Giants draft OF James Tibbs III No. 13 overall

The San Francisco Giants have had a lot of success drafting Florida State position players in the first round of the MLB Draft. And 16 years after drafting Buster Posey, the organization is trying to reprise that success: with the 13th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, the Giants selected outfielder James Tibbs III from FSU.

Tibbs is viewed as one of the most MLB-ready players in the draft, especially as far as position players are concerned. The left-handed hitter, who turns 22 in October, has fantastic bat control and control of the strike zone, and sported a batting average in the .300s in all three college years. He also saw his power surge throughout his tenure at Florida State — after hitting 27 home runs combined in his first two seasons, Tibbs hit 28 dingers in his junior season alone, which was one of the highest marks in college baseball.

ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked Tibbs as the No. 11 prospect in the draft, saying, “For some scouts, Tibbs is the most polished college hitter not named [No. 1 pick Travis] Bazzana and is a coin flip with [No. 4 pick Nick] Kurtz for many teams at this juncture of their board.”

The Athletic’s Keith Law had Tibbs at No. 14 on his big board, saying that, “He makes great swing decisions and his contact quality is strong, getting up over 110 mph for his maximum EV this spring after topping out at 105 last summer with wood.”

He was also No. 14 on Fangraphs’ ranking of draft prospects, with the site highlighting that, “Tibbs has one of the 2024 draft’s higher floors as a lefty bat with a stable contact and power blend. Lightning quick hands allow him to snatch inner-half pitches to his pull side and generate oppo contact on pitches that travel deeper in the zone. There are times when Tibbs’ swing looks like a dead ringer for Steven Kwan’s, especially against down-and-away pitches; his hands and the way he uses the ground are very similar, though that certainly isn’t a comp for Tibbs’ overall feel to hit. A standout data point here is the consistency of Tibbs’ hard contact,” before concluding that, “There isn’t really a headline tool here, just a consistent, well-rounded profile that looks like a quick-moving corner platoon outfielder.”

While analysts are unanimous in their praise of Tibbs for his control of the zone, the quality of his contact, and his high floor, they’re also unanimous in their fear of his ability to hit left-handed pitches. The Georgia native struggled (relatively speaking) to hit southpaws in college, so he could end up as a platoon outfielder, which is a sentence that probably makes a lot of Giants fans wince (though he’d be the strong side of the platoon, as a lefty).

But it’s also very possible that the organization views some changes they can make to Tibbs’ swing and approach to set him up for success against left-handed pitchers. But that’s perhaps putting the cart ahead of the horse.

Tibbs is certainly a prospect that fits the Giants profile. He’s a high-character player who was an Academic All-American and the ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year. He has fantastic plate discipline, and in his final collegiate season drew 57 walks while striking out just 38 times. He has a swing built for contact. And, as seems to be a prerequisite for gaining the Giants’ interest, he had a strong showing in the Cape Cod League last year, hitting .303/.390/.472.

But above all else was his performance this year at Florida State, where Tibbs hit a staggering .363/.488/.777 in a strong conference. He hit a home run once every 11.4 plate appearances, and recorded a whopping 95 RBI in just 320 plate appearances. You don’t need a Masters in baseball scouting to know that those numbers are damn good.

One quirk in the Minor Leagues this year is that the short-season rookie ball schedule was moved up a month, which means that the Arizona Complex League season ends in less than two weeks. As a result, a huge chunk of players taken in the 2024 draft will have to wait until 2025 to make their debuts. But with Tibbs being seen as a fairly polished player, it wouldn’t be at all surprising for him to still have a normal amount of post-draft playing time by spending the end of the season with Low-A San Jose.

Tibbs will be the Giants last draft pick for a while, as the team sacrificed their second and third-round picks when they signed Matt Chapman and Blake Snell in free agency this offseason. Thankfully, he seems worth being excited about.

Welcome to the Giants, James!