about Schmitt in the coming weeks. On the off chance that they decide to make him available, games like this — he’s up to a team-high 19 home runs — only increase the prospect haul it will take to get him. And assuming they keep him to replace Arráez, games like this only make us that much more excited to see what he can do with a stable role. He sure looks like a core part of the team for years to come.
That’s good for the future.
Reliever JT Brubaker even played his part, earning his first career save with two innings that were solid enough to keep his trade value decent, while also giving up a home run loud enough to put a smile on the face of anyone who (justifiably, I might add) is still seething about his role in the Pride Night absurdities.
And so the Giants won 4-2, and they did it with players who are a core part of their future, and with players who will be traded for other parts of their future. That wasn’t the most important thing that happened on Saturday, but it wasn’t nothing, either.
