The first day of the draft was excruciating.  The first round featured 5+ minutes between picks leading into a completely unnecessary five minute break before finally picking it up to one minute for the compensation round.  In all, it took about three hours, and the Mariners only had one pick that came towards the end of it.

With that one pick the Mariners grabbed a big high school right hander named Taijuan Walker, who you can read about here.

It was an interesting first day to be sure.  Coming into the draft it looked as if no one had any idea where anyone was going after Harper, Taillon and Machado, and that's just how it played out.  There is no shortage of quotes and tweets out there from industry veterans saying that this was one of the most hectic day ones ever.  Several highly regarded players made it through day one without having their names called, leaving a better than expected group of players on the board for day two, including two of the players Seattle was connected to pre-draft - SS Marcus Littlewood and CF Joc Pederson - as well as high quality arms Stetson Allie, Brandon Workman, A.J. Cole, Brett Eibner* and position players Austin Wilson, Jedd Gyorko, among many others.  That said, some of these guys could continue to tumble due to signability concerns.

*Eibner reportedly wants to be drafted as a position player, but teams prefer him as a pitcher.

Today's session - beginning at 9am PT (follow along here) - will see much quicker selections, but since they're covering 29 rounds it figures to take eight or nine hours.  Pace yourself.  Please don't stare at your monitor all day waiting for Seattle's picks.  Break up your work day by checking in every so often.  We'll update this with the picks as often we can.

Mariner Picks

Round 1: Taijuan Walker, RHP, Yucaipa HS (CA) [picked yesterday]
Round 2: Marcus Littlewood, SS, Pineview HS (UT)
Round 3: Ryne Stanek, RHP, Blue Valley HS (KS)
Round 4: James Paxton, LHP, Indy leagues
Round 5: Stephen Pryor, RHP, Tennessee Tech
Round 6: Christian Carmichael, C, Mililani HS (HI)
Round 7: Maguire Wiswall, 1B, Boston College
Round 8: Jabari Blash, RF, Miami Dade CC
Round 9: Luke Taylor, RHP, Woodinville HS (WA)
Round 10: Tyler Burgoon, RHP, Michigan
Round 11: Jon Keller, RHP, Xavier HS (IA)
Round 12: Stefan Romero, 3B, Oregon State
Round 13: Jason Markovitz, LHP, Cal St. Long Beach
Round 14: Tyler Linehan, LHP, Sheldon HS (CA)
Round 15: Charles Kaalekahi, RHP, Campbell HS (HI)
Round 16: Jordan Shipers, LHP, South Harrison HS (MO)
Round 17: Danny Lopez, SS, Pittsburgh
Round 18: William Kesler, RHP, New Mexico
Round 19: Frankie Christian, CF, Upland HS (CA)
Round 20: Matthew Bischoff, RHP, Purdue
Round 21: Luke Guarnaccia, C, St. Thomas Aquinas HS (FL)
Round 22: Stephen Landazuri, RHP, Carter HS (CA)
Round 23: Jandy Sena, RHP, Marion Military Institute
Round 24: Bennett Whitmore, LHP, Concordia
Round 25: Ernesto Zaragoza, RHP, Kaiser HS (CA)
Round 26: Robert Anston, CF, Boston College
Round 27: Nick Fleece, RHP, Texas A&M
Round 28: Tim Griffin, RHP, Rollins College
Round 29: Jonathan McGibbon, 1B, Lindehurst HS (NY)
Round 30: Derek Poppert, SS, U San Francisco