Month: June 2025

Mariner mock 3

/ seattleseamocks

By Jared Stanger

We’re just over three weeks away from the 2025 MLB Draft, and things are speeding up in the process. The finals of the College World Series start tomorrow, and we’ve seen some high pressure, high stakes performances from many names relevant to this year’s draft. Multiple summer leagues are underway including the MLB Draft League and the Cape Cod League. And last week we had the fifth annual MLB Draft Combine. We’re getting lots of new, more specific data points on a lot of players hoping to hear their names called in July.

This new info is, perhaps, pointing us towards a clearer picture of the broader overall draftboard. What are the tiers of different player profiles. Who are the guys that are rising. Who are the guys at the back of the draft that have differentiated themselves from guys that will probably go undrafted.

In my previous mock draft for the Mariners; I speculated on a draft strategy wherein Seattle would look to, effectively, trade their 2025 first round pick at #3 overall to the 2026 draft where it would become the #4 overall pick, in what looks to be a stronger class at the top of the draft. I knew when I wrote that mock this idea was unlikely…nobody in MLB ever does this. I still think it would be a bold, innovative, and smart move. But it’s like a 1% chance that it happens.

So what would be the second-best draft strategy in a weak top-end draft class?? I think it would be to hyper-focus on prep players. The guys that we don’t have as clear of a picture on their future values, but which could mean higher upside (while, naturally, also having the risk of lower upside). While seeking that upside, I think it’s simultaneously important to get multiple bites at that apple, which means looking for an underslot signer for that #3 pick (and maybe a couple select points on day two of the draft), which can then give you surplus bonus money to offer to players that fall to later picks.

Something that the media has come to pretty consensus agreement on for this draft class is that there is a pretty strong group of high school shortstops. This group includes to some degree, and some variance in likelihood that they can stick at short, players like: Ethan Holliday, Eli Willits, Billy Carlson, Jojo Parker, Steele Hall, and Daniel Pierce. These are all players ranked in the top 20 overall on most big boards.

Holliday is widely considered to be the likely #1 pick going to the Washington Nationals. We won’t look much at him.

Willits is the #5 player on the MLB board. Listed 6’1″/180lbs and a switch-hitter. Willits is a young player for the class (which some teams prefer) as he won’t turn 18 until December.

Carlson is #7 on the MLB board. Listed 6’1″/185lbs and a righthanded hitter. Carlson will turn 19 about two weeks after the draft. He might be the best pure defender amongst these early candidates.

Parker is #10 on the MLB board. Listed 6’2″/200lbs and hitting lefthanded. Parker probably has the best hit-tool amongst this group, while probably having the least likelihood of sticking at short. He turns 19 in August. Of this group, Parker is the one that two separate media sources have independently connected to Seattle as a potential underslot signee.

Hall is the #13 player on the MLB board. Listed 6’0″/180lbs and hitting righty. Hall is another younger player that will turn 18 about ten days after the draft. Interestingly, Hall and Billy Carlson are both committed to the University of Tennessee. It’s unlikely both make it to Knoxville.

Pierce is the #18 overall on teh MLB board. Listed 6’0″/185lbs and hitting righthanded. He will turn 19 in August.

Is there a combination of present grade, future grade, and signing bonus figure from this group that puts one of these guys ahead of the others? And, really, part of the equation is actually: “is it better to draft a college player at/near/above bonus slot at #3, or would it be better to get an underslot player with more upside that then also allows you to get another upside player later on?” Basically a question of, “can you get two for one?”

In this particular draft class, I think they should do the latter. Let’s go for the 2×1.

In my opinion, the two guys to focus on in this scenario are Billy Carlson and Jojo Parker. This basically represents the best defender of the group and the best hitter of the group. In my first mock draft in May, I actually was going with Carlson as I just loved his glove so much. In theory, Seattle has two pretty strong shortstop candidates already coming through the system in Colt Emerson and Felnin Celesten. We don’t, necessarily, HAVE to keep a guy at shortstop.

So, in this mock, I’m pivoting to take the better hitter, who also happens to be the guy that has some buzz surrounding Seattle interest. There’s also the fact that Parker was a member of the 2024 East Coast Pro all star team of players from the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, etc that were chosen by Mariner scouts and played under the name “Mariners”. There is some documented connection between Seattle and Jojo (and Jojo’s twin brother, Jacob).

#1.3 – SS, Purvis HS, Jojo Parker

While the hit-tool is clearly the headliner here; as I’ve dug in deeper to Parker I think his power and his glove are underrated. No, I don’t think he sticks at shortstop, but I do think he sticks on the dirt. His fielding actions are smooth and efficient. I think his move off shortstop will be dictated more by his range than his literally fielding. His arm looks decent. I think he’s a future third baseman. And that’s where the underrated power will come into play. I think his power is coming along very nicely and he will have enough power for 3B. He might end up similar to another player that has recently been in the news: Rafael Devers.

Now comes the business end of this selection. As a guy being projected as the #10 player in this class; if you draft him at #3, you’re doing so (in part) to save some money. The #3 pick holds a bonus slot value of $9.5million. The bonus slot value of, say, the #10 pick is $6.2million. The middle point between those two is $7.85million. If you sign Parker for, roughly, $8million, that $1.5million savings will come in extremely useful on later picks. For those that question the plausibility of underslotting a high school player at #3…Max Clark was drafted at #3 overall in 2023 and signed for about $600k underslot. The same draft, Blake Mitchell signed for ~$1.08million underslot at pick #8. Kumar Rocker drafted out of college in 2022 at pick #3 signed for $2.39mill underslot.

#1.35c – 3B/OF, Oaks Christian HS, Quentin Young

The second big adjustment in this mock draft is that my intended/previous target at #35, RHP Patrick Forbes, is now going to be off the board after his performance in the CWS. But, with the bonus savings at #3, this pick can now be another prep player.

I love 2B/OF Sean Gamble. What an impressive, mature profile. He kind of reminds me of Corbin Carroll.

I love local product Xavier Neyens, but as a lefthanded hitter with future 3B in his projection; he’s probably redundant after drafting Parker.

And there’s potentially a handful of prep pitchers that profile similar to 2024 draftee Ryan Sloan that might fit here: LHP Jack Bauer, RHP Aaron Watson, RHP Landon Harmon, LHP Johnny Slawinski. High school arms are historically the riskiest draft demographic, and Seattle historically can find/develop interesting, future-MLB arms from college pitchers in the midrounds of the draft.

I’m going with Quentin Young here because he’s different than what we’ve ever seen the M’s draft out of high school. He’s a power-first righthanded hitter when Seattle has almost always drafted hit-first, lefthanded guys.

Young is an MLB bloodline guy with two uncles that played in Delmon and Dmitri Young. He’s already 6’6″/225lbs with grown-man exit velocities touching 115mph at this week’s Combine. He’s got pretty surprising fluidity playing the infield at that size, so he might stick there. But he’s also got enough speed when underway that he might make a decent outfielder.

Quentin is ranked #33 overall on the MLB board, so this isn’t a reach or a fall. And then it comes down to giving him enough bonus to sign him away from college commitment to LSU. The slot value for #35 is $2.75mill. With most of the savings from the #3 pick; we could get Young signed for $4mill, which equates to about the #21 overall pick, aka first round money.

#2.57 – LHP, Iowa, Cade Obermueller

If there’s a second category of player that the 2025 draft looks especially strong in; it’s probably lefthanded pitching. And that is something that Seattle is woefully short on in their farm and major league team. I don’t know why they treat LHP the way that they do. I speculate they have data that points to RHP being stronger performers in TMobile Park, but who knows.

There’s also something interesting going on this year with pitchers that are shorter in stature. There are an unusually high number of starting pitchers that are right about 6’0″ tall. Liam Doyle is listed 6’2″ but I don’t believe that at all. JB Middleton is listed 6’0″, Gage Wood is listed 6’0″, Obermueller is listed 6’0″, JD Thompson is listed 6’0″, Brian Curley is listed 5’10”, Zane Taylor is listed 6’0″. Could there be a Spencer Strider in that group?

Obermueller might be merging these two factions. For the year, he posted a 3.02 ERA, 1.128 WHIP, 12.6 SO/9, 3.5 BB/9. Compare that to likely top five pick Jamie Arnold: 2.98 ERA, 1.063 WHIP, 12.6 SO/9, 2.9 BB/9. And then note the similar pitching mechanics/release heights of these two players. These are surprisingly similar profiles, but with a huge discount on Cade.

#3.91 – OF, George Mason, James Quinn-Irons

There’s a nice little pocket of players in this class that have imposing size, nice power, sneaky good gloves, and bonus basestealing in the outfield. I like JQI the best of that grouping. Listed 6’5″/230lbs and posting a 2025 line of: .419/.523/1.258, with 16 HR, 42 XBH, 39 BB, 46 SO.

#4.122 – RHP, Tulane, Michael Lombardi

After losing out on Patrick Forbes, I think I’ve found a similar profile in Lombardi. Forbes was formerly a two-way player that is now pitching-only for the last two years. Lombardi was still playing two-ways this year with games as CF, 2B, 1B and P (primarily CF).

As a pitcher, Lombardi had 23 appearances, including 6 games started. I don’t have splits for how his numbers broke down starter vs reliever, but his overall performance went: 2.14 ERA, 0.976 WHIP, 15.6 SO/9, 4.5 BB/9 across 42 innings. The hope is that he can start and that, with focus on pitching, he can tighten up his control.

#5.152 – C, Wright State, Boston Smith

I think I’ve bounced back and forth in my respective mocks on how early to draft Smith. I’m steering into my hitting metric this time, and giving him closer to the value that my stat suggests. The lefty-hitting catcher with power is just too valuable.

#6.182 – RHP, UNCW, Zane Taylor

Similar to Boston Smith, with Taylor I’m steering into my pitching metric more this time. Taylor is another in that list of shorter starting pitchers that we’re dreaming on a Spencer Strider. On the year, Taylor went 1.98 ERA, 0.763 WHIP, 9.9 SO/9, 1.0 BB/9. At the combine he posted one of the top fastball velo’s at 97.7mph.

#7.212 – RHP, Abilene Christian, Dominick Reid

Reid I had in my previous mock. 6’3″/201lbs and a former transfer from Oklahoma State. Reid’s line was 3.26 ERA, 1.109 WHIP, 11.4 SO/9, 2.8 BB/9 in 15 starts this year. And then, at the Combine this week, Reid popped as one of the top performers in multiple pitch movement measurements. There’s some intriguing clay to mold here.

#8.242 – 3B, Cincinnati, Kerrington Cross

Most likely a senior sign, Cross has tremendous intangibles, and he’s no slouch in the on-field performance: .396/.526/1.173, 12 HR, 50 BB, 35 SO, 15 SB.

#9.272 – RHP, Baylor, Gabe Craig

Craig is the #1 relief pitcher in my metric, and he has some postseason awards on his resume that may make this way too late to get him. But at 6’5″/209lbs, with a 0.56 ERA, 0.500 WHIP, 14.3 SO/9, 0.8 BB/9 and 10 saves this could be a fast-mover in a system that needs more in-house pitching.

#10.302 – OF, Dallas Baptist, Nathan Humphreys

Humphreys first caught my eye with his glove. He’s got legit centerfield skills. And then his offensive line wasn’t too shabby either. He hit .353/.457/1.135 with 17 HR, 38 BB, 38 SO, and 21 SB.

#11.332 – LHP, Florida, Pierce Coppola

Coppola is a carryover from previous mocks, and we’re just trying to find the sweet spot between his present value where he’s a frequently-injured starting pitcher, his really strong performance when he HAS pitched, and the fact that he might be discounted due to his senior status (and injury history). But if you pick the right round, this could be insane value for an SEC starter.

#12.362 – RF, Kent State, Jake Casey

Casey is the son of Sean, the longtime MLB player, and he has put together a very solid college career in his own right. At 6’2″/190lbs, Sean hit .356/.500/1.236 with 17 HR, 20 SB last year. And he’s got an above-average outfield arm.

#13.392 – RHP, Vanderbilt, Sawyer Hawks

It felt like the Mariners tried to draft a handful of quick-moving, relief pitchers in the 2024 Draft. That effort seemed to sidetrack this year with injuries and/or underperformance. But it still could be a useful strategy going forward. Hawks is an Air Force Academy transfer listed 6’4″/215lbs. In 2025 he had a 1.60 ERA, 0.800 WHIP, 11.8 SO/9, 2.2 BB/9 and 8 saves in 18 appearances out of the Vandy bullpen. His fastball has been up to 95mph.

#14.422 – 1B, Austin Peay, Ray Velazquez

There were a bunch of interesting bats on this Austin Peay roster, but I came away having Velazquez as the highest on my hitting metric. At 6’1″/212lbs he hit .364/.479/1.207 with 18 HR, 32 BB, 32 SO in the college season, and he’s continued swinging it well across the first five games he’s played on the Cape where he’s sitting at a .389 average.

#15.452 – RHP, Coastal Carolina, Ryan Lynch

Lynch is the local product from Monroe, WA that has made his way all the way to the College World Series finals tomorrow. A pure reliever at 6’4″/234lbs, he has a 0.58 ERA, 1.032 WHIP, 10.2 SO/9, 2.9 BB/9 and 9 saves in 27 appearances.

#16.482 – 2B, UConn, Ryan Daniels

When doing a Mariner mock draft, I can’t help but think of it similarly to putting together a roster. After all, most of these guys will end up becoming the bulk of the low-A Modesto lineup later this summer. You kind of need a variety of guys so that you have most positions covered.

Daniels was one of the better second base options from my hitting metric. He posted a line of .365/.476/1.220 this year with 18 HR, 40 BB, 41 SO, and 10 SB for the Huskies.

#17.512 – LHP, UCSB, Hudson Barrett

Barrett was one of my most recent discoveries just in the last week after popping in the Combine with some of the higher-ranking pitch movement statistics on his secondary pitches. At 6’5″/225lbs, Hudson is a prototypical pitcher build, and his rate stats of 1.93 ERA, 0.643 WHIP, 9.6 SO/9 are solid. There is some question mark as to why he only threw 4.2 innings during the college season in three starts as an “opener”. In his summer league more recently, Barrett threw 4.0 innings of shutout ball.

#18.542 – C, Georgia State, Colin Hynek

I generally like to have two catchers in every mock. It’s too much of a specialty position to not get a couple. Hynek is a 6’1″/200lb backstop with an underwhelming .230/.396/.982 slash, but 18 HR and a solid catch and throw defensive profile.

#19.572 – RHP, Grove City CC, David Leslie

Leslie is another recent discovery after a strong performance in his first appearance out of the bullpen for his MLB Draft League team. Listed 6’3″/185lbs, his JUCO season line went: 2.05 ERA, 0.938 WHIP, 10.13 SO/9.

#20.602 – LF, Southern, Cardell Thibodeaux

Thibodeaux is quietly one of the best pure hitters in the country. He hit .439/.544/1.391 with 18 HR, 39 BB, 27 SO, and 24 SB during the college regular season, and he’s recently posting near-identical numbers in the Draft league at .423/.545/1.199 with 1 HR, 7 BB, 4 SO in 7 games so far. The downside is that he’s only 5’8″/175lbs and really only has one year of strong performance, and it came in the lower level Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Mariners June mock

/ seattleseamocks

By Jared Stanger

It’s becoming more and more commonly written and discussed that the 2025 MLB Draft is not very strong at the very top of the class. This is truly unfortunate because Seattle had previously seemed to get quite lucky to end up with the #3 overall pick this year in the draft lottery, when their earned draft position was closer to #15 overall. As I’ve been studying this draft class; I’m really struggling to find a guy that feels worthy of the third pick. In my previous mock, my thought was to try to find upside with that pick by drafting one of the high school players, but even that wasn’t super satisfying. Thinking like a football draft student…I really wanted to find a way to trade down the third pick. This isn’t allowed under the rules of the MLB Draft structure.

Then, a few days ago, I woke up at, like, 3:30 in the morning with this idea…

In the MLB Draft, if you don’t sign your draftpick in the first or second round; you will get to draft at the same slot plus one the following year. This means that the Mariners, if they don’t sign the guy they draft with the #3 pick next month, will be awarded the #4 overall pick in the 2026 Draft. So you would, ostensibly, be trading down one slot and one year.

The Mariners WILL NOT do this. No MLB team does this. The primary reason that teams don’t do this is that the signing bonus allotment for every team is aligned directly with the order of their picks, and in the top 10 rounds, the bonus allotment that coincides with a specific pick will be forfeited from their total bonus pool if they don’t sign the player at that slot.

In exact terms of the 2025 Draft…due to the high value of their lottery pick at #1.3, plus a compensatory competitive balance pick they were awarded at #1.35 overall, Seattle has ended up with the largest total bonus pool of all 30 MLB teams. This is only true if they sign all eleven of their picks in the top ten rounds. The M’s total bonus pool for the top ten rounds is: $17,074,400. The bonus pool assigned to the #3 pick alone is: $9,504,400. If the Mariners don’t sign whoever they end up drafting there; their bonus pool immediately shrinks to $7,570,000. This is a loss of 55% of their potential spending. And that pool can be spent in any way the team sees fit, as long as they sign someone at each draftpick. This new amount would take Seattle from the most bonus pool in MLB, to the fifth-worst bonus pool.

But here is where the conversation gets interesting. Seattle, in their 2025 season, are currently not playing to a level that they would make the playoffs. They are currently on pace to earn the #14 overall pick for the 2026 Draft. That pick would also be entered into the Draft Lottery for next year where they could win a pick in the top six or seven in that class. Seattle could, conceivably, end up with two picks in the top eight overall, and certainly two picks in the top fifteen. And, in baseball drafts, the talent level can swing wildly from year to year. Thirteen months away from the 2026 Draft, the early opinion is that next year’s class is easily better than this year’s.

If you followed this strategy…the 2026 Draft could be franchise (re)defining for the Seattle Mariners. And I think it’s worth doing.

So……in this mock draft, I am not terribly concerned with who we/Seattle drafts at #3. I think you draft a high school player, simply because they are the most likely to give the optics of being hard to sign away from their college commitment. It could be a college player…Kumar Rocker was recently an un-signed college player when he was drafted #10 overall in the 2021 Draft, he didn’t sign and returned to Vanderbilt, and then he signed after being picked with the #3 overall pick in the 2022 Draft. But, again, the optics will look better with a prep player.

#1.3 – RHP, Corona HS, Seth Hernandez

The top two high school players are IF Ethan Holliday and Hernandez, and there’s pretty good odds that one of the two will be available at #3. Righthanded HS pitching is notoriously the most-risky category to draft early, and Hernandez is one of the older players coming out of the prep class, as he will turn 19 on June 28th. Hernandez is currently, and ironically, committed to go to college at Vanderbilt. He may actually have a pretty high asking price to sign this year, so it would look believable if they didn’t end up signing him.

Again, the downside to this is, honestly, not the loss of a player at the third pick…the loss is the flexibility to make moves via overslot deals later on in the draft. They COULD still draft and negotiate to make those kind of picks happen, but it would be harder, and probably with less-talented players.

#1.35 competitive balance – RHP, Louisville, Patrick Forbes

To me, I look at Forbes as a guy that might actually be deserving of being picked with the #3 pick. There are four pitchers at the top of the college leaderboard in SO/9…three of the four are lefthanded. The #2 guy is a reliever that has enough innings to qualify for rate stats, and the #1 and #4 guys are Liam Doyle and Kade Anderson…two starters that are getting talked about as top five overall picks. So Forbes would be the steal of the group if actually acquired at #35.

Forbes is a 6’3″/220lb, well-built, former two-way player with athletic movements and already touching triple digits. And, counter to Seth Hernandez being old for a high school player, Forbes is young for a college draft-eligible player. Patrick will turn 21 on July 11 this year…two days before the first night of the draft. This probably matters for teams like Seattle. They drafted Jurrangelo Cijntje last year when he was only one month past his 21st birthday.

It’s a mild disappointment not to get a lefthander from our first pick, but just like the general consensus is trending toward “the top ten of this class is not strong”; the consensus also believes this class has decent depth and is strong in lefthanded pitching throughout.

#2.57 – LHP, Iowa, Cade Obermueller

Speaking of LHP…as I’ve been trying to formulate my backwards-forward draft modeling; in order to pass on the LHP that fill out the top 10 overall of this draft, I need to feel comfortable with who I can get later on. Obermueller is one of the guys I’ve landed on. He’s only listed 6’0″/170lbs, and he’s probably shorter in reality, but the stuff looks like a Seattle kind of guy. The fastball is up to 98mph, and there are other things in the profile that look like our analytics.

#3.91 – OF, George Mason, James Quinn-Irons

I hadn’t looked at JQI before I wrote my first Mariner mock last month, but once I did; I had to find a way to draft him. This is a guy that is 6’5″/230lbs, he plays a very strong defensive centerfield, he has hit 16 HR with 85 RBI in 61 games this year, he’s gotten on-base at a .523 clip, AND he’s stolen 36 bags in 43 attempts. That sounds like five tools to me.

Of all the touted Seattle prospects on our farm right now; there are almost no outfielders other than Laz Montes. If we could draft a fast-moving college outfielder now, by the end of the 2026 season, Randy Arozarena will be a free agent, and Victor Robles will have a club option to be picked up (or not).

#4.122 – RHP, Abilene Christian, Dominick Reid

Reid is a 6’3″/201lb righty starter that transferred from Oklahoma State to Abilene this year to, presumably, get more opportunity in the rotation rather than in the bullpen. He’s got a 3.36 ERA, 1.109 WHIP, 11.4 SO/9 in 15 starts.

#5.152 – RHP, Baylor, Gabe Craig

It’s kind of tough to find relief pitchers for the baseball draft because there are so many schools and even more pitchers, but no great way to filter for just relief innings. When I see any kind of reference to a good reliever; I try to make a note of the name to research him when I can, if not immediately. Craig is one of those names. Once I heard his name, I checked for his tape and his statline, and he was instantly the top reliever in my pitching metric. Listed 6’5″/209lbs; Craig has the prototypical build. His mechanics and stuff all looked good once I found some tape of him. The only yellowflag was that he will be 24 years old the week before the draft. I’m not sure this matters that much, as Seattle drafted a few over-aged college relievers just last year (including 24 y/o Charlie Beilenson in the 5th round). If we need to make some bonus slot room, this is the first spot we can save a good chunk.

#6.182 – 3B, Cincinnati, Kerrington Cross

Both Cross and Boston Smith would be candidates for underslot deals as potential senior-sign guys. I’ve basically ignored the prep players in this mock that might need overslot money, so I don’t really feel the need to worry about underslotting anyone either. Everybody is simply getting slot.

Cross is a 6’0″/215lb infielder that hit .396/.526/1.173 with 12 HR, 50 BB, 35 SO, and 15 SB this year. I’m, honestly, a bigger fan of his intelligence and leadership than his statline, and I still like his statline.

#7.212 – LHP, Florida, Pierce Coppola

I had Coppola in my previous mock, but his positioning might have been too high for his age and injury redflags. Plus, he was touched up a bit in his most-recent CWS start. In the 7th round, he looks more like Seattle’s 2024 draftee from the 11th round, Christian Little, who was also a once highly-touted pitcher from an SEC school whose college career never managed to take solid footing.

Coppola is a 6’8″/245lb southpaw whom has only managed a total of 49.1 innings pitched across his four-year college career, but whose stuff has earned him a 2.53 ERA, 0.984 WHIP, and 18.1 SO/9 when he has managed to pitch this year. If he falls this far, Coppola is the ideal type of high-reward player you’d love to get with a low-risk pick like this. He may end up a lights-out, high-leverage reliever and that will help him maintain his health.

#8.242 – C, Texas, Rylan Galvan

Behind Cal Raleigh there’s only Harry Ford and then Josh Caron as catchers on Seattle’s top 30 prospect list. So I’m spending another top 10 pick on a catcher. Galvan strikes me as a guy that our pitching staff will love to throw to. Great receiving/throwing/leadership skills. The bat is okay at .296/.452/1.065 with 15 homers last year.

#9.272 – RHP, Rice, Davion Hickson

I’ve been trying to look at some of the things that Seattle might have seen in 4th rounder Bryce Miller, 6th rounder Bryan Woo, 12th rounder Logan Evans that led them to draft them, and for them to make it to MLB in fairly short order. I don’t know that I have it nailed, but Hickson is a guy that popped for me as a potential pitcher in that vein. Listed 6’2″/208lbs with 3.82 ERA, 1.288 WHIP, and 11.1 SO/9 this year.

#10.302 – 2B, Georgia State, Kaleb Freeman

I had Georgia’s Robbie Burnett in a similar place in my previous mock, but after digging a bit deeper I realized that Burnett has primarily been playing LF this year for the Bulldogs. Freeman has been playing mostly 2B (with some RF) for Georgia State. He can switch-hit and for the year slashed .349/.504/1.236 with 16 HR, 61 BB, 57 SO, and 15 SB.

#11.332 – RHP, Vanderbilt, Sawyer Hawks

Hawks has a similar story to recent #1 overall pick Paul Skenes. Both started at the Air Force Academy, both transferred to an SEC school, both showed dominance in their respective roles for said SEC school. Hawks has been exclusively a reliever posting a 1.60 ERA, 0.800 WHIP, 11.8 SO/9 with 8 saves in 18 appearances.

#12.362 – 1B, Loyola Marymount, Beau Ankeney

This late in this mock, I’m kind of looking to fill some holes and draft some positions/profiles I may not have added up to this point. So I was looking for a 1B with some power and I found Ankeney. Listed 6’4″/235lbs, Beau built on a pretty solid 2024 season at Grand Canyon University after transferring to Loyola where he hit .358/.453/1.164 with 22 HR, 69 RBI, 30 BB, 53 SO in 57 games. His batspeed really caught my eye.

#13.392 – 3B, Austin Peay, Ray Velazquez

I had Velazquez in my previous mock. I’m moving him down a few rounds because I’m still not seeing him getting much buzz. He’s a senior-sign player that will be 23 in September. He was previously riding the bench for Vanderbilt, but transferred to Austin Peay to get more opportunity. And this year, with that opportunity, he hit .364/.479/1.207 with 18 HR, 32 BB, 32 SO.

#14.422 – LHP, St Joseph’s, Colton Book

I have two LHP that showed up back-to-back on my pitching metric with nearly identical profile. Book and Jordan Gottesman, from Northeastern, are both 22 year old lefthanded starting pitchers getting by more on pitchability than present stuff. But I like a guy that can control the zone that we can try to build the velo with.

Book’s 2025 went: 3.53 ERA, 0.992 WHIP, 12.7 SO/9, 2.1 BB/9. And he’s got the more prototypical pitcher frame at 6’4″/215lbs.

#15.452 – CF, Dallas Baptist, Nathan Humphreys

Another guy that is already 22 years old and a senior-sign. Humphreys plays a very strong defensive centerfield. He hit .353/.457/1.135 with 17 HR, 38 BB, 38 SO, and 21 SB. It’s a nice, well-rounded profile with a lefthand profile. After writing the bulk of this mock I found a new source that had Humphreys going way earlier than this, which makes sense. His profile shouldn’t last this long. But I can’t fit him in earlier in this version.

#16.482 – C, Wright State, Boston Smith

I had Smith in my previous Mariner mock, but in an earlier round. After seeing more of him during the CWS regionals, and not seeing his stock go up; I’ve decided to wait on him a bit. Listed 5’10″/195lbs; Smith has hit .330/.498/1.269 this year with 26 HR, 57 BB, 52 SO, and 16 SB. And he’s a lefty-hitting catcher. Like Humphreys, I would tend to think we need to pick him earlier than this.

#17.512 – RF, Kent State, Jake Casey

At this point, most draft big board listings have run out of players after naming 500. So I’m really just guessing approximate draft value from names that I pinned at some point and who aren’t listed in the 500.

My first choice in these last four is kind of a superstitious pick, of which most of the story I’m not going to get into. Suffice to say…Casey is a 6’2″/190lb lefty-hitting OF that hit .356/.500/1.236 this year with 17 HR, 37 BB, 56 SO, and 20 SB. He is also a legacy player being the son of former all-star 1B, Sean Casey.

#18.542 – RHP, Texas, Max Grubbs

Grubbs is a nice little reliever for the Longhorns. 6’1″/200lbs posting a 2.84 ERA, 1.123 WHIP, 9.6 SO/9, 2.2 BB/9 with 5 saves this year.

#19.572- RHP, Coastal Carolina, Ryan Lynch

Lynch is a bullpen piece for CCU with closer experience. He transferred there after stops in Bellingham and Bellevue Community College. Lynch is an Everett, WA native standing 6’4″/234lbs with a 0.59 ERA, 1.043 WHIP, 10.0 SO/9, 2.9 BB/9 and 8 saves season line.

#20.602- SS, Bryant, Drew Wyers

Seattle has a pretty strong farm system full of shortstop prospects, so I didn’t really make drafting one a priority. But it’s still important to draft one to fill out your minor league roster(s).

Wyers is listed 6’2″/200lbs and hit .407/.521/1.231 this year with 11 HR, 26 BB, and only 17 SO in 45 games.

And, since I “traded” away our first round pick for the #4 pick next year…here are some potential high-end 2026 draft targets:

UCLA SS Roch Cholowsky

Highschool SS Jacob Lombard.

Highschool SS Grady Emerson.

Highschool OF Brady Harris.

Georgia Tech OF Drew Burress.

Coastal Carolina RHP Cameron Flukey.

Florida RHP Liam Peterson.

Florida Atlantic LHP Trey Beard.

North Carolina draft-eligible sophomore RHP Ryan Lynch.

Highschool LHP Gio Rojas.

I already think that group looks better than 2025. Good luck getting Jerry Dipoto and crew to recognize this, and/or to have the stones to do it.