Mariners 2022 Prospect Rankings: #19 Starlin Aguilar

The International draft had to shuffle around a bit for the 2020/21 event due to COVID, and ended up happening in January. The Mariners were still able to get some good kids into their system from those signings, one of which was Starlin Aguilar.

A third baseman, Aguilar was signed by the Mariners just before he turned 17. He’s been able to get a year of Dominican ball as well as a year in at the Arizona Complex League, hitting the ball quite well while doing so.

Mariners 3B prospect Starlin Aguilar comes in at #19, and is the top 3B prospect in their system

There is a bit of a worry with Aguilar in that he hasn’t shown any power yet. Just two home runs in 96 games. At the same time, I wouldn’t worry about that. He’s still a teenager and growing. It’s pretty common to see these young guys come into power as they approach 20/21. If we don’t see him starting to hit bombs by 2024, then we can worry.

He will need to grow in order to continue blossoming as a prospect. If he can grow a couple more inches, it might help him on defense, potentially letting him stay at third. Currently, the arm and glove sit in the 40 range, which isn’t acceptable unless he has an insane bat. The power is probably in that same area, but we have to drop it a bit until he shows he can either lace doubles consistently, or in hitting the ball out of the yard.

The hit tool could be what carries him for a while, and gets him into those conversations of “Hey, can this guy make it to the bigs?”. He’s been a singles machine at the ACL, but there isn’t much else there. He does have a nice-looking swing and a quick bat, which is why so many have high hopes for Aguilar.

If he can grow a bit, that swing could turn into a bit of pop, launching his power into the 50 range. Nothing special, but in the mid-teen range. A 50/50 hit power grade, or average/average, may not seem like much… but, if you can get a .260 BA with 16 homers from a guy, you’ve got yourselves someone who will have a productive, or at least lengthy, career.

That being said, it’s likely that as he grows and matures, he slows down. Already slightly below average, we could see him drop into the poor range of 35/40. Unless he figures out what Julio did, and jumps his speed grade by an insane 20-25 points.

Starlin Aguilar Player Grades

• Overall – 45
• Hit – 55
• Power – 35
• Run – 45
• Field – 45
• Arm – 40

He’s just 18, so it is way too early to make any solid or concrete predictions about the type of player that Aguilar is going to be. Especially when you consider that it’s unlikely that he is fully grown. He still profiles as a borderline regular guy, leaning towards the platoon side.

Attention will need to be paid to his splits against RHP vs LHP as he gets into the minors, as that could adjust his ceiling and overall grade more than anything else. As a high priced international signing, Aguilar hasn’t been special, but he has still been doing pretty good for the Mariners farm system.