SF Giants prospects: Baseball America lists one recent draft pick among early standouts
The SF Giants most recent third-round pick is already turning heads as a professional. Geoff Pontes of Baseball America published a piece on Tuesday highlighting several spin-rate standout pitchers from the 2022 MLB draft class. One of the eight players listed was Giants third-round pick William Kempner. Kempner made a brief pro debut this season, starting at the Arizona Complex League before he was promoted to Single-A.
Pontes noted that Kempner's sidearm delivery made him "one of the more divisive collegiate pitchers in the 2022 draft class." Kempner showed off incredible stuff in college, throwing a four-seam fastball that sits in the mid-90s alongside a potential plus slider and developing changeup. According to Pontes, Kempner's fastball has both an excellent spin rate of 2600-2700 RPMs and benefits from his unique delivery. Furthermore, per Pontes, Kempner's slider has reached 3,000 RPMs, which would rank near the top of the current MLB leaderboard. However, it did not always translate to excellent results.
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Kempner recorded a good (but not great) 3.05 ERA over his final two seasons at Gonzaga. His sidearm delivery can be difficult to repeat and seemed to lead to erratic command. A pitcher with two pitches as good as Kempner's fastball and slider normally dominates collegiate hitters, especially in a non-Power Five conference. Instead, Kempner only struck out 84 hitters across 84 college innings while walking 59.
During his short stint in professional baseball after the draft, Kempner continued generating strikeouts and walks at a similar rate. He completed 11 innings over five minor-league appearances this season, recording 11 strikeouts, six walks, and a 5.00 ERA.
The draft is rarely an opportunity for MLB teams to draft ready-made big leaguers, though. As a result, nearly every prospect selected needs to make significant improvements in the lower minors before they are close to being ready for the majors. For Kempner, the clear first challenge for the young righty is developing more consistent command of his pitches.
Still, the SF Giants understood the challenges that William Kempner will face in his development when they drafted him. Despite concerns surrounding his unique delivery, Kempner's tantalizing pitch arsenal was clearly one of the best in this year's draft. The Giants hope they can eventually help him put it all together at the big-league level.
