Can Giants find the next Will Clark with No. 2 pick in...

The Giants would love to draft another Will Clark, and they’ll soon get their chance.

On June 4, the Giants will have the second overall pick in baseball’s amateur draft for the first time since they selected a sweet-swinging first baseman out of Mississippi State 33 years ago.

“It was pretty evident B.J. Surhoff was going first to the Brewers,” Clark recalled of the 1985 draft, perhaps the best in history, “so it was between me, Barry Larkin and Bobby Witt for the second pick.

“My scout who signed me, Squeaky Parker, told me the Giants needed a first baseman and would probably pick me. Going into the draft, I had that information but was going to sit back and see what happens.”

Indeed, the Giants drafted Clark, the signature moment for a rebuilding franchise that lost 96 games in 1984 and 100 in 1985. The turnaround began when Clark made his big-league debut in the 1986 season opener and homered off Nolan Ryan.

The Giants won the NL West in 1987 and were in the World Series two years later.

So, yes, the No. 2 overall pick can be franchise-altering, and it’s critical to get it right, especially for an older team that lost 98 games last season and has a thin minor-league system.

The Giants are on the clock. Or at least they will be once the Tigers pick first.

“When you have a pick that high in the draft, you want to get the best available player,” Clark said. “How he impacts your team is to be determined. You don’t want to have a high pick and waste it and not get the best talent.”

Team scouts and officials will gather in San Francisco in the days leading up to the draft to solidify their strategy. The war room will be at AT&T Park, and general manager Bobby Evans said the team is taking “an all-hands-on-deck approach.”

When Pablo Sandoval hit a walk-off homer in the 2017 finale for the Giants (64-98), it assured the Tigers (64-98) would get the No. 1 pick — Detroit was worse than San Francisco in 2016, the tiebreaker in this case — and many in the industry expect them to pick Auburn pitcher Casey Mize, though it’s not a lock.

The Giants are paying special attention to the elite amateurs expected to be among the top picks. The list includes Mize, Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart (Buster Posey won’t catch forever), Florida pitcher Brady Singer (once considered the Tigers’ top option), Arizona high school pitcher Matthew Liberatore (big, strong lefty, but let’s not call him Bumgarner-like quite yet) and Wichita State third baseman Alec Bohm (6-foot-5 slugger), among others.

Leading up to the draft, Evans is reminded of 2008, when the Giants made key picks that preceded their run to three World Series championships. Posey was taken fifth overall, and Brandon Crawford was taken in the fourth round.

“We knew we were going to have a significant pick,” Evans said. “The difference this year is, with the second pick, there’s really only one guy you won’t get. You have the pick of the litter after that, and I think our staff is doing a great job preparing and evaluating.

“It’s true whatever round you’re picking in, you can select a player who’ll impact your organization for years to come. Crawford in the fourth round, he helped change our organization. It’s a hard thing to do, developing your own Gold Glove shortstop.”

Scouting director John Barr has been the Giants’ point man since the Posey draft, taking input from Evans, Giants executive Brian Sabean and others. On their collective watch, the top picks since Posey were Zack Wheeler (sixth overall, 2009), Gary Brown (24th, 2010), Joe Panik (29th, 2011), Chris Stratton (20th, 2012), Christian Arroyo (25th, 2013), Tyler Beede (14th, 2014), Phil Bickford (18th, 2015) and Heliot Ramos (19th, 2017).

The Giants forfeited their first-round pick in 2016 (18th overall) for signing free agent Jeff Samardzija and used their second-round pick, Bryan Reynolds, to acquire Andrew McCutchen from Pittsburgh.

“I don’t think you ever dismiss how important it is to get it right,” Evans said. “The margin for error is always there. There are always risk factors, injuries, so many different elements, things out of your control, but I don’t think there’s ever a draft you don’t want to give everything you’ve got to get it right.”

The Giants’ bonus pool is $11.748 million for their top 10 picks, and the slot value for their top pick is $7.494 million. They could spend less than their allotment on their first pick in order to spend more on later picks, which could be a strategy for the Giants if, for example, they use a pick to target a high schooler who’s leveraging a college scholarship.

If a team spends up to 5 percent more than its pool, a 75 percent tax is levied on the overage. When outspending the pool by more than 5 percent, future draft picks are surrendered.

The Giants, who pick second, 45th and 80th, will be represented at the draft’s headquarters — the MLB Network studio in New Jersey — by former pitcher Ryan Vogelsong and clubhouse man Mike Murphy, who’s being honored in the 60th anniversary season in San Francisco as the only employee who was there from the start.

Clark, a Giants special assistant, was invited to New Jersey but had committed to events surrounding Autism Awareness Night the same week as the draft. He looked back at his own draft day, which came as he was helping Mississippi State finish third in the College World Series.

“When we got eliminated, the first thing I thought was, ‘I want to sign and go play ball.’ It didn’t take long,” said Clark, whose agent, Jeff Moorad, struck a quick deal. General manager “Al Rosen said, ‘We want you to play.’ I said, ‘I’m ready.’”

The 1985 draft had a ridiculous number of future big-league stars.

After Surhoff, Clark, Witt and Larkin, who went 1-2-3-4, the first round included Barry Bonds (sixth), Pete Incaviglia (eighth), Walt Weiss (11th), Brian McRae (17th), Joe Magrane (18th), Gregg Jefferies (20th), Rafael Palmeiro (22nd) and Joey Cora (23rd).

In other rounds, the draft produced Randy Johnson, Bobby Thigpen, David Justice, Brady Anderson, John Smoltz and Mark Grace.

This year’s draft might not have equal star power, but the Giants are in prime position to select an impact player, just like 33 years ago.

John Shea is The San Francisco Chronicle’s national baseball writer. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey

Draft information

When: June 4-6

Top 10 picks: 1. Tigers, 2. Giants, 3. Phillies, 4. White Sox, 5. Reds,

6. Mets, 7. Padres, 8. Braves,

9. A’s, 10. Pirates

Giants 9, Rockies 4:

Crawford collects three hits. B5

A’s 5, Blue Jays 4:

Pinder hits go-ahead slam. B5