Welcome to this series that I consider as special in my heart. This is where I interview the 2019 draftees, get to know them better, in turn, you get to know them too. Past the scouting reports, past other people's opinions, straight from the source themselves. However, I am going to cover those prospects who did not have the media fanfare, the attention, the spotlight. I am going to focus on the prospects beyond top pick, Hunter Bishop. From Logan Wyatt down, I am doing my hardest to reach out on the day 2 and 3 draftees and put them on the map for Giants fans.
This interview is very verbatim. I don't want to edit what the prospects said about the topics so that you can feel what type of personality they had. In turn, you see mine as well. I am using initials (mine's W, the draftees depend on the first letter of their first name).
In my second interview, I spent time with Harrison Freed, the outfielder from Butler University selected in the 13th round by the Giants. We talked about getting the call, his relationship with long-time friend Ryan Pepiot who was drafted by the Dodgers, improvements he's done on the offseason, etc. I had a blast talking to Freed, he seemed to be very level-headed, self-aware, intelligent, very professional and mature. I hope that you see the traits that I saw while talking to him.
W: How did you feel that you got drafted? Has it sunk in that you are a pro baseball player now?
H: It was a pretty cool feeling. I had an idea that I was going to get picked, but I just didn’t know when. When I got the call, it was surreal. It hasn’t really sunk in, I think it’ll really sink in once I get out to Arizona and start up.
W: Is your family with you when you got the call? How did they feel about the draft?
H: Yes, my family was with me minus my brother. They were super excited. They know how much I wanted to play professionally & how much work has been put in to get to this point, so they were very happy for me.
W: And you will get to play pro baseball (for) the Giants. What do you think of the Giants and their direction? They have a pretty solid group of youngsters down in the farm but what do you think of joining them?
H: I’m just very excited to get to be apart of a great organization. I really want to be apart of this growing organization and I’m excited to be able to help with this movement. On top of this, I can’t wait to join the rest of the farm system, as I will be able to learn from other great prospects in the farm system and expand my game.
W: Great stuff! And you will have the chance to face your teammate Ryan Pepiot a good handful of chance while you are embarking on your pro journey. Any thoughts about playing with Pepiot on Butler?
H: Playing with Pepiot has been an awesome ride. I actually have been teammates with Ryan since I was in first grade, so we have been best friends for a long time. It’s been awesome to see him grow into such an amazing pitcher. He’s the real deal. I’m super excited to face him in the future, but I’m most excited to see how his future will play out. He’s going to be a very successful pitcher for a very long time.
W: It should produce from friendly banter once you face each other, either in rookie ball, high-A ball and/or the Majors! After two so-so seasons with Butler, you went absolutely bonkers in your junior year. What changes did you do in order to place yourself to the place that you are today?
H: The biggest thing that I changed was my overall approach. I’ve always had power, just having a poor approach limited my ability to “tap into the power.” My pitch recognition got better, which put me into better counts to hit. This ultimately gave me the opportunity to square more balls up, which lead to a power surge. This all started to change during my summer in the Northwoods, where I hit .290ish with 12 HRs, 63 RBIs.
W: Yeah, I have seen your numbers in Northwoods and thought that you carryover the improvements you (have put on) to next year. I hope that you continue to do damage in pro ball! Aside from your power, which in my opinion is better than plus, what is the best asset that you feel you bring to the field?
H: I would say that my arm is probably avg (50), speed is avg (I run 6.7-6.8), but my best tool outside power would be baseball IQ.
W: And I can see it man. You seem to be a guy with a lot of smarts and self-awareness. Do you have any plans before embarking on the journey to become a pro baseball player?
H: I appreciate that. I do not have any plans, as I leave tomorrow to get started!
W: Did getting drafted turned your family as Giants fans?
H: Yeah, I’d say so. My parents lived in St. Louis for a bit, so they are cardinals fans. That being said, they’ve definitely become Giants fans overnight.
W: Do you have any goals or expectations that you want to achieve as a baseball player?
H: I wouldn’t say I have any expectations as of right now, but my end goal is to one day be good enough to play in the major leagues and win a World Series.
W: Great stuff man. I had a blast talking to you! You sound and play like a pro's pro. To wrap this up, do you have any message for Giants fans out there?
H: I really appreciate it. My one message would be to get excited for the future, there’s a lot of good things happening within this organization!
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