I’ll be adding write ups of the Day 2 picks all day as I can. Please follow this post for updates throughout the day!

2nd Round #49: Casey Schmitt, 3B, San Diego State

For the first time in a long time, the Giants have picked up a third baseman high in the draft.  Casey Schmitt has the defense to stick at third base, with a plus arm and good footwork and fielding there.  That’s a nice thing for the Giants, who have had problems at third base since Sandoval left for Boston, filled for now by Evan Longoria.

Offensively, he’s similar to first round pick Patrick Bailey, other than being a right-handed hitter only.  He’s got an average hit tool, but has raw power behind it.  Unlike Bailey, Schmitt needs some work to unlock that power.  If he can do that, there’s some star potential behind him.  He did hit with power with the wood bats in the Cape Cod League, so that’s a start

Schmitt is listed as a third baseman, but he’s also got pitching behind him.  His fastball goes up to 94, and has a hard, slow split-finger at 77-80.  He might fall back to pitching if being a hitter doesn’t work out, but if Zaidi has a wild hair up his mind, he might have Schmitt work both pitching and hitting, and use him as an extra reliever down the line.  That, however, is a pretty low probability.

Compensation Round #67: Nick Swiney, LHP, North Carolina State

The Giants finally took a pitcher with Swiney out of North Carolina State (where Patrick Bailey and Will Wilson are from).

Swiney comes out of college without big stuff with his pitching.  His fastball can be 93-94 when he was in relief, but sat 87-92 as a starter this season.  His curveball his his best pitch, a strikeout pitch that got him 42 strikeouts in 28 innings over his first four starts this season.

Swiney has struggled with control his first two seasons, but in an abbreviated look during the 2020 season, he dropped the walk rate significantly.  That control may be a big reason he was promoted from middle reliever to starter with the Wolfpack.  There’s still some significant reliever risk with Swiney, but at least the Giants have added some pitching depth.

Compensation Round #68: Jimmy Glowenke, SS, Dallas Baptist

The biggest line about Glowenke after being drafted is “This kid can hit”.  He has an above-average hit tool, which is helped by good strike zone judgement and an ability to take the hit-by pitch.  There is raw power in his swing, but so far he’s been focused on hitting and gap power.

Glowenke is listed as a shortstop, but he was already being thought by some as a future second baseman thanks to a sub-par arm, and then he had elbow surgery that cost him his 2020 season.  The hit tool is enough of a plus to push him, though.

Even with a different regime in power, this pick “feels” like an old-school Giants pick like Joe Panik or Christian Arroyo, a safe middle infielder, albeit not in the first round like those names.

Third Round #85: Kyle Harrison, LHP, De La Salle HS (CA)

“Polish” is the word on Harrison.  The first high school pick of the Giants this year is a local kid, and might help the Giants sign him away from college.  His fastball currently is 90-93, but there’s potential for growth as Harrison grows and gets stronger.  He throws left-handed with a low arm angle, which helps make his slider a tick better than his other pitches.  The angle is deceptive as well, and helps his stuff play up.

What Harrison gets a lot of compliments on are some of the intangibles, including his “feel to pitch” and his intelligence on the mound.  There is debate about how high his ceiling is, but he does have a high floor for being such a young player.

Fourth Round #114: RJ Dabovich, RHP, Arizona State

A former teammate of 2019 top pick Hunter Bishop, RJ Dabovich was a swingman his sophomore season in ASU before moving to be the teams closer in 2020.  He works mostly with a mid-90’s fastball and a low-80’s slider, but he’s also got a solid curveball in the high 70’s.  He can also through a slow splitter and a changeup.  He’s been toying with his delivery this year, adjust to a more overhead delivery, which could help his breaking pitches more.  His command is generally okay, and is around the plate

The big question with Dabovich is going to be his role.  While he was exclusively a closer in his shortened Junior year, there are scouts who believe he can still be a starter.  He has the potential for a bigger repertoire than closers usually do.  And the Giants, under Sabean and Evans, have gone the route of drafting college relievers with a sense that they have less mileage.

Fifth Round #144: Ryan Murphy, RHP, Le Moyne (NY)

One of the most notable things about Ryan Murphy is that he did not make Baseball America’s Top 500 rankings, despite being the #144th pick.  He was the third player taken in the draft that didn’t make BA’s list.  Even Brian Recca, the Giants-focused draft guru, had nothing on him in his amazing scouting.

Murphy, taken out of Division-II Le Moyne, throws a low 90’s fastball with a good curveball and a tight slider.  He also throws with a unique delivery in his windup, stepping back into his starting point with his back foot, which possibly leads to some deception.  He was the Pitcher of the Year in the Northeast Collegiate Baseball League in 2019.

In 2018, he threw a no-hitter for the Le Moyne Dolphins, which you can see footage of below.   This season, he made four starts.  Two of them he went seven innings and notched double-digit strikeouts (and got wins).  The other two, he took the loss after going five innings or less, but still notching seven strikeouts in each (in one game, he gave up six runs on ten hits, and no walks).  He finished his Junior season with 36 K’s and four walks in 23 innings.  His Sophomore year, he had 98 strikeouts and 24 walks in 90.2 innings.  Also, his Sophomore year he had given up seven home runs, but hadn’t given up any in his Junior year.