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Health Notes: Mize, Buxton, Astros, D-backs, M’s

By Connor Byrne | June 15, 2019 at 12:29am CDT

On Friday, one day after Casey Mize left his Double-A start early, the Tigers placed the prized right-hander on the minor league injured list with inflammation in his pitching shoulder. Any shoulder injury for a pitcher obviously isn’t an ideal outcome, but it seems Mize and the Tigers dodged a bullet in this instance. Mize, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft and one of the majors’ elite prospects, had been utterly dominant in the minors this season before going on the IL. Between the High-A and Double-A levels, the 22-year-old has logged 78 innings of 0.92 ERA pitching with 8.7 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9.

Now for some major league health updates…

  • Center fielder Byron Buxton exited the Twins’ game Friday after taking a pitch off the right wrist from Royals starter Brad Keller. Luckily for Buxton and the Twins, though, he avoided a serious injury, La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune reports. “Byron’s doing fine. Wrist contusion,” said manager Rocco Baldelli, who added it’s “pretty positive news.” The 25-year-old Buxton looks to be on track for a career season, having hit .266/.324/.527 (120 wRC+) with nine home runs, 10 steals and 2.2 fWAR in 227 plate appearances.
  • Speaking of center fielders in fine form, the Astros’ Jake Marisnick departed their game Friday with left knee discomfort, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports. It’s unclear whether the issue will force the Astros to send yet another player to the IL. Marisnick, 28, has paired above-average offense with his usual excellent defense en route to 1.3 fWAR in 156 trips to the plate this year.
  • An MRI on Diamondbacks righty Jon Duplantier’s shoulder confirmed he’s dealing with inflammation, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com tweets. Like Mize, it seems Duplantier has avoided a catastrophic injury. The D-backs placed the 24-year-old on the IL on Wednesday, cutting off an encouraging start to his career. Duplantier has pitched to a 4.32 ERA/3.83 FIP with 8.64 K/9 and 3.24 BB/9 in 25 innings (eight appearances, three starts).
  • The Mariners reinstated shortstop J.P. Crawford from the IL on Friday and placed reliever Brandon Brennan on the IL with a strained right shoulder, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Crawford had been out since suffering a left ankle sprain May 28. The injury to Brennan continues what has been a shaky season for the 2018 Rule 5 pick from the Rockies. Brennan leads Mariners relievers in innings (34) and has posted 9.26 K/9 with a 55.4 percent groundball rate, but a high walk rate (5.29 BB/9) has helped produce a 5.56 ERA/4.39 FIP.
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Arizona Diamondbacks Detroit Tigers Houston Astros Minnesota Twins Notes Seattle Mariners Brandon Brennan Byron Buxton Casey Mize J.P. Crawford Jake Marisnick Jon Duplantier

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MLB Draft Signings: 6/13/19

By Connor Byrne and Mark Polishuk | June 13, 2019 at 4:08pm CDT

Let’s catch up on the latest noteworthy draft signings, with the latest moves at the top of the post.  Click here for the full list of slot values and draft pool bonuses, and you can find prospect rankings and scouting reports from Baseball America’s Top 500, Fangraphs’ Top 200, MLB.com’s Top 200, and the Top 50 of ESPN.com’s Keith Law….

Latest Signings

  • The Twins reached a deal with second-rounder Matt Canterino, Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets.  Canterino’s $1.1MM bonus is less than the $1,338,500 slot price associated with the 54th overall draft position.  Canterino was ranked 34th on Baseball America’s list of draft prospects, described as “one of the funkier pitchers in this year’s draft class” due to an unusual delivery that has proven to be consistently repeatable.  A right-hander out of Rice University, Canterino has a plus slider and a fastball that can hit 95mph though is most often thrown in the 90-91mph range.
  • The Mariners have signed second-round pick Brandon Williamson, MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports (via Twitter).  The TCU left-hander will get a $925K bonus, so Seattle will save some money given the 59th pick’s recommended $1,185,500 bonus price.  Both MLB.com (which ranked Williamson 83rd on their prospect list) and Baseball America (which had him 86th) see a bit of hidden-gem potential in Williamson, given his 6’5″ frame and a promising four-pitch array, though BA’s scouting report doesn’t feel he currently has a true plus pitch.
  • The Rays have agreed to a deal with second-rounder John Doxaxis, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter link).  Doxaxis signed for the full slot price of $1,129,700 recommended for the 61st overall pick, as per Callis.  A left-hander out of Texas A&M, Doxaxis received his highest prospect ranking from MLB.com, which rated him 44th and praised his ability to throw strikes with all three of his pitches.  With Doxasis now signed, the Rays have reached agreement with all four of their top draft picks.

Earlier Today

  • The Reds have agreed to an above-slot deal with second-round pick Rece Hinds, as per MLB.com’s Jim Callis.  Hinds will receive a $1,797,500 bonus, a nice bump up from the $1,507,600 slot price attached to the 49th overall pick.  Baseball America gave Hinds the highest ranking (39th) of any of the draft pundits, noting that the 18-year-old has a very strong throwing arm and “easily has 70-grade raw power currently, and you don’t have to look far to find scouts who will put 80-grade power on Hinds’ bat.”  There isn’t yet much overall hitting polish behind this power, however, and though Hinds was drafted as a shortstop, he’ll very likely be moved to third base or potentially the corner outfield in his future.
  • The Giants have agreed with fifth-rounder Garrett Frechette, MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports (Twitter link).   The deal will pay Frechette an $800K bonus, well over double the $371.6K slot value attached to the 146th overall pick.  It’s a sizable commitment to the high school outfield/first baseman, who had committed to attend San Diego State.  Frechette’s selection spot also outpaced his status in the eyes of pre-draft pundits, as MLB.com had him as the 196th-best prospect in the draft while Baseball America ranked him 214th.  This could be due to an injury-filled senior season for Frechette, who displayed some intriguing left-handed power potential when he did take the field.
  • The Cardinals have inked second-rounder Trejyn Fletcher to an above-slot deal, Callis reports. Fletcher’s pick (No. 58) had a $1.22MM slot value, but the Redbirds gave the high school outfielder $1.5MM. Callis and Mayo ranked Fletcher as the 87th-best player available entering the draft, owing to the 18-year-old’s “tantalizing combination of plus raw power, speed and arm strength.” If all goes well, Fletcher could evolve into a 20-20 center fielder in the majors, Callis and Mayo write, though they note his development will require a large amount of patience.
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Mariners Release Nick Rumbelow

By Steve Adams | June 12, 2019 at 6:16pm CDT

The Mariners have released right-hander Nick Rumbelow from their Triple-A affiliate, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. He’d already been designated for assignment and outrighted off the 40-man roster earlier in the season but will now hit the open market in search of a new opportunity.

Rumbelow, 27, has had a disastrous 2019 season both in his limited MLB time and in Triple-A Tacoma. He was tagged for four runs in 1 1/3 innings with the Mariners early in the year and has been tattooed for an 8.17 ERA with 37 hits and a 22-to-15 K/BB ratio in 25 1/3 innings in Tacoma.

Rumbelow showed some promise in the Mariners’ minor league ranks last year, notching a 1.83 ERA and a 26-to-8 K/BB ratio in 19 2/3 innings, and he was similarly impressive in the Yankees’ minor league system in 2017 when working back from Tommy John surgery. Even with this year’s ugly results, though, Rumbelow has a career 3.88 ERA with 9.7 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 in 141 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. However, he’s yet to find any success in the Majors to this point in his career; in 34 2/3 big league innings, Rumbelow has a 5.97 ERA and 10 home runs allowed.

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Is There A Trade Market For Edwin Encarnacion?

By Jeff Todd | June 12, 2019 at 10:00am CDT

In last week’s chat, I was asked which MLB player would be the next to be moved via trade. My mind immediately went to one place: the Mariners. GM Jerry Dipoto’s reputation precedes him. And he’s in a dealing mood, having already swung one deal on an expensive veteran and tried to work out another. But when it came to naming the specific player, it seemed too pedestrian to guess starter Mike Leake, who has already come up in talks, or pick an easy-come, easy-go reliever.

Instead, I went with veteran slugger Edwin Encarnacion, a long-time star who has been out of the spotlight of late. He’s hitting well, sure, but does EE even have a strong market right now? Let’s take a closer look.

The M’s ended up with Encarnacion when the music stopped on a dizzying game of lumbering slugger musical chairs over the offseason. It seemed at one point he’d be shipped elsewhere over the winter, but that didn’t come to pass. He is earning a $20MM salary this year. There’s also a $5MM buyout on a 2020 option, though the complicated trade that brought Encarnacion to Seattle included a $5MM payment to cover that amount.

With that kind of coin still owed, Encarnacion’s contract is unquestionably under water. He’s 36 years old and was merely good at the plate last year. He has mostly been limited to DH duties in recent seasons, though he has lined up at first base thus far in 2019 with palatable metrics.

On the other hand, Encarnacion can really hit. He’s back in business thus far, making the ’18 output look like a minor blip. Through 283 plate appearances, Encarnacion carries a .246/.360/.542 slash — that’s good for a healthy 143 wRC+ — and leads the American League with 21 round-trippers.

The M’s won’t shed all the remaining money owed, but they could well dump a significant portion of it. There’s even an argument to be made that the ’20 club option could be worthwhile; given the hefty buyout price, the $20MM rate of pay is effectively a $15MM decision. The Twins spent $14.3MM on Nelson Cruz this past winter and certainly don’t regret it.

The supply situation seems generally favorable for Seattle. For teams looking for serious lineup punch, there’s a relative dearth of obvious targets. The market hasn’t yet settled out, but it’s tough to imagine a better win-now DH/1B candidate being made available at this stage of the season (if at all, at least at a palatable price).

How much money the Seattle org will save, and/or what it can achieve in terms of prospects, will depend upon Dipoto’s ability to drum up interest from multiple teams. So how do things look from the demand side?

American League teams make for a natural fit, given Encarnacion’s defensive limitations. But it’s possible that NL clubs will also consider him, particularly since they’ve had a chance to see him play first base extensively this year. Most plausibly, the Brewers could pull the plug on the struggling Jesus Aguilar and replace him with Encarnacion. Some would argue the team should prioritize pitching, but there’s real potential for improvement here as well. Plus, it’d answer the rival Cubs’ recent signing of Craig Kimbrel — and give the Brew Crew a big righty bat to slot in against the Cubbies’ lefty-heavy rotation. You really have to squint to see any other National League outfits matching at present, but several could make sense depending upon injuries and other developments over the coming weeks.

Turning to the AL side of the ledger, Encarnacion would actually match up nicely with the team that just dealt him away. Carlos Santana has thrived since making his own return to the Indians, but the team still desperately needs more punch and could hand the DH slot right back to EE. While he fits on the roster, Encarnacion probably won’t squeeze into the payroll.

There’s perhaps also an argument for the Rangers to take a look. If they’re going to slug their way into the Wild Card, they may as well go whole-hog, and Ronald Guzman has been below-average at the plate. But it’d be a bit of an odd move for a team that is desperate for starting pitching and likely doesn’t want to expend too much cash (and certainly won’t want to give up future value) on a season that may well fizzle out.

The Yankees haven’t received the bounce back they hoped for from Kendrys Morales, but he’s also just a temporary fix. It’d be an unexpected splurge to go for Encarnacion with Luke Voit holding down the fort at first, multiple major bats on the rehab trail, and needs elsewhere.

What about the scuffling defending champs? The Red Sox are actually a somewhat interesting fit, but only if they’re willing to utilize Encarnacion at first base and further boost their league-high spending levels. Steve Pearce has collapsed at the plate. Mitch Moreland has hit well from the left side but is hurt. Michael Chavis has hit a lull; he’d also still be an option at second base with the addition of Encarnacion.

How about the Rays, who are tied atop the AL East with the Yanks and will need to max out their resources down the stretch? The Tampa Bay org is getting solid value from Ji-Man Choi at first base, with Yandy Diaz sliding over from third to handle lefties. There’s not a huge DH need since the club has a bit of a corner outfield surplus with Avisail Garcia, Tommy Pham, and Austin Meadows. That said, there’s some window for a deal since Choi and top hitting prospect Nate Lowe are both lefty hitters. The club will surely also consider putting its money and prospects to work to add pitching, but a move for Encarnacion is well worth considering.

The Astros may be the best fit, all things considered. It’s a team that sometimes seems to have it all, but there are caveats. Right now, the ’Stros aren’t healthy, and it’d be preferable to ensure the offense keeps producing while the team awaits the returns of some star players. More importantly, there is a rather notable roster opening in the slugger department. Encarnacion was reputedly on the Houston radar before the season and he ought to be an even bigger target now, with Yuli Gurriel and Tyler White both producing at subpar rates. Even if Yordan Alvarez grabs hold of the DH spot, Encarnacion could step in at first base. This possibility is especially tempting to contemplate since it could help the Houston organization form up a historically exceptional lineup in time for the postseason.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Health Notes: Angels, Gordon, Brewers, M. Kemp, Reds

By Connor Byrne | June 11, 2019 at 11:41pm CDT

The Angels appear likely to activate left fielder Justin Upton sometime during their upcoming road trip from June 13-23, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register suggests. Upton, out all season because of a toe injury, began a rehab assignment last Friday. Meanwhile, injured shortstop Andrelton Simmons is “progressing quickly” and may start taking live at-bats soon, per Fletcher. Simmons hasn’t played since May 20 because of a Grade 3 left ankle sprain.

  • The Mariners activated second baseman Dee Gordon from the 10-day injured list Tuesday, the team announced. They optioned righty Matt Festa to Triple-A Tacoma in a corresponding move. Gordon’s back after missing 19 games with a right wrist contusion. The 31-year-old trade candidate is off to a .280/.309/.366 start (85 wRC+) with three home runs and 12 steals on 14 attempts across 177 plate appearances.
  • Brewers right-hander Jhoulys Chacin is on track to return during their series in San Diego, which runs from June 17-19, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. Chacin has been on the IL since June 2 with a lower back strain. Before that, he struggled to build on last season’s quality performance, logging 58 innings of 5.74 ERA/5.75 FIP ball with 6.83 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9.
  • Mets minor league outfielder Matt Kemp is dealing with lingering effects of a broken rib he suffered in April, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. The Mets placed Kemp on the minor league IL as a result. The 34-year-old Kemp settled for a minors pact with the Mets on May 24, three weeks after Cincinnati released him. Kemp slashed a brutal .200/.210/.283 (23 wRC+) in 62 plate appearances with Cincy and hasn’t been much better as a member of the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse. So far, Kemp has hit .235/.278/.324 (52 wRC+) in 36 tries at the minors’ top level.
  • Reds righty reliever Robert Stephenson began a Triple-A rehab stint Tuesday, according to the team. Stephenson went to the IL on May 31 with a cervical strain. Once a well-regarded starting pitching prospect, Stephenson looked as if he was emerging as a credible reliever before his injury. In his first full-time look out of the bullpen, the 26-year-old has notched a 3.96 ERA/2.58 FIP with 12.6 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 across 25 innings.
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Cincinnati Reds Los Angeles Angels Milwaukee Brewers New York Mets Notes Seattle Mariners Andrelton Simmons Dee Gordon Jhoulys Chacin Justin Upton Matt Kemp Robert Stephenson

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Minor MLB Transactions: 6/10/19

By Steve Adams | June 10, 2019 at 8:05pm CDT

We’ll kick the morning off with some of the game’s minor moves throughout the league…

  • Righty David Carpenter was outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers, the Rangers announced. His return to the majors proved spirited but brief, as the 33-year-old was hit hard in his lone appearance. He had produced strong results at Triple-A, however, working to a 1.76 ERA with a 17:4 K/BB ratio in 15 1/3 innings. Perhaps Carpenter will find his way back up to the bigs at some point.
  • The Cubs granted right-hander Matt Carasiti his release from their Triple-A club over the weekend, per Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register (Twitter links). He quickly latched on with the Mariners on a new minor league pact and has already appeared in his first game with Seattle’s top affiliate in Tacoma, where he allowed an earned run in 1 2/3 innings of work. In 27 innings of work with Chicago’s Iowa affiliate this season, Carasiti notched a 2.67 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and a 54.1 percent ground-ball rate. The 27-year-old righty has a 2.85 ERA with 98 strikeouts against 36 walks in parts of three Triple-A campaigns (85 1/3 innings). He’s also had some success overseas, with a 3.98 ERA in 103 2/3 innings in his lone season pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, and he made a brief big league appearance with the Rockies in 2016. Carasiti allowed 16 runs in 15 2/3 innings with the Rox, though he’s pitched fairly well at every turn since that rough debut.
  • The White Sox released minor league corner infielder D.J. Peterson, according to the Triple-A International League’s transactions page. A former first-round pick (Mariners, 2013) and Top 100 prospect, Peterson has yet to make his Major League debut. After a productive year with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate in 2018, he’s struggled to a dismal .189/.268/.370 slash through 143 plate appearances so far in 2019. The right-handed-hitting Peterson has ample experience at both infield corners but spent more time at third base than at first in his brief time with the White Sox. He’s a career .254/.310/.424 hitter in 1320 plate appearances across parts of five Triple-A seasons.
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West Notes: Leake, D’Backs, M’s, Hampton, Padres, Alvarez

By Mark Polishuk | June 9, 2019 at 11:03pm CDT

Some rumblings out of both the AL and NL West divisions…

  • The Mariners and Diamondbacks discussed a potential trade earlier this week that would’ve sent Mike Leake to Arizona, though in the words of FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (video link), these negotiations “never got serious.”  As we heard on Thursday, Leake was never contacted about the trade, which would’ve been a necessary step since Leake has a no-trade clause in his contract.  Given that the M’s have shown a willingness to eat money in trades of their veteran players, Leake could have been (and perhaps even still is) a particularly attractive option to a D’Backs team that doesn’t have a ton of payroll room.  In Leake’s case, Seattle would also be sharing the financial burden with the Cardinals.  As per the terms of the trade that brought Leake to the Mariners from the Cardinals, St. Louis was responsible for $9MM of the $36MM owed to Leake over the 2019-20 seasons.
  • In the words of one Padres official, there is still an “outside chance” that the club could ink 23rd-round draft pick Maurice Hampton, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes, despite Hampton’s commitment to play both baseball and football at LSU.  Hampton reportedly wanted a $2.75MM bonus to begin his pro baseball career, and while the team believes this asking price may have dropped, it still represented a hefty enough demand that Hampton fell to the 23rd round despite a consensus top-50 prospect ranking in the eyes of draft evaluators.  Since Hampton was taken beyond the top ten rounds, any contract he signs worth more than $100K would see that excess money subtracted from San Diego’s $10,758,900 draft pool, leaving the Padres with less money to sign their other picks.  However, the team has been trying to create extra financial space within their pool — the Padres took four college seniors (who have less negotiating leverage) with their picks in the seventh thru tenth rounds, and saved almost $543K when sixth overall pick CJ Abrams agreed to a below-slot bonus.
  • Yordan Alvarez enjoyed a dream debut in the majors today, going 1-for-3 with a walk and his first MLB home run, a two-run blast that proved to be the winning score in Houston’s 4-0 win over Baltimore.  The young Astros slugger is considered one of the game’s most promising young bats, though there is far from a consensus on his overall value as a prospect, The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan writes (subscription required).  Alvarez is largely seen as a bat-only player, with limited defensive value as a left fielder or first baseman despite some solid athleticism for a man of his size (6’5″, 225 pounds).  “Any projection of Alvarez’s future value will take a hit by an evaluator who doesn’t believe he can stick in left,” Kaplan writes, and he speaks to several writers from sites such as Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, Fangraphs, and MLB.com about why Alvarez received a pretty wide range of rankings.
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Mariners Notes: Healy, Gordon, Crawford, Sadzeck

By Connor Byrne | June 8, 2019 at 1:10am CDT

Seattle sent outfielder Mitch Haniger to the 10-day IL on Friday with a rather unfortunate injury, making him the latest notable Mariner to land on the shelf. Here are updates on a few others, courtesy of Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter links: 1, 2, 3)…

  • Infielder Ryon Healy had been nearing a rehab assignment, but that’s now on hold after he suffered a setback in his recovery from lower back inflammation. He’ll undergo further tests to determine the severity. Healy, who headed to the IL on May 21, has come up in trade rumors during his absence. Although, neither this setback nor the numbers he has posted over the past couple seasons will do his value any favors. Since a strong rookie showing with the Athletics in 2016, Healy has slashed an unspectacular .252/.290/.436 (96 wRC+) with 56 home runs in 1,316 plate appearances between Oakland and Seattle.
  • Second baseman Dee Gordon, another trade candidate, went to the IL the same day as Healy with a right wrist contusion. But unlike Healy, Gordon actually is progressing toward a return. The 31-year-old speedster started a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma on Friday. He could return to the majors as early as Tuesday, per Divish. Gordon continued his light-hitting ways before his IL stint, as he batted .281/.310/.369 (85 wRC+) in 173 PA, though he did swat three homers (one fewer than he put up 2018) and steal 12 bases on 14 attempts.
  • Fellow banged-up middle infielder J.P. Crawford will begin his own own rehab assignment at the Single-A level on Tuesday. Crawford, down since May 29 with a sprained left ankle, may be back in the bigs by June 14. The offseason trade acquisition showed well in Tacoma at the beginning of the year, leading the Mariners to promote him May 10 and demote then-starting shortstop Tim Beckham to the bench. It looked as if Beckham would temporarily get his old job back when Crawford suffered his injury, but the lion’s share of playing time has gone to Dylan Moore instead. As someone who started 2019 in excellent fashion before seeing his production fall off a cliff, Beckham’s a microcosm of his team. He could also wind up on the move by the July 31 trade deadline.
  • The Mariners put reliever Connor Sadzeck on the IL on Tuesday with a right flexor mass, which doesn’t seem to be healing properly. Sadzeck “felt discomfort in his elbow” while playing catch, according to Divish, who adds the 27-year-old will undergo an MRI.
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Mariners To Sign First-Rounder George Kirby

By Mark Polishuk | June 7, 2019 at 3:33pm CDT

JUNE 7: It’s an at-slot deal, per MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo (via Twitter).

JUNE 5: The Mariners have agreed to a bonus with first-round pick George Kirby, team director of amateur scouting Scott Hunter told Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter links).  The deal is set pending a physical.  Terms weren’t revealed, though the 20th overall selection has a recommended bonus value of $3,242,900.

Kirby is a 6’4″, 201-pound right-hander out of Elon University and a consensus top-25 prospect according to pre-draft rankings.  MLB.com had Kirby highest as the 18th-best prospect in this year’s class, with Fangraphs placing him 19th, Baseball America 20th, and ESPN’s Keith Law 24th.  Kirby has a fastball that usually sits in the 94-95mph range and is considered a plus pitch as per BA’s scouting report, and his repertoire also includes a changeup, slider, and curveball, though the latter two pitches “might be average pitches, at best, in a starting role.”

The Mariners put a big focus on young arms in this year’s draft, as the club took college pitchers in each of the first five rounds, and drafted eight pitchers overall within its first ten picks.  The M’s also took some prominent high schoolers outside of the top ten, including right-handers Anthony Tomczak (15th round) and Dutch Landis (17th round).  Any bonus given to a player from rounds 11-40 that is in excess of $125K counts against the team’s bonus pool, though Hunter said the Mariners are prepared to go over slot to sign the two youngsters.  Since clubs usually have something of a negotiating advantage with college seniors, Seattle should have some extra funds within their first ten picks to help their efforts in getting Tomczak and/or Landis signed.

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Mariners Place Mitch Haniger On IL, Select Tayler Scott

By Jeff Todd | June 7, 2019 at 3:32pm CDT

The Mariners announced today that outfielder Mitch Haniger has been placed on the 10-day injured list. He has been diagnosed with a ruptured testicle, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets.

That’s obviously not a run-of-the-mill injury for a ballplayer, though unfortunately it’s also not unheard of. There is no indication at this point how long Haniger will be sidelined.

In happier news, the M’s have selected the contract of righty Tayler Scott, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported earlier on Twitter. Scott, 27, carries a 5.88 ERA with a 44:19 K/BB ratio in 33 2/3 innings over 19 appearances at Triple-A this year. He’ll make his MLB debut after signing a minors deal with the Seattle organization over the winter.

Scott was a 2011 fifth-round draft pick who spent time in high school in the states, but he’s a born-and-bred South African. He’ll become the first player from an African nation to pitch in the big leagues; infielder Gift Ngoepe previously became the first such player to appear in the majors.

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