Where there’s Smoak, there’s not always fire.
Despite a lot of predictions and hopes the San Francisco Giants would draft slugging first baseman Justin Smoak with their top pick in the 2008 draft, the Giants decided to go with something else. The Giants took Gerald ‘Buster’ Posey with the 5th overall pick, taking a catcher from Florida State whose all-around bat and excellent defensive abilities trumped all other concerns, including cost.
With the 37th overall pick, in the sandwich round, the Giants selected Conor Gillaspie, a third baseman from Wichita State. In the later rounds, the Giants tabbed outfielder Roger Kieschnick from Texas Tech with the 82nd overall pick (3rd round), while their 4th round pick (#117 overall) was UCLA shortstop Brandon Crawford. With their final picks of the day,the Giants finally picked up some pitching. Their 5th round (#147 overall) pick was reliever RHP Edwin Quirarte out of Cal State Northridge. In the 6th Round (#177 overall), they got LHP Eric Surkamp from North Carolina State.
Posey’s performance in 2008 shot him up draft boards, and until the day before the draft, he was being considered heavily for the number 1 overall pick. But concerns about his signability affected his draft status, after a rumor came out that was going to demand $12 million to sign. The Giants, shedding the concerns (at least for now) about being cheap, went ahead and went with Posey.
"He's far more advanced than he gets credit for by people who have no business evaluating him," Giants General Manager Brian Sabean said.
Posey hit .468 with a .572 on-base percentage and a .897 slugging percentage with 20 doubles and 24 home runs in 233 at-bats. Posey has been one of the leaders in most offensive statistics across Division-I baseball in the country, with only stolen bases being not impressive. That isn’t surprising, considering he’s a catcher, but Posey came to Florida State as a shortstop before switching to catcher two seasons ago. While Posey remains raw in many defensive respects, he is considered almost universally to be the top defensive catcher on the board and will stay there.
While his power is not expected to be a big calling card as a pro, his swing is mechanically strong, his defense is good already, and he was considered to be one of the safest picks in the draft this year. He has reportedly ‘never’ been clocked higher for his throw-to-second time at 1.9 seconds, according to FSU Assistant coach Mike Martin Jr.
"He's going to be a run producer with the bat," Sabean said of Posey, "so it's kind of like getting two players in one. It's very, very difficult to get an all-around catcher, especially a run producer."
Posey is noted for his athleticism and versatility, and it was on display earlier this season. In a showcase move on May 12th, Posey played all nine positions on the field in a seven-inning game, including doing his usual job as closer, and hitting a grand slam.
If signability is an issue, and the Giants do not sign Posey, Posey would return to Florida State for his senior year and the Giants would receive the sixth overall pick in the 2009 draft (their draft position this year, plus one).
Gillaspie fits the ‘gamer’ mold the Giants have been promoting. A good athlete and aggressive baserunner for a third baseman, Gillaspie finally got his bat to come around in the past season. He won the MVP award in the wood bat Cape Cod League over the summer, which is considered to be one of the most important places for determining hitters who will hit well with wood bats. He won the batting title there with a .345 average and a .673 slugging percentage won that title. In the college regular season, he hit .425 with 16 doubles, eight triples and ten home runs. He’s not expected to hit a lot of home runs, but hits enough line drives to get doubles and triples. There is mixed opinion about his ability to stay at third, where he has the physical tools but can be inconsistent performing there.
Kieschnick, cousin of Brewers star Brooks Kieschnick (which should make Duane Kuiper smile), was one of the top outfielders coming out of Texas this year. He played with Team USA over the summer, and has power to all fields. However, he has some problems with his plate discipline, and swings at bad pitches at times. Kieschnick hit .305/.407/.632 with 15 doubles and a team leading 17 home runs.
Crawford was on track to be a first round pick until this year, after struggling last summer in the Cape Cod League, and a lack of confidence showing through with a poor season this year. He hit .302/.394/.491 with 13 doubles and 7 home runs, with 11 stolen bases in 17 attempts. A talented shortstop defensively, his playmaking ability should carry him while he finds a way back to hitting, where he can be good and has some pull power.
Quirarte worked as the closer for Northridge, who went just 24-32. Quirarte picked up eight of the nine saves that the team got while putting up a 2.09 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 56 innings pitched. He led Northridge in appearances with 29. Surkamp was a starter with the Wolfpack, going 5-2 with a 4.39 ERA. However, he did have 82 strikeouts in 69 2/3 innings while walking 32. He had a bit of wildness, with seven wild pitches and seven hit batters in addition to those walks.
Justin Smoak fell to the 11th overall pick, where the Texas Rangers took him. "Smoak is going to be a good major league player," Sabean said. "We were looking for the best all around player. We thought we got one of them."
Ahead of the Giants, the Tampa Bay Rays took high school shortstop Tim Beckham first overall after reportedly balking at Posey’s demands. Following them, the Pittsburgh Pirates took Pedro Alvarez, whom Sabean admitted was the one name the Giants had above Posey on their draft board. The Kansas City Royals took high school first baseman Eric Hosmer third overall, while the Baltimore Orioles took top pitcher Brian Matusz with the fourth overall pick.
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