Mariners look to replenish farm through Draft
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SEATTLE -- As the Mariners look to restock their farm system, the 2019 MLB Draft looms large. And it certainly helps that Seattle will have four of the first 97 selections when Major League teams divvy up the top available amateur players in the country.
The 2019 Draft will take place today through Wednesday, beginning with today's Draft preview show on MLB Network and MLB.com at 3 p.m. PT. MLB Network will broadcast the first 41 picks (Round 1 and Competitive Balance Round A), while MLB.com will stream all 78 picks on Day 1.
MLB.com will also provide live pick-by-pick coverage of Rounds 3-10 on Day 2, beginning with a preview show at 9:30 a.m. PT. Then, Rounds 11-40 can be heard live on MLB.com on Day 3, beginning at 9 a.m. PT.
Go to MLB.com/Draft to see the Top 200 Prospects list, mock drafts from MLB Pipeline analysts Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, the complete order of selection and more. And follow @MLBDraft on Twitter to see what Draft hopefuls, clubs and experts are saying.
Here’s how the Draft is shaping up for the Mariners, whose first selection is the 20th overall pick.
In about 50 words: General manager Jerry Dipoto has made it clear that his club is pointed toward accumulating younger talent that can help the Mariners become consistent postseason contenders in 2021 and beyond, with the farm system taking a big step forward during this past offseason when he traded a number of veteran standouts for talented prospects and Major League ready youngsters. This will be Dipoto’s fourth Draft with the Mariners, and he’ll look to add more impact players to that group, helped by an extra selection in Competitive Balance Round B (76th overall) that was acquired from the Indians via trade to go with the 20th and 59th overall picks in the first two rounds.
What they’re saying: "It's exciting for us because it's an opportunity for our scouts and our organization to make a little bit bigger impact to what we've done over the last couple years. It was something that was a mantra of ours the last couple years, being 30 out of 30 [in some farm system rankings], and now we're starting to creep to the middle of the pack. It's a good time not only to be a young player in this organization, but a good time to be a scout, because you've got some opportunities to make a real impact." -- Scouting director Scott Hunter, on having four picks in the top 100
Who might they take? In his latest Mock Draft, Mayo had the Mariners opting for right-handed pitcher George Kirby out of Elon University in North Carolina with their first-round selection, while listing Campbell University right-hander Seth Johnson and prep right-hander J.J. Goss out of Cypress Ranch, Texas, as other possibilities.
If they don’t go for pitching, the Mariners have also been mentioned as a potential landing spot for Brett Baty, a 19-year-old third baseman at Lake Travis High in Austin, Texas, as well as Anthony Volpe, a prep shortstop out of Morristown, N.J.
There'll be a host of options with the No. 20 pick and the Mariners could also be tempted by several promising college shortstops, including Logan Davidson from Clemson and Will Willson from North Carolina State, or Tulane third baseman Kody Hoese if he's still on the board.
Money matters: Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, each team has an allotted bonus pool equal to the sum of the values of that club's selections in the first 10 rounds of the Draft. The more picks a team has, and the earlier it picks, the larger the pool. The signing bonuses for a team's selections in the first 10 rounds, plus any bonus greater than $125,000 for a player taken after the 10th round, will apply toward the bonus-pool total.
Any team going up to five percent over its allotted pool will be taxed at a 75-percent rate on the overage. A team that overspends by 5-10 percent gets a 75-percent tax plus the loss of a first-round pick. A team that goes 10-15 percent over its pool amount will be hit with a 100-percent penalty on the overage and the loss of a first- and second-round pick. Any overage of 15 percent or more gets a 100-percent tax plus the loss of first-round picks in the next two Drafts.
This year, the Mariners have a pool of $7,559,000 to spend in the first 10 rounds, including $3,242,900 allotted for their first-round selection.
Shopping list: Pitching always figures prominently, but the Mariners also need to come up with some impact infielders, particularly at third base and shortstop, to fill out a system that suddenly is stocked with promising outfielders Jarred Kelenic, Julio Rodriguez, Kyle Lewis, Jake Fraley and Dom Thompson-Williams. Other than first baseman Evan White, the only top infield prospect in their system in Noelvi Marte, a 17-year-old from the Dominican Republic who is years away from being MLB ready.
Trend watch: Dipoto historically prefers tapping the college ranks with his higher picks. The Mariners opted for all college players in the first 10 rounds last year and have made just four high school selections out of the 45 players chosen in the first 15 rounds of his first three Seattle Drafts combined.
The Mariners aren’t adverse to taking a shot at a prep player with a prominent pick, however. They used their second-round selections on high schoolers Joe Rizzo in 2016 and Sam Carlson in ’17, and Hunter hinted that the organization is in better position now to take more chances on younger players with higher upside.
The Mariners’ recent top picks
2018: Logan Gilbert, RHP (Advanced-A Modesto)
2017: Evan White, 1B (Double-A Arkansas)
2016: Kyle Lewis, OF (Double-A Arkansas)
2015: Nick Neidert, RHP (Marlins’ Triple-A New Orleans)
2014: Alex Jackson, OF (Braves’ Triple-A Gwinnett)