One of the first moves Farhan Zaidi made after becoming the Giants’ new president of baseball operations was to hire Michael Holmes away from the A’s, and name him the club’s new director of amateur scouting. Holmes, who previously worked alongside Zaidi in Oakland’s front office for a decade, will now be tasked with overseeing his first Draft with the Giants.

The 2019 Draft will take place today through Wednesday, beginning with the Draft preview show on MLB Network and MLB.com at 6 p.m. ET. MLB Network will broadcast the first 41 picks (Round 1 and Competitive Balance Round A), while MLB.com will stream all 78 picks on Day 1. MLB.com will also provide live pick-by-pick coverage of Rounds 3-10 on Day 2, beginning with a preview show at 12:30 p.m. ET. Then, Rounds 11-40 can be heard live on MLB.com on Day 3, beginning at noon ET.

Go to MLB.com/Draft to see the Top 200 Prospects list, mock Drafts from MLB Pipeline analysts Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, the complete order of selection and more. And follow @MLBDraft on Twitter to see what Draft hopefuls, clubs and experts are saying.

Here’s how the Draft is shaping up for the Giants, whose first selection is the 10th overall pick.

In about 50 words
This will be a pivotal Draft for the Giants, who are looking to restock their farm system and improve their organizational depth after losing 187 games over the last two years. While the Giants rode a core of homegrown stars to three World Series championships in the first half of this decade, they have traded away recent top Draft picks and missed on others, drying up the flow of impact talent in their pipeline.

What they’re saying
Holmes had served as the A’s assistant scouting director since 2009 and will take over for John Barr, the man responsible for drafting franchise star Buster Posey with the fifth overall pick in 2008. Barr remains in the Giants’ front office, and he will be available as a resource to Holmes and the rest of the amateur scouting department this year.

“Michael, I’ve been in 10 draft rooms with him,” Zaidi said at the Winter Meetings. “A lot of successful A’s Drafts, I know how important he was to those. I think for him to inherit a staff that’s produced many big leaguers, many guys that were key members of the world championship teams, for him to have John’s counsel going forward is going to be a huge asset for him.”

Who might they take?
According to Callis, the Giants seem to be focused on college arms and bats this year. In recent mock Drafts, they have been connected to UNLV shortstop Bryson Stott and West Virginia right-hander Alek Manoah.

May 23: Stott
Stott is having a huge year at UNLV, hitting for average while reaching double digits in home runs and stolen bases, all while walking more often than he’s struck out. And he has at least a chance to stick at short.

May 17: Manoah
San Francisco appears focused on college arms (Jackson Rutledge, Manoah, Kentucky left-hander Zack Thompson) and college bats (Shea Langeliers, Stott). This could be the ceiling for the best high school pitcher, Matthew Allan, who won't come cheap.

Money matters
Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, each team has an allotted bonus pool equal to the sum of the values of that club's selections in the first 10 rounds of the Draft. The more picks a team has, and the earlier it picks, the larger the pool. The signing bonuses for a team's selections in the first 10 rounds, plus any bonus greater than $125,000 for a player taken after the 10th round, will apply toward the bonus-pool total.

Any team going up to five percent over its allotted pool will be taxed at a 75-percent rate on the overage. A team that overspends by 5-10 percent gets a 75-percent tax plus the loss of a first-round pick. A team that goes 10-15 percent over its pool amount will be hit with a 100-percent penalty on the overage and the loss of a first- and second-round pick. Any overage of 15 percent or more gets a 100-percent tax plus the loss of first-round picks in the next two Drafts.

This year, the Giants have a pool of $8,714,500 to spend in the first 10 rounds, including $4,739,900 for their first selection.

Shopping list
The Giants have long struggled to produce power-hitting outfielders, as evidenced by the carousel of players they’ve deployed in left field since the end of the Barry Bonds era in 2007. A glimpse at the club’s current list of top 30 prospects on MLB Pipeline also reveals a shortage of top infield prospects in the farm system, particularly at first and second base.

Trend watch
Aside from 2017, when they used their first two picks on high school players, the Giants have leaned toward the college ranks in their recent Drafts, and that trend could continue under Zaidi and Holmes given their links to collegians like Stott and Manoah.

Recent top picks
2018: Joey Bart, C, (Class A Advanced San Jose)
2017: Heliot Ramos, OF, (San Jose)
2016: Bryan Reynolds, OF, (Traded to the Pirates in exchange for Andrew McCutchen)
2015: Phil Bickford, RHP, (Traded to the Brewers in exchange for Will Smith)
2014: Tyler Beede, RHP (MLB)