* The second day of the draft rolls on. The Giants have taken lots of pitchers. Maybe one of them will be the next Jonathan Sanchez, a 27th round pick in 2004, or Brian Wilson, a 24th-rounder in ‘03. If you’re curious, here are the other lower-round draftees by the Giants currently on the staff or nearly so:
Jack Taschner (1999–2nd)
Kevin Correia (2002–4th)
Billy Sadler (2003–6th)
Pat Misch (2003–7th)
Erick Threets (2000–7th)
Alex Hinshaw (2005, 15th)
To round things out:
Tyler Walker, Mets (1999–2nd)
Vinnie Chulk, Blue Jays (2000–12th)
Merkin Valdez and Keiichi Yabu were international free agents
Zito, Cain, Lincecum, Lowry, Hennessey: all first-rounders.
(Thanks to the Baseball Cube, which makes year-by-year team drafts easy to peruse.)
* Great quote from Krukow on his radio show this morning, about seeing the new baseball stadium this weekend in D.C.: “New yards are like new books, man, so this is going to be a new read for us tonight. I can’t wait.”
* ESPN’s Jayson Stark throws around a little Giant love in his latest column (scroll down to the “Seeing Stars” box), quoting an anonymous scout who says four Giants have a legitimate All-Star argument: Rowand, Molina, Lincecum and Wilson. The scout on Wilson: "He's the National League's Joe Nathan, except nobody knows it."
Well! Since becoming the Twins closer Nathan hasn’t had an OPS-against higher than .592, this year’s current mark. Wilson’s currently at .681 and nearly 1.5 baserunners an inning. In five years as a Twin, Nathan has had a WHIP above 1.0 once.
