Phil Bickford

At first glance, Bickford seemed like a steep price for the Giants to pay to acquire reliever Will Smith. But Bickford's recent performance, most notably at the 2016 Futures Game, left many observers unimpressed. Rather than showing the mid-90s fastball that intrigued scouts, Bickford has been sitting 88-92 with his fastball. And while his slider is devastating, he lacks a secondary pitch like a changeup he can use to challenge left-handed hitters. Bickford is only 21 years old and has plenty of time to develop and fix these flaws, but it's rare for teams to give up first-round talents like him without having an inkling that something is off. His control in particular was off in 2016; he walked five batters per nine innings after the Brewers acquired him. He'll have to figure that part of his game out before he can regain his top prospect status.

After being taken with the 18th pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, Bickford went to the Arizona League and posted a 2.01 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 22.1 innings. While it was a small sample, the 6-foot-5 righty exhibited the power and high-end strikeout ability that had scouts pegging him as a first-round talent. He possesses a plus fastball to go along with an average slider and changeup, but what makes him such an intriguing prospect is his combination of velocity with plus control. Looking ahead, Bickford will likely start the year in the lower levels, and is probably at least three years away from the big leagues. He should be a secondary target for those in dynasty leagues, as he does not have quite as high of a ceiling as some of the arms that went ahead of him last year's draft.