Seattle Mariners Mock Draft 2.0

The MLB Draft is just 3 weeks away and what exactly the Mariners plan is starting to come into focus. With the new information, let’s take another stab at predicting the unpredictable, the MLB Draft.

When we wrote our first Mariners Mock Draft 3 weeks ago, we knew very little about where the Mariners might be leaning. Today, we know a bit more, and it appears their draft board is just about crystalized.

Recent reports have indicated that the Mariners are scouting high floor, fast-moving college types hard. This isn’t a surprise and is something we speculated about in our first mock draft. Considering the Mariners have taken Kyle Lewis and Evan White in the first round of Dipoto’s first two drafts, this idea follows suit.

In their latest mock draft, Fangraphs mocked Oregon State outfielder Trevor Larnach to Seattle at pick 14. Considering what we know, the pick would make sense. Larnach is a college producer, with a nice swing who is unafraid to take walks and work counts. As many expected, Larnach has tapped into his raw power this year, slugging 14 home runs in 165 AB’s.

The issue with Larnach is that he doesn’t provide much value anywhere but the plate. He has a good arm, but it isn’t great. He has below-average foot speed and has a ceiling of an average corner outfielder.

Larnach is a nice prospect, but won’t get many excited. Long-term, he profiles best as a future everyday left fielder.  With all that in mind, we went a different direction.

The Mariners certainly need pitching depth throughout their organization. While you never draft for need in the Top 10 rounds, Gilbert is more than deserving of this selection. Entering 2018, there was some belief that Gilbert could be the second RH college arm taken in the draft.

Logan has fallen back some, thanks in part to a drop in velocity in 2018. However, Gilbert offers a 4 pitch mix, with all 4 pitches flashing plus at times. The fastball sits at 91 MPH and he has touched 97 as recently as last summer.

Gilbert throws both breaking balls, though his slider is the better of the two. The changeup is the separator for Gilbert, and the pitch has the chance to be double-plus in the future. Gilbert has dominated his competition, striking out 284 hitters in 231 career innings.

With good command and stuff, Gilbert could be up sometime in 2020 and has the upside of a true #2 type of starter. If Gilbert can regain the velocity from the Cape Cod League, he has one of the highest upsides of all the college arms.