For all of Brian Sabean's faults when it comes to signing free agents (he has plenty of them, let's be frank), I really have been impressed by what he has done in the draft since 2006. Here are the first picks taken by the Giants since then:
2006: Tim Lincecum.
2007: Madison Bumgarner.
2008: Buster Posey.
2009: Zack Wheeler.
2010: Gary Brown.
That's quite a first-round resume for the Giants. Lincecum is a perennial All-Star, and Bumgarner and Posey are Major-League mainstays with high upside. Furthermore, Wheeler and Brown look to have bright futures as evidenced by their solid campaigns in San Jose.
One has to hope that the Giants will be able to continue this trend of making good decisions on draft day in 2011. In the next few weeks, I'll be taking a look at some prospects who the Giants might be considering taking, and draft prospects that I could see falling around the Giants' radar.
But first, I wanted to throw out some links to some good blogs/sites that will give you some good background and information before draft day on June 6th.
MLB Bonus Baby
- A pretty comprehensive site on the MLB Draft (I mentioned this in my essential reading page). The good thing about this blog is that the community is very active, so you're not just getting mock draft or prospect reports by just one guy, but a variety of sources. Check out the thread on the community's live mock draft that was conducted a couple of weeks ago to get an idea of what I mean.
John Sickels' Minor League Ball blog
- While Sickels looks at the farm and really specializes on Minor League prospects, he is posting a lot of articles about the draft-eligible players in the upcoming MLB draft, including a few mock draft pieces. He has the Giants taking Henry Owens, a LHP from California HS (which is a local Bay Area HS). One should expect a write-up on the kid on this blog sometime this weekend (would have been sooner, but blogger went down yesterday and thus, I wasn't able to post).
Baseball Beginnings
- In terms of amateur player scouting reports, you can't do much better than the site John Klima has put together. He has comprehensive scouting reports, updates and videos for every amateur player out there that is expected to be drafted. Klima is also a former Major League scout and writes a lot of good pieces in terms of scouting and looking at amateur and minor league players. Definitely check this site out if you're looking for more information on a player in this year's draft class that intrigues you.
MLB.com Draft Central 2011
- Pretty self explanatory. This is the official page of the 2011 MLB Draft and it has a lot of great information and pieces about any and everything regarding this year's draft. Great in terms of video and insider access, MLB.com's Draft page should be an essential stopping place for baseball readers in the weeks leading up to draft day.
Diamondscape Scouting
- The founder of this blog used to solely concentrate on Orioles prospects before he decided to dedicate himself to widen his scope of analysis. Diamondscape Scouting does a great job, with posts and features like Top 15 lists by positions and a Midseason Top 300 draft prospects rankings. It's a comprehensive site, and there are plenty of scouting reports to go around on all the potential draftees, which makes the site even more essential considering how close we are to the draft.
College Baseball Daily
- Also known as "The College Baseball Blog", this blog is actually dedicated solely to college baseball. However, it is also a good resource for the most up-to-date information on all the draft prospects who are coming out of college. Can be tough to navigate around because it is more geared on reporting on teams and conferences and the such (which is to be expected from a college baseball blog). That being said, the Top 100 ranking is very useful in terms of giving readers and baseball fans who to watch out for in terms of draft-able college players.
Perfect Game USA
- Technically a scouting service aimed toward players and coaches, PG is nonetheless an awesome resource in terms of finding out the best prospects at the HS and JuCO level. The site is very comprehensive in terms of scouting reports, showcase recaps and the such. That being said, the site is primarily a sign-up one, and the free membership doesn't give you too much access. However, despite it's limits in terms of what's "free", it still provide a plethora of information on HS and JuCO players, which is a lot harder to come by on the net.
If you know any other links or resources that could be of interest to anyone looking to find out more on the MLB Draft, feel free to share the web site name and link in the comments box below.
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