ORLANDO, Fla. — The San Francisco Giants haven’t made a ton of moves this offseason, but one decision brought good fortune.
For the 2026 MLB draft lottery, the Giants sent vice president of player development Randy Winn to represent the team for Tuesday’s selection show. General manager Zack Minasian was the rep last season, and the Giants wound up with the 13th overall pick despite holding the ninth-best odds at a top-six pick among the 30 teams.
The Giants came into this year’s lottery with the 12th-best odds at a top-six pick — having finished with the 15th-best record at 81-81 — and a 1% chance at the top pick. With Winn standing in, the Giants wound up with the fourth overall pick in the draft. It’s San Francisco’s highest pick since the Giants selected catcher Joey Bart with the No. 2 overall pick in 2018.
How this draft pick shakes out is to be seen. The MLB Pipeline prospect rankings have four shortstops — UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky, Alabama’s Justin Lebron and high schoolers Grady Emerson and Jacob Lombard — as their top draftees.
This is an opportunity for the Giants, whose mediocrity of late has plenty to do with their development woes and a trend of first-round picks who haven’t panned out or were saddled with injury, excluding prospects Bryce Eldridge and Gavin Kilen, their top selection this year.
Catcher Patrick Bailey and outfielder Heliot Ramos are their only first-round picks who’ve landed everyday roles. After Buster Posey’s selection in 2008, the most impactful first-round pick was second baseman Joe Panik, who won a World Series in 2014 and accumulated a 5.5 bWAR (Baseball-Reference’s calculation for wins above replacement).
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