San Francisco Giants Select High School Pitcher In Latest Mock Draft

In MLB Pipeline's newest mock draft, the Giants are projected to take a high school left hander.

Saguaro's Cam Caminiti (11) reacts after a strikeout against the Canyon del Oro during the 4A state baseball championship at Tempe Diablo Stadium on Monday, May 13, 2024. / Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY

The MLB Draft is quickly approaching and Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline released a new mock draft on Thursday. At pick 13, Callis has the San Francisco Giants selecting Cam Caminiti, a prep southpaw out of Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.

According to MLB Pipeline's Top 200 draft prospects, Caminiti is the top high school lefty in the draft, and they have him ranked 17 overall.

A young prospect who won't even turn 18 until August, Caminiti throws four pitches from the left side, three of which are already rated as plus pitches by Pipeline. During his season, the fastball was sitting in the mid-90s and touching 98. Rated a 60 on the 20-80 scale, it is currently his best pitch.

According to his scouting report, his fastball "misses a lot of bats thanks to ride and carry up in the zone combined with deception in his delivery."

Similarly to Kyle Harrison, the Giants rookie left hander, his fastball won't blow hitters away everytime he throws it, but it has enough movement to miss bats if commanded well.

The changeup, given a 55, is his newest pitch and has become a go-to pitch for missing bats as well. Caminiti also throws both a slider and a curveball, but there is "a bit of a split camp among scouts over which is the better offering."

While the slider is a better rated pitch, neither one has emerged as a solidifed third offering just yet.

The lefty, a cousin of former San Diego Padres MVP Ken Caminiti, is currently commited to LSU. Most prep players who are projected in the first round are committed to a division one school. That's not usually an issue, however it does give them leverage in the signing negotiations. If they don't get the signing bonus they want, the player can threaten to go to school instead.

Caminiti has been projected to go from 10 to 15 in most mock drafts, and was even given to the Giants in a past mock.

Prep arms have been notoriously hit or miss, and they rarely go at the top of the draft unless they are rated off the charts. It doesn't always work out, though, and players like Brady Aiken and Tyler Kolek can be used as cautionary tales.

In a relatively weak high school pitching class, Caminiti could be a risk worth taking for the Giants in the teens, and he would join Carson Whisenhunt and Reggie Crawford as left handed pitching prospects in their system.