The Giants are owners of one of the fastest rising farm systems in baseball, and they just added the fastest rising draft prospect from this year's class with the No. 14 overall pick.
Will Bednar became better and better as Mississippi State's season went on, giving the Giants more reasons to love the College World Series' Most Outstanding Player. But how does he compare to other Giants prospects before he puts pen to paper? It's not an easy list to crack.
Team prospect rankings haven't been updated for a while now, making it tough to examine how the experts view the Giants' farm system. For this exercise, though, let's use Baseball America's current list of the Giants' top-30 prospects. The top 10, in some order, seems pretty set with Marco Luciano leading off the list and Will Wilson ending it. Here's where things get a bit complicated.
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Kyle Harrison and Seth Corry are the only two pitchers in the Giants' top 10. Does Bednar immediately move ahead of at least one of them? Probably not.
Baseball America has Harrison as the Giants' No. 4 prospect and Corry at No. 9. If it were up to me, I'd possibly have Harrison as high as the Giants' third-best prospect. Bednar (21) is slightly younger than Corry (22), but Harrison and Corry have higher ceilings.
Bednar likely already is a more refined pitcher at this point than both the 19-year-old Harrison and Corry. He has a high floor and high ceiling, it just doesn't reach as high as the two young southpaws.
Harrison and Corry both were high school draft picks who can struggle with command at times. When they're on, though, they can be lights-out lefties. Bednar attacks the zone and improved his fastball and slider going into his 2021 season.
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Now, he needs to keep refining his changeup to have a great three-pitch arsenal as a starter.
What makes matters harder for Bednar as far as the rankings go is the improvements of players like Jairo Pomares, Ricardo Genoves and Caleb Kilian. Pomares has been on fire for the San Jose Giants after starting the season sidelined to injury, and Genoves and Kilian have played like top-10 prospects all season long.
Plus, Baseball America has the three young relievers the Giants already added to their 40-man roster -- Camilo Doval, Gregory Santos and Kervin Castro -- ranked as the organization's No. 22, 23 and 24 prospects.
Simply put, this isn't an easy farm system to make your mark from Day 1. On the high side, Bednar could be slotted in at No. 9, but probably fits better near No. 10 or 11. On the low side, he might not make it past No. 13. Before going any further, it needs to be said this isn't a bad thing.
RELATED: Breaking down how Giants used their picks in the 2021 draft
The Giants zeroed in on a pitcher to add to their hitter-heavy farm system, and one that shouldn't take years to develop. Bednar is a non-stop competitor who proved he can be the ace of championship staff while leading Mississippi State its first national championship in any sport. If all goes right, there's the real chance we might even see him in San Francisco late next season.
After going five straight years without taking a pitcher with their top pick in the draft, the Giants needed a prospect like Bednar. Instead of seeing the reality he might not be a top-10 Giants prospect right away as a bad thing, look at it as more proof Farhan Zaidi and the rest of the front office is adding depth to every level to create a long-term contender.