Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Eugenio Suárez Leads Mariners to Pair of Comeback Wins Down in Arlington

Episode Date: June 6, 2022

Hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode recap the Mariners' big series win against the Rangers, preview what's to come against the Astros and who Seattle could target with its first pick in the 2022 MLB Draft next month.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 | @CPat11 | @InsideMarinersFor more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/MLBNETWORKBetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! 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.

After making two 2021s comebacks down in Arlington, the Mariners are looking to secure their fourth consecutive series victory here in the coming days, but we'll have to do it at a place that's been a house of horse for them. Minute Mae Park. We're going to be talking about it all on today's episode of Lockdown Mariners. 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 Monday, June the 6th, 2022, and this is the Locked on. Mariner's podcast brought to you by Bet Online. Bet Online has you covered all season long with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. Bet Online is where the game starts. Thank you so much for making us your first listen of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. I'm Tiding Gonzalez.

He's Colby Patnode. We cover the Mariners over at inside the mariners.com. Be sure to follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. You can follow Inside the Mariners at Inside Mariners. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez. That's D-A-N-E, G-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-P-E-P-A-L-E. That's C-P-A-T-1-1. Be sure to also check out our Patreon at patreon.com forward-slash Control the Zone.

We typically post two additional shows on there every week and get into some bigger ideas and bigger topics, whereas Locked-on Mariners covers more the day-to-day with EMS, and we also get into some non-baseball discussions on Control the Zone as well. It's a fun time, so be sure to check it out. Again, that's patreon.com forward slash Control the Zone. and if this is your first time joining us here on the Locked-on Mariners podcast, welcome to the show. If you like what you hear, give us a follow or subscribe wherever you're listening to this. And if you're watching us on YouTube, hit the subscribe button, turn on the notification bell,

and give this video a thumbs up. We greatly appreciate it. So as you can probably tell, I'm not on my typical microphone. We've had even more technical difficulties. My audio interface is out of service. So next two days, you're going to have to deal with my laptop microphone and the sounds of my computer. I'm going to try to mute as much as possible. But apologies for the inconvenience and annoyance that that may cause.

But let's get on into the show. Today we're going to be talking about the Mariners big series when down in Arlington, which included two huge comeback victories in the ninth inning. And we're also going to be talking about their upcoming series with the Astros down in Houston. that starts tonight. And we're also going to be getting into the draft a little bit. Some of you have been asking us to get into the draft. So we're going to be doing that.

Colby has some notes to go over about the Mariners and their first round pick and some options that might be there. But first, Colby, I'm going to need you to say something nice about Dillamore. He had such a good game on Sunday that I am convinced he needs to go to AAA Tacoma for about a month. And why is that? Oh, because you see the upside there. He's got plenty of bat speed, right?

He's hitting lefties okay, but not nearly as good as the numbers suggest. And, yeah, he does have value on the bases and in the field. So you can get the bat figured out to where Sunday's game is more than just a once-a-month occurrence, then you might actually have something that's useful and is a usable piece. If I told you, if I told you you could sacrifice, let's say, a month, of having dillemore on the 26-man roster for a 25% chance we get uh 2020 dillan more for july august and september wouldn't you take that chance because i would because 2020 dillamore was pretty good it's the 2019 and 2021 and so far 22 dillamore that has sucked so

yeah uh he played so well that i think he needs to go to triple a because there's enough upside in the bat still that with a few changes, he might be able to produce on a more regular basis. He's just not going to do it with that swing. That swing is a terrible swing. It worked for him one day. Congratulations. And every once in a while, he'll hit a home run. But if he's not getting hit by pitch or walk or walk most times, he's a worthless hitter.

So send him to AAA. Let him make the tweaks he needs to without the pressure of producing and call him up. and, you know, maybe there's a, like I said, maybe a 25% chance you get 2020 Dillan Moore for three months instead of current Dillan Moore for four. Current Dillmore for four months

isn't that valuable. All right, so we kind of accomplished getting you to say something nice about Dillmore. That is nice. Yeah, you were cordial there. It was good. There's some positivity.

People think I hate Dillan Moore. My opinion has always been. sent him to AAA. I don't know. Kind of seems like he hate Dillemore a little bit. My opinion has, oh, I hate Dillemore's swing, which is why my opinion has always been sent him to AAA, make the changes you know he needs to make, see how he does.

If it doesn't work, you've lost nothing. Because what's the difference between a month of Dillmore and a month of Sam Haggerty? Nothing. Nothing. A little bit of power off the bench. Whoopty-do. when I'm already going to add just an opt in a few days like get out of here so no send down a more down

give him a shot to make the changes he needs to in a low pressure situation and see what happens and if it doesn't work then you haven't lost anything and if it does work you might have gained a you know fringe everyday second baseman like he was in uh 2020 so colby colby good vibes only man good vibes only don't forget it all right a you hitting a sores this this this this was his series. This was his series all weekend long. Two comebacks, both mostly driven by Suarez, who gets the game time double and last night's win or last afternoon's win, rather, and also had a home run. And that one, he also had the go-ahead game-winning home run on Friday night. Gino has been. But he did strike out yesterday, so, you know.

Yeah, yeah, scrub, scrub, obviously. He needs to, he needs to pick up the slack here. He's got Seeger. Clearly, clearly. But I mean, let's just talk about Gino here in general, because, I mean, we spent all off-season talking about the Chris Bryant's, the Trevor Stories, the, you know, the Matt Chapman's, the who's-who of the third base or available third baseman this off-season. And they didn't get any of them.

They got Eugenio Suarez instead, taking on his contract to help basically lower the cost of the, acquisition of Jesse Winker, and instead they got themselves possibly the best third baseman that changed hands this off season, at least so far. Gino has been kind of streaky throughout the year, but he's been hitting for a great deal of power, and he more or less just helped you win two big ball games down in Texas. I mean, how huge has he been for this team? Yeah, the nice thing is, is that we're at game 54 as a yesterday. So it's pretty easy. to do like you know like projections and all that stuff or not not projections but it's pretty easy to do the pace game and uh swarez is on pace to be a four and a half one player crazy i don't

like kyle seger's been a four and a half one player since 2018 uh so yeah i mean not to keep dragon seeger although i could do that uh but swerz has been great he's played a very good third base he's like you said he's been streaking there's going to be stretches sometimes weeks long where it just seems like all he's going to do is strike out. But then there's going to be these stretches where he's, you know, carrying the offense like he did this weekend. And thank goodness he did because Ty France had one of the worst series I've seen him have, aside from that the time he tried to play with the injured wrist.

It was bad. And that's not, doesn't mean he's going to be bad forever. And he did, you know, get kind of a chinty home run there at the, at the end. That it ended up being huge. Yeah, that kicked off the comeback. Yeah, and then, you know, it's kind of payback, too, because the one that Garver hit off of Romo was also kind of garbage. Like, it wasn't even a hard hit ball. It was like 93 miles an hour off the bat.

So, yeah. Yeah, but obviously, you know he's going to turn it around. You didn't get much from Winker aside from the mammoth two-run home run that he hit on Saturday, which, who baby, he leaned on that one. And Julio had a pretty good series. J.P. Crawford did not. So it was really kind of the Julio Swares and the bottom of the order gang that really, kind of carried your offense in this series. And it needed to because your pitching was quite good.

Even the guys who blew up like Romo, Romo didn't give up a hard hit ball. I'm not saying he was good, but he was a little bit unlucky. But your pitching was good this series. Your defense was pretty good this series. You're just, you know, you didn't get anything from Winker. You didn't get anything from France. And so those two guys at the top of your order,

it's really hard to score runs consistently when those two guys aren't playing well. And then J.P. Crawford's sitting third or fourth, he didn't have a good series either. So they needed Suarez. He stepped up in a huge way. Him and Julio and Haggerty and Moore. Cal Raleigh had a big night on Friday, if I remember incorrectly. So that was pretty much all you got from your catchers in the entire series.

So, yeah, I mean, they needed Suarez, and he stepped up. And, you know, they're going to need other people to step up because you're not going to win four to three consistently, not with this pitching staff. and the way it's going right now. But Swares has been very good. And really, it's been about a month now since May 4th. So May 4th to yesterday, A. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. Hino, Suarez is hitting 266, 344, 532. With eight home runs, 42 strikeouts, but five doubles.

So that's, you know, that is over a month. That is a 43 home run pace. That's an all star. Suarez has played like an all-star for about a month now, just not with as much consistency as you would like. But it's still, you got to ride the hot streaks and you got to accept the cold streaks and just put them out there. D.H. 3rd base pretty much every day. And, you know, be thankful for the production that you are going to get at some point. Just seems to be somewhat random at times.

Right now, the American League F-4 leaders at third base, Raphael Devers, Jose Ramirez. And then a little further down the list, but in third place, a Eugenio Suarez. Of course, Devers and Jose Ramirez have already eclips three wins. MVP candidates. Yeah, Suarez has half that. But, I mean, the Yale All-Star team, they usually keep three third basemen. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. Maybe we were talking about Thai Francis, the low Mariners representative in the All-Star game last week.

but maybe it's Gino. Maybe it's Gino. Probably not, but that'd be awesome. Hey, you know what? If Suarez is around next year, he's probably in the derby. But, yeah, he's been awesome. And like I said, the whole veteran presence thing, that's really tough to quantify. But, I mean, he's definitely been a good presence in that clubhouse.

And it's been, I mean, I did not think that we would be here at Jude 5th and be talking about the A. E. E. E. E. Hineos-Sor trade, not the Jesse Winker trade. But, I mean, not. to pat my own back here but yeah no that's true you were you were pretty high on the sore as part of the deal that is accurate yeah you know

chill do I need to call an ambulance for you it's free in Canada I mean you probably know a guy it's all the back patting that you do all right so we're going to be talking about the Astro series that's coming up here because this is this is pretty big

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and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. You're listening to Lockdown Mariners. Thank you again for making us your first listen of the day. Now, before we talk about the upcoming series with the Astros, we have an important favorite to ask you. We put together a survey so we can learn more about listeners like you and make your favorite locked on podcasts even better. This is your opportunity to tell us what you like and don't like about Locked On podcasts.

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before the trade deadline the week of the trade deadline actually so we're going to be seeing even more of them uh here in the uh the coming weeks uh but this is the mariner's second visit down to minnie may park which has as i said to open the show been a house of horrors for the mariners they have lost 26 of the last 30 games at minnie may park 26 of their last 30 games no that wouldn't have i was gonna say and in 2018 they swept a four games series there's the four wins but no that that that I'm bad at math so no 30 games is only what three years so yeah that would not yeah because how many games did they play against them in 2020 well they play they play 19 yeah 2020 is kind of throwing you through throwing everybody through

a loop here I'm not sure but I think that's three years roughly yeah so yeah because uh yeah two years two years would be 38 or well I guess in in Minutemate Park nine 10 be yeah yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm bad at math as well. See, we're finding out a lot about one another on the show. I mean, as a U.S. citizen, I love in Canada. So there is a caveat there. All right, so let's talk about this Astros team,

which is red hot per usual. Yeah, they're good. They're very good. Remember that episode that we did right after the Mariners won that series at home back in April and we're like, hey, are the Astros starting to fall off a little bit? Nope, nope, not at all. Not whatsoever.

I mean, they're 35 and 19. They're playing great baseball. They're 14 and 6 at home. And, uh, but tie, the Mariners have beaten them in two of the three series they played. In Seattle. In Seattle.

So, like that matters. They're going to go, they're going to put up another six on Burlander. We got this. Colby, I have two words for you. Crawford boxes.

Always. Probably Maldonado. Probably. Probably. Yeah. By the way, how crazy. Definitely Alex Bregman. Yep.

Oh, yeah. Al-Tube. But how crazy is this, by the way? And I know you got a point of me. I want you to get to it. But I just want to point this out. The Mariners have played the Astros four times in four series. They faced Verlander in all four.

Tonight is the first time Robbie Ray will pitch against the Houston Astros this year. Jesus. Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy. And guess who's opposing Justin Verlander tomorrow? Chris Lexington. No time, I believe? Fourth time.

It's been all four times. All four times that they face Verlander, it's been Chris Flexen. And Lexon. He did outdoin once. Yeah, he's now one and two. We'll talk about his chances to win the next. one tomorrow. We'll talk about that later. That's a that's a conversation for another time. Let's talk about the Astros who since 2015 have led the league in WRC Plus at home for three

times. And they've been in the top six two other times. This year, though, they are 16th in WRC Plus, 106 WRC Plus, which is still better than average, but they they've definitely regressed some statistically. Jose Altuve is having a great year down in Minutemate Park. Obviously, Alex Breggman is having a great year at Minutemate Park and not great elsewhere. The Minutemade merchant claims are certainly thriving right now for Bregman. Yordane Alvarez has been significantly better on the road, which is more so to do with how good he's been on the road than he's been,

than rather him being bad at home. He's still been really good at home. He's just been incredible on the road. He's hit 12 home runs on the road. Alvarez has. Yeah, he's been just ridiculous this year. Michael Brantley has been hitting 300 at home, but Yulee Guriel and Kyle Tucker have struggled mightily. Tucker's posting a 71 WRC plus right now at home, and Yulee Gureole is posting a 46 WRC plus at home right now. So there's some opportunities here for the Mariners to keep the Astros at bay. But again, you can't just match the Astro.

and skill when playing them down at Minutemey Park. You also have to match them in luck. And that obviously hasn't swung in the Mariners' favor too often here over the last 30 games, clearly, considering that they are four and 26 in that time. There is, of course, the Crawford boxes, 315 down the left field line, and then that short porch and right,

which is just 326 down the right-field line. So, yeah, the Mariners, the Mariners are going to they're going to have to get lucky here as well to win this series, to win their fourth consecutive series, again, which is something that they have not done this season. So that would be huge to help them dig themselves out of this hole that

their disastrous month of May has created. And Colby, by the way, I tweeted this yesterday. I'm not sure if you saw it. But with their win yesterday and with the Angels lost yesterday, which by the way, that incredible that the angels keep on losing, especially in the fashion that they lost yesterday. I'm sure you quite enjoyed that. The Mariners, after all of this, are just two and a half games out of the third final wildcards spot in the Yale, which means nothing right now.

We're not scoreboard watching. We're not standings watching right now. But that just kind of shows you what position the Mariners actually find themselves in, which is not as daunting as maybe it kind of seems at face value. yeah to be honest i don't even know the mariner's exact record i 24 and 30 okay i'm i'm not sure exactly i know it's 22 23 20 something like that i just i don't care about records and standings this early um but yeah i did see somebody else note that and i didn't see you note it but yeah i did see somebody else note it and i was like now for all the hand ringing and all

that's and by the way you're going to play the angels a lot you play them eight times and 11 days eight times in 12 days. You're going to play the Red Sox here coming up when you get back home for three big games there. Texas is one of the teams ahead of you. You're better than Texas. I mean, you didn't really play like you were that much better than Texas this weekend, but you are.

It just you are. You're a more talented team, at least. Yeah, in Chicago struggling, Boston, you get them away from Fenway. Yeah, pretty mediocre. So we'll see what happens. I mean, Trevor's story, we'll see. I'll see it too.

Yeah, of course. Of course. Yeah, I've, I've got tweets prepared for when he inevitably hits one off of Edgars. But, yeah, it's, it's funny for all the hand-wringing and for all the, you know, the season's over, which has basically been every single day of the year, I get a tweet from somebody saying the season's over. It's like they have, they're two and a half back with a hundred and eight to go.

I'm going to say, no, it's not over quite yet. call me an optimist but yeah we'll see yeah they uh they're they're they're in a decent enough position all things considered and this is kind of more of a conversation about the competition level right now and the addition of that third extra wildcard spot and all that and that's a whole discussion that can be added later way later down the line but right now they're okay yeah what's what's kind of interesting and i don't know how the segment morphed into this but yeah you know there was kind of this idea like, oh, the Mariners need to go on a run, like a big run to get back in these things.

For most people, run means when like seven or eight in a row and like 10 of 12 and all that. The Mariners kind of got their run, but it just kind of, I mean, it just comes from them, A, winning series, which is more than good enough. But also B, their run kind of came in the angels randomly dropping 11 in a row. Yeah, that pulled them back down to the rest of the pack. And that's for the Mariners. I mean, they picked up, I think, three and a half games in the last seven, eight days over the angels. Hey, as the saying goes, nature is healing.

Nature is certainly. The angels, not only can they not pitch right now, but their offense is struggling. I went through the box scores last night because why wouldn't I? It's glorious. So let's circle back here to the series, though. Let's talk about Robbie Ray. This doesn't seem like a great ballpark for all the reasons. that I mentioned for him to avoid the big ending,

which has been obviously the most notable issue that he's dealt with this year. I mean, again, just to refresh everyone listening, what are the signs of a big inning for Robbie Ray? What should we be looking out for? Usually it starts the ending before, and it typically starts with a two-out walk. Then occasionally he'll give a,

the double or something like that. But usually he gets out of it unscathed and you're like, okay, maybe he avoided that beginning. And then the next ending comes and it usually involves a walk or two, including several arm side misses, bad arm side misses, and then a slider that is hanging in the middle of the plate or a fastball because he fell behind three and one and he doesn't want to walk the bases loaded. That gets, you know, tattooed out of the park and all of a sudden he's down three nothing.

So typically it's, You want to watch for the two-out walks in the previous inning. Occasionally, that starts the big inning in that inning, but usually it rolls over into the following inning. And you want to look at armside misses, particularly up and away, to the left-handed batters box. Once you see that, it's usually followed by a couple of spike sliders, and you know that his release point is just all out of whack.

And yeah, it's hang on time at that point. You hope that he can find it before disaster strikes. But yeah, typically that's what it is. It's a two-out walk followed by him working around that. And then the next inning, it's usually a walk of some kind or a double that puts them with a runner in scoring position early, followed by a couple of bad armside misses. That's usually the announcement that the big inning is here. it's arrived so we'll see if you can avoid it but uh you know the weird thing about robbie ray is that

he's totally capable of just shutting down the astros tonight yeah like it's it's in the cards yeah absolutely that's well within his will house yeah will he do that though that's the big question i guess we'll find out maybe by the time that you're listening to this we already know what has happened uh but uh yeah hopefully i mean this would be huge if he could give the Mariners six, seven, eight complete game. I'm just saying anything that he's in shape though anything positive that he can give the Mariners though would be a welcome site because again they're facing Verlander tomorrow so you don't want to get into an 01 hole here having to beat Verlander because that would probably spell the end of your series win streak. Yeah your your best shot in the series or

the one pitching matchup that really favors you is Sunday or Wednesday. at Gilbert versus Urquitty. And we know that Riqui is pretty good still. So yeah, it's, if you can get this one, then you feel pretty good about your shot to win the series because, again, you do have Gilbert on Wednesday. But if you don't get this one,

you never know. I mean, they touched up Verlander once, but Burlander Lander killer, Kyle Lewis, it will not be back for the series. So it's, uh, it's going to be tough. So hopefully they can win tonight and they want to keep their series win streak alive. but honestly if they take one of these three here, I think it's a pretty successful road trip.

And then we'll see if they can carry some momentum into their long homestand coming up on Friday. So the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft is still about six, seven weeks away. But we're going to be getting into it a little bit more here on Lockdown Mariners starting today. Colby's got some notes on some options the Mariners could explore with their first pick

at number 21 overall. We're going to be talking about that in just a moment, but real quick, a reminder this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by BetOnline. Betonline.net is your number one source for all your betting stats and sports info. Find all the latest sports developments, news and odds, including this year's basketball championship mashup, the NHL Hockey Conference Finals, Major League Baseball, and of course all the latest fighting news from MMA and UFC to boxing. Bet Online is your continued source for all your sporting wagering information, including live betting, e-sporting, and more. Head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more about the trends in action. Bet Online is where the game starts. So the draft is getting underway on July 17th through the 19th. So we're still quite a ways away, but things are starting to ramp up here. The college season is progressing along.

You know, we got the we got the college world series coming up, everything like that. That's going to be all happening. So a lot of eyes on the college game right now. But there's also the, the prep area as well. And the Mariners, of course, tapped there with their selection of Harry Ford last season. So that could also be a route that they take. A lot of good prep players as well this year. So Colby, where do you think they're going to go with their pick at number 21 in the first round? I think what they would like, and I think this is probably true of most teams.

I think they would like for a shortstop to be available to them. Preferably a college bat who plays shortstop, but ultimately probably ends up at second. They really lack up the middle talent, particularly on the dirt. I mean, right now it's pretty much Edwin Arroyo, and that's it. Maybe Harry Ford, if he moves off a catcher,

but they really need more second-based shortstop types. Just no, L'A. is not it. he's going to be a third baseman. So that would probably be their preference. I would guess they prefer college over high school because that's traditionally been the trend, although, you know, again, Harry Ford last year. But, yeah, it's a pretty good class for up the middle college bats, but there are some really nice prep short stops as well.

And so I think that's where they want to go. I think if they get to a point where their draft board just doesn't allow for it, like there's not a guy there that they want to take. take, they'll go ahead and they'll look at college arms and then address the prep or address the up the middle guys in the second round. And like I said, it's a pretty good class for up the middle guys. And it's a pretty strong class for pitching as well. And honestly, you know what? A little more depth than usual in this draft. So it's a pretty good draft. So let's dive into some of these names then. Who are some specifics? Let's start with the up the middle prospects,

particularly the prep guys who should we be looking at there yes so this is pretty interesting because prep guys their range is is drastic some teams might have them as high as five other teams might have the same guy 20s right and the marriage pick 21 so there's a lot that has to go kind of right for them to get one of these prep guys that they like there's there's a kid out of Texas named jet Williams great name obviously and he does have above average speed. It's not quite plus speed, but it's pretty good. It's interesting about Jet is that he's only 5'8,

but he can hit. He barrels up the baseball, probably going to be a second baseman long term. He's kind of average to fringe average at shortstop at the moment. But he does have, you know, probably I would call it 60 grade speed. It's very quick swing. He hits, he finds the, he finds the, barrel a lot very CTZ type of a type of a hitter the power we'll see if it gets there right now

it's solidly below average and the raw power maxes out at average but again if he's going to play shortstop or second base if he can hit 15 to 20 there's a chance that you know he's he's worth that 21st overall pick I can see this guy going top 15ish though because the bat does feel like it's it's going to hit it's like said the swing is very good. No problem hitting breaking balls or, you know, hits velocity. And there's always a chance, you know, he gross a couple inches, adds a couple pounds. But for what he is right now, I think he's, I think he's right in line with where the Mariners are going to pick at 21. You know, comps are always very difficult. And just because of the height, I feel like people

are going to put his comp at Jose Altuve. Right. That's, you know, that's asking a lot. but you can see why it's it's very similar profile to the i mean even me when you were talking about he's shorter he has pop i was like hosey al-tube and maybe that's also because we were just talking about the astros i don't know but that's it's possible but yeah it is a pretty common comp and i i see why it's made it's not bad again the bat to ball skills like doesn't strike out a ton coming up probably going to come up as a short stop but ultimately going to stick at second above average speed and steal some bags like that's that's young al-tube so yeah i get it And we should also mention that Joe Doyle, Prospects Live has said that the Mariners do like Jet Williams.

Oh, okay. Well, I did not know that. Yeah, so if Joe says that, that means that the Mariners probably like Jet Williams. Joe's pretty plugged into the Mariners, as much as anybody is, at least. Yeah, particularly on the drafting side of things as well. So we'll have to keep an eye on Williams. Let's talk about, you mentioned the catchers, of course. So who are some catchers or maybe one catcher at least that could fall into the Mariners range? Yeah, this is kind of interesting because, again, catchers are so hard to find that teams move them up and down the board and sometimes overvalue the spot just because they're so hard to find.

I'll give you two guys who are interesting. One is probably a bit of a reach and the other one might not be there, but it'll balance out. There's a catcher from Louisville named Dalton rushing. Left-handed bat, six foot one, about 220. Pretty good hit tool, maybe fringy average, but above-average game power. Kind of plus raw power, particularly the pole side. Not a great athlete, but he does have a strong arm. He's a fringe average catcher, so there's a chance he moves to first base,

but he does walk quite a bit now. And again, it's a lot, you're buying a lot of power here, and if you're drafting him at 21, you're thinking that he can catch long term. And like I said, he's probably, he's probably a touch below where Cal Raleigh was when he was drafted defensively. But overall, he's a pretty interesting player. And, you know, as is necessary for Mariners draftees, he was very good on the Cape Cod League last summer. So we'll see what happens there. but he's an interesting guy. I would probably prefer him in the second, though.

I think 21's a little too high. One of the guys, though, that I really like, Logan Tanner from Mississippi State. Six foot, 215. He has tremendous power, and he has perhaps the best arm of any catcher in this draft. I've seen a few reports that threw an 80 on it. I think most people say it's probably a 70.

He's a pretty good lateral movement. It blocks balls with ease. He's a pretty good pitch framer. Definitely more of a defensive guy, but he does have the plus power. And the hit tool has a chance to be average. There's a chance you're looking at maybe Mike Zanino-esque if you're looking for an upside play here. But there's also a chance he hits 230, 240 with, you know, 25 home runs and plus defense behind the plate. And that's part of the reason why he might not be there at 21.

But there's a chance he is. in Seattle definitely needs catching help. But yeah, Tanner's probably a guy who moved pretty quick to. I think he's probably in the big leagues within three years. So he's an interesting guy to watch. Could the Mariners at all look at the college arms? Because, I mean, that was a long time trend for them. And they kind of broke that last year with the Ford pick.

But they've liked to go to college arms, particularly in this pick 2021-ish range that's where they got logan gobert that's where they got george kirby uh so who are some guys there that that might fit the bill uh gabriel hughes from gonzaga kind of a local guy uh semi local um he's had a really big year i think at the beginning of the year he was probably a you know comp round a second round pick type of guy in that range i think there's a shot he goes on the top 15 now um they said it's pretty good stuff it's fast ball slider change up good control not great control kind of 45 great command uh the fastball is 94 to 98 uh the slider is a little bit uneven sometimes it's it's plus sometimes it's below average

so he's got to find some consistency there um and the change up it has a good shot i would say to be a solid number three pitch as good size repeatable delivery he's probably going to be a big lear pretty darn quick. So I feel like, you know, Hughes is a guy who might have pitched his way out of Seattle. But we'll see what happens there. There's the kid out of Oregon State whose name I still can't pronounce. I think it's herpy, her jerpy.

I can't pronounce it, right? I will learn it, especially if he's a mariner. But lefty, six foot three, 200 pounds, insane curveball. If you like Reed Detmer's, you're probably going to like this guy. I'm not a huge Detmer's guy, but, you know, it's a funky little delivery. He kind of throws across his body. Pretty deceptive. He's definitely interesting.

He's had a huge year. Kumar Rocker's a guy you guys have probably heard of. I don't love the idea for Seattle personally. The shoulder stuff does concern me. But he is up there, and we did happen to see some of his grades that the Mariners put on him. And if he's there at 21, I bet they consider it. And then finally, there's a guy who, I read his profile.

I haven't seen him pitch personally, but I've read his profile. Tell me who this sounds like, Ty, as we kind of wrap up here. He's right-handed pitcher. Six foot seven. Fastball sits around 91 right now, but he's touched 96.

It has high spin and running action. Gets a lot of weak contact, has plus extension on the pitch. The fastball plays higher than its velocity, and the velocity is pretty good. He also has, a pretty good curveball that I would say is above average a chance at another above average slider and a change up that while probably isn't quite there yet definitely could be and he throws a ton of

strikes who did I just describe max posy obviously uh no Logan Gilbert looking over yeah yeah yeah Justin Campbell from Oklahoma State he screams Logan Gilbert to me this is a guy the Mariners I think would love to get their hands on work on the pitch shape um Again, the things you can't teach, the height, the arm angle, the extension, you know, the high spin rate on the fastball. We know the Mariners love fastball analytics. And like I said, he has a chance to have three 60-grade pitches, maybe even four, I wouldn't put it past him. And he throws a ton of strikes. Honestly, this is a guy who, to me, he's probably in the big leagues within, I would say, by 2024.

He's making his debut, so that's like a year and a half. and I feel like his floor is Doug Fister. And you remember Doug Fister, I mean, if you get that out of your first round pick for six years, that's money well spent. So I like Campbell. I would say I would like Campbell more than I would like Kumar Rocker. And that's probably consensus at this point,

but just want to throw it out there. I feel like Rocker's a name that a lot of people remember. And then one last guy, Tommy John, but maybe you can save some money. I don't know if you remember him, Ty. he was in the draft last year. Landon Sims from Mississippi State. Huge fastball slider. Throws a lot of strikes.

Doesn't really have a third pitch. Coming off of Tommy John. He's, man, his stuff is so good. Yeah. There are some red flags there, but I would throw him in there too. Definitely. It's kind of a similar situation to Jaden Hill last year. It's like you like.

Yeah, you love the prospect, but there's the injury, and it's just like. Didn't he go to the Angels? I don't remember. I don't remember. we went to he went in the he went in the competitive I think he went compounded to balance round A or something

Round B maybe I don't I remember Let's see if I can find it real fast But uh But yeah If he did go to the Angels RIP his career Yeah

It's not there Unfortunately Yeah Yeah Why can't they just get decent At just keeping Pitchers healthy Not even just

Developing them And just keeping them Healthy Just keeping their bodies intact Just can't do it Can't do it for some reason Did you find that out? If not, we're running well over time here, so we should probably sign off.

But we're going to be doing a lot more draft talk here on the show. So be sure to look forward to that. We might even get some guests on here from time to time to talk about the draft as well. So that's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast. For Colby Patnode, I'm Tiding Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. You can follow our site at Inside Mariners.

You can follow me at Dane Gonzalez. It's D-A-N-E, G-N-Z-L-Z, and Colby at C-P-E-P-E-E-T-E-E-N-Z-L-E. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. And thank you again for making us your first listen of the day, just like you do here every day. Now make your second listen to the day, locked on MLB. That's where Paul Francis Sullivan, and please call him Sully brings you his unique perspective on the Major League President Pass. It's free wherever you get your podcast just like us. So have yourself a beautiful baseball day.

We'll see you tomorrow. Go Ems. Peace.