Giants executive vice president of baseball operations Brian Sabean joined the Murph and Mac Show Friday morning, and discussed a myriad of topics as the Giants close their first week of spring training.
Sabean was asked about the Giants farm system, specifically the challenges faced when it comes to producing home grown talent without high draft picks. The Giants ability to develop top 10 draft picks such as Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner played a huge part in winning three World Series titles in the first half of the decade.
That success of course led to the Giants picking later in the draft in recent years. Despite that, Sabean believes the Giants’ minor-league system is strong, and went so far as to say that he expects a second wave of homegrown talent reaching the big leagues in a few years.
“Well first and foremost I think, we have to give everybody credit, starting with ownership,” Sabean said about the Giants draft success. “We saw the point in time for what it was, and we paid homage to that into how we built our teams around our young talent, and knew that our core going forward — just like now especially with our position players — are very much homegrown.”
“Now having said that.. the (Tyler) Beede’s of the world, (Steven) Duggar, an outfielder that’s a five-tool player, I honestly see a second wave coming in short fashion that is really gonna complement the still young core that we have at the major league level. Of course having said that, in a perfect world, you want one of two position players pressing the issue and making the team every year. You want one or two pitchers, probably one out of the bullpen, and one in the starting rotation to make your team so you have some cost certainty, you have ability to balance the books, and more so, talking about long-term planning, you can kind’ve plug these guys in as you go forward.”
“With the amount of time I’ve spent in the minor leagues…I really think the next wave is coming.”
Sabean then gave his evaluation on the Giants top two prospects in Beede, 23, and infielder Christian Arroyo, 21. Both were ranked at the bottom of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospect list, something he disagrees with.
“To me, personally, who’s had eyes on Beede in three different starts, and what he’s done here in the offseason to get ready, how he’s thrown the ball in the bullpen, the early talk of the pitching coaches here — this guy is gonna be in the big leagues before we blink our eyes,” Sabean said. “The secret sauce is that when they get here, they stay here. And trust me, as we all kind’ve put our own heads together internally and evaluate everybody’s prospects — we don’t necessarily do a Top 100 like these periodicals or the talking heads do — but he’s the furthest thing from the 89th prospect in baseball, he’s much higher than that.”
And what about Arroyo?
“His age is almost being used against him,” Sabean said. “He’s one of the youngest everyday position players in Double-A Richmond, which is one of the tougher leagues, toughest ballparks in Double-A baseball. He really had a nice year… His power is not gonna translate in a park like that yet and he has been asked to play other positions like second, like third, and this is the type of year that we expect him to make a move. So he’s one of those guys much like (Joe) Panik. He’s a good all-around baseball player, he’s going to operate under the radar but when he gets to the big leagues, he’s gonna be ready…he’s gonna compliment whatever the lineup is around him, whatever position he ends up playing. He’s probably a year away, he needs more development time at a higher level.”
Beede went 8-7 with a 2.81 ERA while striking out 8.2 per nine innings with Double-A Richmond last year. Arroyo posted a line of .274/.316/.373 and hit three home runs in 474 at-bats with the same club.
Listen to the full interview below