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In nine months on the job, Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey has already made his first marquee free agent addition and his first blockbuster trade.
Now, Posey has made his first draft pick.
The Giants chose infielder Gavin Kilen out of Tennessee with the No. 13 overall selection in the 2025 MLB amateur draft. Amateur scouting director Michael Holmes said the franchise will develop Kilen as a shortstop even after he spent most of his junior season playing second base.
“Elite bat to ball skills, we’re talking about a career 10% strikeout rate in his college years, more walks than strikeouts,” Holmes said when describing Kilen.
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Kilen led Tennessee with a .357 batting average and 1.112 OPS in 52 games and was named as the first-team All-American second baseman by Baseball America.
The 21-year-old spent his first two college seasons at Louisville, where he played shortstop and posted a .952 OPS as a sophomore. Regardless of where Kilen ultimately ends up on the diamond, he was widely regarded as one of the top contact hitters in his class and multiple scouting services note that he has above average speed and arm strength.
Sunday wasn’t the first time Kilen has been drafted as the Wisconsin native was selected in the 13th round in 2022 by the Boston Red Sox. Instead of signing, he opted to honor his commitment to Louisville.
For the second consecutive year, the Giants forfeited their second-round draft pick to sign a free agent who had received a qualifying offer. In 2024, the Giants added Matt Chapman and last offseason, Posey made his first bold move when he handed Willy Adames a seven-year, $182 million contract.
The Giants made one additional selection on Sunday, tabbing Rutgers outfielder Trevor Cohen with the 85th overall pick in the third round.
“A career 8% strikeout rate, another guy that touches the baseball, puts it in play, we think he can play center field,” Holmes said.
Posey has made several significant changes to the Giants’ front office in the last year, hiring general manager Zack Minasian and appointing Randy Winn as his vice president of player development. One notable holdover from his predecessor, Farhan Zaidi, is Holmes, who is still in charge of overseeing the draft and said Posey brought a different energy to the draft room on Sunday.
“My first draft day with Buster, he was great,” Holmes said. “Super supportive of not only myself, but our entire staff. Asked a lot of good questions. Right there in the room with us and involved in all of the conversations. Just a real calming presence.”
Holmes joined the organization as a Zaidi hire in December of 2018 and has had mixed results with first-round selections. His first-ever draft pick, Arizona State outfielder Hunter Bishop, is 27 years old and has yet to make his major league debut.
The Giants’ 2020 first-round pick, Patrick Bailey, took over as the team’s starting catcher in 2023 and won a Gold Glove in 2024, but Bailey has never come close to providing league-average production as a hitter.
The next two first-round picks, right-handed pitcher Will Bednar and left-handed pitcher Reggie Crawford, have been sidetracked by injuries. The Giants’ 2023 first-round pick, 6-foot-7 slugger Bryce Eldridge, is the top player in the farm system and widely regarded as a Top 50 prospect in the sport.
The Giants have high hopes Eldridge can eventually become their everyday first baseman, but not all first-round picks need to turn into superstars to help Posey build a contender.
In June, the Giants’ top baseball executive dealt 2020 third-round pick, Kyle Harrison, and the team’s 2024 first-round selection, James Tibbs III, in a four-for-one swap to land power-hitter Rafael Devers. The deal helped the Giants achieve their long desired mission to acquire a premier position player, and is the type of transaction the franchise couldn’t necessarily pull off when the Nationals made Juan Soto available at the 2022 trade deadline.
San Diego sent Washington a package of highly touted young players that included 2025 All-Stars Mackenzie Gore and James Wood as well as 2024 All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams to acquire Soto. At the time of the deal, the Giants lacked the prospect capital to compete with the Padres’ offer, but three years later, they used three prospects including 20-year-old pitcher Jose Bello to land Devers from Boston.
After acquiring Devers, the Giants have a core of players that features Adames, Chapman, Logan Webb, and Heliot Ramos (a 2017 first-round pick). The franchise, however, lacks quality depth at the upper levels of the minor leagues and would benefit from a deep draft class this summer.
The most successful Giants teams in the franchise’s San Francisco-era history featured a plethora of homegrown prospects, led by former first-round talents such as Posey, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Madison Bumgarner.
When the Giants won their last playoff series — the 2014 World Series against Kansas City — Posey, Bumgarner, and draftees such as Joe Panik, Brandon Belt, and Brandon Crawford were all on the field for the final out.
Posey’s 2025 roster is reliant on a blend of players acquired from outside the organization and several middle-round gems who have developed into key contributors.
Webb, a 2014 fourth-round pick, anchors a rotation that also features 2021 12th-round selection Landen Roupp and 2022 sixth-round draftee Hayden Birdsong. The Giants’ bullpen leans on former international signees Camilo Doval and Randy Rodríguez, who joined the organization as teenagers, as well as 2013 10th round pick Tyler Rogers and Ryan Walker, a 31st-round draft pick from 2018 who defied long odds to reach the majors.
With their first and third-round picks made, Holmes, Posey, and Giants scouts will spend the next 24 hours combing through scouting reports in hopes of unearthing the team’s next diamond in the rough.