Mariners take OF Zach DeLoach with 1st of pair of 2nd-round picks
Jun 11, 2020, 2:51 PM | Updated: 2:52 pm
The Mariners started the second day of the 2020 MLB Draft adding to their outfield depth, selecting Texas A&M’s Zach DeLoach with the 43rd overall selection. He joins first-round pick Emerson Hancock, a right-handed pitcher from Georgia, as SEC members the Mariners have drafted thus far.
Mariners add to pitching depth with Georgia’s Emerson Hancock
DeLoach, 21, played all three outfield positions for the Aggies during his three-year career, with most of his time during the 2020 season coming in left and right field.
DeLoach hits left handed and throws with his right hand, is 6 foot 2, weighs about 210 pounds and is a solid all around player. According to his MLB Pipeline draft profile, on 20-80 scales, he rates at 50 for hitting, power, fielding, and his arm, and is a 55 grade for his running.
Ranked MLB Pipeline’s No. 72 overall prospect in the draft, DeLoach had a solid freshman campaign in 2018, hitting .262 and walking 35 times compared to his 33 strikeouts. He had a very disappointing season as a sophomore, hitting just .200 in 56 games. Between those first two seasons, DeLoach hit five home runs.
During the 2019 summer, DeLoach clearly figured some things out, hitting .353 with five home runs and 23 RBIs in 37 games in the high-profile Cape Cod League, which is an elite wood bat summer league for some of the top college baseball players in the country.
He kept that momentum going during the brief 2020 college season, hitting .421 with six home runs, driving in 17 runs in 18 games before the season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic that has shut down all major sports, professional and collegiate, in the U.S. Additionally, DeLoach walked 14 times and struck out just three times, and during his three college seasons at Texas A&M, he walked more than he struck out (73 to 65).
If Deloach signs, he will join a Mariners prospect system that has some young talent in the outfield, headlined by Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez and also features 2016 first-round pick Kyle Lewis as well as Jake Fraley and Braden Bishop.
Follow 710Sports.com’s Brandon Gustafson on Twitter.
Mariners draft tracker: Full list of every M’s pick plus details
