By Jared Stanger

The Mariners wrapped up their 2018 draft on Wednesday, and a few outlets have done recaps with position and statistical breakdowns, but I wanted to take a look at tape of as many players as I could find.

Catcher

This might be my favorite group. Seattle drafted three catchers: 3rd round Cal Raleigh, 7th round Jake Anchia, 19th round Dean Nevarez.

Cal Raleigh can switch-hit and as such some reports tag him like a Jason Varitek type, but for me the size and tape suggest AJ Pierzynski but hitting both sides. Raleigh could easily become a 15 HR/80 RBI/.280 annual hitter with a couple all-star appearances. In 2018 he hit 335/461/1.061 with 13 HR, 52 RBI, and an impressive 51 to 39 BB-to-SO rate.

 

Jake Anchia looks like a pretty solid receiver with some definite power (22 homeruns this year), and my only question is his arm. He hit 340/402/1.115 with 64 RBI.

 

And from the 19th round, Dean Nevarez hit 294/378/846 with 8 HR and 32 RBI. He’s glove-first for now, but there is some upside in the swing.

 

Outfield

Surprisingly, Seattle only drafted six outfielders:

2nd round Josh Stowers
9th round Keegan McGovern
13th round Charlie McConnell
17th round Cesar Trejo
23rd round Ryan Ramiz
30th round Cody Staab

Josh Stowers is a terrific athlete with elite basestealing (4th in the country), very solid glove, and a progressing bat: 336/477/1.036, 9 HR, 60 RBI, 36 SB. His floor looks like a Michael Bourn.

 

Something on Stowers I didn’t note pre-draft was his arm, but this looks pretty solid:

 

Keenan McGovern was announced as a centerfielder, but his profile looks like a corner outfielder, maybe even first base, with some legit power potential: 319/431/1.075, 18 HR, 50 RBI, and a decent 37 BB to 46 SO rate.

 

Charlie McConnell looks to be of a similar profile to M’s AAA outfielder Ian Miller, or Braden Bishop at AA. 347/425/895 slash with not a lot of pop (2 HR, 27 RBI), but he was 2nd in the country in stolen bases (37) and fairly high up in triples (6).

 

Cesar Trejo is another very solid base-stealing OF (22 SB) that flashed decent power in 2017, but lost most of his power numbers in 2018 while drastically cutting down his strikeouts (dropped his SO rate 8%). His bio mentions that Trejo played some shortstop in 2016, so I’m wondering about him playing some other spots…maybe third. In 2018: 363/428/997, 5 HR, 50 RBI. Pretty quick hands.

 

Ryan Ramiz I couldn’t find tape of, but his statline of 316/432/859 is highlighted by more walks than strikeouts, a couple of 15+ steal years in 2016-2017, but no power whatsoever with 1 HR in four years.

And finally, Cody Staab is a very odd draftchoice because he only has 64 career at-bats at Rice U (only 27 AB in 2018). He’s a career .156 hitter. He hits and throws lefthanded…is this, maybe, a future pitcher?? Or is there someone named Staab that works for the Mariners, and this pick is a gratis pick?

Infield

10th Round, SS Matt Sanders
12th Round, 2B Ryne Ogren
22nd Round, SS Nicholas Rodriguez
25th Round, 2B Connor Kopach
26th Round, 3B Cal Hernandez
27th Round, 2B Cash Gladfelter
28th Round, 2B Beau Branton
29th Round, SS Bobby Honeyman
32nd Round, 2B Zach Scott
38th Round, 2B Jack Montgomery

Infield becomes the first group we’ve looked at to have a prep player drafted (Montgomery). Six second basemen out of ten infielders is interesting (and Rodriguez has also spent time there). No true 1B picked.

Matt Sanders continues a theme of this class: basestealing. He finished t27th in the country with 26 bags swiped. Tape suggests Sanders is an extreme slap hitter with a very good eye (44 BB to 33 SO). 378/463/1.001 and he led the country in runs scored with 87 in 61 games.

 

Sanders’ glove looks like it can stick at short.

 

Ryne Ogren looks like a very nice contact hitter, with a very low strikeout rate of 7.58%, and total BB-to-SO mark of 44-21. Overall slash of 338/451/908. Only doubles power at this point.

 

Nicholas Rodriguez strikes out a lot, but he’s got more power than the rest of this infield list (10 HR). 337/376/918 but struck out 53 times to 15 walks.

Connor Kopach is the last of the Mariners’ draftpicks to appear in the top 10 nationally in stolen bases (33). Slash of 336/424/946. Announced as a second baseman, Kopach has played shortstop this year.

Cal Hernandez appears to be fairly unremarkable as a hitter. Not a ton of power, not much speed. 329/426/846 but only a .091 ISO. Which means he hits a lot of singles. So I tried to look into whether his glove was his carrying quality. It might be.

Cash Gladfelter

Beau Branton. A pretty wee second baseman that hit 361/440/868, but his ISO of only .067 paints the picture of an extreme singles hitter.

Bobby Honeyman is one of the toughest batters to strikeout in the country. In fact, he’s literally 2nd with only one strikeout every 30.1 AB’s.

I was originally planning to do the whole draft class at once, but having taken a few days to find stats and video on most of the position players, I don’t think I’m going to include pitchers here. I’ll do a separate story for those.

But with the Everett Aquasox season kicking off this Friday; I thought it would be fun to imagine an opening day lineup comprised of the 2018 draft class.

Without any true first baseman drafted, and only one at third; I’m going to take some liberties to invent fits at those two spots. With McGovern’s power, and better athleticism from other outfielders, I’m going to move Keegan to 1B. And with some play at shortstop in his background, I’m going to try Cesar Trejo at 3B. Then, since I moved two OF into the IF, I need to move an IF to the OF. There are a plethora of 2B, and I’m gonna try Connor Kopach and his speed in LF.

1- SS Matt Sanders
2- CF Josh Stowers
3- C Cal Raleigh
4- 1B Keenan Mcgovern
5- DH Jake Anchia
6- 3B Cesar Trejo
7- 2B Ryne Ogren
8- LF Connor Kopach
9- RF Charlie McConnell

By Jared Stanger

One of the interesting variables of the MLB vs the NFL draft is the existence of high school prospects, and the potential of drafted high schoolers to decline signing and attend college.

So each team has a sort of backlog of players they have drafted but are playing elsewhere. This is the Mariners’ log of unsigned players. We’ll start with 2017 and work backwards.

2017

18th Round – OF, Myles Christian. Drafted out of high school in Mississippi, Christian is a freshman at Middle Tennessee where he is hitting 259/378/736, with 11 XBH and 9 SB.

35th Round – RHP, Hunter Lonigro. Drafted out of high school in Pennsylvania, Lonigro has no college stats to date.

36th Round – OF, Heston Kjerstad. Drafted out of high school in Texas, Kjerstad elected to attend Arkansas where he’s having a really strong freshman season, hitting 336/416/969 with 11 HR, 47 RBI. He’s still active in the 2018 College World Series where he hit 3×5, with a homerun and 4 RBI on Friday night.

37th Round – OF, Jesse Franklin. Drafted locally out of Seattle Prep, Franklin also had a great freshman season at Michigan: 327/379/967, with 10 homeruns, 47 RBI’s.

38th Round – LHP, Kolby Somers. Drafted out of high school in Oregon, Somers is attending the University of Oregon where he has made 16 appearances including 11 starts, with a 4.62 ERA, 1.35 WHIP.

39th Round – SS, Jack Smith. Drafted locally out of Mercer Island HS, Smith hit 247/286/546 in his freshman year at WSU.

2016

16th Round – C, Lyle Lin. Drafted out of high school in California, Lin is in his sophomore year at Arizona State where has posted two solid seasons, hitting 290 as a freshman and then 317/350/764 this year.

24th Round – OF, Trey Griffey. Never heard of him.

30th Round – OF, Tyler Duncan. Drafted out of high school in Canada, Duncan had a massive 2017 at Crowder College hitting 358/462/1.084 with 10 HR, 39 XBH, and 80 RBI.

31st Round – RHP, Lincoln Henzman. Drafted as an underclassmen out of Louisville, Henzman returned to college, and was drafted by the White Sox last year. He’s at 2.96 ERA, 1.13 WHIP in A-ball this year.

32nd Round – RHP, Kenyon Yovan. Drafted out of high school in Oregon, Yovan is now a sophomore starter for the Ducks after closing as a freshman. Posting a 2.98 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 10.42 SO/9 this year.

33rd Round – SS, Morgan McCullough. Drafted locally out of West Seattle HS, McCullough elected to attend Oregon where he played in 53 games as a freshman, but is apparently off the team this year.

35th Round – RHP, Will Ethridge. Drafted out of high school in Georgia, Ethridge has pitched well in his first two years at Ole Miss, pitching to a 3.19 ERA primarily out of the bullpen.

37th Round – C, Eli Wilson. Drafted out of Garfield HS, the Mariner legacy and son of Dan Wilson is in his sophomore year at the University of Minnesota where he has been very good, including hitting 301/392/843 this year with 5 HR, 33 RBI in 48 games.

38th Round – RHP, James Reilly. Drafted out of high school in New York, Reilly was slated to attend James Madison.

40th Round – C, Adley Rutschman. Drafted out of high school in Portland, Rutschman is one of the best players in the country as a sophomore, and will almost certainly be a 1st round pick in the 2019 draft. Rutschman’s 2018 season to date: 391/494/1.088, 6 HR, 63 RBI.

Seattle is eligible to draft a player they have previously drafted only if that player gives his consent, so some of these guys may still yet become Mariners.