The Giants used the third and fourth rounds of the 2026 draft to keep leaning into a familiar theme: talent with baseball in the family and plenty of room to grow. Peyton Bonds and Carlos Martinez give San Francisco two very different looks, but both fit the same broad idea - upside that will need development.
Bonds, selected in the third round, comes with one of the loudest names in the draft and the kind of bloodlines the Giants clearly valued this year. He is the nephew of Barry Bonds and the son of Bobby Bonds Jr., and he was one of four players with ties to former major leaguers taken by San Francisco, along with Kaden Waechter, Luke Nixon, and Josiah Kemp. The first three are expected to sign, while Kemp remains more uncertain.
At Rutgers over the last two seasons, Bonds showed enough production to make the pick easy to understand. He put up a .972 OPS with six home runs and 29 RBI in 166 plate appearances this season, and he also shared a college roster with Trevor Cohen, who went in the third round of last year’s draft.
The appeal is obvious: Bonds brings raw power, contact ability, and the kind of projectable pop that can turn into something bigger. The catch is that the Giants are betting on their own player-development machine to help unlock it. In that sense, this is the kind of pick that asks a lot from the organization.
Brian Recca of Northeast Draft Guide, who covers the region as closely as anyone, pointed to the areas where Bonds can still sharpen his game: "He [Bonds] has trouble with sliders, and he likes to swing and chase. The approach is raw.
But he does make decent contact, and the ball flies. Feel for the barrel is iffy.
I think there are some tweaks to help with that."
Recca also offered a scouting snapshot that underlines the boom-or-bust nature of the profile: 'The hit tool is the question, but it 60-or-70 raw power, plus speed presently (could slow down to a 55 or 50), plus arm, average-to-above average in center presently." He compared Bonds to outfield prospect Dakota Jordan because of the shared raw power and uncertain hit tool.
The Giants’ fourth-round choice, Carlos Martinez out of Hofstra, brings a different package entirely. Martinez posted a 3.30 ERA with 96 strikeouts and 27 walks in 76.1 innings this season, and he did it after missing all of 2025 following Tommy John surgery.
Recca said Martinez has a deep enough arsenal to keep hitters guessing. "Martinez has two fastball shapes.
Mostly 92-95 range, but will get up to 97-98 early. Would probably get into triple digits as a reliever.
Hard slider that shows plus often. He also developed a pretty solid changeup.
Has a spike curve, too, that has some funky spin."
Martinez was coached by former big league infielder Frank Catalanotto, who praised both his competitiveness and his presence in the clubhouse. Catalanotto said Martinez has been a captain for the past two years and called him one of the toughest competitors he has coached.
Because Martinez was not ranked among MLB Pipeline’s top draft prospects, there is a strong chance he agrees to an underslot deal with the Giants.
In Other News...
Giants Could Shock Fans With A Deadline Strategy Nobody Expects
The Giants deadline conversation is turning in a direction few around the club would have expected, with the focus shifting from short-term patchwork to a possible push for pitching that could matter well beyond this season. The idea is simple enough: if San Francisco wants to strengthen its 2027 rotation, the front office may need to act now, even if that means entering the market as a buyer rather than a seller.
Joe Ryan, Luis Castillo and Sonny Gray have all surfaced as the kind of starters who could fit that timeline, each for different reasons tied to contract status and availability. Ryan, a San Francisco native and a second straight All-Star, would be a particularly clean fit in theory, while Castillo has long been linked to the Giants and Grays situation in Boston could become relevant if the Red Sox decide to sell. Nothing is imminent, but the deadline is starting to look like the place where this kind of swing would have to happen. [Read more 🡒]
Buster Posey May Already Be Settled On Tony Vitellos Future
The Giants season has been messy enough that the blame pie has been getting sliced in a lot of directions, and Tony Vitello has not escaped it. The first-year manager has taken heat for a team that has looked unpolished in too many spots, but the issues go beyond one man in the dugout, with the front office also carrying a heavy share of responsibility for how this year has unfolded.
Buster Poseys view of the situation matters because he is the one making the calls, and the former catcher has already shown he is willing to make uncomfortable moves if he thinks they are needed. Even so, the current read inside the organization appears more measured than reactionary, which leaves Vitello and his staff in a tricky spot as the Giants try to sort out whether the problems are fixable or just a sign of something deeper. [Read more 🡒]
Buster Poseys KNBR Return Took Another Awkward Turn On Air
Buster Poseys return to KNBR was supposed to be a routine reset, a chance for the Giants president of baseball operations to get back on Murph and Markus after an eight-week absence from the station. Instead, it became another awkward stop in a radio relationship that has already been strained, following a tense earlier interview and a canceled June 25 segment.
During the broadcast, a hot mic moment added a fresh layer of discomfort, with the hosts acknowledging the issue on air after a caller claimed a KNBR producer made a blunt remark in the background. Murphy said the station would look into what happened behind the scenes, leaving Poseys latest appearance less notable for what he said than for the uneasy fallout surrounding it. [Read more 🡒]