SAN FRANCISCO — With their highest draft pick in almost a decade, the Giants surprised most prognosticators and took a polished college pitcher with a fastball that touches triple digits.
They made Jackson Flora, the UC Santa Barbara ace who went to Foothill High in nearby Pleasanton, the fourth overall pick in the 2026 MLB draft. Flora was widely considered the best pitcher available in the draft, but San Francisco had been more connected to a pair of prep hitters.
In the end, president of baseball operations Buster Posey and amateur scouting director Michael Holmes landed on Flora, only the second time in seven drafts under Holmes that the Giants have taken a pure pitcher with their first pick (Will Bednar, 2021).
Flora, who grew up rooting for the Giants and attended the same high school as Brandon Crawford, became their highest drafted pitcher since taking Jason Grilli fourth in 1997.
The 6-foot-5, 200-pound right-hander is the ninth pitcher in franchise history San Francisco has selected in the top 10, joining a club that most notably includes Tim Lincecum (No. 10, 2006), Madison Bumgarner (No. 10, 2007) and Zack Wheeler (No. 6, 2009).
Immediately, Flora becomes one of — if not the — top pitching prospect in a Giants’ farm system that has been rejuvenated recently, but most with young position players. Per Baseball America, which recently placed the system 10th overall, only three of their top 10 prospects are pitchers.
Flora, 21, posted a 1.06 ERA in 16 starts this past spring as junior for the Gauchos with a program record 133 strikeouts — an eye-popping 33.3% of the college hitters he faced while walking only 8.0%.
Per Lance Brozdowski, an analyst on Peacock’s broadcast of the draft, Flora was projected to produce “two to three times” more value over the course of his career than any other pitcher available.
Cole Hamels, the former Phillies ace, used the word “lethal” to describe Flora’s fastball-slider combination. He throws a sweeper, a sharper slider, a kick-changeup and a curveball from a low arm slot to complement a heater that sits in the mid-to-upper 90s and reaches triples digits.
“Look what he did to college hitters. He was unhittable,” Hamels said. “The dominance on the mound is something that really does show you in his approach how he’s going to get guys out. He can throw the ball over 100 mph. You can even know it’s coming. He’ll still let it go. The late life that it has is exceptional. He’ll just finish you off with his slider.”
Despite his impressive readings on the radar gun, Flora’s four-seam fastball is the “question mark” in his arsenal, according to Brozdowski, who added that with Flora’s low arm slot, “the breaking ball package has a chance to be outstanding. It could be four average to plus pitches.”
Following their 81-81 finish last season, the Giants were supposed to pick 15th in this year’s draft. But they lucked into the No. 4 overall selection through the lottery, presenting a rare opportunity to add premium talent in a year at the big-league level in need of bright spots.
The Giants were thrilled to get the chance to draft such an electric arm, but they didn’t get the ultimate prize they desired. They did as much due diligence as possible with UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, even sending Crawford, a fellow Bruin alum, to meet in-person, but it was always a long shot that he would fall to No. 4.
As expected, the White Sox selected him first overall.
The first three picks largely played out as expected, with Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson going second overall to the Rays and the Twins taking Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey at No. 3.
That left the Giants with the decision between a pair of prep hitters — outfielder Eric Booth Jr. and shortstop Jacob Lombard — a college bat in Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress, or Flora, the highest-regarded arm in the draft who was No. 4 overall on most big boards.
With $17,350,600 in bonus pool money, the third-most of any team, the Giants are far from done.
The Giants also own the No. 29, No. 55 and No. 90 selections in the remainder of the first four rounds that take place Saturday. The draft resumes Sunday morning with Rounds 5-20.
SF Giants’ previous top-five MLB draft picks
- C Joey Bart, No. 2 overall, 2018
- C Buster Posey, No. 5 overall, 2008
- RHP Jason Grilli, No. 4 overall, 1997
- 3B Matt Williams, No. 3 overall, 1986
- 1B Will Clark, No. 2 overall, 1985
SF Giants first-round picks under Michael Holmes (since 2019)
- IF Gavin Kilen, No. 13 overall, 2025
- OF James Tibbs III, No. 13 overall, 2024
- 1B Bryce Eldridge, No. 16 overall, 2023
- TWP Reggie Crawford, No. 30 overall, 2022
- RHP Will Bednar, No. 14 overall, 2021
- C Patrick Bailey, No. 13 overall, 2020
- OF Hunter Bishop, No. 20 overall, 2019
