Why Johnson believes the Giants’ ‘frustrating’ farm system is likely to grow originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
While the giants walked a wave of youth in their recent rise in the standings, San Francisco president Greg Johnson believes it has to do with improving the franchise’s farm system.
Speaking with The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami on “The TK Program,” Johnson explained the exasperation he and the Giants have had with their farm system and how much it has improved in recent years.
“It’s been frustrating, we look at our first round picks over the last 5-7 years and we’ve probably been ranked near the bottom of the league in contributions to WAR and that’s just going to make it very difficult to be competitive with the team,” Johnson told Kawakami. “I think recruiting position players is extremely difficult and you need a bit of luck with that.
“Unfortunately, a lot of our younger players suffered injuries, so it took them a while to get to the majors. But if you look today, see where we are and give credit to [president of baseball operations] Farhan [Zaidi] and the scouts because of the depth we have, we have a lot of young players now in the minors who are winning awards every week playing extremely well. Even Hunter Bishop now, he was a top pick and he’s had injuries, he’s playing extremely well and that bodes well for us.
“I think there is a lot of depth in the agricultural system, so the trend is absolutely in the right direction.”
The Giants made a series of big offseason free agent acquisitions, hoping the moves would get the franchise back into playoff contention. However, numerous injuries and poor games piled up, forcing San Francisco to call up top prospects Heliot Ramos, Luis Matos and Marco Luciano, with the youngsters’ solid play helping the team stay in the thick of the NL wild card race. .
Having a solid farm system is critical to the success of most MLB teams, as only a few franchises can afford the hefty luxury tax bills to constantly sign superstar free agents. Good, young, cheap players can make or break a team, and San Francisco’s young core has been the difference this season, bringing a lot of excitement and energy to every game.
