Mariners Moose Tracks, 5/26/20: Austin Shenton, Taylor Rapp, Ariel Miranda, and NPB

In Mariners News...

• Baseball America projects two of their Top 40 international amateur signees to sign with the Mariners once negotiations are officially allowed on July 2 (or as late as this winter, pending MLB’s decisions): Dominican 3B Starling Aguilar for $1.5 million and Venezuelan OF Gabriel Gonzalez, for an undisclosed amount.
• Corey Brock of The Athletic dug into what made Dae-Ho Lee such a fan favorite in Seattle.
• Ariel Miranda got involved in a brouhaha in Taiwan.

• Former Mariners outfielder Denard Span is contemplating retirement.
• The MLB Draft’s rule of alternating leagues for the top pick existed until 2004, and gave the Mariners two of the game’s greatest players. Had it continued to exist, they might have gotten even more, writes Stephen J. Nesbitt of The Athletic.
• The National Baseball Hall of Fame has an archive of past scouting reports, including this surprising, ill-fated gem.
• Mariners prospect Austin Shenton and his friend Taylor Rapp (current L.A. Rams/former UW Huskies safety) tried to burn 10k calories in a day. Their route is daunting.

Around The League...

• MLB has taken this time to look back at some past greats, including the mighty slugging Carlos Delgado.
• Japan’s top professional baseball league, the NPB, will open their season on June 19th, after delaying its start indefinitely to aid containment of the coronavirus.
• The Angels are the latest team to open up their facilities for limited workouts, including both their Spring Training complex and Angel Stadium.
• It’s the 27 year anniversary of one of the sport’s most hilarious, improbable moments.
• Former Pirates infielder Jung-Ho Kang has received a one-year ban from the KBO in his native South Korea, in addition to a requirement of 300 hours of community service as a consequence of his repeated drunk driving cases.
• Over at Forbes, Maury Brown looks into how attending sporting events may look when fans do finally begin to return en masse.
• Here’s a daily dose of current baseball, this time from Aaron Altherr of the KBO’s NC Dinos.

John’s Pick...

• Go get, and subsequently play, Civilization 6 for free. Do it.