Seattle Mariners MLB Draft: Three things to know

The Seattle Mariners came out of the 2024 MLB Draft with a ton of new arms.

Seattle Mariners MLB Draft Tracker: Keep up with every 2024 pick

The Mariners completed the third and final day of the draft on Monday. Seattle selected 14 pitchers, five position players and a two-way prospect with its 20 overall selections.

“Obviously we’re playing very hard this year,” Scott Hunter, the Mariners’ director of amateur scouting, said Monday. “It wasn’t something we went into saying we were definitely going to do, but it was something the draft was giving us. And instead of just chasing things that maybe weren’t there, we’ve really started to collect a lot of powerful weapons that we think we can develop.

“Age wasn’t a real thing this year because we have a lot of older guys as well. We just went for the pure stuff and with our (player development) department, our analysts, our scouts, our live looks, identifying things that we believe can help us in the big leagues and our minor-league Can help with the system. …I think we did a pretty good job with a draft that we thought would probably be a little lighter than most years.

Three things stood out from what Hunter said at the conclusion of the draft.

Assignment for Cijntje, Sloan TBD

Seattle used its first two picks on a pair of college arms, selecting intriguing switch-pitcher Jurangelo Szentje in the first round and right-hander Rylan Sloan in the second.

It’s fairly common for early-round college pitching picks to get a few minor league innings over the summer. Logan Gilbert was supposed to pitch for the Everett AquaSox after being taken in the first round in 2018, but a case of mono prevented that from happening. George Kirby made the move to Everett the following summer when he was drafted in the first round.

However, there is a possibility that Mariners fans will not see any pitching in the Minors this summer.

“We’re not 100% sure yet,” Hunter said. “With the draft being a little later this year than last year, the ramp up time is going to be a little less for these guys. So (assistant general manager) Andy (Mackey) and I and (general manager) Justin (Hollander) and (president of baseball operations) Jerry (Dipoto), we actually talked at lunch the other day, and it’s a little window. , but there’s a chance Zurrangelo and Ryan might get on the mound a little bit, but I highly doubt they’ll get any live action. But it will depend on (the player development department) and the pitching guys.

Hunter said the first- and second-round picks will fly to Seattle on Sunday and visit T-Mobile Park on Tuesday.

“We’ll start doing some meet-and-greets, signing autographs and then obviously introduce him to the guys in the clubhouse, especially (manager) Scott (Servais),” Hunter said.

pitcher late to watch

During Hunter’s tenure, the Mariners have excelled at finding pitching prospects in the later rounds of the draft. 2023 12th rounder Logan Evans is climbing the prospect rankings and 2023 11th rounder Bradin Garcia has impressed early in the system. Both have already reached Double-A.

You can also look back to 2018 11th-rounder JP Sears, who is currently pitching for the Oakland Athletics in his third MLB season.

Appropriately, Hunter pointed to another 11th-rounder, LSU product Christian Little, as the next potential diamond-in-the-rough hurler of the Seattle class.

Little, a 6-foot-4-inch, 235-pound right-hander, was a highly touted prospect coming out of high school who never reached his potential during four college seasons (two at Vanderbilt, two at LSU). Pie. This 21 year old girl had also started college a year ago.

“So he’s actually a college junior that we took as a college senior who throws 99 mph, he’s got a real slider,” Hunter said. “Based on his baseball card, the performance may have been a little bit, not as good as he expected, but we met with him at the Combine and really felt like he’s a kid who will thrive in our player development program because it’s so There is a lot of untapped potential.

“When I talked to him and his agent on the phone today, he said he was really trying to become a Mariner after our meeting in Seattle about our pitching program, the things we explained, we think That we can help them.”

Another interesting Seattle Mariners draft pick

One of the storylines of the draft was Seattle’s selection of switch-pitching Szentje. Hunter highlighted another interesting two-way prospect, Grant Nip, as the guy he’s most excited about from a player development standpoint.

The sixth-round pick out of Campbell University is a catcher and reliever with a nip, pop that can hit 99 mph. He hit 18 home runs in 5 2/3 innings this season and allowed only one run with six strikeouts.

“We don’t know if he’s going to be a 30-home-run guy or it’s going to be the end of our game,” Hunter said. “It’s kind of funny. He has real ability with real tools. Maybe he could be a two-pronged guy who takes his opportunity and runs with it. And like I said yesterday, he’s going to continue to hit, but he’s also going to continue to develop as a pitcher.”

More on the Seattle Mariners and the MLB Draft

• What Teoscar Hernandez said about the fight at T-Mobile Park is being investigated
• Mariners first-rounder Jurangelo Szentje wants to keep switch-pitching
• Arrow wants to ‘come back’ to Seattle Mariners fans to thank them
• Did the Seattle Mariners have a successful first half? Brock and Salk react
• How Ryan Rowland-Smith helped the Australian become the No. 1 pick in the MLB draft

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