San Francisco Giants 2024 MLB Draft Review

Draft Theme: Contrasting OF Profiles & College Heavy

The Giants lost their second and third round picks after signing Blake Snell and Matt Chapman in free agency, but that didn’t stop them from securing a pair of top-40 overall talents in OFs James Tibbs III and Dakota Jordan. The assumption is Jordan will receive an overslot bonus in the fourth round, but this San Francisco draft class will largely lie on the shoulders of two very different players. Tibbs is a pure hitter who had one of the best hit tools among the non-elite players in the class but offers little in terms of secondary tools or defensive value. Jordan, meanwhile, is a boom-or-bust player with truly elite pure bat speed, massive raw power and plus speed. The question with Jordan is his contact ability and the overall crudeness of his game at times. After drafting two high schoolers with their first two picks in 2023, the Giants selected just one prep in their 2024 class: 11th round OF Andy Polanco.  

Most Interesting Day 2 Pick: OF Dakota Jordan, 4th round

Jordan was a high-profile prospect coming out of high school who stood out for his multi-sport athleticism, physicality and power-speed combination. A former three-star football player, Jordan is now a draft-eligible sophomore and powerfully built 6-foot, 220-pound outfielder and righthanded hitter with massive raw power. He has top-of-the-scale, lightning-quick hands that lead to titanic blasts to all fields and some of the best exit velocity data in the 2024 draft when he makes contact. With that power comes plenty of swing-and-miss, which is the crucial question mark with Jordan’s profile. He has a 27.4% career strikeout rate with Mississippi State and aggressively chases breaking stuff out of the zone. Those contact questions and his aggressive approach could make his 80-grade raw power play down at least two grades in games. In addition to raw power, Jordan is a great runner who will turn in 70-grade times occasionally, though out of the box he’s more consistently a plus runner who is still refining his outfield defense. With his speed and above-average arm strength, he should be at least an above-average defender in a corner, though scouts believe he’s more like an average defender. Jordan’s physical tools and huge power give him exciting upside, but his contact questions and lack of overall refinement creates considerable risk as well.

Most Interesting Day 3 Pick: 3B Zander Darby, 13th round

Darby is a lean and lanky, 6-foot-3, 205-pound third baseman coming off a 2023 season where he led UC Santa Barbara with 62 hits. Darby has always shown solid on-base skills in his college career, but he cut his strikeout rate nearly 10 points, from 25.9% to 16.3% and then followed up his strong spring with a solid summer in the Cape Cod League. In 35 games with Yarmouth-Dennis, Darby slashed .292/.404/.407 with nearly as many walks as strikeouts. Darby is a fastball hitter who does most of his damage to the pull side, and while his production against secondaries is modest he has shown enough of a savvy batting eye to lay off pitches out of the zone and keep himself in counts and on base via the walk. He’s a fair defender at third base, but often plays too high and could improve both his footwork and throwing accuracy on difficult plays without his feet set. He still has physical projection and could come into more power as he layers on strength.