Draft brings pitchers, unique talents to Mariners' system

SEATTLE -- The Mariners made two of their most intriguing picks in recent Draft memory, swung aggressively with an expensive agreement on their second-rounder, restocked their hitter-heavy pipeline with 14 pitchers and came away from their 2024 class feeling optimistic about its long-term potential.

Basically, Seattle’s 2024 Draft had a bit of everything.

• Mariners take switch-pitcher Cijntje with 15th pick | Meet Seattle's two-way pick

“Some Drafts are different,” Mariners director of amateur scouting Scott Hunter said. “This one, don't chase something that may not be there. And we did see the depth of this Draft being a little different than last year. So we wanted to be a little more targeted.”

Here are four takeaways from Seattle’s 20 picks:

1. Pitchers, pitchers and more pitchers
The Mariners went extremely heavy on arms, all of which were college selections, other than second-rounder Ryan Sloan. Part of that strategy was by design -- Seattle’s well-chronicled success with draft-and-develop pitchers has paid off massively in the Majors, but it has also left its farm system more depleted of top-end arms, as none of its top 10 prospects by MLB Pipeline is a pitcher.

But the Mariners' pitcher-heavy strategy also tied into the personnel available in a thinner class, and they needed to acquire a few under-slot candidates after going over slot on Sloan. It was reminiscent to 2019, when Seattle took Elon University's George Kirby first, then eight more pitchers through the first 10 rounds.

“If the position player wasn't there that we loved, and it was a tie, let's go to the next wave of arms,” Hunter said. “And it's been a good plan and philosophy for us, not to force anything. But this could be another wave of talented college arms that kind of catch up with our young hitters that we put in the Draft over the last few years.”

2. Two-way player and two-way pitcher
Headlining that group of pitchers is first-rounder Jurrangelo Cijntje, who throws with both arms, reaching up to 99 mph from the right side and 93 mph from the left. He carried a 3.67 ERA, a 1.10 WHIP and 113 strikeouts over 90 2/3 innings in 16 starts this season with Mississippi State. The Mariners intend to fully explore his ambidextrous skill set, and how they do so will be fascinating. They’re still unsure if he’ll pitch in live games this year, based on his workload and the remaining schedule.

The same is true for two-way player Grant Knipp, Seattle's sixth-rounder. Knipp hits 97 mph on the mound, and he can crush homers with an exit velocity of 110 mph and a projected distance of 440 feet.

Each represents a new frontier for the organization.

“It was more about shooting for some upside, and obviously some uniqueness as well, that maybe we're in a position now to take on a different challenge,” Hunter said. “And I think our [player development] group and our scouts as a whole are kind of stimulated by that. It's just not searching a Draft board and waiting for the next name to come up. It's like, 'All right, what can we do that's a little different that might impact our organization long term?'”

3. 'Creative' with bonus pool
Sloan agreed to terms on a $3 million signing bonus, according to a source, well above the $1,641,800 slot value for the No. 55 overall pick. That’s no surprise, given that Hunter hinted in recent weeks that the club would be open to taking a high school pitcher early. To do so, it needed to entice Sloan away from his Wake Forest commitment.

The Mariners went heavier on college seniors for a bulk of their Day 2 and 3 picks, many of whom are expected to sign for under slot value.

“We had to catch up with our bonus pool and get creative in certain areas,” Hunter said, “and still look for prospects that we think can really fit our program and then surprise us.”

4. Who’s the next Woo?
With all these arms, who might be the next under-the-radar success story like Bryan Woo, a sixth-rounder in 2021?

Hunter suggested ninth-rounder Aiden Butler, who pitched for two seasons with Polk State College in Winter Haven, Fla., and was in line to transfer to Florida State.

“It's not the big, gaudy velo numbers,” Hunter said. “It's a developing breaking ball. But he does a lot of things right. The pure scout goes in and says, 'His arm works really well. He's athletic. There's a lot of room on his 6-foot-8 frame to get bigger and stronger.' And a lot of the stuff that we see in him with our eyes is projecting out what he could be two or three years from now once he gets in our program.”