A year after selecting nine consecutive pitchers to start the 2021 MLB Draft, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and amateur scouting director Michael Holmes were at it again.

Their first-round pick on Sunday night, Reggie Crawford, was announced as a two-way player who will be given the opportunity to develop as a pitcher and a hitter in the Giants’ farm system, but the UConn star was the only early San Francisco draft choice this year who brings a bat to the ballpark.

The Giants followed their selection of Crawford by drafting five consecutive college pitchers including second-round choice, Carson Whisenhunt, a left-hander out of East Carolina University.

Like Crawford, who didn’t pitch this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Whisenhunt didn’t toe the mound, either. After being named a preseason All-American, the Pirates’ ace tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and was suspended for the season. He has said he didn’t know the ingredients of a supplement from a chain drug store.

“He’s another guy on the mound we obviously like quite a bit,” Holmes said Sunday night. “He’s a big, tall left-hander. We think he’s got an arsenal to attack both righties and lefties. He’s got the ability to soften the baseball. He can change directions with his breaking ball. And he’s got an effective fastball that he can command. A starter’s mix for Carson.”

Following a pair of left-handers atop the draft, the Giants have chosen four straight righties led by third-rounder William Kempner out of Gonzaga. Spencer Miles of Missouri, Liam Simon of Notre Dame and Hayden Birdsong of Eastern Illinois were next in rounds four, five and six before the Giants ended the run by selecting Fresno State catcher Zach Morgan with their seventh round pick.

After attempting to restock the farm system with a run of position players in their first draft together in 2019, the Giants had a balanced 2020 draft in which they chose North Carolina State catcher Patrick Bailey with their first-round selection before convincing De La Salle (Concord) left-hander Kyle Harrison to forego his commitment to UCLA to sign with his hometown team after Harrison was taken in the third round.

Now the clear-cut top pitching prospect in the organization and widely viewed as one of the top left-handed pitching prospects across baseball, Harrison leads a farm system that’s now stacked with pitchers who were drafted out of college.

The Giants took Mississippi State right-hander Will Bednar in the first round of the 2021 draft and didn’t draft a position player until the 10th round, when San Francisco selected Florida Southern outfielder Vaun Brown. Brown has become of of the organization’s most intriguing prospects this season, as the former Division II star has launched 20 homers and stolen 32 bases while posting a 1.063 OPS while playing at Low-A San Jose and High-A Eugene this season.

Building pitching depth is imperative for a farm system that struggled to produce a homegrown ace after three first-round draft choices —Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner— helped anchor three World Series title teams in the first half of the 2010s. Between Bumgarner’s selection in 2007 and Logan Webb’s emergence as an ace in 2021, the Giants went more than a decade without drafting and developing a reliable starting pitcher despite using first-round choices on players such as Kyle Crick, Chris Stratton, Tyler Beede and Phil Bickford.

All four reached the major leagues, but each was required to transition from a starter to a reliever and none remain with the organization.

Day 3 picks

The third and final day of the draft belongs to longshots, and this year, the Giants reserved some space for a few local players to add to the mix of players who will have to battle some tougher odds to realize their big league dreams.

San Francisco used its 11th-round selection on Saint Mary’s starter Sam Bower, a right-handed pitcher who logged just 10 1/3 innings for the Gaels this year due to injury. Two rounds later, the Giants made another local product, University of Pacific infielder Thomas Gavello, who played high school ball at Monte Vista (Danville) their 13th pick of this year’s draft.

Bower, a Visalia native who started his college career at College of the Sequoias before posting a 3.43 ERA in 81 1/3 innings for the Gaels last season. Bower joins an illustrious list of pitchers selected out of Saint Mary’s that includes National League All-Stars Corbin Burnes and Tony Gonsolin and 2022 Futures Game participants Ky Bush, an Angels prospect, and Ken Waldichuk, a Yankees prospect.

The Giants announced Gavello as a catcher despite the fact the left-handed hitting Danville native played third base at Pacific. Gavello led his team in home runs (11), RBIs (31), extra-base hits (24) and walks (33) this year and posted an .888 OPS despite hitting just .247.

Assuming they sign with the Giants, Bower and Gavello will join a contingent of local prospects that includes 2019 first-round pick Hunter Bishop (Serra, San Mateo), 2020 third-round pick Kyle Harrison (De La Salle, Concord) and 2022 third-round pick William Kempner, a right-handed pitcher out of Gonzaga who starred at Valley Christian (San Jose) before pitching for the Bulldogs.