How will Mariners build for long-term success in Draft?

SEATTLE -- Scott Hunter came up for air and out for sunlight when breaking from the Mariners’ many meetings leading up to the 2026 MLB Draft.

And as Seattle’s vice president of amateur scouting was previewing this year’s crop, he reflected on just how vital this event has become to the club’s roster sustainability in this era, one of the most successful in franchise history.

“We’ve set such a high standard,” Hunter said.

The Mariners’ 40-man roster features 10 players that were taken in the Draft since Hunter was hired to president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto’s staff after the 2016 season.

That group includes five first-round picks in recent years -- Colt Emerson (2023), Cole Young (2022), Emerson Hancock (2020), George Kirby (2019) and Logan Gilbert (2018). And it very well could add another by the end of the summer, if Kade Anderson (2025) continues his rapid ascent.

Even beyond the first round, Cal Raleigh (second round, 2018), Bryce Miller (fourth round, 2021) and Bryan Woo (sixth round, 2021) have become instrumental pieces.

The point being, the Mariners have hit big in essentially each year under this front office.

“We do have a very good development system, and if we set our standards high and continue to do the right things by getting the right people, I think we'll continue to hopefully build those waves,” Hunter said.

• Day 1 picks: 24, 65, 101, 129
• Bonus pool allotment: $8,218,200 (24th-most)
• Last year’s top pick: Kade Anderson, SP, No. 3 overall ... It can’t be understated how remarkable it’s been to see Anderson adjust to pro ball so seamlessly, even given his lofty pedigree as last year’s College World Series MVP. For all the homegrown talent within Seattle’s big league rotation, Anderson is moving quicker through the Minors than any of them, and the front office remains steadfast that the left-hander could be a part of its playoff push in the second half.
• Breakout 2026 pick: Mason Peters, SP, No. 122 overall ... In an effort to pick someone other than Anderson, we’ll go with Peters, who’s already climbed to Seattle’s No. 14 ranking among its top prospects by MLB Pipeline. Selected out of Dallas Baptist University in the fourth round, he carried a 1.41 ERA and 37.1% strikeout rate through his first 11 starts at Single-A Inland Empire.

Hunter, Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander -- along with a slew of other instrumental baseball operations staff and scouts -- won’t enter the 2026 Draft with as much hype as last year, when they had the No. 3 overall pick, thanks to the Draft lottery, or in 2023, when they had three of the top 30 overall picks.

Their first selection isn’t until No. 24, and they have the sport’s seventh-lowest bonus pool allotment -- which is under half what they had to spend last year.

That will force them to cast a wider scouting net, coupled with a higher level of unpredictability of what teams in front of them will do.

“We've been really good as a group, being able to narrow it down to three or four players that fit in the pocket of the Draft that we're picking," Hunter said. “This year, we probably have about 14 -- it's just that wide open.”

Just because the Mariners won’t net what amounts to a guaranteed Top 50 prospect with their first selection -- like they did with Anderson, who's now Pipeline's No. 5 overall -- it doesn’t change how vital this year’s Draft is to their long-term roster-building strategy.

“There's a big trust factor in how we talk about players,” Hunter said, “and I may not see something someone else does, but when we put all the pieces together, making that kind of decision -- where it's a group decision that every part of our organization has weighed in on -- it gives me comfort in these times.”

During the early years of the Hunter/Dipoto/Hollander era, the Mariners leaned heavily on college talent in the upper rounds, and explicitly for arms (everyone in their rotation, except Luis Castillo). Then they transitioned more hitter-heavy, and on the high-school side, leading to the tandem that should comprise their middle infield for the next half-decade (Emerson/Young).

Because of advancements in player development, high-school talent has raised its collective floor over the past decade, Hunter said, making that demographic less volatile and easier to project.

“At this point, we're open to anything,” Hunter said. “But at the end of the day, you're not going to settle for a college guy if you think the high-school guy is better, especially with what we've [seen] with these kids so far.”

One area that the Mariners have also put a premium on -- player makeup -- is also one that they’ve been without an instrumental figure to assess this season. That primarily fell to former assistant GM Andy McKay, who made countless in-home visits to prospects, but left the organization last offseason to become the Guardians’ field coordinator.

Much of this has since been turned to director of player development Justin Toole and a host of others.

“We've challenged our area scouts, it's like we know what's in the computer,” Hunter said. “Tell us something about the person, how they're wired. What's the family like? What does baseball mean to them? Something I would say to guys: 'Everybody loves to play, but tell me the kids that love the preparation that goes into playing.'”