Thoughts on the Giants’ draft
Jeff Fletcher | June 17, 2011
Old pal Tom Krasovic, a longtime Padres beat writer and one of my former FanHouse colleagues, has some comments on his blog from scouts about the draft. I’ve clipped out the stuff about the Giants:
“Their draft was sneaky good.”
On first-round pick Joe Panik, a shortstop from St. John’s:
“San Francisco was kind of vanilla in the first round with the St. John’s shortstop.”
“Panik, I thought, was a very under-rated player. Good-body middle infielder that ought to stay at shortstop. Should really hit. Gamer, just doesn’t have big tools. The throwing is average, the running is on the bubble, but he has instincts for the game. Baseball player pick.”
“I was a little suprised the Giants took the St. John’s guy in the first round, because he had labrum surgery as a freshman there. He is supposed to be a good player.”
“Panik is the kind of guy who has to overachieve.”
“Panik — definitely one of the better hitters in the draft. Not real quick twitch. I thought that was an extremely safe pick for the first round. We thought he was a guy who could stick at shortstop but probably would end up at second. He definitely can hit.”
And the scouts also had some comments about the Giants’ second-round pick, Oregon State catcher Andrew Susac…
“Susac, he’s going to be a feast or famine guy. Has pretty big power, has arm strength. Yet to be seen if he’s going to be a good catcher. It depends on if he wants to show up every day or not. Moody kid. Turned down $900,000 out of high school. ”
“Susac, this past year, it was almost a role reversal for him. He was more offense than defense. Has a lot of raw power. Has arm strength. To me, his catching has regressed, not from a physical standpoint, almost a mental standpoint.”
