Mariners’ draft pick just before Jacob Misiorowski looks like a big front office miss

Brewers fans have been following the career of Jacob Misiorowski since he was drafted in 2022 but for fans of other organizations, 2026 is his breakout season. His rookie campaign got off to a controversial start after receiving an All-Star nod with just five starts under his belt but this year, he's proving that he'll be a perennial selection for years to come.

He had a strong first season at Crowder College, a junior college in Missouri, but really caught the attention of scouts during the MLB Combine when he averaged almost 100 mph on his heater. As a result, he was slated to be a relatively early pick and the Mariners actually had a fair shot at taking him, getting the pick just five slots above where he was ultimately taken in the second round of the 2022 draft. Unfortunately, the player they opted for instead hasn't panned out in nearly the same way.

Seattle chose Tyler Locklear over Jacob Misiorowski in the 2022 MLB Draft

To the Mariners' credit, Tyler Locklear was a highly-touted prospect out of Virginia Commonwealth University. Over 628 plate appearances with the team, he had a 1.217 OPS with 40 doubles and 37 home runs. He received multiple accolades over his collegiate career and peaked as the No. 8 prospect in Seattle's system in 2024.

He hit well in the minor leagues but wasn't able to translate his success into the majors, struggling immensely with strikeouts and failing to make enough contact to utilize his power. In his short stint with the Mariners in 2024, he posted a 56 OPS+ over 49 plate appearances with a 40.8% strikeout rate.

He spent most of 2025 in the minor leagues but made headlines again after being included in a package to acquire Eugenio Suárez at last year's trade deadline. He found more playing time with the Diamondbacks since they had also sent Josh Naylor to the Mariners, but he didn't make much improvement, posting a 49 OPS+ over 116 plate appearances and accumulating -1.1 rWAR.

In 2026, the resurgence of Ildemaro Vargas's career has once again relegated Locklear to the minors, where the majority of his playing time has been with Triple-A Reno. He has a modest 116 wRC+ this year with an impressive 2.9% strikeout rate thus far but has an average exit velocity of just 84.8 mph.

To Seattle's credit, Misiorowski was a diamond in the rough up until arguably this year. Despite possessing outstanding stuff, it took him until this year to be able to utilize his gifts to their fullest potential. He couldn't have done that without the help of the Brewers organization, which has earned a reputation for being one of the best at developing pitchers.

The Mariners are arguably even better, especially since their rotation is made up of exceptional homegrown talent with the exception of Luis Castillo, who also happens to currently be the weak link. This alone raises the intriguing question of what could've been had Misiorowski been taken instead of Locklear.

Would Seattle have had the pieces to acquire Suárez from Arizona last year without giving up pitching talent? If he was in the system, would the Mariners still be hesitant about calling him up given the logjam in the rotation? Would they still have chosen Kade Anderson if they already had a big-league ready phenom waiting in the wings? These questions only beget further inquiries and it's difficult to find any certainty amidst a cloud of hypotheticals.

That 2022 draft is also the one that brought Cole Young into the organization, and the front office's recent track record for the draft has been excellent. The team may have been in a slightly better spot had they taken Misiorowski over Locklear but there's no way to know for sure and honestly, do the Mariners really need more starting pitchers? Not really, at least not for now.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow