Here are the Giants' 2019 Top 30 Prospects
The immediate future doesn't look bright for the Giants. Not too far removed from winning three World Series in the first half of this decade, they've lost 187 games in the past two seasons and had the third-oldest roster in the Majors last year. San Francisco's farm system lacks much in the way of immediate help or depth, so new president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has his work cut out for him.
If there's a silver lining to the system, several of its best prospects came aboard in 2018. The Giants had the No. 2 overall pick and spent it on catcher Joey Bart, who should be a worthy heir apparent to Buster Posey, and paid $2.6 million to sign Dominican shortstop Marco Luciano, their most talented international prospect in years. They also drafted right-handers Sean Hjelle and Jake Wong, two of their better pitching prospects, and signed Cuban outfielder Jairo Pomares, the best pure hitter in the system.
San Francisco needs that infusion of talent to be the start of a new trend. It has drafted and developed only one All-Star in the last decade, 2011 first-rounder Joe Panik, and hasn't had a homegrown international All-Star since signing Pablo Sandoval in 2003.
Here's a look at the Giants' top prospects:
1) Joey Bart, C
2) Heliot Ramos, OF
3) Marco Luciano, SS
4) Shaun Anderson, RHP
5) Logan Webb, RHP
Biggest jump/fall
Here are the players whose ranks changed the most from the 2018 preseason list to the 2019 preseason list.
Jump: Logan Webb, RHP (2018: NR | 2019: 5) -- Webb put Tommy John surgery behind him by reaching 98 mph with his fastball and improving his power breaking ball.
Fall: Tyler Beede, RHP (2018: 4 | 2019: 24) -- His control and confidence fell apart as he logged a 7.05 ERA in Triple-A and got relegated to the bullpen.
Best tools
Players are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale for future tools -- 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average. Players in parentheses have the same grade.
Hit: 55 -- Jairo Pomares (Luis Toribio)
Power: 60 -- Joey Bart
Run: 55 -- Heliot Ramos (four others tied at 55)
Arm: 60 -- Sandro Fabian (five others tied at 60)
Defense: 55 -- Joey Bart (Sandro Fabian, Jalen Miller)
Fastball: 80 -- Ray Black
Curveball: 60 -- Blake Rivera (Seth Corry, Garrett Williams)
Slider: 60 -- Logan Webb
Changeup: 55 -- Shaun Anderson (Tyler Beede)
Control: 55 -- Shaun Anderson (Sean Hjelle)
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How they were built
Draft: 17 | International: 8 | Trade: 4 | Rule 5: 1
Breakdown by ETA
2019: 9 | 2020: 5 | 2021: 10 | 2022: 3 | 2023: 3
Breakdown by position
C: 2 | 1B: 0 | 2B: 1 | 3B: 2 | SS: 3 | OF: 6 | RHP: 13 | LHP: 3