Mariners' best options for No. 3 draft pick from The Athletic's prospect rankings

In approximately three months, the Seattle Mariners will enjoy their highest pick in the MLB Draft since the early 2010s.

Whereas the Mariners used the No. 2 pick in 2011 on Danny Hultzen (oof...) and the No. 3 pick in 2012 on Mike Zunino (nice!), they haven't picked higher than sixth in the last 12 drafts. It is a testament to general manager Jerry Dipoto that the club's farm system is now universally praised anyway, with multiple publications ranking it as the best of MLB.

Makes you want to see what they'll do with the No. 3 pick in the 2025 draft, doesn't it?

The Mariners effectively lucked into the third pick via the lottery in December, jumping 12 spots from what would have been their top draft slot sans the lottery. It's not too soon to get acquainted with their potential options, for which Keith Law of The Athletic has provided a handy guide in the form of his rankings of the top prospects of this year's draft class.

With a caveat that the draft is still a long way away and that the Mariners' own process is surely fluid, let's run through the three best options for the No. 3 pick.

Option No. 3: Jamie Arnold or Gavin Kilen

Gavin Kilen (No. 6) and Jamie Arnold (No. 4) both have shortstop prospects ahead of them in Law's rankings, with Oregon State's Aiva Arquette in the No. 2 slot and high schooler Kayson Cunningham at No. 5.

But do you know what the Mariners already have a ton of? Shortstop prospects.

Law himself has six Mariners prospects in his top 100, and three of them (Colt Emerson, Felnin Celesten and Cole Young) are shortstops. Trades and positional changes could change that in the years (if not months) to come, and it's true that teams generally don't draft according to quote-unquote needs. Even still, only one guy has ever said that excess is the road to wisdom.

Arnold, a left-hander out of Florida State with a plus fastball-slider combination, would be a welcome southpaw for an organization whose best pitchers are all right-handers.

Kilen, a second baseman out of Tennessee, has something the Mariners badly need: an elite bat-to-ball skill that has produced a .325 average in the college ranks so far.

Option No. 2: Ethan Holliday

Matt Holliday was a regular All-Star in his day, and it may not be long before his eldest son, Jackson, is as well. Indeed, it wasn't even two full years ago that Jackson was the Baltimore Orioles' No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft.

There's a real chance that Ethan Holliday (Law's No. 2) will end up being a No. 1 pick as well. And contrary to his relatively slight older brother, Ethan is more of a proverbial chip off the ol' block. The 18-year-old is capital-B Built at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, and he's only going to get stronger.

As such, chances are his current shortstop/third base profile will be simplified to the latter position. That should intrigue the Mariners, as it offers a clear pathway for Ethan to team up with some variation of the aforementioned shortstop triumvirate.

Option No. 1: Liam Doyle

Though Liam Doyle is with his third college program (Tennessee by way of Coastal Carolina and Mississippi) in three years, let us not forget that Paul Skenes also bounced around en route to being the Pittsburgh Pirates' No. 1 pick in 2023.

Like Skenes, Doyle is now threatening to make himself the obvious choice for the No. 1 pick of the 2025 draft. He is Law's No. 1 prospect in part because of what he's done for the Volunteers through his first four starts of 2025. He has fanned 47 batters over 20.1 innings, including 13 in 5.2 innings as part of a combined no-hitter on Friday.

The stuff was there for the 20-year-old before 2025, but Law notes that Doyle is now sitting 96-98 mph with an above average changeup and breaking ball.

Beyond a symbolic need for a left-handed pitching prospect, the Mariners may not have long before they have real needs in their starting rotation. Though it is arguably the best in the game right now, Mariners fans know all too well that Luis Castillo and Logan Gilbert are only controlled through 2027.