Mariners beat deadline to sign third-round pick

Haniger out again after injuring knee in wall crash, but no DL expected; top prospect Lewis named to All-Star Futures Game

July 7th, 2018

SEATTLE -- Florida State catcher Cal Raleigh, the Mariners' third-round selection in the June Draft, passed a physical and signed with Seattle just prior to Friday's 2 p.m. PT deadline for college players with remaining eligibility.
Raleigh was the final unsigned pick among Seattle's top 34 choices and the Mariners were pleased to lock him up as the 21-year-old agreed to an $854,000 signing bonus, according to MLB.com's Jim Callis. That was above the slot value of $632,700 for a 90th overall selection and as high as the club could go without exceeding its allowable bonus pool.
General manager Jerry Dipoto said since Raleigh hasn't played for several weeks, he'll remain in Peoria for a few days to take batting practice and hit some live pitching before joining Class A Short-Season Everett.
"We felt he was one of the best catchers in the country in what was a pretty good group," Dipoto said. "The leadership, switch-hitting, he's a good offensive player who has defensive skills. One of the better pitch framers in the country. Fairly advanced, played in a big school in a big conference and it's an opportunity for us to put a polished catcher in the system and I suspect he'll move quickly."

Meanwhile, Dipoto said first-round pick Logan Gilbert out of Stetson won't pitch for Everett at all this season after coming down with mononucleosis.
"We'd intended to let him pitch twice, to build up 5-6 innings and mostly interact with his teammates," Dipoto said. "But he's back in Orlando now, spent some time in the hospital and is resting at home. He's going to have a 4-6 week recovery from a pretty nasty case of mono. He should be ready to go in our High Performance camp in September."
Haniger sits out a second game
Manager Scott Servais held Mitch Haniger out of Friday's series opener against the Rockies, but said the outfielder's bruised knee was feeling much better and he might be able to return for Saturday's 1:10 p.m. PT game.
It was the second game Haniger has missed since crashing into the short wall down the right-field line pursuing a foul ball in Wednesday's 7-4 loss to the Angels.
"Yesterday it was really sore, but it's calmed down quite a bit today," Servais said. "He had it looked at by the doctor and it's day to day. Hopefully he goes along good today and he possibly could get back in there tomorrow. He was definitely moving and feeling better."
Triple-A Tacoma outfielder was flown in from Albuquerque, N.M., in case Haniger might miss several games, but won't be activated unless the injury keeps him sidelined longer than expected.
Lewis selected for Futures Game
Kyle Lewis, the Mariners' top-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline, was named Friday to the U.S. squad for the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game that will be played Sunday, July 15 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. as part of the All-Star week festivities.

Lewis, who is the No. 58 overall prospect on MLB Pipeline's rankings, has missed much of the past two seasons while recovering from knee surgery, but is healthy now and has put up a .262/.305/.439 line with five homers and 27 RBIs in 41 games for Class A Advanced Modesto.
The game will be televised on MLB Network and streamed live on MLB.com starting at 1 p.m. PT.