Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Julio Rodríguez Steals Show, Should Mariners Make Run at Juan Soto?

Episode Date: July 19, 2022

Julio Rodríguez cemented himself as a superstar with one of the most legendary performances in Home Run Derby history on Monday night. Could the man he fell to in the final round, Juan Soto, eventually join him in Seattle? Locked On Mariners hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode discuss and wrap things up with some player comparisons on the Mariners' seven draftees from day two of the 2022 MLB Draft.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] up to date with all things Mariners at Inside the Mariners - a FanNation website covering the Seattle Mariners on the Sports Illustrated network.Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11 | @InsideMarinersFor more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/Blue NileMake your moment sparkle with jewelry from Bluenile.com, and LOCKED ON SPORTS listeners get $50 off purchases of $500 or more using code LOCKEDON.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. 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, let's look to the rest of the baseball world and collectively say, we told you so. Plus, Colby's got player comps for some of the Mariners' day two draft picks, and we're going to revisit Seattle's chances of landing Juan Soto. Do we think it's possible? Stay tuned to find out. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. What's up, everyone? to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. It is Tuesday, July 19th, 2020. It is the All-Star Game.

Thank you so much for making us your first. Listen of the day. We are free and available on all platforms with new episodes every Monday through Friday. I am your host, Taday Gonzalez, joined as always by my co-coes, Colby Patnode. We cover the Mariners over at inside the mariners.com

for Fan Nation over on the Sports Illustrated network. Be sure to follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Follow Inside the Mariners. at Inside Mariners. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez. That's D-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-P-P-A-T-1-1. Be sure also check out our Patreon.

Over at patreon.com forward slash control the zone. We post two additional podcasts on there every single week. Again, that is patreon.com forward slash control the zone. And if this is your first time joining us here on the Lockdown 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. We're not going to spin this entire segment bashing the home run derby structure, if you will.

The rules. I'm not, right? Let's just be real about it. While the rule is dumb, the way that it is structured is dumb. It should just be that whoever hits the most home runs wins in the end. Julio did lose in the structure of the derby. And that's that. So I'm not going to go here with some, you know,

I'm not going to come at you with some crazy conspiracy theories or anything like that. Though it did seem like Kyle Schwabler did get a little, a little screwed there in his round. But we're not going to focus on that. We're going to focus on how great Julio's night truly was. The guy hits the second most home. home runs in a home run derby ever. 82, right behind Vladimir Guerrero's 91.

It was spectacular. He hit 63 in the first two rounds. He beat the defending champion Pete Alonzo and just barely got edged out by Juan Soto in the final round. But Colby, this was a truly, truly special performance by Julio Rodriguez. How special was it, though?

It would have been more special in Major League Baseball hadn't screwed him. Here's my conspiracy theory. No, but like you mentioned, second most home runs hit in an individual derby. Probably would have had more, but somehow Julio didn't hit two home runs that went 440 feet in the last round. Yeah, okay. But he already has the eighth most home runs in home run derby history, like career totals. Like Pete Alonzo is number one by a pretty wide margin.

Julio has participated in one, and he is eighth most. all time. So he sounds like he's probably going to do it next year, assuming he's healthy. And I would guess he's going to do it a couple more times. There's a good chance. Julio might be the best home run derby hitter of all time. We'll have to wait and see how next year goes.

But right now he's already eighth, which is just insane for one derby. And, you know, I found this interesting because Griffey is like the king of the home run derby. People say home run derby. They think of Griffey and they think of like Alonzo. like those are the two best of all time. Griffey won three.

He hit 70 total. Julio hit 81 last night in his first derby. So Julio Rodriguez already has more home runs in the home run derby than Griffey had and all three that he won. So it was a pretty special night for Julio. Again, the whole receding thing is obvious and it's dumb that that Juan Soto gets to hit 53. and beat a guy who hit 81. But hey, you know, Major League Baseball, dumb rules, kind of go hand in hand.

So I can't say that in that surprise. But this does have a feel to a kind of like, you remember when Hamilton went off at Yankee Stadium? And he hit like 28 or whatever. Do you remember who won that derby? Because it wasn't Hamilton and nobody cares. I know it wasn't Josh Hamilton, but who was it? I don't remember.

It was Justin Mornow. Oh, right. So this kind of has that feel where it's like, yes, he didn't win the derby, but he won the derby. And by the way, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., when he hit 91, he didn't win either. Yeah. So obviously the system is broken. Surprise, an all-star game activity is broken. Who would have guessed every Mariner fan ever?

But, yeah, Julio stole the show last night. So change those rules, let Julio go second. I think if you beat every opponent you face by 10 plus home runs, you get to dictate the rules. That's fair. That's reasonable. And any system where somebody hits 81 home runs and the other guy hits 53 and you're like, well, I guess the guy who hit 53 was just a better home run hitter is the dumbest thing you can possibly think of.

But Julio, you know, it was kind of, you know, I think most people know about Julio. I think they understand how talented he is. but last night was kind of that like, like we talk about, you know, is Julio going to get MVP votes and people look at us like, no, of course he's not. You don't think last night's performance helps put him on that map.

I think you're crazy. So I think last night and, you know, a nice bonus is that as runner up, he did win $750,000, which is $50,000 more than his entire salary for this year. So it's still a nice consolation prize. It's just dumb that,

that Julio. hit like 28 more home runs than Juan Soto and lost. Yeah. What kind of system is that? Yeah. Julio put on a heck of a show. And I mean, if this wasn't already the case heading in to the All-Star break, he's cemented himself as a superstar now.

And whether you and I up here, you know, think the home run derby is worth anything or not, right? Ultimately, it's glorified batting practice to me. It is, it was fun last night. I had a good time watching it. at the end of the day, it's not a huge thing for me. But the home run derby is where stars are made, right? Even guys that are not necessarily tops and F4, et cetera, get star recognition because of what they do in the derby,

if they have success in the derby. Pete Alonzo isn't one of the best, you know, 10 best players in baseball, but he's kind of a star because of what he's done in the derby, right? He's kind of a household name. Julio Rodriguez, if he wasn't already, became a household name last night. Yep.

And it also helps that he did it. in LA and Hollywood in front of a ton of celebrities, ton of athletes, etc. I mean, did you see all the folks that came out on Twitter last night talking about Julio Rodriguez, talking about a Seattle Mariner? We're talking Steph Curry, Donovan Mitchell. The list goes on and on and on.

Like, I mean, the world is taking notice of Julio Rodriguez. I could be upset that he chose not to wear any Mariners gear while he was doing this, but, you know. No, it was a great, man. It was. I saw a bunch of like NBA stars like they'd tweeting at Julio and all that stuff. And, you know, that that is different.

Like when's the last time? Do you think before last year, LeBron James could name a single Seattle Mariner? No, of course he couldn't. Either could Steph Curry. They don't care. But Julio is that kind of talent where people care now. And, you know, I know there's a lot. lot of negative connotation about like bandwagon fans and like people who only join your fan base

because it's trendy. We see the Seahawk. A lot of older Seahawk fans complain about that. That's great. That's what you want. You want those people to be interested in your product because you're going to keep a handful of them. Even if you only keep 5% of the newcomers who are just here to watch Julio, that's 5% more of the population you get to take money from and you get to put back into your ballpark.

That's more people coming to your games. and that's more people, you know, so. Well, in general, too, it grows the game, right? Yeah. Like, in theory, in theory, at least, you would think that seeing someone like Julio, a young kid who just smiles, loves to have the game, has a ton of fun playing the game, crushes dingers, like does all the fun stuff, right? He does, he checks every single box.

I mean, if you don't have a favorite player right now, why isn't it Julio Rodriguez? It probably became Julio Rodriguez last thing, honestly. like probably so many people last night probably got introduced to Julio Rodriguez and that's a beautiful thing and a lot of people probably became huge fans of Julio Rodriguez last night and that's a beautiful thing is a beautiful beautiful beautiful thing it's great for Julio it's great for his brand and it's great for his marketability MLB hopefully will take this and run with it because Julio has the potential to be the face of this league yeah I mean I'll just I'll just wrap up the conversation by saying this.

I can't believe Major League Baseball looked at Julio Rodriguez and all that he does and all that he represents and they put him up next to Byron Buxton and was like Byron Buxton deserves to start in center field for the All-Star game, right?

What are we doing? I love Byron Buxton by the way. Whatever. It's not even like, whatever. You play for a minute. I love Buxton. He is not having a better year than Julio. Not close. Not close at all.

And if it's just about, well, we got to get the stars in there. That's why Pujol's got invited and all that stuff. Julio should be hitting lead off and playing center field. Like he is the star. So, yeah, Major League Baseball, doing the right thing in marketing Julio effectively. I'll believe it when I see it. Yeah, because they are technically fumbling the bag already by not starting him in the All-Star game.

It's a terrible decision. He should be starting, especially after last night. Like that's just like really we're gonna roll out an outfield of John Carlos Stanton Byron Buckson Aaron Judge Aaron Judge has been great this year. I'm not gonna complain about Aaron Judge but really John Carlos Stanton and Byron Buxton really over Julio really really guys all right Enough of that. Let's talk about the man who Julio unfortunately lost to in the finale last night And his future teammate potentially Wadsona.

We're going to be talking about the possibility of the Mariners trading forum. Do we think it's possible? Do we think it's not possible? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Should be an interesting conversation, maybe one that some of you don't like the answer to. Anywho, first, before we get into all that, this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Blue Nile. Whether you're ready to pop the question or you're celebrating a milestone moment, find jewelry as unique as them with the modern convenience. of online shopping at blue nile.com.

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just like you do here every single day, Monday through Friday. which NFL stars move the betting line the most starting July 18th. Locked on gives you the 50 most valuable players in the NFL from the odds makers over at bet online. Available July 18th on Lockedon NFL wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube just like us. And speaking of bet online, they have released their odds for Juan Soto's next team. And we find the Seattle Mariners seventh on the list with plus. 750 odds of landing Juan Soto first

Colby what do you think of those odds do you like where the Mariners are at do you not like where they're at what are you feeling I think first of all I think the odds are fine you look at who's behind them I think the Mariners could beat

those those teams in a trade package with the possible exception of the Braves so I think the odds are fine. It's just the odds in this case don't matter. Because you have to remember when bet online does these odds, they're not trying to predict who Juan Soto is actually going to go to. They're trying to find the line that the most people will bet on. And so I think, you know, the Mariners finishing like seventh in that conversation is about right. They're kind of a middle

of the pack like they'd be a popular dark horse for a lot of a lot of fans so the the odds themselves are fine it just war so it's not going to be a seattle mariner all right so let's get into that why is juan soto not going to be a seattle mariner just at face value here as simple as possible why is that not going to happen because the seattle mariners are not won soto away from winning the world series. I mean, when you really break it down, that's what we get to. Does Juan Soto make the Mariners the best team in the American League West even? No, no. And that's not even factoring what you have to give up to get him, which is going to be pieces off of your major league roster. You're probably going to end up falling a little bit further behind the Astros as a result of

this trade. And I know you asked for one thing, but now you're going to empty out your farm system. This is it. This is the one move you get to. to make until Harry Ford and well you're training Harry Ford until you know basically the Cole Young this this draft class in two years has enough value that you can do it again so this is your one shot and and Soto doesn't make the Mariners a world series contender by his presence alone he's not the guy to empty out the cabinet for you're just it's just it's too early and he's too expensive so my feeling is on this that I I'm down for for it. I'm down more so, though, if it's in the off season. Because if they are willing to trade

soda to the Mariners without Julio being involved, which I mean, that's like if it's Julio, if Julio's a part of the ass, that's a non-starter for me. Because at that point, on top of whatever else you would have to give with Julio, to me, that's a lateral move. If not, you get worse, honestly. You know, look, I love one. So he's a generational talent. Like, he's one of the best players in our game right now. But the return on that is likely going to have to include at least one of George Kirby or Logan Gilbert. And that's why I'm not interested today this summer in the middle of the season because I'm going to have to trade one of those guys. And I'm going to have to trade other significant pieces that I could use to go get George Kirby or Logan Gilbert's replacement in the rotation.

So now, because like that, trading one of those guys opens up an even bigger need for me. I think the, I don't think I'm interested this winter even because you're still going to have to give up Gilbert or Kirby. And yes, it's easier to replace a starting pitcher in the offseason than it is midseason, particularly because, you know, free agents are a lot cheaper to buy than trading for a starting pitcher at the deadline. But I don't think I'm interested because, again, I don't think they're Juan Soto away. And what I'm worried about is that Juan Soto is so expensive in terms of assets that the only way that you can build a complete team around him is to spend $250 million. And I know a lot of people want the Mariners to spend $250 million. Fine. I don't care if they do or don't, but they're not going to.

And I think we need to be realistic here. I think if you just basically dump the farm to get Juan Soto, then you basically have to win a World Series in those two years. Or you're kind of starting over from scratch because Juan Soto is not signing an extension here. Stop. You can offer him $500 million. He is not signing an extension with the Seattle Mariners. He's going to go play for the Dodgers.

He's going to play for the Angels. He's going to play for the Yankees. He's going to play for the Mets. He's going to play for the Red Sox. He is maybe the Cubs. He is not going to play for the Seattle Mariners. He's not doing that. Let's just be honest about this.

I know we want to think that, you know, players love to come to Seattle. It's not always the case. And it doesn't, it's not easy. It's so easy to say, well, just throw the money at him until he says, yes, that's not what you want either. Because now you've, now you've dedicated so many resources to this player, who, by the way, not a good defender, not a good base runner, elite masher. But he's like 23 years old and he's three years away from being a full-time D-H. Like, that's how bad the defense is right now. So you're going to spend $500 million on a guy who can impact the game in one area on top of giving up, you know, Gilbert or Kirby and Kelnick and Ford and Arroyo and probably more Taylor Tremel.

You know, it's going to cost so much that I don't think it's smart for the Mariners to do that because I don't think that Juan Soto actually helps them get there. Because honestly, the way I look at this is I think based on what the report, did ask of the nationals is so far, I think it's not out of the realm of possibility that the marriage could go get Brian Reynolds and Pablo Lopez for the same price that they would go and spend on Juan Soto. Wouldn't you rather have Brian Reynolds and Pablo Lopez than Brian Reynolds or than Juan Soto? Of course you would. Everybody would. Those are two players that impact you instead of one. And you're probably not going to have to give up Kirby or Gilbert to get either one. So I just I don't understand that this idea that oh well you know you just have to go for it now no you don't you don't have to and if the cost was just you know hey we'll give you a Royo Ford Hancock and and you know um

dollared like fine whatever cool but we're talking about giving up Kirby we're talking about giving up uh Julio we're talking about giving up Gilbert no I'm out. Like the most I would be willing to give is Gilbert straight up. And that's not going to get it done and nor should it. I'm not saying the national should accept that deal. But the Mariners just shouldn't be interested. It's just one of those things where like, look, would it be fun? Sure. And is there a cost where you're like, yeah, absolutely you do that trade? Sure. There is. Is it likely that that cost ever comes down to a point where it's, you know, it's that scenario where you're like, yeah, okay, whatever. That's fine. No, it's not because the nationals don't have to trade Juan Soto. So we should The nationals hold all the leverage. We should talk real quick about the ask, the reported ask from the nationals from John Heyman and of course take that with a grain of salt

it is John Hammond. But he says that the nationals are expected to request a combination of the following for Soto, a team's top four prospects, young major leaguers, and a willingness to take on Patrick Corbyn's contract.

which is pretty hefty. I don't know what the remaining salary is on that, but I- $69 million, $23 million a year for the next three years. Okay. So that on top of team's top four prospects right now that would be Harry Ford,

Edwin-O-Royle, Nolvi-Marte, and Emerson-Hank-C, and then young major leaguers we're talking Kirby, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Jerich, maybe, Tyler Jamel, Abraham Toro,

Luis Trens, like, and let's be honest, it's going to be curvy or, or Gilbert. Right. And then you have to take on a bad contract for a bad pitcher.

Yeah. So that's where, like, things really get hung up for me is like, on top of all that stuff that you're asking for, you also want me to take on

this dead weight, basically. I just, it's just it's so much it's so much i love won soto again i love love love one soda i'd be the ecstatic of the marinerator for wonsoto would be amazing but that is just so much so i don't think any team is going to do that no i honestly i think it would be a fireable offense of jerry depoto did it i don't i don't even think like brian cashman would do this i don't think the dodgers would do this i don't think any team would

feasibly follow through on this. I think I saw a report and maybe it was just speculation that the Yankees I've already told them that like we're not trading Volpe. The Yankees are out. Like Volpe is like the whole thing.

And even if they did trade bull pay, they don't, the Yankees don't have the pieces. Like this is like this is the Herschel Walker trade of the NFL. And remember how well that Herschel Walker trade worked out for the Minnesota Vikings? Oh yeah, it didn't.

So it just built the Cowboys dynasty for them. Mariners aren't in a position to do that. The Mariners don't need Juan Soto. And even if you just think about it from this year's standpoint, right, it's like, hey, not only are you going to have to go find another starting pitcher to replace, let's say, Gilbert, but you know that you're going to have to shut down Kirby at some point, or at the very least short script them a few times. So now you probably need to go find two starting pitchers.

And, you know, like, look, I'm not saying that Mitch Hanigur and Kyle Lewis are anywhere in the realm of a hitter as Juan Soto, but wouldn't you rather have Logan Gilbert, Kyle Lewis, and Mitch Hanager than Juan Soto? Don't you think those three players help you more than this guy does? Because what is Soto going to give you over,

what is Soto going to give you over the right field options you have coming back to you over the course of the next 68 games or whatever it is? A win, maybe, maybe one and a half. Now how many are you going to lose going from Logan Gilbert? to, you know, Jose Quintana, might be one and a half, two wins.

So there's no guarantee you even come out ahead this year. So it's dumb. Whatever you're offering in trade, it's not going to be enough. And if you are offering what would be enough, it's too much. It does not make sense for Juan Soto to be with the Seattle Mariners. The only time it will ever make sense is if Juan Soto ever gets to the rental stage. And you can get them for, say, you know, Edwin Arroyo for a month, for two months.

You know what I mean? And at that point he might be worth it. But right now he's not. He's too expensive. He's a luxury of the Mariners can't afford. Yeah, I'm out on a mid-season deal. I'm completely all the way out on that. Off season, I'm open to just listening to the idea about it.

But again, the price has to come. The price has to come down. The price has to come down. Yeah. I just can't fathom. Yeah, I just can't fathom the price ever getting to a point where I'm I'm like, yep, do it. I don't see it.

All right, so moving on from that, we're going to look at the Mariners draft picks from yesterday. There are rounds four through 10 picks. And Colby's got a few players that he has copped to those guys that have been picked by the Mariners. So get into all that in just a moment, but real quick, a reminder of this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Bill Barr.

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and you have some player comps for each of these guys. So we'll just start in order. Let's start with right-handed pitcher, AJ Izzy out of Oswego in Illinois. What do you got for me? Yeah, obviously, I haven't gotten a lot of video on him, so I'm relying a lot on secondhand information here. Fastball, which could play up into the mid-90s.

It's a slider right now that's pretty slow. review and there are some who believe that because he's kind of an over over the top straight arm angle type of pitcher that he really could play with the with a curveball instead of a slider you can still keep the slider but the curveball could be the the actual out pitch so I think that in general the profile when I hear about it and when I read about it kind of reminds me a former Mariners pitcher Aaron Seeley which is would be a very nice find in the fourth round

love Aaron Seeley. So their fifth round pick number 156, left-handed pitcher Reed Van Scooter, love the name, from Coastal Carolina. Yeah, definitely a money saver here. I don't know if most teams had them in the top eight, nine, ten rounds. But when I read the profile,

his lefty, throw strikes, kind of has a four-pitch mix here. Basketball has a little bit more juice than people expect. I hear a lot of former Mariners fifth round pick Ryan Yarbrough in this profile. So I think there's a possibility here that the Mariners can, I think, I think he's going to pitch very well in the low miners. And then we'll see how he doesn't double A and AAA, but I think he moves pretty quick to

double A could be there by the end of next year, possibly. And then we'll see what he does. But I do hear some Ryan Yarbrough in his profile. And our buddy Will Stone, who was doing the digital over at East Carolina this past season, got to see Van Scooter quite a bit when East Carolina and Coastal Carolina school. wear it off and he had great things to say. So maybe that's someone to keep an eye on. So let's go to their sixth round pick. Number 186, Josh Hood. Another great name. Shortstop out of North Carolina State. What do you got for me on Josh Hood? Yeah, a pretty good bat speed and plus

raw power, strong arm, probably a third baseman, but he can handle shortstop in a pinch. Can move around a little bit, good athlete. Honestly, the profile reminds me a lot of Dylan Moore, which is this is the sixth round is the appropriate place to take Dylan. more not the second round so um i i think that's a that's a fun pick here we'll see he's got a lot of work to do on the swing but he has natural bat speed and natural power strong arm pretty good runner a good athlete so this is a interesting pick by seattle we obviously stand dillemore around these parts so we are very excited about this pick all right so round seven number uh two 16 we have the best name that the mariners drafted all all week hogan

Winddish. That is H-O-G-A-N-D-I-S-H out of UNC-G-G-Greensboro. Second Baseman, what do you got for me on Hogan Windish? Yeah, this might be my favorite player. There's video of him hitting a 480-foot Grand Slam last summer with a wood bat, so, and obviously the name is awesome. You know, Jason Churchill, friend of the show,

called him Ty France Jr. I'm not willing to go that far, but I certainly understand the comparison there. He's kind of a thicker second baseman, probably not going to stay at that spot, but might be able to handle a corner outfield spot, play a little second, play a little third.

I think he can hit. I think he's going to hit pretty well here. But because I'm not willing to go nearly as far as Churchill here, actually landed on, I don't know if you remember this name, Ty, a Ty Wigington comp. Oh, yes, I remember Tom. Yes, former Oriole, Tampa Bay, Ray, hit about 260 league average on bays, 430 slugging.

I think that's a useful player. So I actually think Hogan Windish probably going to end up in my top 30-ish Mariners prospect. I like this pick. All right. So let's move on to their eighth round pick at number 246, catcher Tatum Levens out of Pittsburgh. Yeah, left-handed stick, got some power, very CTZ-oriented hitter, kind of fringy. average behind the plate getting a little bit better but he's probably a 45 glove at most there it's a bat that you're kind of hoping can stick at catcher i don't know sounds a lot to me like

former seattle mariners backstop omar norbi is so i think this is a guy to watch i'm i'm a little more optimistic on him after reading and learning about him than i was yesterday um definitely a backup catcher he's not a guy you want catching 100 games for you that could change he could get better but uh i I think there's some, some enough hit tool here and enough power that he could, you know, play some first base, maybe DH once in a while.

It, in, it seems like an Omar Narvae is, uh, clone, I guess, uh, for me.

I was sad when they traded Narvey. So I would love to get Narvey back. Yeah. Okay. I was sad. I liked him. He was fun. It was good.

All right. So, uh, and he actually fixes, uh, catching a little bit in, in Milwaukee. At least temporarily.

Uh, I don't know how he's doing. He's a branch average. He's okay. So in the ninth round, pick two 76. Tyler Guff, right hand and pitcher,

what do you got for me on him? Yeah, I couldn't really think of a major league comp. Right now it's a bunch of 50s, but there's upside. Clearly, he's 18 years old. And fastball could get up to 96, 97. The mirrors are pretty good at that.

So I don't really have like a major league comp for him quite yet. But the one thing I did find when I was studying him, he reminds me a lot like I see why the Mariners really like him because he reminds me a lot of the Michael Morales comp from the last draft so I think it's possible they may have added another Michael Morales type of pitcher and that's the case that means this time next year he's going to be top 15 in the system assuming that they can get him signed yeah we'll see if they're able to pull that off but typically I mean historically speaking the Mariners have never really wasted a top 10 pick on a guy that they didn't feel confident they could sign so I would say that there's a pretty good chance just basing that off of a track record for the Mariners. All right. So finally in the 10th round at Pick 306, the Mariners have drafted an outfielder out of Mercer. And the last time they did that, it worked out pretty well for them. What do you got for me on Bill Knight?

Yes, Lewis to Bill Knight, very boring names. But no, he's about 6'1, about 200 pounds. pretty good athlete and surprisingly good numbers. He was actually going to transfer to Ole Miss, or sorry, Mississippi State, which is a pretty good baseball program from Mercer. In 2022, he had 337 with 17 home runs and 19 doubles. There's some legitimate pop here. So I think, you know, he's probably drafted about where he should have gone.

It kind of reminds me a little bit of Mariners 2021. one draft pick Colin Davis kind of a smaller school guy some really good numbers good athlete I don't like he's going to I think he's probably

headed to a corner but I think he's going to be pretty good in there so I think that's kind maybe he's often Slater but I think that's an interesting guy

and I like said it's it's probably he went about where he was supposed to go so yeah I think I think Bill Knight probably doesn't crack my top 30 but he's he's a really interesting player have to keep an eye on him you know guy like colin davis was someone that we overlooked at the draft last year and and now he's kind of become a guy to watch

in the mariner system so maybe bill knight will also follow that same kind of plan all right well we are out of time here on today's episode of locked on mariners but thank you so much for joining us here for colby pat note i'm tiding it's all us be sure to give us a follow on twitter at l0 underscore mariners you can follow inside the mariners at inside mariners you can follow me at Dan Gonzalez, it's D-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-P-E-P-A-T-1-1. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode, whether you're listening or watching it. Thank you again for making us your first listen of the day, just like you do here every single day. And now make your second listen to the day locked on MLB prospects.

Host Lindsay Crosby is a prospect encyclopedia, and he's going deep on the MLB stars of tomorrow. It's free and available wherever you get your podcast just like us. And with that, have yourself a beautiful. beautiful baseball day. We'll see you tomorrow. Peace.