Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - 2023 Preseason Mariners Prospect Rankings: Nos. 30-21

Episode Date: January 31, 2023

Ty and Colby kick off Prospect Week on LOM with prospects Nos. 30-21 in the Mariners' farm system, and Colby even says one of these guys may very well be the next Ty France! Who could it be? Listen to find out!Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/Join our Slack!FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Place your first FIVE DOLLAR bet to get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Free Bets – win or lose! Visit Fanduel.com/LockedOn today to get startedBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Locked on Mariners, we begin prospect week with numbers 30 through 21 and the Mariners farm system. Colby, hit it. You are Locked on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. It is Tuesday, January 31st, 2023. This is Tiding Gonzalez and Colby Patnaud for the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Brought to you by Fandul, the official sportsbook of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Make every moment more. Visit fanduel.com

slash locked on today to get started. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. Subscribe, like, and turn on alerts if you're watching on YouTube, or subscribe and leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform if you like what you hear. And if you want to hear from us even more, please consider signing up for our Patreon. The link as well as our social accounts is in the description below. On the show this week, we'll be ranking the 30 best prospects of the Mariners Farm System,

starting today with numbers 30 through. 21. So get ready. All week long, we're talking prospects. That's really all we're going to be talking about unless some news breaks. But Colby, before we get into our list, can you explain a little bit about what your process was like crafting this list? Considering

we don't see these guys. Yeah. I'm also just guessed. Oh, that name sounded cool. So I just put that there. Throwing darts. Yeah, literally. It's amazing how close our darts

landed when we both just through darts. Or perhaps that I threw darts and it was still more accurate than your analysis. But yeah, you know, when you're looking at prospects that you don't get to see like we don't get to see and we don't have, we have some information that maybe the general public's not privy to, but not a lot. So really what I'm looking at is I'm looking at, I'm reading reports. I'm listening to other podcasts. I'm trying to cipher through other people's rankings and see what they have. And I'm picking out things that I value that maybe other people don't. You know, and you kind of try to come to a consensus idea of what this player could be.

And that's kind of how I look at it. There's some stats, you know, some just basic, you know, statistical analysis involved. But for the most part, it's just trying to gather as much information as I can and say, I think this guy is going to be a big leaguer. And I think this guy is going to be the best big leaguer out of everybody with the current information and you know you can crumble these things up in three months and throw them away because there's going to be brand new information and we're going to get brand new stats and brand new players entering the org here in a few months and it's going to change everything but yeah just kind of

you know an all-encompassing of everything i watch the few the few things i do get to watch um everything i hear everything i read and and you know just kind of trying to put it all together and and uh essentially decide how i value what i'm being told about these prospects sure yeah for me it's uh it's it's exactly how it is for you as well i'm reading things i'm listening to the things i'm watching a few things here and there uh mostly you know clips on on twitter and whatnot uh and just crafting my own opinions from those you know deciding essentially what i think seems to be the most likely path to the big leagues for some of these guys and it's also you know weighing potential versus likelihood and you know paths to the

leagues and and shots just overall interesting shots to take as well and so there's a there's a mixture of that and my list and your list as well and so I guess let's just start there we both crafted separate lists and then we combine the two lists for an overall rank and you'll see the overall rank you'll see my rank and you'll see Colby's rank on these guys as they appear on the screen as we start to talk about them and then we put those lists together using a point-s system to create a master rank, an overall rank for these guys. You and I have been doing this for five years now, I think, five or six years together, going back to our days at Sotomojo.

Considering that, I'm pretty sure we started this, started doing this, like our first one was when the rebuild started or after the rebuild started. So would you say now with all the graduations and what have you over the past year, year and a half that this is maybe the worst the Mariners farm system has looked since we started doing these rankings? Probably since the 2018 that winter when they, you know, they acquired Calnick and Dunn and Sheffield and Julio was in the system at that point. So, yeah, probably the worst since then.

But clearly not the worst. The mirrors have had even the last decade. So, but yeah, it's probably, it's. you know, it's taken a beating because you've traded for good players. You develop good players. And even some of the players who haven't really hit yet at the big league level, they've graduated off of the list. So, yeah, it's a little bit of a down year, let's say. But just because it's not as good as, you know, the number one class it was entering last year, it doesn't mean that it's not still a pretty good farm system. All right, let's get into this list then. Starting at number 30, outfielder Alberto Rodriguez, who was,

recently DFAed by the team, made it through waivers, not a big surprise. He's still with the organization. Had a rough year this past year, and he did not make my list because of that. I'm kind of out. I've fallen out of love with Alberta Rodriguez, but you kept him on your list at number 27 here, so I'll give you the floor. Why is Alberto Rodriguez still on your list? There's not 30 better guys than him.

No, this is a really big year. for Rodriguez. He has to hit and he has to hit pretty significantly because when you look at the the whole tool chest or whatever you want to call it, he's mediocre in the corner. He's not great foot speed. He's he's not a plus defender or anything like that, not a plush runner either. But there is power in the bat. There is some hit tool in the bat. But if he doesn't hit this year, it's, you know, it's done. At least in Seattle it is. And, you know, he's not that he's, he's not an older player. He's still young enough to figure things out, but you can't repeat a level for a third time and not produce for a third time and expect to have any kind of prospect status left. So

I'm kind of banking on last year being a little bit of just kind of a mirage because you remember when he came over in the Taiwan Walker trade, he was a really interesting prospect and he was doing some really cool things. And it just, it didn't work for him last year. He got DFAed. Honestly, even if he had a pretty good year, he probably still was going to get DFA this winter. It just, he's a couple years away from the big leagues. But no, you know, I just, I'm kind of making on the bat here a little bit. I think I trust the bat a little bit more than some of the other guys who were vying for this spot. But he's tentatively on this list. And if he gets off to, you know, bad six-week stretch, he's, he's going to fall out and probably never be heard from again, at least from the Seattle

Mariners side of things. Coming in on number 29, outfielder Spencer Packard, who is really on the older side. played 69 games nice at the high A level this past year and crushed it. I believe it was like 282, 397, something like that in his slash line. But again, he turned 25 years old back in October. He's going to play all of this year at 25 years old and has never played higher than high A. So, I mean, you can make the argument here that he is just outplaying his competition because of his age. right so he came in at number 29 on your list number 28 on mine he's at number 29 on our overall list here so tell me about Packard and why he cracked your top 30 yeah he's all bad there's there's no question that he has to hit because defensively speaking he is rough pretty much wherever you put him so he has to hit but he has hit and you know there's enough to like with

the swing there to think that, hey, you know, there's a potential here that this guy could be the weak side of a platoon. He can crush lefties. There's some pretty good power potential there as well. Yes, he's older. That's why this year is a huge year for him. If Packard was 21, you know, he'd be in the top 20, but he's 25. So he's probably going to start the year at double A, I would imagine. I think if he's going to have any shot at being like a serious potential contributor, not regular but contributor. He's got to find a way to get to AAA Tacoma this year. So it's a huge year for him. He's got to jump two levels and he's got to maintain pretty much the same stat line he did in high A because if he doesn't, then he's just org depth. There's really not much there

except for the bat. So, but again, the bat being the most important tool that an offensive player can have. And Packard's is produced. And there's enough there in the swing to think that, hey, this guy could be a big leger and he could help a big league team. But this isn't one of those things where it's, oh, he could help the big league team in two years. No, if you get to the end of this year and you're not convinced he's a major leaguer, then he's not on this list. Yeah, I'm a bit agist when it comes to guys with the profile of Packard who are 25 years old at high A. You know, it's just, it's hard to buy into because he's just so advanced physically and mentally. and I this is going to be big to see you know how he

performs at double a that's going to be the next big step for him and then you know hopefully I think you know the best path for him this year is to finish the year out in triple a and we'll see how that goes for him but yeah he's he's got to show that he can not just beat up on guys that are significantly younger than he is this year yeah I don't know did you happen to see uh Joe Doyle release his top 50 marriage prospects this I did not.

I did not. Okay. Well, if you guys think we're a little high on Spencer Packard, it should be noted that Joe Doyle, official friend of the podcast, has Spencer Packard at 21. So he is, he's a believer in the bat here. I'm interested to see who he has, or who's behind Packard on that list. Ironically, one spot, Alport Tor Rodriguez. Wow. So there you go.

So, yeah, Joe believes in the bat. All right. That's interesting. All right. We got 28 through 21 coming up here in just a moment. But real quick, a reminder of this episode of Locked-on Mariners is brought to you by Fanduel. This year, the only app you need at your Super Bowl party is Fanduel. We're really excited about our new sports betting partner for Lockdown because they're the number one sports book in America.

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We got a tie. Our only tie of the day, there are a few ties on our list, but that's more so actually there's quite a few in the top 10. So that'll make for some pretty fun debates. But coming in tied at 27, right-handed pitchers Travis Kuhn and right-handed pitcher Tyler Guff. Both of these guys came in on 25 on our list, but they only came in on one of our lists. So the other, you know, you didn't rank Tyler Guff. I didn't rank Travis Kuhn. start with you here on Travis Coon. What do you like Travis Coon? Yeah, you know, there's

certainly a major league ceiling on Coon, which I can't say about Guff quite yet. For the record, Guff was in the 31 through 35 range. I did consider him. But ultimately, Coon is a guy who I think is going to sit 94 to 97 with a pretty good slider. Throwing from a pretty funky arm angle, he had an up and down year last year, statistically speaking, so much so that the Mariners didn't even protect him in the Rule 5 draft, which was a bit of a surprise, but then again, nobody took him. Yeah, the profile here is definitely he's a middle reliever. If you're looking for a Penn Murphy type to kind of come out of nowhere this year, I think

it's Kuhn. I think he's well short of a high leverage arm, but I do think he's going to be a solid middle guy for a pretty good bullpen as soon as this year. But he doesn't need to produce a little bit more than he did last year. It was not a great season for him. yeah for me on guff he's really interesting he got into the high 90s i believe during his his prep years especially later on in his prep years um but he's mostly been kind of a low 90s guy has a couple of breaking balls that he's been working on uh the interesting thing for me here and why i put him on

this list ultimately even though that he hasn't pitched at the professional level they invited him to gas camp this past month so i'm interested to see what they were able to do for him if anything with regards to the velocity. He's also a guy that still needs to fill in a little bit physically. So there's some projection there. He's a really interesting guy. A little bit of an interesting ball of clay there for the Mariners. So going to be interested to see where he,

where he's at once he gets back on the mound here. And if the Mariners have tapped into anything else here since draft day. All right. Coming in at number 26, it's everyone's favorite prospect, Colby. Zach DeLoch, top prospect, Zach Toloach, who comes in at number 26. on our list after being 28 on your list and 26 on my list so he lands pretty much accurately there um all right it was another fairly down year for for deloche he's basically a fourth outfielder type at

best it seems some on base skills there that that makes me think that he might have a way of sticking at the major league level but he hasn't really shown anything with the hit tool hasn't shown much power not a very good defender. I just, I don't see a wide path here to the major leagues to put it lightly for, for Zach Deloge. Yeah, he's definitely a corner guy. You really don't want him to play center field at all. But he also doesn't have a lot of power, which is not usually a good combination. He does draw walks at a pretty good rate.

So that is one thing he does have going for him. And he is a, he is a good athlete. So it's weird that he's now, you know, been in double A for basically a year and a half. and just hasn't really popped. He's 24 years old. He's running out of time. So this is another guy. This is a huge year for him.

If he doesn't progress and get his way to Tacoma, then he's probably not a major leaguer. And I think right now he's a fringe major leaguer. The only reason he's still on this list is that with, typically speaking, with the good eye, usually comes power eventually. Now, is that going to happen for him? I don't know. That's why this year is a huge year for him.

But if the power does come and he is able to get to AAA this year, and maybe even gets a cup of coffee in the big leagues, I think there's enough there that he can be a fourth outfielder, which is, you know, as we know, is a very valuable player. But it's, you know, it's put up or shut up time for, you know, for Zach Deloche. So if he's not, you know, knocking on the door of Major League Baseball by August or September, it's probably time to just cut bait and move on. But there's enough tools here that he barely stays on the list.

for me. Yeah, he's just like, I think he is going to at least get a chance at the major league level. So that's why I put him on this list still because he just has more likelihood than some other guys that I was kind of weighing against him. That's about it. I'm not very excited about Sackdaloche, to be quite honest with you. There isn't a lot here to play off of. Really, I think, you know, the only reason that he gets above someone like Packard or even

another guy that we're about to talk about here on my individual list is just because he's closer and that's about it. A little more defensive value than Packard because Deloche is probably at least an average left fielder. Sure. You can't say that about Packard. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point.

All right. Now, let's move on here. I believe this is the slide. Yep, this is the slide. Coming in at number 25 outfielder, Victor Labrata. So you had him above Deloche in your list. I had him one spot below Deloach on my list. But it could really go either way.

The thing with Labrata is that I can really see him carving out a major league role because he doesn't have, I mean, like the hit tool is not great. He obviously didn't have a good year at the plate this past season. But he's a bit of a weapon on the base pass and he's a pretty good defender as well. I think there's a, I think Victor Labrata is the type of guy that ends up going on a couple of playoff rosters in his career. That's kind of the role that he fills as like a base running specialist, maybe late game defensive replacement type of dude.

And so for that reason, he lands on my list. I've seen him, you know, in previous lists over the past year ago, you know, 40, 45 on some guy's list, you know, nowhere close to the top 30. But for me, it's that factor that he at least does one thing really, really well. and I think that's going to end up getting him to the big leagues. Maybe not full time, but maybe he has someone like a Guillermo Heredia type. Yeah.

That's kind of my comp on him. He's just, he's faster than Garamo. Guillermo is pretty good speed, but was not a base dealer. LaBrata can steal some bags for you. But yeah, he kind of slides into that Guillermo heredia type.

Interesting last year, you know, 58 walks in 524 plate appearances. It's not bad. It was good enough to produce, you know, a 347 on base. Unfortunately, the 142 strikeouts. Yeah. For a speed guy who needs to, you know, hit his way to the big leagues.

That's not going to. Yeah, that's not going to play. And he was only a little bit younger than the average high A guy. This isn't a 19 year old in high A who's struggling. This is a 22, 23 year old. He just turned 23 a few weeks ago. So, again, another guy. This is a big year for him.

If he wants to be, you know, consider part of the Mariners' future, he kind of to produce and he can start by cutting down the strikeouts. But there is, like you said, there's base running here. There's some stolen base ability. There's some defensive ability here. He draws some walks and he will steal some bags. So there's enough here considering how thin the Mariners system is right now at the back half that he definitely deserves to be on this list.

But to me, you know, if you have him, if you tell him he's 35, I'm going to be like, okay. Yeah, if he's 35, if he's even 40 on your list, I get it. I get it. I just think that there is something here that's going to get him to the majors. And that's what gets him on here for me. I just wanted to quickly amend something real quick on Tyler Guff. I was reading through my notes and I said that he had a couple of breaking balls. I read change up as curveball. I meant to say that he has a slider in a change up.

Doesn't have two breaking balls. As far as I'm aware, at least. Maybe he does. But yeah, slider and change up on Guff. And then the velocity there is really interesting. All right. We're going to finish up Prospects 30 through 20. 21 here in just a moment, but real quick, a reminder

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Also, we got word from the locked on mothership that we're going back to five shows a week. starting on February 13. So get excited for that. You're going to be getting more locked on on Mariners coming up here pretty quick. All right. Coming in at number 24 on our list, right-handed pitcher Gene Munoz,

who should be starting the year in low A after a couple of years in the Dominican Summer League. He came in at 24 on both of our lists. So he ends up at number 24 on the master list here. So Gene Munoz, tell me about him, Colby. Yeah, a pretty big fastball for his, age. He's at 95 right now sits there pretty comfortably with, you know, a pretty good slider. Need some work as most 20-year-olds do. But that right there, those two pitches both have a chance

to be plus. And from a relief role, that is, you know, a seventh-eighth inning guy in generic terms. He's only 20 years old, though. There's really no reason to give up on him as a starter. You know, the third pitch is it needs work, right? And the high likelihood is that he's probably not going to develop one. So my ranking is kind of of him as a reliever, but I don't want to rule out the starting thing yet because it is two plus pitches to start

with. And, you know, relatively good control. Again, still things to clean up. He's going to make a stateside debut this year. But he's a guy that I could see really, you know, popping this spring. And I, as a reliever, I don't know, he might be, you know,

a year away from the big leagues as a relief prospect. As a starter, he's probably three or four years away. But there's a lot to like here. The fastball is very good. And the breaking ball is certainly flashes as an above average secondary pitch. And those two pitches together, you know, you shorten him up, you put him in the bullpen and you ask him to, you know, only get three guys out. He's probably throwing 98 to 100 with a pretty good breaking ball to back it up. Yeah, I put his ETA on this list is 2026, but that's as a starter. If they get him out of the bullpen here, and I think that's actually what's going to happen here,

then if all goes according to plan, that ETA might go down to 2024 for Munoz. Now, you know, we need to say that he's not the same pitcher as another guy named Munoz in the Mariners organization. He's not that. But I think there's an opportunity here for him

to get into the upper 90s pretty consistently with that basketball. And speaking of, he was in gas camp this past, month as well. So who knows? You know, we, we hear the stories about these guys going to gas camp for the Mariners and then coming out with a tick or two more velocity on their fastball. So, you know, we'll see.

All right. Coming in at number 23 on our list is a new arrival for the Mariners organization, J.B. Bukascus, who has made his major league debut already. He pitched in the majors in 2021, but hasn't really worked out for him too well. He's dealt with some injuries. He's now in the Mariners organization after spending the last few years with the Diamondbacks. But there's some interesting stuff here, Colby. What do you think?

Yeah. I think we're probably going to be the only people to rank him of all the Mariners, like, ranks because he is technically a prospect, even though he's made his major league debut. He hasn't reached that qualification. He's still, so in our standards, he's still a prospect. By the way, real quick, did you consider? at all their Rule 5 draft draft choice Chris Clark yeah yeah it's like

28 29 yeah somewhere in that range yeah yeah I did too but he he fell out mostly because I don't think that he's going to end up making it and it just kind of feels pointless yeah I'm kind of like what's the point of getting excited about him he's like he's he's probably going to be gone by April so or yeah yeah I'll cop to that there's a little bit of like why bother but yeah yeah I guess you could say the same thing about Bukkowskis but

But it's one of those things I look at that profile. Former first round pick, six foot tall. So he's a little bit on the shorter and relative to major league pitchers. But first round pick for a reason, fastball 93 to 96 with some run on it. A change up that in college was an elite pitch now is kind of barely been used and a pretty decent slider. So I think there's a chance here to have three pitches of 55 to 60 grade or better. I throw strikes relatively well in the minors. At least he did early in his minor league career.

Since the 2021 shutdown, you know, he's kind of lost it a little bit here. So it's a fresh start for him. But again, just raw stuff-wise, we're talking 93 to 97 with a fastball, good slider, and a change-up that used to be plus that he doesn't really throw anymore. So I look at those three tools in combination with being a pretty good athlete. the generic ability to throw strikes for the most part and putting that in the mariner system and just kind of having them get the most out of him,

I think there's a chance here that he is a valuable reliever for the team this year. And I still don't want to rule out the possibility that he goes to AAA Tacoma and actually get some innings as a starter because there's a chance with three above average pitches and average command and control that he's a number four starter. Yeah, that's why I put him on my list because there is actually a chance that you can start.

I didn't remember that or I guess it just didn't really register in my head that he was still a prospect so I kind of added him after the fact But yeah, the chance to start has me intrigued if he's just a reliever He's probably not making this top 30 But that outside shot that he can make his way into the into the rotation for me is why he landed here and why he landed you know relatively high on this list as well So I'm very intrigued by J. Bukascus All right agreed So coming in at number 22 is a favorite of ours Colby. Hogan Windish.

Former draft pick in 2022. He landed at 23 on your list, 21 on mine. He crushed it in low A in his first year of professional ball, first half year of professional baseball. It's all going to be, it's all going to rely on the bat though for Windish here. So tell me about that. Why do you have faith that he might be able to continue this, this terror that he's been on? He's done it everywhere along the line.

He's going to start the year in Everett. I'd be shocked if he didn't. Honestly, he could start the year in AA and I wouldn't be shocked. But the Mariners typically don't like to do that. This is a guy who was the most productive 2025, 2022 draftee last year, period. Like no qualifier, not for the Mariners, not in the American League West. He was the most productive player to be drafted. last year, you know, in their minor league debut.

Now, again, part of that is because, like you said, he's, what, 23, 24 years old in A ball? So, yeah, you kind of expect him to be up there. But there's a real hit tool here. He's got a good feel for his swing. He'll use the whole field. He's got a little bit of power, some above average power. He has good, you know, CTZ skills. He'll draw walks.

He'll put the ball in play. There's a lot to like here. And there's still obviously work to do because if there wasn't, we would have him higher. But because he's 23, 24, and he's just now kind of starting his professional career, we need to see it against higher level pitching before we feel comfortable moving him up the list. But I watch him hit. His swing kind of reminds me of Michael Young, if you guys remember him from the Rangers back in the day, just nowhere near the athlete.

He's probably going to end up at first base, which means the power needs to be there. But I would say this, you know, and Mariners Mojo, if you're watching, you can clip this and you can use this. Hogan Winddish. is the next high france. Very similar profiles coming out of college. Later draft picks than they probably should have been, but just crushed at the minors, crushed in college baseball,

crushed at high school, doesn't really have a position. Maybe he could play second. Maybe he could play third. No, he's probably just first. Does he have enough power for first base? And then you look up in three years in, he's sitting 280 with a 350 on base

and 30 doubles and 20 home runs. And you're going, huh, how did we not see that coming? Even though that's literally all he did. for his entire career. So yeah, I think, I think Winddish, there's a little bit of Thai france there just in terms of overall production. I think the player comp that I would use and I've used for a while now, probably most of you don't even remember who this guy is, but Ty Wigington is a guy who he kind of reminds me of.

That is such a poll. That is such a ball. All right. Yeah, I mean, I agree wholeheartedly. And, you know, this is the thing that we kind of have to say a little bit with, you know, a little bit. not fully with Spencer Packard as well because you know at a certain point you just you can't ignore minor league production yeah so this is going to be a big year for Hogan Winddish this is going to be

a big year for Spencer Packard this is going to be a big year for all those guys who are a little bit on the older side but look you know Cade Marlow's going to be someone that we end up talking about I believe tomorrow and he's kind of on that similar path and you know maybe Hogan Winddish and and Spencer Packard can follow in in Cade Marlow's footsteps obviously you know these guys do it a little bit differently here but uh the offensive production it's didn't windish post like a 192 wrc plus or something this past year like that's that's ridiculous you have to acknowledge that you have to you know that just has to catch your eye uh another guy who's just dominating at the plate is robert prez junior who comes in at number 21 on our list

Bobby Bumps. He was 20 on your list, 22 on mine. Actually, I think I got his WRC Plus and Winddishes WRC Plus confused. He had a 192 WRC plus at high A this past year hit a ton

of home runs, won the home run Derby in his league, all that good stuff. He is really fun. And I think if he has another pretty good year here, we're talking about him factoring into the Mariners Major League plans. of some kind in

24. So tell me about Bobby bombs. I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, he's really interesting. He is a guy who kind of went from he kind of went from like, oh yeah, he's just a guy who just hits home runs in the minors

to like, oh no, there's a little more skill here with the bat. He'll draw walks. He'll, you know, he'll use the whole field to kind of being like everybody's like sneaky good like, hey, this guy can really hit type of prospect. And so it's been kind of a weird transition year for him. He repeated the level last year.

And he had this great success. And people were like, oh, well, he repeated a level. So what? Then he jumps up to the next level and he, he dominates, right? So it's just one of those things that I, I, you look at this guy and you say, yeah, doesn't, he's first base only. You know, he's kind of a little bit old. you know, he's had a couple stretches here and there. And yeah, he hits home runs, but he doesn't really do much else.

And he's developed into this player who's a legitimate prospect for the Mariners. Again, I don't know if he's an everyday type of player. But I kind of look at the profile and I kind of look at the style that he plays with. And I'm like, is this guy, CJ Crone? Like, is he, you know, Christian Walker? Is he one of those guys? Or is he just, you know, a 4A player who just mashes in the minors and is always around for depth. I kind of feel like if I had to pick one or the other, I would pick the former.

So there's a lot of power here and there's a lot of hit tool. If he could play anywhere else but first base, he'd probably be a lot higher on my list. But unfortunately, he can't. Yeah, he's tried it in the corner outfield spot. And I just, yeah, no, he's a he's a first base, first base TH type. But yeah, I think if he has another good year, he could be competing for a spot on this roster in 2024, either in spring or sometime during the summer. Because it's a special bat. And if he shows that that can play at AA and even higher, I mean, you got to pay attention to that.

So, yeah, going to be a really interesting year for him as well. I think that's kind of the running theme with a lot of these guys that we talked about today that fit in that 30 to 21 category. You know, we talked about earlier on in this podcast about weighing potential versus likelihood. I think there's a lot of both, I guess. But there's quite a bit of likelihood here in terms of just these guys keep on hitting and hitting and hitting at every level that they play at. And it's just, it's too tough to ignore. But there's obviously very glaring flaws with these guys as well, like a Robert Perez Jr., who's a little bit on the older side, not like a Spencer Packard, but he's also. you know he can only play first base in dh right you know like a like a spencer packard who's not very

good defensively is 25 years old and is it only played at you know at high a right you know so there's obviously those claren follows but the the production is just it's really something so yeah a lot of these guys have big big years coming up and and that's kind of what all you know ties them together so yeah um real quick before we hop off any guys that did not make your list that you want to just quickly mention. Chris Clark, again, like you mentioned, is a pretty interesting guy. He didn't, he didn't make my list, the Jeter, uh, Geter Martinez. Martinez, uh, yeah, and Dylan Wilson were both obviously pretty interesting guys, but neither one of them made my list. Uh, but yeah, you know, to me, you know, 20 through 30 was, or 21 through 30

was kind of, meh, a lot of, yeah, just put this guy there. And the next two rounds are where like the really cool decisions are made because I would say one through 20 the Mariners or one through 22 23. The Mariners system actually has a lot of really fun players in it. So yeah. And then yeah, I would throw Josh Hood in there as well as just kind of a potential utility guy who's got some bat speed and some power and might be dealing more. So those are just a few guys. Yeah. Kindle Meza.

Another guy that they just recently signed a couple weeks ago in the international signing period. he's 16 years old but he's 6-1 155 pounds there's a lot to build on there and he's already flirting with mid-90s on his fastball That's a really interesting profile to me Ricardo Cova is another guy he he repeated the DSL this past year But he can play all over the field and he crushed it offensively He's only 18 years old He might be someone that ends up making his way state side this year so someone to keep an eye on there Yeah, but overall, you and I were more or less in line for the most part.

We pretty much are really in line with one another throughout this list. I don't think there's a huge disparity between placements on certain guys. Maybe once we get into the top 10, but like I said, there's going to be a lot of fun debates there to have with the top 10. I think we have like three or four ties where it's mostly just like, I put this guy at three, you put this guy at four, you know? And so that's kind of how we ended up there. But yeah, I think this is a pretty good list. And I think right now, just the current state of the Mariners Farm system means there aren't many surprises, right? Because there aren't a lot of guys that are truly standing out.

And even for the guys that are kind of just, you know, they all kind of fit in like a little, you know, bargain barrel essentially, like the Hogan Wind Dishes of the world and the Victor LaBrottas of the world. They all kind of just fit somewhere nicely in that, you know, 20 to 30 range. so yeah um all right well that's going to do it for our show again we're going to be back tomorrow uh for prospects 20 through 11 in the mariners farm system thank you so much for joining us here on the locked on mariner's podcast for colby pat note i'm tidayn gonzalez be sure to give us a follow on twitter at l o underscore mariners you can follow me at dan gonzalz and colby at c pat 11 that's cpat 1 1 you can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode and thank you again making us your first listen. Now, speaking of prospects, make your second listen locked on MLB prospects.

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