It’s Draft Day! Join us here to talk about all the picks, make fun of Jim Callis’s ever-increasingly-tiny eyeglasses, or just shout about your favorite draft prospects. A reminder on the dates and times for the draft, as well as how to watch, is here.
Don’t have a favorite draft prospect? Choose one real quick from this SB Nation mock draft.
Interested in who the Mariners might choose? John rounded up some mock draft projections from most of the major sites. We also as a staff named our pet choices for Round One, an exercise that surely will not result in heartbreak and recriminations. There’s plenty more draft coverage under the “MLB Draft” tag on the site, including overviews of draftable talent in the major conferences, a review of the Mariners’ past drafts, and a general overview of the depth in the system at each position.
We’ll be updating this post with the latest news and listing the Mariners’ picks here, in addition to providing you in-depth writeups on the newest Mariners in later posts.
Happy Draft Day!
UPDATES:
4:10 PT: The Tigers took Auburn RHP Casey Mize first overall. No major surprises there.
4:17 PT: The Giants took Joey Bart, the big catcher from Georgia Tech. Most sites had him mocked to go here, as well. Can we speed this up a little, guys? Ten minutes per pick is downright NFL-ish.
4:24 PT: The Phillies select Alec Bohm, the 6’6” 3B from Wichita State. Shot up draft boards over the last few months. He also has a delightful flow.
4:31 PT: The White Sox take Nick Madrigal. Rob Manfred pronounces Oregon with an E at the end. I don’t know what I’m angrier about. (No, happy for Nick. Top five!)
4:39 PT: First semi-surprise of the day as the Reds take Florida 3B Jonathan India. The college bats are at a premium in this draft, and that’s being reflected in these early choices.
4:45 PT: Surprise ahoy! The Mets take Jarred Kelenic sixth overall. I am bummed, not only because I wanted him for the Mariners, but also because...look, please just don’t ruin him, Mets.
4:50 PT: The Padres select Ryan Weathers, the first HS arm off the board. Surprised they didn’t take Matthew Liberatore, but maybe the Padres really love MLB bloodlines.
4:56 PT: Atlanta sent Braves fan Luke Terry, one-armed catcher from Tennessee, to announce their pick: Carter Stewart, spin-rate wizard, and now we have two high school pitchers off the board...neither of them named Matthew Liberatore.
5:04 PT: SPEED THIS UP ALREADY SHEESH. Anyway the A’s, represented by Rollie Fingers and his magnificent mustache, select two-sport athlete Kyler Murray from Oklahoma, one of the more interesting players in the draft and also Harold Reynolds’s #1 overall selection in the draft. Try not to hold that against him, though.
5:09 PT: The Pirates do not select an arm at #10, and instead select South Alabama OF Travis Swaggerty, continuing the run on college bats. Swaggerty was a popular early pick for the Mariners but climbed up draft boards over a strong junior season.
5:17 PT: The Orioles go back to the HS ranks and take RHP Grayson Rodriguez, a big-bodied hard-thrower from Texas.
5:22 PT: Just two away from where the Mariners pick, the Blue Jays go with Jordan Groshans, a HS 3B from Texas. So. Many. Arms. Still. On. The. Board.
5:26 PT: The Marlins select Connor Scott, a HS OF with plus-plus speed. The Mariners are up next!
5:30 PT: The Mariners select RHP Logan Gilbert from Stetson University. Ben has been high on Gilbert all along so he’s currently writing up the blurb, but you can get a little preview here.
The next picks:
#15: The Rangers take HS RHP Cole Winn. Some places had Winn climbing into the top ten, as he had some serious buzz over the past month or so, with the Braves supposedly in on him.
#16: One of my favorite HS arms in the draft, Matthew Liberatore slid all the way here because of signability concerns. The Rays have a ton of money, so he makes sense for them here.
#17: The least fun team in baseball continues to draft the most fun players as the Angels take HS OF Jordyn Adams. Adams has a commitment to UNC to play wide receiver and is also the author of a vicious viral dunk, so like last year’s first-round pick for the Angels Jo Adell, he’s an elite athlete. He’ll cost the Angels a pretty penny to sign, which will limit them in later rounds.
#18: Brady Singer finally comes off the board for the Royals. I have no idea what caused him to slide this far, but Kansas City must be in transports of delight right now.
#19: The Cardinals take Nolan Gorman, which I thought they might—the Cardinals have so much pitching but really were lacking a big impact bat in their farm system. The high schooler has maybe the best power tool in the draft, and has put on dazzling displays all across the nation in home run derbies and showcases. Questions about whether or not he’ll stick at third might have knocked him down this far. If I was a Cardinals fan, I’d be ecstatic about this pick.
#20: The Twins take OSU outfielder Trevor Larnach, which is pretty impressive for a guy who really had no first-round buzz before this season. Larnach’s power is legit, in that he’s doing the majority of his hitting in cold, wet Oregon, yet putting up power numbers that rival those of his contemporaries in more offensive-friendly environments. Pat Casey preaches playing for the team more than playing for yourself, but this year Larnach modified his approach some to try to make up for the absence of offensive fireplug Nick Madrigal during his injury, and it’s paid off with a first-round berth for him.
#21: SS Brice Turang was at one time predicted to be in the top-ten and linked by some outlets to the Mariners (maybe because his father was once a Mariner?), but a slightly underwhelming season allows him to slide to the Brewers here.
#22: The Rockies select LHP Ryan Rolison, a hard-thrower draft-eligible sophomore who will hopefully demand piles of money from Colorado in order to have to pitch at Coors Field.
#23: Anthony Siegler is maybe the most interesting player in the draft, and he’s definitely the most well-dressed in attendance tonight at the MLB studios. A two-way, ambidextrous player who can pitch with both hands and is a switch-hitting catcher, Siegler will be a lot of fun to watch through the draft.
#24: The Cubs take Nico Hoerner, SS out of Stanford. Hoerner is a late riser after Stanford’s strong season, and although there are questions about whether or not he can stick at short, he has a solid skillset that includes good speed on the bases and an incredible ability to make contact—the dude does not strike out.
#25: It took 25 picks, but we finally got to a pick I don’t know much about, HS SS Matt McClain. Thanks, Diamondbacks.
#26: HS 3B Triston Casas, in studio tonight, finally gets picked by the Red Sox, and his dad had an extremely adorable reaction. Casas brings a nice combination of power and defensive ability and was the winner of 2017’s Dick Case Award, given to the top player on the USA Baseball team. It’ll take some significant coin to prise him away from his UCLA commitment, but Boston hasn’t shied away from spending money in the past.
#27: Mason Denaburg is a two-way prospect from Merritt Island HS in Florida who is now solely a pitcher whose fastball sits in the mid-90s with a nice curveball. An injury slid him down some draft boards, but Washington is a good landing spot for him.
#28: Much to everyone’s chagrin, Seth Beer does not go to the Brewers, but rather to the Astros. Beer was once considered a top-ten pick but struggles with the wooden bat on the Cape led to him sliding, as well as concerns about his defensive liabilities. It’s an interesting pick for the Astros, especially considering how thin their farm is on pitching, but maybe they assume there will always be a Verlander to trade for in following the old maxim of “draft bats, buy arms.”
#29: Cleveland takes Noah Naylor, brother of Padres prospect/Large Lad Josh Naylor. Naylor is not only faster and more athletic than his brother, however, he’s also an actually good defensive catcher who still maintains much of his brother’s big bat but with a slightly better hit tool.
#30: With the final pick of the first round, the Dodgers take J.T. Ginn, a RHP out of Brandon HS in Mississippi. He has a plus-plus fastball that can creep up toward triple digits, which is something we know the Dodgers prize.
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That’s it for the first round! Next up is the competitive balance and compensatory rounds, where sadly, the Mariners have no picks. The Mariners will get to go again at 54 in the second round, and we’ll update you on the pick here when that happens.
UPDATE:
In the second round, with pick #54, the Mariners select Josh Stowers, OF from Louisville. Here’s what I wrote about him in the ACC preview:
“If you love toolsy outfielders, you’ll love Louisville’s Josh Stowers. #41 on Baseball America’s Preseason Top 100 College Prospects list, Stowers is a projectable outfielder with good bat speed and all-around athleticism who can swipe bases with ease. And he’ll fit right in with Seattle’s “elevate and celebrate” club.”
The road to Omaha begins next month @joshstowers7. Time to elevate & celebrate. pic.twitter.com/bgDFGbCqzu
— Clarence Stowers (@ClarenceStowers) January 24, 2018
The MLB analysts were a little surprised at how highly Stowers went, crediting his strong season on the Cape. I’m a little disappointed the M’s didn’t go with a high-ceiling HS kid here, because “toolsy outfielder” seems to be not the least common thing in our system, but I have to say, I love the personality:
Josh Stowers
— Louisville Athletics (@GoCards) May 23, 2018
-run homerun and -run triple! Cards win 10-2!
@UofLBaseball vs. Duke Friday at 11AM #ACCBase pic.twitter.com/8EjXp7dVFn