Giants appropriately use Rodon comp pick to draft southpaw originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The easiest part of the Giants’ offseason came early, when they gave Carlos Rodón a qualifying offer, knowing that he would never even consider it and would sign a nine-figure deal elsewhere.
That bit of paperwork got the Giants an extra draft pick, and on Sunday night they used it to add, appropriately, a left-handed starter.
With the 69th pick in the MLB Draft — a compensation selection they received when Rodón signed with the New York Yankees — the Giants took Joe Whitman, a lefty from Kent State University. Whitman was ranked 37th on MLB Pipeline’s list of draft prospects and 42nd by The Athletic’s Keith Law.
The Giants ended up with three of MLB Pipeline’s top 40 draft prospects, with Whitman joining No. 23 Bryce Eldridge and No. 30 Walker Martin.
It was not a draft deep on experienced left-handed pitching, but Whitman shot up draft boards with a strong year after transferring to Kent State from Purdue. The 6-foot-5 southpaw has a fastball that sits in the low 90s and tops out at 96, as well as a good slider. He posted a 2.56 ERA last season.
This isn’t the first time under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi that the Giants have gotten an extra pick after putting a qualifying offer on a player who departed. They had two comp picks — for Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith — during the 2020 draft that was headlined by the Patrick Bailey, Casey Schmitt and Kyle Harrison selections.
Between selecting Schmitt and Harrison, they used the comp picks on left-hander Nick Swiney and infielder Jimmy Glowenke. Swiney is now a reliever with Triple-A Sacramento and Glowenke is with Double-A Eugene.
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