Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Seattle Mariners 2026 Preseason Farm System Re-Rank: Prospects 30-21

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

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Prospect Week is back and we kick things off with prospects 30 through 21 in the Mariners Farm System coming up. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, Sailors, it is Wednesday, February 11, 20, 26. You're listening to the Lockdown Marys Podcasts podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network.

My name is Tiding Gazzal. and I'm joined, as always, by my co-coast Colby Patnode. We're two lifelong Maris fans. We've been covering the team for over half a decade. And today marks the return of Prospect Week. It's time to re-rank the Maris Farm System, which has changed quite a bit over the winter. And we'll start with Prospects 30 through 21 today.

And we've done this every year that we've been doing locked on. So most of you should know the drill by now. But if you don't, it's pretty simple. Colby and I put together separate top 30 lists. Then we combine them using a points-based system to create the list that you will see unveiled over the next three episodes. And of course, we just mostly do this for fun. You know, we're not claiming to be prospect experts or what have you.

This is just, you know, how we'd rank these guys based on what we know about them and what we've heard. So let's get into it. Starting off with number 30. Brock Moore, who the mayor has drafted a couple of years ago, right-hand reliever out of Oregon, 25 years old. Comes in at number 28 on Colby's list. I don't have him ranked on my list. And he wasn't ranked the last time we did this list. but he's been on this list before coming off of a rough year to say the least though and high a

yeah but he has leverage upside and when you compare him to the Tyler Cleveland's and the Charlie Bilonsons and and you know the you the Stefan wraiths like those are middle guys like that is their ceiling and more well his floor is, you know, he flames out at double A. His ceiling is that he could be like an eighth inning set up guy. The problem is he needs to throw a lot more strikes than he currently is. And he needs to command the stuff better. I mean, even when he throw strikes, they're kind of like middle of the plate. So, you know, again, to be a really good reliever, you don't have to have pinpoint command. You can get away with 45 control and 40 command of your stuff is good enough and more stuff.

pretty close to being that good. It's a really good fastball slider. He also has a little bit of a change-up. He's a good athlete on the mound, but there's a lot of effort in his delivery, and there's a lot of work left to do. This is a guy, again, he could very well, never sniff the big leagues,

but I would rather take the shot on him than somebody like, you know, Tyler Cleveland, who's 26 years old and is pitching in AA for like the third year in a row and just doesn't have any kind of like, whatever. I can go find a Tyler Cleveland in five, minutes. Brock Moore, I'll take my shot on that guy over and over and over again. And that's why I

have him ranked here ahead of some other middle relief candidates. And also the Mariners farm system, not that deep, not that deep. So, uh, yes, I don't want to rank guys like Brockmore anymore, although he would probably be on like the, you know, the watch list or whatever, the sleeper list. But, uh, you know, it's just the state of the Mariners farm right now is it's very top heavy. It's very good at the top, but it's very top-heavy. And, you know, it should, you know, add some depth, obviously, with the draft and international classes that are coming in this year and next year. Like, it'll be fine.

I'm not worried about it. But right now, it's not, it's not too pretty once you get past like 12 or 13. Like, there's really not a lot of depth here. So Brockmore gets the edge simply because he has upside that other relievers who might get ranked, who might have been ranked in this spot, they just don't. Yeah, again, because of the lack of depth, you're going to see over the,

you know, of course of these 10 guys that we're going to talk about. We're kind of all over the place. There's a couple of guys on here that Colby had ranked that I didn't have ranked. There's a couple of guys on here that I had ranked and he didn't have ranked. So, yeah, it's just kind of a crapshoot here. It's just like, what do you like? And so I get, but 28 walks and 18 hits and 18, 2 thirds is, Yeah, it's rough for Brockmore.

So hopefully you can significantly improve in his second year, pro ball. It's like a real year of pro ball, I should say. Coming in at number 29 is Grant Nip, right-handed pitcher, though. You know, he at least came out as a two-way player.

I don't know if they're going to continue doing the two-way player thing with him. They might just have him pitch. He just went underwent Tommy John surgery, though. 24 years old. Colby had him ranked 27th on his list. I didn't have him ranked on my list, mostly because of the Tommy John surgery.

He still hasn't pitched in professional ball yet, or just played in professional ball in general. Wasn't ranked the last time we did this list. I think he made the list one of the times we did this, though. But yeah, you have Nip on here. Why is that? Yeah, he is just pitcher now. He's officially transitioned last I heard.

And again, it's the upside. right like you're you're taking upside plays uh nip by the way hit 18 homers and like hit 400 in his senior year of college so he's a really good athlete on top of that obviously the Tommy john is a big thing we have to wait and see uh you know how he looks and and you know I'm not sure when he'll be able to throw in terms of like games he might miss you know a couple months of this year so but it's all upside he's a good athlete uh he at you know at least when he was last healthy, he showed pretty good ability to throw strikes. Like it is better control and command than Brockmore.

Stuff probably not quite as good, but it's 95 to 97 with, you know, induced vertical break or whatever. Like it's, it's right there where the Mariners like the arm slot and the rise, looks like the fastball's rising when reality just doesn't drop as much. And a pretty good slider to go with it. So I think there's a possibility he has two plus, you know, pitches. I think he's going to throw enough. strikes, assuming, you know, the Tommy John stuff goes well for him.

And he's, he's a big guy, he's strong, he's a great athlete. So again, it's just another guy I'm taking a shot on. It's stuff. It's lottery ticket type of thing. But he has an opportunity to be a high leverage arm where, again, I don't think, you know, Cleveland and Bielensen and Raith and the other guys who are kind of, you know, in the back end of this list too. And guys who at one point I did have on the list, but kind of like,

Yeah. So he just doesn't have, he just has a higher ceiling than those guys. And I'd rather take a shot on that than I would the, you know, sixth inning floor of, of, or ceiling even of, you know, Tyler Cleveland, who it sounds like I hate, but also, but just like he's fine. But whatever. You keep using him as your example. Just because he's like replacement level fine, or fine, whatever. But I would rather take a shot on upside in my top 30 than I would on just like, well, this guy's. probably a big leaguer, not a good one, but probably he'll pitch some in the big leagues.

I'd rather take a shot on the guy who's like, yeah, this guy pitches in the big leagues. He's probably going to be a seventh, eighth inning arm. Yeah. So that's just where my head's at with those. Well, I did kind of go with probability here on our number 28, Victor LaBrada, 26-year-old outfielder. Typically, I wouldn't have a 26-year-old outfielder on this list. But it comes out of number 26 on my list. wasn't ranked on Colby's.

It's 27th the last time we did this. It's really just because like he's going to make it to the majors. Will he stick in the majors? Who knows? But he will make it to the majors at some point. Maybe this year if there's some injuries for the Mariners, I feel like he would be he would really benefit from going to a different organization, though,

especially with all the left handed hitting players the mayors just have in general. But, you know, he steals a lot of bags. One of the fastest students in the minors gets on baseball. a ton, you know, just has a really good plate discipline. I mean, he showed at 26 years old and the miners even, even at the AAA level. But, you know, 16.9% K rate this past year in the miners, 14.9% walk rate. It's pretty solid.

And he's got a little bit of pop. So, yeah, I mean, like, it's a 26 year old. But, you know, I think he might carve out a role, like how Leo Rivas kind of has. All right, we'll keep it going with prospects 27 through 21 in just a moment. But first a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Errors podcast is brought to you by Indeed and the Space Needle. Hiring isn't just about finding someone willing to take the job. It's about finding the right person with the right background who can actually help your business move forward. And if you want candidates who match what you're looking for, indeed sponsored jobs is the move.

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All right. Getting back into our prospect list here coming in at number 27 is Diego Contreras, 18-year-old infielder, who was just in the DSL this past year, comes in at 29 on Colby's list, 27th on mine. So the first guy on this list that we both. had ranked. He wasn't ranked the last time we did this because it's been kind of a newer revelation, Colby, for us. He's someone that I heard about from someone who would know, you know, about guys who were down in the DSL a couple weeks ago. And the other day, who was it, Alex Jensen, I believe. Yeah. I had a really cool write-up on Contreras and said he's got the potential to be a 70

great hit tool. You know, we'll see about the pop. The thing here with Contreras is, He's 5 foot 7. Will there be any pop there? What is ultimately his profile? But he raked down in the DSL this past year. Yeah. Yeah. You know, there's a little bit of a concern.

Not concern. There's a little bit of like, because he's small and he's squatier. It's like, hey, where is he going to play? But it sounds like he can handle, you know, a lot of positions pretty well. So there's a utility upside here. He puts the ball and play a lot. He doesn't chase, which again, for an 18-year-old, playing in the DSL is pretty rare.

So it's an advanced approach. You start throwing around potential 70 hit tools. Like, that's going to catch people's attention pretty quick here. Again, we'll see how much pop there is probably not a ton. Generally, shorter, you know, players don't generate a ton of pop. But, you know, there's always Dustin Padraea and Jose Altova. And we know Ryan Bliss is a smaller guy who has a lot of pop. But yeah, it's an interesting profile.

We need to see him state side before we really start to, you know, look at him and maybe push him upboards. But, yeah, it's really interesting when you start hearing things about, like, again, 70 hit tools. And he's probably like an averageish runner. And you can play multiple spots. And honestly, I read the profile and he reminded me of a former major league player named Alberto Chiaspo. Maybe you guys remember him from the Angels and I believe the athletics, I'm not mistaken. just a real solid player. He was also on the Orioles for a little while.

Solid player utility type. And, you know, again, when you're kind of looking at where the Mariners are at on this list, it's like, okay, anybody who could play a significant role in the majors, anybody who has a plus tool, probably needs to be on this list because it's, you know, there's not a lot of them this far down. You know, Kiyaspo is the comp. He was a 265, 329, 364 hitter, switch hitter,

played all over the infield. I think that's a really interesting profile for him. And again, when people in the know are throwing around 60, 70 in grades on a tool, particularly the hit tool, it's worth noting. And again, the power will probably dictate how much of a ceiling he has, but he's definitely a, you know, a prospect that merits a lot of, you know, attention. And we'll see how aggressive the mayors want to be with him. Do they want to put him in no longer Modesto, Inland Empire, I believe?

do they want to put him there to start this year? Do they want to send him back to the DSL or is it the Arizona League and then they send him to Modesto? We'll see how it goes. Yeah, it'll be an interesting guy to track this year, certainly. I imagine he'll pop up quite a bit on Mariners minors on social media, which you guys should be following. It's a must follow for Mariners fans. All right.

Coming in at number 26 is Jared Sunstrom, 24-year-old outfielder in Double A. comes in a number 22 on Colby's list. I didn't have him ranked. So that's why he is all the way down at 26. He wasn't ranked the last time we did this. It's just he's 24. He got on base at a sub 300 clip in AA. Struck out a lot.

Yep. I just, I'm not really a huge fan of the profile, but why did he make your list? Look, again, a big, we've talked about what? Let's see, for this is our fifth guy.

One of them I'm like vaguely interested in. That's contraris. Yeah, they could be something. Everybody else here is, I look at them as probably minor's depth. But when you want to look at, you know, who can get to the big leagues who can help you, Sunstrom might be able to. He was dreadful last year in AA. No question about it.

That is an offensive per offensive. What am I trying to say here? Suppressive. Thank you. Offensive suppressive. ballpark particularly to right-hand hitters but you still got to produce a little something something there uh he just didn't so he'll repeat the level i mean if he doesn't get off to a pretty good start he'll fall off the list entirely but this is more of a product of a guy who or of a system that

doesn't really have a lot of guys to talk about sunstrom i like the tools i think he has probably just average raw tools across the board but when you put up the season you just did it's hard to give your hit grade you know a 45 or a 50 uh so we're right right now it's fair to be like, yeah, it's a 35 hit tool, but I do think I like what he did in Everett the year before. I think he can play all three outfield spots. He'll be much better in a corner, which is fine.

But yeah, he's 24 years old. He'll turn 25 in late June. So it's really a big year for him. But I do think there's some pop here. I do think that there's some stolen base ability as well. He had 35 stolen bases. You know, and he's not like a burner. He's just a really good base runner.

I think there's a good baseball player. here, but, you know, if he doesn't produce this year, then you just can't back a guy like that anymore. It's just time to move on. So big year for Sunstrom, but I still hold out a little bit of hope. I think the hit tool will rebound. Coming in at number 25 is right-handed pitcher Chia Shishin down on low A, 22 years old. If we're in agreement on anything on this list, is that Chia Shishin is certainly the number 25 prospect in this Maris Farm system right now. And he came in number 26 last time too.

So we feel pretty good about this spot for Chi-Shi Shen clearly. He's an interesting dude. You know, he throws a lot of strikes. This is quite a few bats with a slider as well. I think it was an over 50% whiff rate on the slider with some chase as well. You know, it's just a solid four-pitch mix overall. You know, it's, you know, number five type probably at the end of the day. but I kind of feel like, you know, even though he's still in low A at 22 years old,

we'll see he's probably going to pitch in high this year. But I feel like there's some probability here. Yeah, I mean, it's not too dissimilar from Michael Morales. It's just Morales is like three years ahead of, of Shen. But yeah, there's also some projectability left, too. I mean, he's tall dude, six foot three. And right now he's at about a buck 90. So, I mean, there's probably room to add 20 pounds of muscle.

And then you might get some more fastball velo out of him. The change up is kind of what the pitch that like put him on the radar, but the slider certainly played well last year. So yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where it's, is he probably a big leaguer? I mean, no, probably not. But if you can get to the big leagues, does he have the possible? of being like a number five starter. Yeah, I think he could battle his way.

He's going to throw enough strikes. The Velo will see where it is. I think it's mostly 93 right now, 92, 93. Again, there is room to add muscle. There is room to add strength and there is room to add Velo here. Despite, you know, typically you talk about that with guys who are like 19, 20, 21. Shen is a little bit different. You know, he's an older prospect, but he only signed professional contract, you know,

July of 2024. So he was kind of a late fine. and we're going to see what he's got. I think he'll probably start the year and Everett if I had to guess. And we'll see how he handles that. And it'll be a nice challenge for him. If the VLO can take a little bit of a jump, if you can get a little more consistency with the slider,

and he can maintain the good control and command, he's got a shot to move up the board and be viable. I mean, he could be Logan Evans, you know, just viable number five rotation depth in this system with how things sit right now. it's not a bad place to be. So yeah, I think he'll be one of those guys that I'll be watching closely along with Contreras. They might be teammates in Inland Empire, but I think Shen will be one step ahead of Contreras in 2026.

All right. We will put a bow on prospects 30 through 21 in just a moment. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Locktime Maris podcast is brought to you by Fandul. The winner games are officially here. And if you're anything like us, you're locking in for events. only get to see on the biggest stage every four years. And that's why following the winter games on Fanduel just makes sense. From metal counts to individual events to finding your angle on the sports you care about

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for it slash Control the Zone. Link in the description of this episode. Coming in at number 24 is right-handed pitcher Christian Little 22 years old, just recently pitched in high A, comes in at number 26 on Colby's list. Number 23 on my list was 28 the last time we did this list. So a little bit of a bump here for Christian Little, the LSU product. Again, it's probably number five upside, but this is a guy who had a lot of hype when he decided to go to school. And then he had, you know, pretty good hype after a sophomore year.

And then everything just didn't really click for him. He's just a little bit off. But overall, I do think, you know, I look. at the stuff. I look at the ability to throw some strikes. And it's like Chen. It's like probably maxes out at the number five starter. But there's something here. There is a little bit more that then meets the eye. So yeah, I like little enough to put them in my top 30 of a system that doesn't have 30 good prospects in it. Sure. But yeah, I do think that there's actually a little something here, no pun intended. And the Mariners might be able to get something out of him.

that the folks at LSU and I believe Florida State before that weren't able to get. So yeah, I'm a, I guess I'm a fan, you would say, but not so much as I am of the next guy. I don't know. Why did you have Christian Little ranked where he did? It's a big fastball. You know, he's touched high 90s with it. That's probably going to be his path to the big leagues. I think there's a potential high-lovers reliever here.

And so I more so look at him as a bullpen guy rather than a starter here. And that's that's why he ranked higher for me on this list because I think there is a path and some upside there. Yeah. Again, like there's not a ton of talent at this end of the spectrum. So you really do have to pick guys like, hey, this guy, I think he could be a, you know, a major leaguer. It's all about taking shots, pretty much. Yeah. I mean, like it's, it's way in probability with, with shots. And I think there, there is some probability here with Little as well as a shot as like,

I think there's a decent balance here of that. Yeah, I like that, you know, for the most part, he throws strikes. Yeah. So I think that along with a good fastball gives him a shot. And that's really all you can hope for at this point of the list, guys who have a shot. Coming in to number 23 is Matt Tiberia, 23-year-old right-handed pitcher, comes at a number 24 on Colby's list, 22 on mine. And we had him rank 25 the last time we did this.

Tiberia, a pretty good year last year, just got hurt, missed a good chunk of time. But when he did pitch, he threw a lot of strikes, kept the ball on the ground. Look, we've talked about establishing that middle tier of mariner prospects. I think Tiberia could be a part of that. Tiberia, I mean, the delivery, I don't want to say the stuff, because he's not there. Yet there's a little Brian Wu here, like a little bit. Like it's a very easy delivery. The ball kind of explodes out of his hands.

Now he's not getting as much swing and miss as swing and misses Brian Wu did. But he's going to throw a lot of strikes. Again, it's a very repeatable, easy delivery. And both the slider and the change up show real promise here. So this is a guy that I think probably finishes the year in AA. And we're probably talking about next year. It's like, hey, is this a viable number five starter? Or is this like a, you know, a Logan Evans type of guy?

or is this maybe even a guy who has a little more to him than we thought? Like I really like Tiberia. I love the delivery. I love the way the ball explodes out of his hand. So yeah, I think there's something here. And hopefully he's healthy and you can give a full season performance. And you can find a way to miss some more bats. This dude's going to get really interesting, really fast.

Coming in at number 22 is 19-year-old infielder Leandro Romero. Comes at a number 23 on Colby's list. number 20 on mine wasn't ranked the last time we did this because he had a really bad first year in the marriage organization and then he came back this year hit quite a bit and in high performance camp you know a few weeks ago he was one of the guys they got most talked about coming out of that camp so there's there's a lot of uh there's a lot of hype around romero right now i mean relative to his you know his position in the merris farm system but uh there's some there's some excitement about this guy yeah I mean, five tools. Like he seems like he's going to be able to play shortstop. He really exploded in the DSL last year. He's another guy like Contreras, who's probably going to go stateside this year. I imagine it'll be a very similar timeline to Contreras, although Contreras might be a bit more polished, but there's raw power here.

There's bat speed. There's, you know, a good arm. There's quick hand. It's all very raw. And it's tough when you look at these guys who are, you know, in the DSS. who kind of failed once and then got a second shot at it's like tough to know because is it just because they're good like they're good against other 17 and 18 years old after they see them for a second time maybe but for Romero for Contreras these are guys that

they go to they go to Modesta or inland Empire sorry and they perform and they look like they belong these are the type of guys who when we talk about out of the marriage don't have a great middle class they could change that narrative pretty quick and Romero has all the tools. He's certainly more tooled up than Contreras is, and I'm really interested to watch him. He's also one of the three guys. If you guys haven't figured out, it's Contreras, it's Tiberia, and it's Romero, are the guys that I'm most excited about that we're talking about today. I think all three of those guys have a possibility, even with a good draft class, to be inside the Mariners top 15 when we do this in August again. So I really like this upside play.

And again, he's a young guy. We have to see, you know, how he performs in Modesto. Obviously, we remember Axel Sanchez and how quickly that star faded and who is the other guy. Milcar Perez, like, you know, we've seen guys like this come up and they just fall flat on their face and they never really recover. But those guys were interesting prospects and so is Romero. I am quite interested to watch, you know, Inland Empire. We get some kind of double play combo of Romero and Contreras at some point later this summer.

Yeah, he's filled out. physically he should be able to stick up the middle. There's a real possibility here with a with a good year state side. Like we're we're talking about him as a legitimate dude now in this in this farm system. So I'm actually really excited about Romero. All right. Our last prospect of this episode comes in at number 21. It is 23 year old right hand a pitcher Michael Morales comes in a number 19 on Colby's list.

Number 24 on mine. He was ranked 16th the last time we did this. I got to be honest with you. I'm experiencing prospect fatigue with Michael Morales. Yeah. Like even though, even though we have him ranked higher than, you know,

guys like Tiberia and Shen and little. Honestly, I think I'm more interested in those guys right now than I am Morales. Yeah, like, Morales is just kind of a dude. who throws strikes.

I think he doesn't have a single pitch that you're excited about. He doesn't have like, I mean, he throws strikes, but it's not like we're talking about like George Kirby Command. You know, there's just nothing really exciting in his profile, but is he kind of a, you know, number five, number six type of starter? Sure, in the truest sense. Like, it's honestly not too dissimilar from Emerson Hancock's profile as a starter. Hancock's actually got, though, you know, occasionally 19.

and he's also got occasionally like a really good slider or change up. We just haven't seen that for Morales on any kind of consistent level. I mean, you know, the guy is probably going to, I mean, he will. He's going to end up right now he's at 98 starts in his minor league career.

Like that's how long he's been in the system. He was rule five eligible this year. Nobody took him. The Mariners knew they didn't need to protect him. So I should tell you all you need to know about this guy. He's fine. You know, if you need a starter,

you need a number five for a couple, weeks. Could he do that for you? Sure. But the merits have been waiting for something to pop on this guy for a while. Now, they drafted him all the way back in 2021. So like, yeah. And 6-2-205, there's not a lot of projection left on him. Again, fastball's average, changeups average, curb balls average, control is probably 55 commands average though. Like, there's just a lot of averageness in his profile. but again, he is a guy who probably can get you some outs at the big league level. And when you look at the Mariners farm system in totality, that has to count for something. So Morales, though, is a guy that I, honestly, I would be pretty surprised.

Well, I'd be pretty surprised if he was on this list when we do it again. But also, like, the Mariners would have to have a really good draft to push him all the way off of the top 30 just because that's, you know, how. But I would predict by the end of or by the time we do this again in August, assuming they're all in the org, blah, blah, blah. I would predict that Contreras, Tiberia, Little, Shen, and Romero will all be ahead of Morales. That's not counting the new guys that the Mariners bring in in the draft. So, yeah, there's a shot. Morales doesn't even make the top 30 here in a couple months.

But for now, he's like part of your rotation depth and he'll probably be able to survive in the majors, which is the nicest thing I can say about them. All right. That's going to do it for our show. Prospects 20 through 11 will be coming your way tomorrow and then top 10 on Friday. Those lists should be a lot more fun, a lot more interesting. But thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown Marries podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

And once again, if you never miss an episode, it's time to make it official. Join the lockdown every day or club and get ad-free audio. access to our members-only Discord and more all built for our most loyal fans. For Colby Pat Nod, I'm Tanya Gazzalus. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Marriors. You can follow me at Tana Gonzalez, Colby at C-Pat 11, then CPAT-11. We're also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG, Colby at MLV Colby, and the show at Lockdown Mariner's.

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