SoDo Mojo’s Top 40 Seattle Mariners Prospects: Honorable Mentions

Seattle’s rejuvenated farm system has some intriguing pieces even beyond its top 40 prospects.

With the MLB Draft and trade deadline past, it’s time to re-rank our top 40 Seattle Mariners prospects. It’s been a really good year for the Mariners’ farm system, with the majority of their very top prospects developing accordingly. Additionally, some of their more fringy types have taken a step forward and raised their ceiling, whether they added a new element to their game, improved upon a pre-existing tool, or dominated the league(s) in which they played.

There’s a little bit of everything in this list, which is a true testament to the incredible work Jerry Dipoto has done to take this system from the bottom of the cellar to one of the consensus best groups in the league over the span of just nearly 10 months. A lot of things have changed since we last did our prospect rankings, at that time a top 30 list, and mostly for the good.

We’re really excited about this organization and what they’re bringing to the table for the future, so we compiled well north of 50 names to consider for our list before condensing it down to 40. But we still wanted to give some mention to a few of the players that didn’t make the cut, so that’s what we’re doing today to kick things off.

LHP Ian McKinney, 24, Modesto Nuts

After signing with the Mariners as a minor league free agent last winter, Ian McKinney’s time in High-A Modesto has been, for the most part, shadowed by the successes of Ljay Newsome and Logan Gilbert. But with Newsome and Gilbert now promoted to Double-A Arkansas, McKinney has taken the spotlight in the Nuts’ rotation, posting a Cal League-leading 2.88 ERA with a second-best strikeout mark of 140.

Since adjusting his placement on the rubber in late June, McKinney has seen a slight uptick in velocity and has had the most overall success of his entire season, allowing just 10 earned runs in 60.1 innings with a K:BB ratio of 77-14. It’ll be interesting to see where McKinney goes from here, as he almost certainly will start the 2020 season in Double-A, a level that hasn’t been too kind to him in the past. At this point, he’s still a slim shot to be a future Major League reliever or a #5 starter, but you have to like the progress he’s made with new eyes on him.

RHP Jake Haberer, 24, Arkansas Travelers

The Mariners have plenty of relief prospects fans are surely familiar with, but Jake Haberer is one name that flown under the radar for far too long. As you’ll find throughout our list, Colby and I aren’t very high on relievers in general, so Haberer’s exclusion from our list really isn’t a knock on the potential he has.

Haberer is still very much raw, but hits the high 90s easily with an above-average breaking ball in his back pocket. The biggest concern on him is his inability to locate consistently, causing him to be wild at times, which has led to big walk numbers at both the High-A and Double-A levels this year. But for as many guys as he walks, he strikes out a ton of hitters as well, posting a 14.12 and 12.23 K/9 in Modesto and Arkansas, respectively. Fix the control issues and this could be way more than “just another guy” for Seattle’s ‘pen next year.

OF George Feliz, 16, TBD

Before the Mariners unexpectedly landed Kristian Cardozo two weeks ago, their top signing of this year’s international signing period was Dominican-born outfielder George Feliz. The 16-year-old is a five-tool asset who’s earned comps to Victor Robles in the past, boasting above-average field-to-field power for his age and the ability to man center field.

Unfortunately, there isn’t enough information on Feliz at this time for us to comfortably place him in our top 40, but he certainly sounds interesting and quite possibly could land there in our next re-rank before Spring Training.

RHP Ty Adcock, 22, TBD

The Mariners took Ty Adcock, the former Elon University closer, in the eighth round of this year’s MLB Draft. Adcock is a converted position player who’s really only been pitching for two full seasons, but is already up in the mid-to-high 90s with room to grow and sports a solid curveball to boot. As the repertoire continues to develop within a professional system, Adcock could eventually elevate himself to a legit high-leverage ceiling.

RHP Deviy Florido, 18, Everett AquaSox

At just 18-years-old, Deivy Florido has been bounced around from the AZL to West Virginia and has now seemingly found a home in Everett for the remainder of the season. While his repertoire is still very much underdeveloped, Florido has shown a distinct level of maturity in his first year stateside (and just his second in professional baseball), having some success at each level he’s pitched at this season. He’s one to keep an eye to make that next big jump in 2020.

RHP Elvis Alvarado, 20, AZL Mariners

Acquired in the deal that sent Roenis Elías and Hunter Strickland to the Washington Nationals at this year’s trade deadline, Elvis Alvarado is a converted outfielder-turned-pitcher with a ton of raw potential that he’s still figuring out. It’s going to be a journey for Alvarado, who’s only thrown 32.2 career innings in his professional career thus far.

We’ll see what the Mariners will be able to do with Alvarado in their first offseason with him in their organization. He’s a lottery ticket at best right now, but the ability to touch the high 90s with very minimal pitching experience is noteworthy, to say the least.