Mariners focused on college players on Draft Day 2
Nathan Han
When the Mariners entered Day 1 of the 2023 Draft with an MLB-high four selections, the club shot for upside, exiting with three high-school players. Seattle followed that trend again, shooting for upside with its first two picks of Day 2.
Then, the club picked five college players with four-plus years at the collegiate level to balance out its bonus pool spending.
“Obviously, when you keep going for upside talent, you’re going to have to pay for it a little bit,” Mariners director of amateur scouting Scott Hunter said. “The players we were able to get -- the older players -- we do believe are true prospects, and will really balance out our youth and upside with some maturity and consistency.”
Here’s a pick-by-pick breakdown of Seattle’s selections on Day 2 of the Draft:
Round 3, No. 92: Teddy McGraw, RHP, Wake Forest
Notable Skill: McGraw, the No. 84-ranked Draft prospect per MLB Pipeline, earned a strong 55 grade on each of his three pitches: a 92-95 mph sinking fastball, a mid-80s slider with lots of movement and an upper-80s changeup.
Fun Fact: The right-hander missed his junior season due to Tommy John surgery, his second after also undergoing Tommy John as a high school senior, but he led a fall split-squad team, charting pitches, calling games and breaking down scouting reports against No. 7 pick Rhett Lowder, according to ESPN.
Quotable: “As soon as we took him, I called Teddy outside of the draft room,” Hunter said. “And he said [that] this was one of the few places he wanted to be, because he knows what we’ve done with pitching.
“When healthy, he’s got some of the best stuff in the Draft, that ranks with probably anybody in the top 10 to 15 picks in this country. So with our development program and all the guys that we’ve put through our pitching program, we believe we can get him healthy, get him back on the mound and really have a steal of the Draft almost, if all things come together.”
Round 4, No. 124: Aidan Smith, OF, Lovejoy HS (Texas)
Notable Skill: The 6-foot-3, 190-pound outfielder struck out just once in his first 20 games his senior season and hit .608 through his first 17 games against top North Texas competition. MLB Pipeline ranked Smith the No. 78 Draft prospect, and its scouting report called him “the best pure hitter in the Texas high school ranks.”
Fun Fact: Smith played youth baseball for Brandon Sherard, Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story’s hitting coach. Even after his youth baseball days ended, he continued to practice with Sherard once or twice a week to work on mechanics, approach, pitch recognition and the ability to hit to all fields.
Quotable: “Patrick O’Grady, our area scout down in Texas, he loved him all year,” Hunter said. “He’s the one guy all year long that you open up your cell phone every morning, and there would be text messages from guys in the field. Pat was sending videos of this kid to me, I would say daily, if not almost obsessively … He’s got a chance to really build a five-tool toolset. He can run, he’s got raw power and he’s still developing into his body, which is something that we’re really excited about.”
Round 5, No. 160: Brock Rodden, SS, Wichita State
Notable Skill: Rodden became the first Wichita State All-American since Alec Bohm in 2018 when the switch-hitter was named a third team All-American his junior season. Rodden slashed .371/.474/.701, showing all-around dominance at the plate.
Fun Fact: The 5-foot-9 infielder decided to bet on himself, returning to college after being drafted in the 10th round by the A’s in the 2022 Draft. He rejected Oakland’s offer at the slot value of $151,300, and it paid off when the Mariners picked him five rounds earlier (slot value: $374,400).
Quotable: “[Rodden] is a good combination of speed and power,” Hunter said. “When you take a senior early, everyone thinks it’s just a cost-saver, but I was actually getting text messages from around the league that were like, ‘That’s way better than your normal senior signing.’ He’s one of the leaders in exit velocities and power. He’s not an overly physical kid, but he’s toolsy. He’s athletic. He hits it hard.”
Round 6, No. 187: Brody Hopkins, RHP, Winthrop University
Notable Skill: A two-way player who manned center field for Winthrop, Hopkins is considered more of a pitching prospect. He struck out 66 batters in 54 innings his junior year, reaching the high-90s with his fastball, and also happened to lead his team with nine home runs.
Fun Fact: His older brother, T.J., recently made his Major League debut in June for the Reds and earned an RBI walk in his first big league at-bat. Brody was in attendance at Great American Ball Park.
“I felt like I experienced [T.J.’s debut] myself because of how close T.J. and I are,” Brody said to WCIV. “It fuels me so much … in high school, we were five years apart. There was always so much competitiveness going in between us, and I just want to accomplish everything that he does, if not more.”
Quotable: “We are so intrigued with what our development can do with that kind of arm,” Hunter said. “He’s been up to 98 [mph]. He’s one of the most highly-talented athletes at the combine … this is just a pure athlete with a great arm. And just like the Ty Adcocks of the world who we took who were two-way guys in college, you take a good arm with a good athlete and put them in our systems and programs, it’s been a good combination and a recipe for success.”
Highlight-reel worthy: Take a look at this absolutely ridiculous baserunning play from Hopkins, who scored from second base on a sacrifice bunt by hurdling over the catcher.
Round 7, No. 217: Ty Cummings, RHP, Campbell University
Notable Skill: Cummings is a rare sidearm pitcher who doesn’t sacrifice velocity with his delivery, sitting 93-95 mph with his fastball that can reach 98 mph.
Fun Fact: Is Cummings purely a bullpen arm? Probably, but not so fast. The 6-foot-2 right-hander shined in his first career start after 63 bullpen appearances at Campbell. Against No. 17 Coastal Carolina on April 10, he tossed five scoreless innings and proved he could stretch out.
Round 8, No. 247: Ryan Hawks, RHP, Louisville
Notable Skill: Hawks spent the 2020 and 2022 seasons in the bullpen, missing the 2021 season due to injury, but emerged as Louisville’s Friday night starter in his fourth season. He struck out a team-high 80 batters with just 23 walks over 76 2/3 innings.
Fun Fact: First round Draft pick Colt Emerson shined while playing for Team USA. So did Hawks, who did it a few years earlier, earning a gold medal in 2018 in the COPABE U-18 Pan-American Championship, where he pitched two innings of relief in the championship game.
Quotable: “I just think he left his mark in so many ways for our pitching staff -- how to overcome injuries, how to handle adversity, how to go from ... being a reliever to one of our top relievers to one of our top weekend arms,” Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said to the Louisville Courier Journal. “If you work hard and you stick to the process, these doors have a chance of opening for you.”
Round 9, No. 277: RJ Schreck, OF, Vanderbilt
Notable Skill: A graduate transfer after four years at Duke, Schreck showed off his power bat with a breakout junior year at Chapel Hill (slashing .337/.435/.635). He then displayed his control of the strike zone at Vanderbilt, where he drew 48 walks in 292 plate appearances.
Fun Fact: Schreck attended Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, the alma mater of current pitchers Lucas Giolito, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty. He told the Vanderbilt Hustler his high school teammate and Commodore pitcher Sam Hliboki swayed him to transfer to the SEC school.
Quotable: “He’s a polished, developed hitter that’s going to really help not only our younger players adjust to professional baseball,” Hunter said. “But he’s got a real shot to move through the system, because he’s got such an advanced approach at the plate.”
Round 10, No. 307: Jared Sundstrom, OF, UC Santa Barbara
Notable Skill: Sundstrom combines power -- leading the Big West with 15 home runs -- and speed -- 11 stolen bases in 13 attempts his junior season. He also coincidentally had a league-high 15 home runs and 11 stolen bases in 45 games in the California Collegiate League over the summer.
Fun Fact: As far as raw power goes, Sundstrom has demonstrated he’s got a lot of it. One of his homers, a 472-foot shot, hit a trolley passing by Tritons Ballpark at UC San Diego.