Out In Front: Giants Signed Jack Conlon + Something Extra

Hello! In this edition of Out In Front, I'm going to share my opinions on the Jack Conlon signing and some juicy trade deadline stuff in Something Extra.

2017 Mid-Season Special

It's the time of the season where the summer weather is blistering and the Mid-summer Classic, also known as the MLB All-Star Game, was already done and plenty of fun happened. In the Minors however, plenty of ball have already been played and the short season affiliates already played a significant amount of games to evaluate them, especially the 2017 draftees. 

For the Giants, the minor league records of almost every team are disappointing but there are plenty of impressive prospects to get behind on with plenty of great lines and exciting tools. I'm giving you my updated top prospect list with plenty of thoughts on the guys. I didn't put Hwang Jae-gyun because I don't really consider him as a prospect but if he's a prospect, he'll be here. You already know about the Tiers list so I'm cutting out the chit chat and let's get going.

Stats are written by the time I wrote it which is on a day-to-day basis (putting thoughts on 4-7 prospects a day) so plenty might not be updated. Data courtesy of FanGraphs and MiLB.com.

Out In Front: Short Season Prospect Notes

Hello! I'll be back in my blog posting my stuff until some procedures regarding Giants Farm will be sorted out. This time, I'm going to take a look at the debut of prospects in short season ball, the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes and the Arizona League Giants. 

GPro's Top 90 Draft Prospects for 2017: 1-30

Welcome to my scouting reports for the Top 90 draft prospects for this year with scouting reports.

1. Hunter Greene  RHP/SS/3B

Greene's a tremendous athlete and it shows on both sides of his game. He's a first round prospect as a hitter with plus raw power and a decent feel to hit, good hands and tremendous arm strength to play on the left side of the infield. 

On the mound however, he's on a different level. He's already hitting 102 MPH on his fastball and when he focuses on pitching full-time, he might be sitting at high-90s as he matures in his frame and with the ability to spot it thanks to his fairly easy mechanics and athleticism. I don't really dig his breaking ball ever since the PG All-American Classic due to its slurvy nature and I project his changeup better than his breaking ball due to his arm action and some late sink. At full maturity, both secondary offerings will be average to solid for him. 

Greene is first overall pick worthy with his potential to have an 80 fastball with above average command of it in the starting rotation but there are some concerns with his offspeed pitches that needs attention and the obvious risk of taking a HS pitcher in the early going.

Grades (Hitter): Hit 50 | Power 60 | Speed 50 | Arm 65 | Glove 50

Grades (Pitcher): FB 75 | SL 50+ | CH 50+ | CMD 55

GPro's Top 90 Draft Prospects for 2017: 31-60

31. Tristen Lutz  OF

Lutz stock has been up and down but he has the potential to be a Round 1 draft pick.

Lutz is big and the frame has some serious raw power in it but he maintains his above average athleticism on it. Lutz has potential to hit well for average and power. His swing looked better than ever this season as he positioned his hands higher in his stance resulting to being short on the swing. He also reduced his crouch that helped him increase the leverage in his swing. He has above average bat speed, ability to hit to all fields, solid approach from a prep player, and he proved he can hit well with wood bats with power. His power has potential to play anywhere as he matures in his frame. He only got average speed but he hustles well on the bases. His arm is a fit anywhere in the outfield as it is strong and accurate. He's improving his routes in the outfield and has the makeup to think he'll be above average in all three spots.

While he's not the five-tool player that teams dream, Lutz can impact on both offense and defense with his power bat and impressive defense.

Grades: Hit 50+ | Power 55 | Speed 50 | Arm 60 | Glove 50

GPro's Top 90 Draft Prospects for 2017: 61-90 Plus 2

61. M.J. Melendez  C

Even though Melendez might not be the first prep catcher to be taken in this year's draft, he got the highest chance of sticking at the premium position at the end of the road.

Melendez has all the tools to stick at catcher throughout his career. He has superb athleticism behind the dish with plus lateral quickness, developing receiving with good hands, loose actions, tremendous reflexes, plus arm strength and good pop times. He tends to throw from his knees which affects the accuracy of his throws. He has considerable projection in his lean frame that projects above average to plus raw power. The biggest question mark for him is his ability to hit. I don't like how he swings the bat with bat wrap, a sloppy leg kick and a hacker mentality. The thing that he got is the exceptional bat speed which is plus-plus once he get his mechanics cleaned up. He got plus power potential to his left side with natural loft but his approach is very raw at this stage of his career.

Melendez has huge concerns with how much he'll hit for average and how much will he tap on his raw power but he got a big chance to reach the Majors with his defensive potential.

Grades: Hit 40 | Power 55 | Speed 35 | Arm 60 | Glove 55

2017 Giants Draft Prospects Database

Here is the database for all of the draft prospects that I scouted so far with updated grades and short description on them and future reports will be in this database as well. In case you are going to read the prospects that I wrote here in more detail, you can visit my works here and here in my blog as well as here, here and here in my work at Scout. Enjoy!