Mariners Draft: Favorite MLB Draft Prospect at every position

The MLB Draft is just three weeks away and without any real baseball to focus on, we have been hyper-focused on what the Mariners should do with the sixth pick. But today, we spread the love a bit.

When you study the draft and its prospects as much as we have over the past month, you can’t help but fall in love with the idea of certain players wearing the Mariners uniforms in a few years. Not all of them are top tier talents and some have no shot of being selected by the team. But you store these players away for a few years and give Jerry Dipoto a little bit of room and perhaps someday you find out they’ve been traded to Seattle, like Jake Fraley.

But as our mock drafts all start to run together and our Top 25 Big Board just needs a few minor tweaks here and there, you get into a rut of expecting a player, let’s say, Nick Gonzales, to be the choice at six and you kind of leave it at that.

But there are other players you grow attached to and love the idea of them in Seattle, even if it’s not an elite prospect. So you try to find a way to sneak them into your mock drafts just so you can talk about them, but then your draft is off.

So today, we exercise those demons and put these names out there as “my guy” or “flag” players. That is, somebody we believe we like more than the average person and would place our reputation on their success. And fortunately for somebody like me, I don’t have much of a reputation to sacrifice. So let’s do it. Here are my favorite draft prospects at each position, regardless of where they rank.

Max Meyer, RHP Minnesota

Hopefully, you saw this coming. If you’ve been following our draft coverage this month, you should know how much I love Max Meyer and dream that he will be a future Seattle Mariners Ace. Yes, he’s short, but he has arguably the best fastball and slider in the entire class with above-average command and another good pitch to back everything up.

Meyer is probably going to go in the Top 10 but doesn’t seem to be connected to the Mariners at all, which is breaking my heart. At worst, Meyer is Edwin Diaz out of the bullpen. He sits 96-99 with arm-side run on the fastball and an elite slider he can manipulate multiple ways.

At his ceiling, he is an ace, a guy who can go toe to toe with Gerrit Cole or Justin Verlander on a regular basis. The simple truth is, if Meyer was 6’2″, he would be in the conversation for the number one overall pick. But at his size, front offices will assume he can’t handle a full workload

and instantly throw an unwarranted “bullpen” or “injury concern” tag on him.

His delivery is simple and repeatable. He is a good athlete. His stuff is elite and his command is great. Whoever selects Meyer is getting a stud and I just hope it’s the Mariners.

Garrett Crochet, LHP Tennessee

I wanted to add one lefty to the mix here. Garrett Crochet is a tall, long-armed lefty who throws 100 MPH. Do I need to repeat that? He throws 100 MPH. He also has an advanced feel for a changeup and a nice slider, plus the ability to hammer the strike zone. Need I say more?

Crochet isn’t likely to be the pick at number six and wouldn’t love it if he was. There is no chance he falls to 43, meaning he won’t be a Mariner for at least a little while. But he has the potential to be a James Paxton like arm someday and that is going to get me excited every time I write it down.

Pete Crow-Armstrong, Harvard-Westlake (CA)

There are very few players that Seattle could take as an under slot player at six, or as an over-slot pay at 43, that I would be happy with. Pete Crow-Armstrong is one of them. His profile reminds me an awful lot of one Jarred Kelenic coming out of high school and if there is a 25% chance that is what he becomes, I’m in.

Crow-Armstrong is a well-rounded player with above-average or better tools across the board, with the exception of in-game power. But PCA has a good swing and a quick bat, so power could emerge with better prep as we have watched with Kelenic. He plays hard, should be able to handle centerfield, and carries the same Grady Sizemore comparison as Kelenic. Yeah, I’m in.

Robert Hassell, OF  Independence (TN)

Set to join Crow-Armstrong at Vanderbilt this fall, Hassell, like PCA, has above-average or better tools across the board. Hassell trades some of the speed and defensive value of PCA for a bit more power and projection, but looks like safe bet to be at least a solid, everyday corner outfielder. Evaluators are split on his power tool as the current swing is designed more towards line drives than fly balls, but there is enough projection to see 25 home run seasons in Hassell.

Hassell’s hit tool alone will likely get him drafted in the Top 15 and, like PCA, has a strong commitment to Vanderbilt, so you’d need to give him Top 15 money in round two to move him out of Nashville and into your organization.

Tyler Gentry, OF Alabama

It’s easy to go with Zac Veen or Garrett Mitchell, both of whom I have ranked in my Top 10, but I’m giving my last spot to Tyler Gentry, an RHH outfielder for the Alabama Crimson Tide. The 6’2″, 210 lbs outfielder is solidly built with average or better tools across the board and was one of the best bats in the shortened 2020 college season.

Gentry controls the zone, has power from foul line to foul line, can handle centerfield, and should be above-average in right field with a strong arm. If that sounds familiar to you, I just described Mitch Haniger. Obviously, Gentry has a long way to go to earn that comparison, but from tools and size perspective, it’s a comparison I’m comfortable with.

There you have it. My favorite prospect at each position. While there are a few top talents on this list, most of them are going to be drafted later than 20, which may be a product of my hyper-focus on players who won’t go in the Top 6. The draft is three weeks away and if any of these players get their name chosen by the Mariners, I’ll be one happy person.