The Giants announced the signings of left-hander Madison Bumgarner and outfielder Wendell Fairley, their two remaining unsigned first-round picks from June's First-Year Player Draft, on Wednesday morning.
Bumgarner, a 6-foot-4, 215-pounder who was selected 10th overall, helped Hudson's South Caldwell High School to the North Carolina state championship in 2007. Gatorade's North Carolina Player of the Year posted an 11-2 record with a save and a 1.05 ERA this year. Bumgarner struck out 143 batters and issued just 11 walks in 86 1/3 innings.
Bumgarner was the first high school pitcher drafted by the Giants with their opening pick since Matt Cain in 2002.
Fairley, from George County-Lucedale High School in Mississippi, was the Draft's 29th-overall selection. The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder hit .538 with nine home runs while leading the Rebels to the Mississippi Class 5A South State Finals during his senior year. Also a wide receiver in football, he bats left-handed and throws right-handed. Fairley also played in the 2007 All-American Baseball Game in Albuquerque, N.M.
After 9 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday, the Giants would have lost negotiating rights to Bumgarner and Fairley. They already had signed their other first-round pick, right-hander Tim Alderson. Both Bumgarner, who was considering the University of North Carolina, and Fairley, who had signed a letter of intent at Southern Mississippi, had college options.
"You always have to operate under the reality that with a kid who has options for school, you can't make any assumptions [a signing] is a foregone conclusion," Giants director of player personnel Bobby Evans said.
The deals legitimized the Giants' haul from the 2007 Draft, in which they had six of the first 51 selections.
"Obviously, the Minor League system is the backbone of the organization," Evans said. "Any time you can strengthen it with quality high picks, you feel good about that."
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...rtnered=rss_mlb