10 things to know about Hunter Bishop
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The Giants selected Arizona State outfielder Hunter Bishop with the 10th overall pick in the MLB Draft on Monday. Here are 10 things to know about Bishop, MLB Pipeline's No. 7 overall Draft prospect.
? Bishop has put it all together his junior year at ASU. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound outfielder has big-time power from the left side, and he's tapped into it ever since coming back from the Cape Cod League with a revamped stance and approach. Bishop has bat speed, strength and loft, and he can drive the ball to all fields. He's fast, too, and plays a solid center field.
? Bishop's older brother Braden -- Braden is 25, Hunter is 20 -- is a rookie outfielder for the Mariners. He made his MLB debut in the Japan Series this March and is ranked Seattle's No. 11 prospect. Braden is more of a speedy, contact-hitting, glove-first outfielder, while Hunter has the home run power.
? Bishop finished the 2019 regular season with a .347 batting average, .473 on-base percentage, .765 slugging percentage and 22 home runs in 54 games for the Sun Devils. His 22 homers are tied for sixth-most in NCAA Division 1.
? Bishop can really crush the ball. According to the Trackman technology Arizona State has at their home park, Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Bishop had the team's five hardest-hit balls and longest home run there this season.
? Bishop's power surge this year came after a tough sophomore season in 2018 in which he hit .250 with five homers. His freshman year, he hit .301, and also had five homers -- meaning in 2019 he's more than doubled his home run total from the previous two years combined.
"I wouldn't say it's a breakthrough season because I knew it was always in there," Bishop told the Arizona Republic in early May. "Everybody says I had two bad years, but my freshman year was pretty good. Last year, I got a little bit away from that, my mental side of the game. My skills have caught up with my body, too. My swing has gotten a lot better. I'm a lot more consistent."
? Bishop was named a semifinalist for the 2019 Golden Spikes Award, presented to the nation's top amateur baseball player by USA Baseball. Arizona State had two of the 25 semifinalists, Bishop and infielder Spencer Torkelson.
Bishop was also named the Midseason National Player of the Year by both Perfect Game and D1Baseball this season.
? The Padres drafted Bishop out of high school in 2016, taking him in the 24th round with the 714th overall pick. But he didn't sign.
? Bishop's high school? Junipero Serra High School in Northern California -- the same high school attended by Barry Bonds and Tom Brady, among other professional athletes.
? Bishop was a two-sport athlete in high school and won state championships in both baseball and football in the West Catholic Athletic League. He was a star wide receiver for JSerra and originally committed to play football at Washington, where his brother Braden went, before eventually choosing baseball at Arizona State instead.
? Bishop's mother, Suzy, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's in 2014. Hunter and Braden now have a charity in her honor, 4MOM, founded by Braden, that raises money in partnership with the Alzheimer's Association.