The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Joe Whitman was taken at the end of the 2nd round - competitive comp picks with the 69th pick in the draft by the San Francisco Giants.

Whitman, of course, broke through this year as one of the best college pitchers in the nation at Kent.

He was hard to project because his rise was so fast that I saw him going anywhere from the end of the 1st round to the 5th. I personally saw him as 3rd or 4th because of the lack of a credible 3rd pitch leading me to think his future is as a reliever.

This is really good news for Kent that has been on a bit of a draft drought. The ability to develop young talent is a key to recruiting young talent and Birkbeck is one of the best pitching coaches in college, so hopefully here's to more good young arms coming to hone their talents at Kent.

I turned on the draft near the end of the first round and while I forget which team was on the clock, the one announcer was thinking Whitman would get pick in the mid 20s. He was rated #37 on the draft list, so falling to 69 might be a bit more than I was expecting. Cleveland took 2 arms right before him as well. Next up with be Aidan Longwell (1B/LHP).

PS: Now that I think of it, maybe that projection at the middle of the 1st was Atlanta who were picking right after Cleveland.

https://www.batterypower.com/2023/7/6/23...nta-braves

Considered #2 best pick of the first night.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1008...stract.com

Approximate draft slot is $1.07mil, so I’m curious if he rolls the dice and comes back next year to improve his positioning as I think this draft was still deep due to the Covid effects.

PS: I was wondering if SF would find some extra money to entice him to sign since he was slated to go earlier, but the 2 guys they got in front of him are also intriguing prospects that they will definitely have to go over slot to sign. Also found this blurb on him:

Quote:In a deeper college lefty class, Whitman might only be considered as a true second-round or even a third-round talent in a special class, a source told Giants Baseball Insider. However, Whitman has a legitimate chance of sticking in a starting rotation if he can continue to incorporate his changeup in his arsenal and stay consistent with his strike-throwing. With the pick value for the 69th overall pick slotted at $1.07 million, Whitman might sign for close or even above slot value given the first-round buzz that he generated before the draft started.

(07-10-2023 05:03 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  Approximate draft slot is $1.07mil, so I’m curious if he rolls the dice and comes back next year to improve his positioning as I think this draft was still deep due to the Covid effects.

PS: I was wondering if SF would find some extra money to entice him to sign since he was slated to go earlier, but the 2 guys they got in front of him are also intriguing prospects that they will definitely have to go over slot to sign. Also found this blurb on him:

Quote:In a deeper college lefty class, Whitman might only be considered as a true second-round or even a third-round talent in a special class, a source told Giants Baseball Insider. However, Whitman has a legitimate chance of sticking in a starting rotation if he can continue to incorporate his changeup in his arsenal and stay consistent with his strike-throwing. With the pick value for the 69th overall pick slotted at $1.07 million, Whitman might sign for close or even above slot value given the first-round buzz that he generated before the draft started.

The teams usually have this conversation with the player before drafting them. So, I would be surprised if the Giants didn't already talk to Whitman (or his agent) to make sure they were roughly on the same page for the bonus before they drafted him.

Justin Miknis © to the Pirates in the 16th and Aiden Longwell (1B) to the Rockies in the 17th. I thought Longwell would’ve gone a few rounds earlier.

The main thing for these guys is to get some at-bats at the professional level and proving themselves quickly. Anything after the 5th round is a crap shoot - kids who got something going for them but need a lot of other things to develop for a shot at the bigs.