Meet Your New Mariners
While the Mariners' on-field play continues to leave a lot to be desired, one off-field moment this week gave M's fans a much-needed distraction: the major league baseball draft deadline. Once Monday night became Tuesday morning, all major league draft choices must have signed a contract, otherwise the drafting teams forfeited the player's rights.
The big national story Tuesday morning involved the, er, Nationals, who signed 17-year-old phenom and Sports Illustrated cover boy Bryce Harper to a 5-year, $9.9 million contract seconds before the deadline hit. But there were also a few local signings worth mentioning...
The Mariners were left without a true first-round selection this year, a result of the team signing second baseman Chone Figgins and sacrificing their choice to his former team, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Seattle did receive a compensatory draft pick (number 43 overall) after losing third baseman Adrian Beltre (and his...sigh...22 home runs, 80 RBIs, and .328 batting average) to the Boston Red Sox over the winter. The M's used that pick to select lanky high school pitcher Taijuan Walker, who signed with the team a scant 10 days after he was drafted. Walker is a raw talent who only joined his high school team in his junior year. The 6'6" right-hander is viewed as a boom-or-bust prospect who will likely spend a number of years in the minor leagues honing his craft.
With their second-round pick, the Mariners took high school shortstop Marcus Littlewood, a two-time Utah state player of the year. Unlike Walker, Littlewood signed on Monday afternoon just hours before the deadline. Many observers predicted that the M's would select Littlewood with the 43rd selection of June's draft, so nabbing him at pick #67 was something of a coup. One knock on Littlewood is that he may not have the range to play shortstop, so he may make the move to third base if he advances to the majors.
The M's failed to sign their third-round pick, pitcher Ryne Stanek, who will now presumably play college ball at the University of Arkansas, where he has signed a letter of intent. They also did not reach an agreement with fourth rounder James Paxton, a left-handed pitcher from the independent leagues, but since Paxton has no more college eligibility left, the Mariners still have until next June to sign him. One draftee that the M's did sign earlier in the summer is 23rd-rounder Jandy Sena, who is notable for his awesome first name.
