The Giants have signed their first round pick Will Bednar, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). Bednar and the Giants agreed to a $3.65MM signing bonus, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter). That comes in a little under slot for the 14th overall pick in the draft, which comes with a $4.04MM slot value.
Bednar is a right-handed starting pitcher who won the Most Outstanding Player award for Mississippi State during the College World Series. He used a fastball/slider combo to outduel some of the biggest names in college baseball en route to leading Mississippi State to their first-ever CWS title.
He finished the tourney with a 1.47 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings in three starts. In the biggest game of his life, Bednar tossed six no-hit innings to notch the win in the clinching game opposite Kumar Rocker of Vanderbilt.
Prior to the draft, Baseball America had Bednar ranked as the 18th prospect in the draft, while ESPN had him one spot higher. Fangraphs, MLB.com, and The Athletic were less certain of Bednar’s upside, putting him at No. 32 in their pre-draft rankings. Those differences in opinion could at least in part explain the Giants’ ability to save some money in their bonus amount.
The Giants also came in under slot for second round pick Matt Mikulski, who signed for $1.2MM, below the $1.5MM slot value for the 50th pick in the draft, per Callis.
Baseball America and The Athletic had Mikulski projected at No. 39 overall, and Fangraphs had him one spot higher. MLB.com had him a little further down at No. 50 overall. ESPN was the bottom man in terms of their valuation of Mikulski. Kiley McDaniel had him ranked at just No. 99 overall.
The Fordham southpaw reaches back for up to 98 mph on his fastball, but he was a fourth-year senior with some concerns that he might be a reliever long-term. The 22-year-old posted an impressive 1.45 ERA in 11 starts with the Rams last season with 124 strikeouts to just 27 walks in 68 1/3 innings.
The Giants are definitely regretting trading away Pirates CF Bryan Reynolds. Dude is a stud, wish we could get him back.
Think they’d consider Bart for Reynolds?
Thanks for the inside the giants offices information!
Knowing people in Pittsburgh’s organization, they are not trading Reynolds and haven’t even considered it
Pirates have already said they’re planning on building around him and have balked at some potential interest in him.
No. Pirates already selected a catcher number one overall. The Giants have been good the last couple of years letting their minor league talent grow. If we trade Bart, hopefully it will be for a pitcher with a no 2 or 3 ceiling. Giants made it clear they believe in their offensive down the pipeline by their selections in this year’s draft.
The Pirates actually have a plan in place (for a change) and Reynolds is a part of that plan… as he should be. He likely won’t even start getting mildly expensive for a couple more years. The Bucs absolutely struck gold when they traded for him, and got a few miles out of Kyle Crick to boot. Pirates fans have nothing but love for Andrew McCutchen to this day but trading him is one of the best moves they’ve made.
Chris Stratton has become an under-rated part of that trade. Probably best Pirates trade in recent history (if not decades).
Edit: Whoops, guess that was Crick. Stratton was just a mistake to move on from too early.
I hope that Will Bednar works out as well for the Giants as his brother David has so far as a Pirate. I was skeptical of David based on his limited track record as a Padre but he has been very solid all year.
Favorite first round pick under Zaidi so far. Bishop was a boom or bust power guy who is still uncertain, Bailey was a solid all around catching prospect but no headliner pick, Bednar’s slider alone makes him a stand out pick and a chance to be really really good
I haven’t been in love with any of their 1st round picks so far. I had hope for Bishop, but he’s either going to take a couple more years to develop or he’s going to be a bust, and considering some of the players that went after him, I hope he figures it out.
They’ve made some good picks later in the drafts, but I think you have to say the best pick as far as potential so far is Harrison. I like Brett Auerbach for what he’s done in such a short period of time too.
Giants have got some flake for not drafting Khalil Watson but so far that looks like the right move. Marlins haven’t signed him yet and doesn’t look like they will. When a bunch of teams pass on a player who’s committed to college than his price is probably unreasonable.
I like the Bednar draft/signing and think the Giants were wise to pass on Watson.