Giants Boss Buster Posey Reveals Draft Strategy, Scouts First Round Pick

The San Francisco Giants came into the 2025 MLB draft with the 13th overall pick, the same as they had in 2024.

The new regime, headed by new president of baseball operations Buster Posey, went down the same path in drafting a college bat, Tennessee's Gavin Kilen. Posey discussed not only Kilen's scouting report, but how he and his team went about the draft.

Kilen was a two year starter at Louisville, before transferring to Tennessee and having a breakout junior season. A middle infielder, the 21-year-old slashed .357/.441/.671 with a 1.112 with 15 homers and 46 RBIs in 53 games.

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On KNBR's 'Murph and Markus," Posey discussed the draft and what he liked about Kilen in particular.

"I think he’s a guy who has a knack [for] finding the barrel, can hit line drives to all parts of the field and has some power in there, too; good defender," the former MVP said.

Kilen received a plus hit tool was given a 60 grade by MLB Pipeline, and his defense was a 55 grade, meaning he's above average at both. Yet, that wasn't the only thing Posey liked about his first round pick.

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"It seems like all reports are he’s a guy who loves playing baseball; he plays the game hard; somebody who will push his teammates and hold them accountable. Really excited to see him in a Giants uniform," Posey continued.

Posey wants to continue the change to the clubhouse he has seemingly made.

Outside of Kilen, Posey made it clear that he wants the team to be "pitching and defense," but had one specific focus for his offense in this year's draft.

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"... but offensively, we drafted some players who know how to put good at-bats together. They’re not going to be one-dimensional. [They’ll] be able to move the line," Posey explained.

In his playing days, Posey was a superstar, yes, but he was the type of player to do just that, put together good at-bats. The early 2010's Giants were built on pitching and scrappy hitting, but they did not have a superstar power hitter. Now, they have Rafael Devers, and it seems part of the draft strategy is to build around him with the type of player described.

"For us to win, I believe that’s the type of player we need. Everybody loves the homer -- I love the homer as much as anybody -- but for us, our philosophy is: we know we’re going to play tight games; we’re going to have to play good, clean fundamental baseball. And the hope is we got a lot of players that have that buy-in," he finished.

The Giants already have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, headlined by Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. Now is the time to build from within after acquiring both Willy Adames and Devers, by developing hitters to always get the next guy up.

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