Giants Select High-Upside Collegiate Shortstop in Latest Mock Draft

The San Francisco Giants are off to a great start in the 2025 season, entering June 15 with a 41-30 record, good for second place in the National League West.

Coming off a year where they were under .500 that resulted in them firing their president of baseball operations, the Giants are considered to be one of the bigger surprises in the league.

In the offseason, San Francisco gave out a huge contract to Willy Adames, who has not performed at the level of his deal thus far.

In the latest mock draft by Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline, he has the Giants taking shortstop Marek Houston out of Wake Forest 13th overall. However, this selection does not indicate any level of urgency to replace Adames.

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Houston is a right-handed-hitting shortstop who is ranked 12th overall on MLB Pipeline's draft list, and is the second-highest collegiate shortstop.

The 21-year-old is coming off of a career season at Wake, which has put him firmly in the first round.

Since entering college, the shortstop has been an everyday player for the Demon Deacons. He played 65 games in his freshman year, but finished the season with a .635 OPS. He came back the next year and hit .326 with a .949 OPS, raising his slugging percentage from .307 to .516.

Houston then entered his junior season and put it all together at the plate.

He slashed .354/.458/.597 with a 1.055 OPS while also stealing 19 bags.

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While he may never have a lot of pop, Houston did hit 15 homers and drove in 66 runs, both career highs.

However, as MLB Pipeline says in their scouting report of Houston, that may be his power ceiling. Although he had a career-high in both homers and batting average, "he may find 12-15 homers per season while providing less in the way of batting average" at the professional level.

That being said, he is a plus defender at short.

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With "plenty of range to both sides," his scouting report suggests that he is a lock to stick at the position moving forward.

Where Houston slots on the field all depends on how he hits.

He may wind up being a utility player, rather than an everyday shortstop.

For more Giants news, head over to Giants On SI.