Mariners earn biggest steal of Round Two in MLB Draft according to MLB Pipeline

During the 2023 draft, Mariners fans were excited to see what was going to happen when it was realized that the Mariners were going to have an unprecedented three picks out of the top 31 selections, in large part to Julio's succes and the first round pick that they gained from his Rookie of the Year win. We knew the team could potentially get a haul of talent, and it happened with Colt Emerson, Jonny Farmelo, and Tai Peete.

Turn to 2024, and it was a much more vanilla setup. The Mariners just had their normal picks and had actually lost their second round comp pick, #68, to the White Sox from the Gregory Santos trade. It didn't take long for fans to get excited though, as the Mariners' first two picks were a switch-pitching starter in Jurrangelo Cijntje, and then Ryan Sloan.

Ryan Sloan was the steal of the second round

Jim Callis, of MLB Pipeline, came out with an article detailing his biggest steals/best values from each round of the draft. This is where Ryan Sloan comes in. He was actually ranked 19th in the draft by MLB Pipeline, higher than the Cijntje, ironically enough. There were reports about signability concerns, but the Mariners still went for him at #55, and it worked out beautifully when they were able to sign him for $3M, an over slot at #55 that equals the value of the 29th pick.

Here is what Callis had to say about him.

"“6'5’’, 220, I'm not saying he’s going to be this guy, but you get some physical comparisons to Gerrit Cole. He's put together really well for a high school kid, and he could have three plus pitches. He's got feel too. He's got a 93-96 mph fastball hits 99, he can ride it and run it, he can cut it, he can sink it. ... I think Seattle had to be elated to get this guy in the second round. They got him at pick 55 and honestly, he probably should have gone 30-35 picks higher.”"

Jim Callis

I'm not going to get too excited yet... but I really want to. Hearing that about Sloan, the potential that he has along with the pitches that are already in his arsenal paired with the ability to almost touch triple digits is amazing, especially when the Mariners were able to get a first round talent with their mid-round pick in the second round.

It was a massive steal, and a huge addition for one of the weaker farm-systems in baseball when it comes to pitching. To grab two top-30 pitchers who jump into your top-ten prospects as an organization is a big-time win for the Mariners. Welcome to the team, Ryan Sloan.