About two decades ago, Michael Holmes returned to school. After four years in the minors with the A's, Holmes took a job on the coaching staff at Wake Forest, his alma mater. He soon jumped into scouting, but in the coming weeks, the Giants scouting director will try to relive some of those early days.
The MLB draft was cut from 40 rounds to five this year, meaning more than 1,000 amateur players went undrafted. The Giants are calling it the "passed-over market," but there's another more familiar word for what's about to happen: Recruiting.
Starting Sunday at 6 a.m. PT, teams can begin contacting undrafted players and offering them a bonus of up to $20,000. That's about one-seventh of what the average 10th-rounder gets in a normal year, so most of the best remaining players are expected to return to college. But there are some who still will want to go pro, and the Giants will try to convince them that they want to be Giants.
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SIGN UP HERE "I was a college coach a long time ago so I've kind of put my recruiting hat back on a little bit, getting back into that mode because there's a little bit more of a sales pitch that comes with it when the players get to choose their destination," Holmes said on the latest episode of the Giants Insider Podcast. "We've looked at that aspect, the passed-over market, from every angle. We've strategized through that and kind of how we want to approach it. We think that we have a great organization to sell, a great opportunity to offer the players that may fall into the passed-over market. We definitely will walk into that portion prepared as well."
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The recruiting won't at all be limited to Holmes and his scouting staff. While area scouts have the greatest connection with younger players, the Giants plan to take an all-encompassing approach.
Team executives already have spoken to current Giants about helping with the recruiting, and also have canvassed the organization to find players or staffers who might have a connection to an undrafted prospect, even if that's simply that he went to the same school.
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"We have some (players) that have been willing to be part of that effort, which is great," president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said.
The obvious first thought is that perhaps a call from Buster Posey can help get a commitment from a young catcher, or maybe a conversation with Brandon Crawford can help lure a Northern California prospect who might have grown up dreaming of playing with him as Mauricio Dubon once did. There are less obvious connections though that might be just as impactful.
For instance, reliever R.J. Dabovich, the Giants' fourth-round pick, has been training with the same strength and performance group that current Giants like Kevin Gausman, Logan Webb and Tyler Cyr work with. Big league hitting coach Donnie Ecker and assistant pitching coach Ethan Katz aren't too far removed from being high school coaches, and perhaps that provides a connection somewhere. Bench coach Kai Correa is a huge part of the baseball community in Hawaii, and maybe that helps in some way.
The Giants plan to leverage any connection they have, but there are more traditional methods, too. They will sell prospects on an organization that has embraced player development at every level, including in the big leagues. They will point out that their new minor league facility in Scottsdale will be one of the best in the sport.
They -- very slickly in the hours before the draft -- committed to paying minor leaguers through the end of the season, and since players can get that stipend as soon as they sign, that's a few thousand dollars that might be helpful. At the very least, it shows a commitment to minor leaguers that other organizations have not yet made, and the Giants also pay their minor leaguers better than just about anyone.
Finally, there's the factor that might ultimately be the most important to undrafted players. Because the bonus is so small, many players are expected to balk from the start and they can put their names on a no-contact list if they want. But there will be college seniors who don't want to be part of a loaded 2021 class, prep stars who have no interest in more time in classrooms and injured players who might prefer to rehab with a big league organization.
There will be plenty of options, and if any of them have Bay Area or California ties, the Giants hope to be at the front of the line. Zaidi has said repeatedly that the Giants will target local undrafted players, many of whom grew to love baseball as the organization was winning three titles.
"For players that grew up rooting for the Giants around the Bay Area or the West Coast, you would think that puts us in a good position," he said. "We're certainly excited about that and want to make sure we focus on players in our area and don't get beat out for those guys."
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Zaidi said he's not sure how many players the Giants will target or ultimately add to their 2020 class, and he plans to work with director of player development Kyle Haines to make sure the numbers make sense. Haines has helped oversee the rapid growth of the farm system, but it's a group that still has most of its talent at the lower levels, and passed-over players might see an opportunity to quickly pass some current Giants prospects.
The Giants have spent two years overhauling their minor league system. They'll now get a chance to prove that they have one more skill in the bag. We'll find out soon if they're good recruiters, but not too soon.
"I'm not sure how many of the West Coast kids want to hear from me at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning," Holmes said, smiling.