5 Mariners prospects to keep an eye on this season

Minor league baseball is finally back after being canceled last year. The Seattle Mariners have the third-best farm system in the MLB and have seven prospects in the Top 100 list.

The Seattle Mariners farm system is highlighted by Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez but there are some names that I am particularly interested in following this season.

Seattle Mariners prospect to follow no. 1 – Isaiah Campbell

The Seattle Mariners drafted Isaiah Campbell in 2019 as the 76th pick out of the University of Arkansas. The right-handed pitcher dealt with elbow problems in school so the Mariners decided to shut him down after completing his college season. And with the pandemic last year, Campbell did not get to debut in the minor leagues like expected.

So why am I excited to see Campbell in his first pro season? The 23-year-old prospect has a great fastball, three good offspeed pitches, and can throw strikes. His form also reminds me a lot of Taijuan Walker: relaxed, easy to repeat, and smooth.

Campbell made his minor league debut yesterday for the Everett Aqua Sox and went three innings, allowed a hit and a walk while striking out two. As you can see above, the former Razorback struck out Corbin Carroll, a Seattle native and top prospect for the Diamondbacks.

The other nice thing about our 12th ranked prospect is that he is closer to the big leagues compared to some of our other pitching prospects. Campbell is another college draftee, a trend we have seen with Jerry Dipoto over the past few years. The right-hander spent four years at Arkansas so he is definitely more mature compared to a high school draftee.

2021 is his first pro season so there will be almost no chance he gets called up to the big leagues this season, but a mid-season call-up in 2022 wouldn’t be surprising. Now, onto my next prospect to watch.

Seattle Mariners prospects to follow no. 2 – Emerson Hancock

My second prospect to watch shouldn’t be much of a surprise since he is highly touted but I wanted to reiterate how important 2021 is for him. Some have argued that Hancock was the best pitcher out of the 2020 draft class.

The Mariners were able to snag him with the sixth pick after some teams became wary of his lat issue in 2019. The University of Georgia product might have thrown during the 2020 minor league season had there been one, so just like Campbell, Hancock made his pro debut this season.

Emerson threw three days ago for the Aqua Sox and threw two scoreless innings. He allowed just one walk and struck out three.

The 21-year-old pitching prospect reminds me a little of Jacob deGrom and based on his scouting report card, he really could be that good in the future. Hancock throws a high 90’s fastball with above-average offspeed pitches.

Like Campbell, Hancock is in Everett and may end up in Double-A by the end of the season but I imagine the Mariners will be extremely cautious with his workload.

Emerson is currently the sixth-best right-handed pitching prospect in the MLB, and he will climb up the rankings as soon as Nate Pearson and Sixto Sanchez graduate from the list. Now onto another pitching prospect that I am excited to see more of.

Seattle Mariners prospects to follow no. 4 – Austin Shenton

Why not cheer on the local kid? Austin Shenton was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the fifth round of the 2019 draft out of Florida International University in Florida. Born in Spokane, Shenton attended Bellingham High School up north.

The 19th ranked prospect in the organization had a pretty good pro debut in 2019 and batted .298 and hit seven home runs. Shenton obviously was impacted by the absence of a 2020 season so it will be interesting to see if he can continue his good start to his minor league career.

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One of the reasons why I am intrigued by Austin Shenton is the lack of infield depth we have in the farm system. I think we all know about our star-studded pitching prospects, but the infield is somewhat of a concern in the near future. Noelvi Marte has caught the attention of more people as of late but he is just 19-years-old.

To be more direct, who is going to replace Kyle Seager? If Shenton can continue to deliver with the bat and work closely with coaches on improving his defensive skills, he might be a viable candidate.

Shenton currently has a 55 hit grade, and a 50 power grade. The 23-year-old also has a similar body build as Kyle Seager which makes me think that his power could be more along the lines of a 55 grade. Shenton stands 6’0″ and weighs 205 lbs. Kyle Seager is 6’0″ and weighs 216 lbs.

Last but not least, my fifth prospect to watch this season.

Seattle Mariners prospects to follow no. 5 – Alberto Rodriguez

It might be a little too early to say Jerry Dipoto fleeced another team via trade, but Alberto Rodriguez is an interesting prospect we acquired in exchange for Taijuan Walker last season. Rodriguez grew up with Noelvi Marte and are now playing together on the Modesto Nuts.

According to MLB.com, Marte said his friend could be like Barry Bonds. The 20-year-old outfielder spent 2018 and 2019 in rookie ball and hit .254 and .301 respectively. He only hit seven home runs across the two years so he still needs to gain some muscle if wants to live up to Marte’s player comparison.

I am particularly keen on watching Alberto Rodriguez this year because there is still a lot to learn about him. MLB.com doesn’t have a huge scouting report on him besides Noelvi Marte’s anecdotal scouting report. So, the 2021 minor league season should give us a better sense of where the lefty is in terms of development and skill.

Although it helps to know how he performed in 2018 and 2019 with the Blue Jays’ rookie ball teams, it is not the best sample to determine what he can do because he was so young at the time.

His best tool according to the scout report card is his power, which is ranked at 55. Hitting is his second-best at 50. Rodriguez is currently 5’11” and weighs 180 lbs but I bet those numbers will increase over the next year or two.

These were just five prospects I am particularly interested in following this season, but that doesn’t mean I am not excited about everyone else in the organization. There are a lot of good prospects in the system and many are hungry to make an impact in 2021 after not playing in 2020. A lot of good things to look forward to.