For the second time in three years, the Giants selected a catcher from the ACC with their first pick in the MLB draft.
The Giants picked switch-hitting North Carolina State catcher Patrick Bailey with the No. 13 overall selection in the 2020 MLB Draft on Wednesday.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Bailey, 21, slashed .302/.411/.568 with 29 home runs and 106 RBI over 578 plate appearances in parts of three seasons with the Wolfpack. MLB Pipeline ranked Bailey as the top collegiate catcher -- and the No. 16 overall prospect -- heading into the draft.
[GIANTS INSIDER PODCAST: Listen to the latest episode]
The Giants once again drafted a collegiate hitter in the first round, just as they did in their first draft under Farhan Zaidi last year when the team selected former Arizona State outfielder Hunter Bishop with the No. 10 overall pick. San Francisco drafted catcher Joey Bart out of Georgia Tech in the first round two years ago.
Bart is the Giants' top prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, and the No. 14 prospect in baseball. The 23-year-old reached Double-A last season, and Giants manager Gabe Kapler told KNBR late last month that the team's top prospects would be "no-brainers" to include on San Francisco's taxi squad in the event the minor league season is cancelled.
Bailey and Bart, in other words, probably won't cross paths in the big leagues any time soon. When they do, baseball could look a whole lot different.
[RELATED: Watch Giants' Bishop celebrate with No. 1 pick Torkleson]
The Giants won't pick again until the second round of the draft, and No. 49 overall. San Francisco will also pick No. 67 and No. 68 overall as compensatory selections for the offseason departures of Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith in free agency.
San Francisco Giants
That won't happen until Thursday, and now Zaidi and the Giants' front office will shift their attention to the rest of the draft with another top prospect in tow.