Here's What the Seattle Mariners Had to Say About Day 3 of the MLB Draft
The 2024 MLB Draft concluded on Tuesday and the Seattle Mariners continued their pitcher-heavy approach that kick-started on Day 1 on Sunday.
The Mariners had 10 picks on Day 3 of the Draft (Rounds 11-20). Here's a breakdown of their picks:
Round 11: Christian Little, RHP, LSU
Round 12: Evan Truitt, RHP, Charleston Southern
Round 13: Brandon Eike, INF/OF, Virginia Commonwealth
Round 14: Austin St. Laurent, INF, Appalachian State
Round 15: Thomas Higgins, RHP, Georgia Southern
Round 16: Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman, RHP, East Carolina
Round 17: Harrison Kreiling, RHP, University of Nebraska-Omaha
Round 18: Matt Tiberia, RHP, Lynn University
Round 19: Brian Walters, RHP, Miami
Round 20: Ryan Picollo, OF, St. Joseph's
Seven of Seattle's 10 selections on Tuesday were pitchers. Hurlers made up 14 of their 20 draft picks, which makes sense considering that most of Seattle's top-end prospects are now position players.
LSU Pitcher Christian Little is picked by the @Mariners with their 11th round selection.
— Rapsodo Baseball (@rapsodo) July 16, 2024
Little is from St. Louis, MO and attended @cbchsbaseball. pic.twitter.com/FfYbm9RiNY
Mariners Director of Amateur Scouting Scott Hunter mentioned on Monday that the team drafted a lot of players with upside on the first two days with Jurrangelo Cijntje — a switch pitcher, Ryan Sloan — a high school prospect, Grant Knipp — a two-way player and several other athletes with just a couple years of college under their belt.
"It's a little unique, obviously, what we did at the top with Jurrangelo and Ryan," Hunter said on Tuesday. "... Over the last seven or eight years — we've really been able to come through in these moments and dig out real prospects and real value and I don't think that's changed. Obviously we went very pitching heavy this year. Not something we went in saying we were definitely going to do but i was something the draft was giving us."
As Hunter said, Seattle favored pitching this year after going with hitting prospects the few years before.
With regards to position players, the M's elected for power on Day 3. The three the team selected combined for 41 combined home runs this past college season.
Arguably the best pitcher out of the Day 3 selections was Lunsford-Shenkman. He had a 1.55 ERA and 79 strikeouts and 46.1 innings pitched as a reliever for East Carolina in 2024.
Little seems to have the most potential out of Tuesday's picks with a fastball that touches the upper 90s and a cutter that clocks in at the upper-80s.
Hunter projects Lunsford-Shenkman to continue as a reliever with the Mariners' system, and Little to develop his velocity into consistent ability.
"I would think (Wyatt) is going to stay in the bullpen because it's such a unique look," Hunter said. "I mean obviously, he can sweep a slider and drop that in on left-handed hitters' hands, I think there was some video moving around our draft room after we took him of a player actually taking a swing and spinning himself into the ground falling down."
Many of the draft picks will undergo physicals and sign contracts after that are pending on the results. It's too be determined whether or not some prospects will report this season to the rookie league or wait to suit up until next season. But, if all goes according to plan, Seattle fans will get some kind of look at the new Mariners sooner rather than later.
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