Giants’ front office preparing for critical test it can’t afford to fail

SAN FRANCISCO — When a major league team braces for a difficult summer, it’s natural for a fan base to turn its attention toward the farm system.

Prospects represent a glimmer of hope and serve as a reminder that while the present is sometimes bleak, the future is often bright. Through the first two months of the 2019 season, it’s been challenging for Giants fans to see the light.

The organization’s top two prospects, Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos, haven’t played since April due to injuries while a promising young pitcher, Logan Webb, was suspended 80 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

For a brief period on Monday, the clouds hanging over the Giants’ farm parted and the sun began to shine, particularly for a San Jose Giants team that could use a few rays. Two of the top four pitching prospects in the organization, Sean Hjelle and Jake Wong, received promotions from Low-A Augusta to Single-A San Jose.

Hjelle, 22, compiled a 2.66 ERA in his first nine starts while Wong, 22, was even sharper, recording two starts of six innings in which he did not allow a hit while posting a 1.99 ERA in nine outings. With Bart, 22, and Ramos, 19, expected to rejoin the San Jose team within the next two weeks, Giants fans can take comfort in knowing a young nucleus of talent that represents the organization’s future is evolving together.

In two weeks, that future core will receive another boost as the Giants will be on the clock for the first time in the Farhan Zaidi era. Major League Baseball’s Amateur Draft doesn’t receive the same fanfare of drafts in other major sports, but the first draft of Zaidi’s tenure is a critical juncture for the Giants’ new front office regime.

It’s not lost on Zaidi and first-year amateur scouting director Michael Holmes that the Giants’ farm system lacks top-tier depth. Hours after Hjelle and Wong were promoted, the Giants were held to one run in eight innings by Braves starter Mike Soroka, 21, who is younger than both of the right-handers headed to San Jose.

The Braves earned a 4-1 win over the Giants thanks to a pair of homers hit by 21-year-old center fielder Ronald Acuña, Jr. and a two-run shot hit by 22-year-old left fielder Austin Riley. Ozzie Albies, the Braves’ 22-year-old second baseman, went 0-for-5, but the 2018 All-Star is a month younger than Bart and already a fixture near the top of Atlanta’s lineup.

Atlanta is one of several franchises set up for sustainable success thanks to the emergence of elite homegrown talent. The Giants, as currently constructed, are not.

It’s possible, however, that no franchise understands the benefits of developing stars from within quite like the Giants. Former first round draft picks Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner all anchored rotations that led the club to three World Series titles, while 2008 first round pick Buster Posey started behind the plate for all three of those championship teams.

The Giants drafted core assets like Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt and Joe Panik who all kept the championship window open, but that window slammed shut because of recent draft failures. That’s a byproduct of consistently drafting toward the end of the first round as the Giants have done for much of the decade, but it’s also a result of the franchise’s recent inability to find value in subsequent rounds too.

On June 3, Zaidi and Holmes will attempt to land a future star with the 10th overall pick in the 2019 draft. Twelve years after the Giants selected Bumgarner at No. 10, Holmes faces an immense challenge of restocking the farm system with talent that can matriculate rapidly through the minors and eventually contribute to a major league club in dire need of younger, more athletic players.

It’s impossible to clearly evaluate the results of a draft immediately, but there’s little doubt the 2019 Draft could represent a seminal moment in Zaidi and Holmes’ tenure. The duo worked together in the A’s front office before Zaidi took the reins in Los Angeles and while the Giants’ president of baseball operations was reluctant to make sweeping changes in his first offseason, one of his most significant moves was removing former amateur scouting director John Barr in favor of Holmes.

Barr’s first draft led the Giants to Posey with the fifth overall pick in 2008, and it’s not an understatement to suggest that given the current state of the farm system, the organization needs to land another perennial All-Star with Holmes’ top selection.

Under Barr, the Giants drafted college players with eight of their 11 first round choices. The Giants drafted prospects out of high school in each of the first three rounds in 2017, but reversed course and selected junior college or college players with their first five selections in 2018. The 2018 draft could have been a reflection of the Giants’ need to accumulate more highly-developed players who could reach the majors sooner, and it’s possible Zaidi and Holmes will follow a similar strategy in their first year.

Scouting and drafting high school players is generally considered a less exact science, as teams are required to project the potential impact of 17 and 18-year-old athletes compared to college-aged players. The payoff of a proper evaluation on a high school talent with a high ceiling is massive, however, as the Giants learned with Cain in 2002 and Bumgarner in 2007.

The Giants won’t use the No. 10 pick on a catcher after selecting Bart No. 2 overall last year, but just about every other possibility is on the table. After watching homegrown Atlanta Braves players wreak havoc against the Giants on Monday, it’s obvious the Giants have a desperate need for young, All-Star-caliber talent at nearly every position.

Regardless of whether the Giants select a college player, a high school talent, a future starting pitcher or a power-hitting position player, there’s one obvious way the first draft of the Zaidi era will be judged.

They must find a star.