Mariners Draft: Three things to know

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

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The Mariners wrapped up the third and final day of the draft on Monday. Seattle walked away 14 pitchers, five position players and a two-way prospect from its 20 overall selections.

“Obviously we went very pitching heavy this year,” Mariners director of amateur scouting Scott Hunter said Monday. “Not something that we went in saying we were definitely going to do, but it was something the draft was giving us. And instead of just chasing things that might not have been there, we just started really piling up on a lot of power arms with stuff we feel we can develop.

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

Here’s three things that stood out from what Hunter said at the conclusion of the draft.

Assignments for Cijntje, Sloan TBD

Seattle used it’s first two picks on a pair of college arms, selecting intriguing switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje in the first round and right-hander Rylan Sloan in the second.

It’s been fairly common for early-round college pitching selections to get a handful of minor-league innings in the summer they’re drafted in. 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 pitched in Everett the following summer when he was drafted in the first round.

However, there’s a chance Mariners fans won’t see either pitching in the minors this summer.

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

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

“We’ll start doing some meet and greets, the signings and then obviously have them meet the guys down in the clubhouse, especially (manager) Scott (Servais),” Hunter said.

A late-round pitcher to watch

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

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

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

Little, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound right-hander, was a highly touted prospect coming out of high school that never quite reached his potential during four college seasons (two at Vanderbilt, two at LSU). The 21 year old also started college a year early.

“So he’s really a college junior that we took as a college senior that throws up to 99 miles an hour, has a real slider,” Hunter said. “The performance might be a little, on the back of his baseball card, not as good as he expected, but we met with him at the combine and really feel that he’s a kid that will thrive in our player development program because there is so much potential that’s untapped.

“Talking to him and his agent today when I got on the phone with him, he said that he really was trying to become a Mariner after our meeting in Seattle about our pitching program, the things we explained that we think we could help him with.”

Another intriguing Seattle Mariners draft pick

One of the stories of the draft was Seattle’s selection of the switch-pitching Cijntje. Hunter highlighted another intriguing player in two-way prospect Grant Knipp as someone he’s most excited about from a player development standpoint.

Knipp, a sixth-round pick out of Campbell University, is catcher with pop and a reliever who can touch 99 mph. He slugged 18 home runs and allowed just one run with six strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings pitched this season.

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

More on Seattle Mariners and MLB Draft

• Examining what Teoscar Hernández said about hitting in T-Mobile Park
• Mariners first-rounder Jurrangelo Cijntje wants to keep switch-pitching
• ARod wants to ‘come back’ to Seattle to thank Mariners fans
• Was the Seattle Mariners’ first half a success? Brock and Salk react
• How Ryan Rowland-Smith helped first Aussie picked No. 1 in MLB Draft

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