Prospect Watch Update: Mariners #10 Prospect Max Povse

In his quest to improve the 2017 Seattle Mariners, Jerry Dipoto traded two of Sodo Mojo’s Top-10 Prospects. Ryan Yarbrough and Luiz Gohara exit our list as they were traded away. So, who replaces them?

DJ Peterson

I recently wrote about DJ Peterson, and he slides into the Top 10 at #9.

"Peterson was thought to be a “fast track” bat when the Mariners selected him out of the University of New Mexico in 2013. It was believed he had 25 home run power and a good enough hit tool to be a .280/.340/.450 type of hitter.It appeared Peterson was on the right track after he dominated in his first full season in 2014. He even led all Mariners players with 31 home runs and 111 RBI’s.He repeated AA to start the 2015 season, though, and got off to a slow start, then suffered an Achilles injury after being promoted to AAA."

You can read the full article here.

Max Povse

The “big piece” in the Alex Jackson trade, Povse, is a right-handed pitcher who Atlanta drafted in the 3rd round of the 2014 draft. What stands out most about Povse is his size. At 6’8″, he will be the 4th tallest player in franchise history.

What stands out most about Povse is his size. At 6’8″, he will be the 4th tallest player in franchise history.

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Povse’s fastball sits at 92-93 MPH and generates a copious amount of ground balls; there isn’t a lot of sink or run to his fastball.

He uses his size to throw downhill, making it difficult to get underneath the ball.

His best secondary pitch is his changeup, which is already above-average and is thrown with terrific arm speed. It fades as it approaches the plate, and has some fairly decent sink.

Povse’s curveball could be the difference-making pitch. but needs to be thrown with more velocity to tighten it up.

While Povse isn’t considered to be a strikeout pitcher, he managed to collect 139 punchouts in 158 innings.

Incredibly, he walked just 29 batters to go along with his 3.36 ERA across High-A and AA ball.

Next: 2017 Mariners Are Built Around Speed

Ideally, Povse makes his MLB debut in 2018, but injuries and poor performance could force the Mariners to bring him up sooner than they would like.

Grades (20-80) Fastball:60 Changeup:55 Curveball: 45 Control: 55 Overall: 50

ETA: 2018 Role: Back-end starter Comparison: Doug Fister

Mariners Top 10 Prospects

1. Tyler O’Neill
2. Kyle Lewis
3.  Nick Neidert
4. Mitch Haniger
5. Drew Jackson
6. Dan Vogelbach
7. Joe Rizzo
8. Andrew Moore
9. D.J. Peterson
10. Max Povse