Giants agree to deal with first-rounder Tibbs

This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado’s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Giants fans won’t have to wait much longer to see James Tibbs III in action.

Ten days after being selected with the 13th overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft, Tibbs agreed to a $4,747,500 deal with the Giants, according to MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis. The signing bonus is below the recommended slot value of $5,272,300, which should give San Francisco more flexibility to sign its 17 other selections by the 2 p.m. PT deadline on Aug. 1.

San Francisco, which has a $7,566,200 bonus pool this year, also signed sixth-rounder Robert Hipwell to slot value ($348,200) last week. Seventh-rounder Greg Farone ($204,150), eight-rounder Niko Mazza ($202,500), ninth-rounder Zane Zielinski ($17,500) and 10th-rounder Cade Vernon ($17,500) agreed to below-slot deals, leaving fourth-rounder Dakota Jordan and fifth-rounder Jakob Christian as the Giants’ only two unsigned Draft picks from the first 10 rounds.

A power-hitting outfielder out of Florida State, Tibbs batted .363 with 28 home runs and a 1.264 OPS on route to earning ACC Player of the Year honors this year. Perhaps even more impressive was the fact that the left-handed-hitting Tibbs consistently improved his strikeout-to-walk ratio each season, finishing with more walks (58) than strikeouts (37) in 2024. That certainly caught the attention of the Giants, who tend to target hitters who make good swing decisions.

“It’s definitely something we value, guys who kind of dominate the strike zone, both on the offensive and the defensive side,” senior director of amateur scouting Michael Holmes said. “James has that ability to control the zone. I think one of the unique traits that he has is he can really see the ball extremely early, which allows him to make really good swing decisions. The way he tracks the ball, the way he sees it early, his understanding of the strike zone is I think what makes him a real complete hitter.”