The Biggest MLB Draft Busts in San Francisco Giants History

Not every first-round pick becomes a franchise cornerstone, and these three selections by the San Francisco Giants are reminders of just how unpredictable the MLB Draft can be.

Ball bags with the San Francisco Giants logo. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Drafting in baseball is a difficult endeavor. The gap between the best players in college or high school and the big leagues is so vast that it can be quite hard to forecast which players will translate from one level to the next. To an extent, each draft choice is an educated guess. Still, when a player is selected in the first round, it's expected that he will eventually make it to Major League Baseball and contribute.

The San Francisco Giants have had a mixed history when it comes to the MLB Draft, especially during the 21st century. There have been some extraordinary choices that have enabled the club to win championships — Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey come to mind — while there have been other head-scratchers that just haven't panned out. This is obviously the case for almost every MLB organization, but it seems exaggerated in the Giants' case.

Every team wishes it could redo some draft choices. Whether injuries got in the way of success or the potential was just never realized, draft busts are something everybody has to deal with.

Here are three of the biggest draft busts in recent Giants history, in chronological order.

Steve Soderstrom (1993)

The Giants had the luxury of picking sixth in the 1993 MLB Draft and decided to choose Steve Soderstrom, a right-handed pitcher out of Fresno State. After spending three years in the minors, Soderstrom finally made his big league debut on Sept. 17, 1996. Over the next 10 days, Soderstrom started three games, posting a 5.27 ERA over 13 2/3 innings. He never appeared in another MLB game, spending the rest of his professional career in Triple-A.

Joey Bart (2018)

San Francisco Giants catcher Joey Bart. | USA TODAY Sports

Calling Joey Bart a bust might be harsh, given that he's currently still an MLB player, but it's hard to look at it any other way. Selected second overall by the Giants in the 2018 MLB Draft, Bart had high expectations coming out of Georgia Tech. He was meant to be the heir to Posey, a franchise icon who helped the team win three World Series.

In Bart's four years in San Francisco, he compiled a .219/.288/.335 slash line with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs. He played in just 162 total games over that time. It just wasn't good enough. By the time 2024 rolled around, the Giants had had enough. They shipped him to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Austin Strickland.

Hunter Bishop (2019)

Arizona State Sun Devils center fielder Hunter Bishop. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The 10th pick in the 2019 MLB Draft was Hunter Bishop, a left-handed-hitting outfielder out of Arizona State. The Giants hoped he could become a centerpiece of a new-look outfield that would spur the team toward more championships. Instead, Bishop has yet to make an appearance in the big leagues. At 27 years old, it feels like his time is running out.

Over the course of five seasons in the minors — he has reached as high as Triple-A — Bishop has put up a .238/.328/.389 slash line. That's just not good enough for a top-10 pick. As of right now, it's only appropriate to call him a bust.