SAN FRANCISCO — A weekend that has quietly become one of the most important of the season for the Giants is upon us.

No, not that series for fourth place against the Rockies.

The draft room is where the real action is taking place, beginning Saturday morning.

In a season where almost none of Buster Posey’s decisions have panned out, he will consult with amateur scouting director Michael Holmes and, sometime around 11 a.m., make one of the most consequential calls of his tenure as the Giants’ president of baseball operations.

While he will rely on months of preparation put in by dozens of scouts and analysts, Posey will ultimately have the final say on who the Giants choose with one of the five highest selections in franchise history and its most premium draft pick since 2018 — No. 4 overall.

The last time San Francisco picked in the top five, it turned into Joey Bart, who’s now on his third organization. A decade before that? Posey, who won three World Series titles.

Despite MLB’s best efforts, including roping the draft into All-Star weekend and televising the first round on NBC/Peacock, the prospects are too far away from becoming household names for it to match the spectacle of its counterparts in the NBA and NFL.

But whether the picks go boom (Will Clark, No. 2 overall, 1985; Matt Williams, No. 3 overall, 1986) or bust (Jason Grilli, No. 4 overall, 1997) matter all the same.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

There’s a reason the Giants had to overpay on the free-agent market for Willy Adames and agree to take on Rafael Devers’ contract that is widely viewed as an albatross. They’ve failed to identify and develop high-end talent through the draft or international market.

Of the six drafts run by Posey’s predecessor, Farhan Zaidi, half of their top selections (Reggie Crawford, Will Bednar, Hunter Bishop) don’t look like they’ll ever crack the majors, and two others (Patrick Bailey, James Tibbs III) no longer play for the organization. (Although the jury’s still out on that Bryce Eldridge kid they took 16th overall in 2023.)

It’s worth noting Holmes came aboard from the A’s in 2022 and is one of the many holdovers from the Zaidi era, including Posey’s second-in-command, Zack Minasian.

The farm system, recently rated the 10th-best in the sport by Baseball America, has recovered thanks to some big wins internationally, signing the top teenagers each of the past two cycles. Shortstops Josuar Gonzalez (2024) and Luis Hernandez (2025) give the Giants two top-50 prospects, and fellow infielder Jhonny Level (2024) has also developed into a consensus top-100 talent.

Now, this is the Giants’ best shot to add one of the top high school or college players in the country. Because they lucked into the No. 4 pick this year through the lottery, they won’t be eligible to draft any higher than 10th next year, despite their dismal record.

That means they need to nail this pick.

The Giants also own the No. 29 overall selection as part of the return for Bailey’s trade to the Guardians earlier this season. That makes the Giants one of four teams with two picks in the top 30 and gives them more total bonus pool money ($17,350,600) than all but three teams.

Unfortunately for the Giants, there seems to be a consensus around the top three players available.

Could they use that extra money to go underslot at No. 4 and later on use a big bonus to lure one of the top Bay Area prep players, such as De La Salle’s Tyler Spangler or St. Ignatius’ Archer Horn, away from their college commitments (both to Stanford), a la Kyle Harrison in 2020?

The draft can be such a crapshoot, with even the top prospects having to climb many rungs before they impact the big-league team that clubs tend to take the best player available rather than drafting for need. So even though the Giants’ system is flush with young position players and lacking in upper-level arms, that doesn’t mean they’ll take a college pitcher, such as Jackson Flora of UC Santa Barbara, who would make a good story having grown up in the Bay Area rooting on the Giants.

Last year, the Giants prioritized position players with strong contact ability, using the No. 13 overall pick on Gavin Kilen out of Tennessee and dipping into the college ranks for their first six selections. It would be a decidedly different direction if they go with either of the two players they’ve been most associated with at No. 4: prep shortstop Jacob Lombard or high school outfielder Eric Booth Jr. — both considered more raw with higher upside.

Of course, it would be a dream scenario if the White Sox, Rays or Twins passed on any of UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, prep shortstop Grady Emerson or Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey. The Giants would love to scoop one up, particularly Cholowsky, who could continue Brandon Crawford’s legacy of UCLA shortstops who grew up as fans of the team.

The Giants were so keen on Cholowsky, in fact, that they sent Crawford to meet with him in-person. In the unlikely scenario that they are able to land the spiritual successor to Crawford, however, they will still be counting on whomever they pick to make a similar impact.

But whoever the Giants wind up picking, the heat’s on Posey to get it right. He’s on the clock.