The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in San Francisco, California. They play in the National League West division. Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", [1] the Rule 4 Draft is MLB's primary mechanism for assigning players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur clubs to its franchises. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick. [1] In addition, teams which lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded compensatory or supplementary picks. [2] Since the establishment of the draft in 1965, the Giants have selected 70 players in the first round. [3]
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Of those 70 players, 32 have been pitchers, the most of any position; 23 of these were right-handed, while 9 were left-handed. The Giants have also selected thirteen outfielders, seven shortstops, seven catchers, four third basemen, and three players each at first and second base. [3] One player, 2010 selection Gary Brown, was drafted as a center fielder. The franchise has drafted eight players from colleges or high schools in their home state of California, more than any other. [3] The Giants have never held the first-overall pick, but they did have the second pick in 1985, with which they drafted Will Clark. [3]
Four of San Francisco's first-round draft picks have won three World Series championships with the team—Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, and Buster Posey—all as part of the 2010, 2012 and 2014 championship teams. Two of the Giants' selections have won the National League Rookie of the Year Award: Gary Matthews (drafted in 1968) won in 1973; [4] and Posey (drafted in 2008) won the award in 2010. [5] Posey was also named the National League's Most Valuable Player in 2012. [6] Three of the Giants selections have been named the Most Valuable Player of the National League Championship Series; Matthews in 1983 with Philadelphia, [7] Clark in 1989 [8] and Bumgarner in 2014. [9] Bumgarner was also named Most Valuable Player of the 2014 World Series. Lincecum, the Giants' 2006 selection, won the Cy Young Award —awarded annually to the best pitcher in each league—in 2008 and 2009. [10]
San Francisco has made 16 selections in the supplemental round of the draft. They have also received 12 compensatory picks since the first draft in 1965. These additional picks are provided when a team loses a particularly valuable free agent in the previous off-season, [2] [11] [V] or, more recently, if a team fails to sign a draft pick from the previous year. [12] The Giants have failed to sign two of their first-round selections: 1979 pick Rick Luecken; and 1996 pick Matt White. The Giants did not receive any compensation for Luecken, but they did receive the 49th pick in 1997 for failing to sign White. [13]
