Fangraphs was able to get an interview with Giants scouting director John Barr who along with the rest of the front office have done a very good job of finding and developing talent. Barr talks about the organizations philosophy and some of the interesting prospects that the Giants have in the minors right now.

Let me first say that you still have to draft good players and they have to be mentally and physically ready to go out. You’re still trying to draft the best players, because you’re trying to add value to your organization. That allows your general manager to have the flexibility to either decide to continue the development of that player — and then have him go to the big leagues for you — or put him in a trade to bring back talent. You can’t draft solely on what the major-league team may need, because that need will change over time as players go through the system.

“That said, there are trends [in the industry]. The scouting directors putting together their draft boards put weight on certain things that are important to them. They’ll do that each year, so their drafts may end up being similar. There is also the idea that you are looking at your organization and asking, ‘OK, where are our strengths and where are our weaknesses?’ Even though you don’t want to line up your draft based on that, you are certainly mindful of it.”

This is really a must read.

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