Mariners select 'wicked' Vest in Rule 5 Draft

SEATTLE -- For the third straight year, Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto used the Rule 5 Draft to add a relief prospect to his Major League roster, as Seattle selected Tigers right-hander Will Vest in Thursday’s virtually-held process.

• How the Rule 5 Draft works | History of the Rule 5 Draft

The Rule 5 Draft normally wraps up the Winter Meetings, though this year’s event was held online since the Meetings were impacted by the pandemic.

• 2020 Rule 5 Draft results, pick by pick

The Mariners have gotten good value out of their previous two Rule 5 picks, adding hard-throwing right-hander Yohan Ramirez from the Astros last year and Brandon Brennan from the Rockies in 2018. Both are part of Seattle’s current bullpen plans.

• Every Rule 5 Draft pick in Mariners' history

Vest didn’t pitch this past regular season due to the cancelation of the Minor League season, but the 25-year-old showed promise in 2019 while posting a 3.27 ERA with 58 strikeouts and 18 walks in 55 innings over three different levels of the Tigers' farm system.

Vest did pitch in the instructional league for the Tigers this winter and helped solidify his standing with the Mariners with a strong showing in Lakeland, Fla.

“We’re really excited. He was the No. 1 target on our board,” Mariners assistant GM Justin Hollander said. “He’s a very athletic right-handed reliever who really took a step forward in the instructional league. His velocity was up, action was up and command was up. ... The step forward we saw with all his pitches and command was pretty significant.”

Vest dominated the Class A Advanced level for Lakeland in 2019 with a 0.84 ERA and three saves in 14 outings. He then had a 5.33 ERA with four saves in 20 outings for Double-A Erie and a 2.70 ERA with one save in three opportunities for Triple-A Toledo.

The 6-foot, 180-pounder grew up in Houston and was drafted by Detroit in the 12th round in 2017 out of Stephen F. Austin in Texas. He’s gone 10-10 with a 3.88 ERA in 88 Minor League games in his pro career, with 142 strikeouts in 132 1/3 innings.

Vest was an infielder at Stephen F. Austin until his junior year, so he’s a late bloomer on the mound with some upside. Hollander said Vest added almost two miles per hour to his fastball this winter and was sitting at 96 mph and topping out at 98.

Additionally, the Mariners felt Vest had one of the best changeups in the Minor Leagues, as well as a developing slider.

“It’s a wicked, dive-bomb of a changeup,” Hollander said.

Pitchers were the hot item in Thursday’s Draft, with 15 of the 18 players selected in the Major League process being right-handed hurlers. Included in that group was Dodgers prospect Jordan Sheffield, the older brother of Mariners starter Justus Sheffield, who was taken by the Rockies with the No. 7 pick.

With two teams in front of them passing, the Mariners wound up with the No. 10 selection and Vest was the ninth pitcher to come off the board.

In the Minor League phase of the Draft, the Mariners selected 20-year-old second baseman Amador Arias, who has hit .197/.297/.296 in 124 games over the past three years for Rays’ Rookie League teams after being signed as a 16-year-old prospect out of Venezuela in 2016.

“This was a pure scout look,” Hollander said. “We really like the combination of tools and upside of the body and development of the athlete. He’s an above-average runner with above-average raw power who can play the infield. That’s a hard toolset to find in the Minor League phase of the Rule 5 Draft at 20 years old.”

The Mariners didn’t lose any players in either the Major or Minor League phases of the Draft.