Insider’s top draft options for Mariners at No. 3 overall

Jul 2, 2025, 10:51 PM

Seattle Sports

All the long hours and countless travel miles racked by Seattle Mariners scouts are set be rewarded in less than two weeks.

The first day of the two-day MLB Draft is Monday, July 13, and the M’s are among the most intriguing team to watch as they hold the third overall pick and another high pick at No. 35 overall in comp round A.

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It’s fortunate position for a team like the Mariners, who missed the playoffs by only one game last season, to be in. They jumped up 12 spots during the draft lottery in December, the most of any club in baseball.

What will the Mariners do to try and capitalize on their fortuitous situation? The Athletic’s Keith Law, a longtime draft analyst, shared his insight on who Seattle will take with the No. 3 overall pick.

“I think the pick will be either lefty (pitcher) Kade Anderson from LSU or shortstop — maybe not forever shortstop but currently a shortstop — Aiva Arquette from Oregon State,” Law said. “That would be my guess. One of those two guys is going to be available for them almost certainly. And although I know they they like and have interest in other players right now, I would bet pretty good money on it being one of those two.”

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Anderson, a 20-year-old starter, just finished helping LSU win the College World Series. The southpaw led the country with 180 strikeouts and posted a 12-1 record and 3.18 ERA during a stellar sophomore season in the powerhouse SEC.

Anderson finished his college career with an impressive performance on the national stage, tossing a 130-pitch, three-hit shutout in Game 1 of the College World Series final.

Law has Anderson ranked as the No. 3 prospect in this year’s draft. The left-hander is second on MLB Pipeline’s draft prospect rankings.

Arquette, a 21-year-old shortstop who began his college career with the UW Huskies, is considered to be the top college position player in this year’s draft. He posted a .354/.461/.654 slash line with 17 doubles, one triple, 19 home runs and 66 RBIs in 65 games for Oregon State this season.

There is an expectation that the 6-foot-5 Arquette could eventually move off shortstop and end up at third base or second base.

Law ranks Arquette fourth on his draft board, and MLB Pipeline lists him sixth.

“Arquette is more likely to be available,” Law said. “The Nats (who have the first pick) are going to take one of probably 3 or 4 guys at this point, the Angels (who have the second pick) are going to take a pitcher that they can put in the majors like three days after the draft. Whichever guy is left for the Mariners, they’ll take, and it’s probably a good — it’s going to be a great pick. Landing third is actually not that much different than landing first in this particular draft class.

“There’s no (Stephen) Strasburg or (Bryce) Harper. There’s no runaway first pick. The only disadvantage to picking third rather than first is you have a little less money to play with. But the Mariners have at least one extra pick I can think of (No. 35 in comp round A), so they’re going to get creative. I think they’ll do well at pick three and probably do kind of like what they did with (high school pitcher) Ryan Sloan last year — get another first-round talent with one of their later picks on day one.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.