The Giants made a BIG decision...

The San Francisco Giants just made a massive decision regarding one of their top prospects. A guy drafted just a few months ago is about to make his professional debut, and we're going to break the whole thing down here on SF Giants Digest. If you're new here, welcome to the channel. I'm your host, Michael Montreal, and if you've been here before, welcome back to SF Giants Digest. We're so glad you found your way back to the channel. Now, before we get into today's video, if you haven't yet, make sure to go down below, hit that like button, and hit that subscribe button. About three quarters of you guys watching the videos are not actually subscribed to the channel. It's completely free, takes just a second of your time, and really does help us continue to be the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. So if you enjoyed today's breakdown, go down below, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. That'd be much appreciated by myself and everyone here at Digest Media. Now, of course, the Giants have one of the more improved farm system in Major League Baseball. A lot of that's because of the shortstops, the middle infielders, some outfielders like Bo Davidson, of course, the Joshua Gonzalez's, Luis Hernandez's, but all of a sudden, the Giants system is headlined by a few arms. Now, it's been a while, basically since Kyle Harrison was a prospect, that there's been some legitimate starting pitching talent in the system, but all of a sudden, there are some legit pitching prospects. And of course, the number one of those guys is Jackson Flora. And we got word from Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. I'm hearing Jackson Flora will join Class A San Jose this week and is likely to start during the series at Fresno. So we get word that Jackson Flora is officially going to be making his professional debut this season. It actually is going to be happening tomorrow, which is extremely exciting. Now, Jackson Flora was the fourth overall pick for the San Francisco Giants in July's draft. And this is a guy who has skyrocketed towards the top of their farm system. Now, moving forward a little bit, the San Jose Giants then confirmed when he will be pitching. They put out Action Jackson. Welcome to San Jose. The number four overall pick in the draft is set to make his debut this Friday in Fresno as the San Jose Giants get ready for the playoffs. So really, really exciting stuff. I will actually be at the game. For those that may not know, I am from the Fresno area. So I am definitely going to see Jackson Flora, hopefully the future ace of the San Francisco Giants, make his professional debut. Now, I don't expect him to throw for very many innings. I think maybe two to three innings at the very most, excuse me. And I think the Giants just wanted to get him in some professional games, some that type of setting that he's never really been in before. Now, of course, he threw at UC Santa Barbara, but that's not the same as a lot of top prospects in the draft. You see guys from Tennessee, from LSU, from those big SEC schools, Jackson Flora didn't come from those type of environments. So I think the Giants just want to get him a little comfortable, get him back in the routine of things before the end of the season. So then next season, when he starts the year in high A, in double A, wherever it may be, he can hit the ground rolling. Now, Flora is currently the number three ranked right-handed pitching prospect in baseball. And the two guys ahead of him are very, very highly titled prospects. So the fact that the Giants didn't have very many pitching prospects in the system before July, and now have Jackson Flora as the third ranked pitching prospect in baseball. And then a guy like Ramon Marquez who came over at the deadline is a top 100 prospect. That is very exciting for the future of this organization. And Jackson Flora specifically, he's a guy who, if he starts his professional career well, and pitches well to open next season, he's a guy who we could see at the back half of 2027 in the big league rotation. Because right now there are not a ton of options with San Francisco Giants to fill some innings in their starting rotation. So I'm sure if he passes every level with flying colors, he's a guy who could debut very, very quick, especially because he was by far the most advanced arm in this year's draft class. Now he actually did make his technical professional debut. It wasn't an affiliate ball. It wasn't even in a complex league game. It was in the bridge league a few days ago. And this came from Coast to Coast Baseball, but the actual YouTube video came from FanGraphs. They said, I have found Jackson Flora's Giants debut from the bridge league yesterday. Shout out FanGraphs for having this on their YouTube. Per the video's description, he sat 96 to 99, mostly 97, 98, hit 99 twice, two sliders at 92 miles an hour, a sweeper at 85 miles an hour, and a splitter at 90 miles an hour. Now the splitter or changeup, whatever you want to call it, was the biggest adjustment he had in his junior season at college as well as kind of differentiating the slider and the sweeper. He used to just throw one and now he throws the slider, which is much harder, and then a sweeper at 85 miles an hour. So he gives two different looks to hitters, which really did help him jump up the draft rankings in his draft eligible season. Now Flora is a guy who is hopefully going to change the outlook of this organization. Not only was he a very highly touted draft prospect, this is a guy who grew up a Giants fan. He grew up rooting for the Giants back in the dynasty seasons. He's from the Bay Area and he wasn't necessarily a highly ranked high school kid. That's why Tony Vitello at Tennessee was not recruiting him to come play in the SEC. He wasn't recruited by a ton of big schools, but all of a sudden he comes from UC Santa Barbara and is one of the best ranked pitching prospects in the minor leagues. Now I mentioned it a little bit, but I want to get a little deeper into why Jackson Flora is such a good fit for this organization. He kind of fits both of their timelines because the Giants are in a really weird situation right now. They have some big money contracts like Willie Adames, Raphael Devers, Matt Chapman, even Adjankuli that suggest they are trying to contend next season. They're trying to contend right now in this current window. Then on the flip side, their record in the big leagues, they're over 20 games under .500, not playing well this season. That is very clear. They have a ton of talent in the farm system, including Jackson Flora, but we talk about the Joshua Gonzalez's, the Johnny Levels, the Luis Hernandez's. Some of these younger prospects in the lower levels that probably won't be ready until 2028 at the very earliest, most likely not ready until 2029. So Flora is a perfect pick at number four to kind of bridge those two ideas. So if he dominates the minor leagues and gets up to the big leagues at the end of 2027, he can help these expensive contracts that suggest the Giants are trying to win now and be a part of the current rotation. As well as by the time the Joshua's, the Luis Hernandez's, those guys are in the big leagues. He's already a seasoned vet. He's been in the big leagues for a year or two. He knows how to do things. He's been in that entire routine of being a big league starter. So he's ready to take reign of the rotation. Not to mention Logan Webb's only here through 2028. The Giants need an arm to develop in the system, to be that homegrown guy and take over as the horse of the San Francisco Giants starting rotation. I think myself, I think a lot of you, and I think everyone within the Giants organization is expecting that to be Jackson Flora. Now Logan Webb is a guy who, he did some scouting because the Giants lucked into that number fourth overall pick. Again, they were expected to get the 11th overall pick and they somehow fell to getting that number four overall pick, which ended up being Jackson Flora. Of course, Logan Webb looked at some of the guys that were rumored to them at four and he said, Hey, I think Jackson Flora is the pick. I think this is a kid who can fly through the minor leagues. He can come up and dominate at the big league level relatively soon. And I think that's what Buster Posey, Michael Holmes, who's the director of, you know, scouting and the draft. I think that's what those guys expect him to do. And that's why they chose him at number four. Sure. The Giants could have gotten a little risky and gone with, you know, a Jacob Lombard and Eric Booth jr, a high school kid, a Drew Burris in the outfield, but they went with the arm because this system was not loaded with arms. It was loaded with the position players. So they get the guy who, yes, he fills the need and the organization, but was also arguably the best player available at number four. And that's why I love the pick of Jackson floor. And it is really, really exciting to see him debuting with the San Jose Giants tomorrow evening. That's going to do it for today's video. If you enjoyed it, go down below, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. Those are two of the easiest ways to help support the channel. And again, leave a comment down below your thoughts on Jackson floor and what you expect to see from him from his first professional outing with San Jose against the Fresno Grizzlies tomorrow evening. Thank you so much for watching and we will see you next time.