For all the splashy trades, there is one arena in which the Jerry Dipoto Mariners have played it conservatively: the draft. In the first five rounds of the MLB draft, the Dipoto-led Mariners have selected high school players, typically considered the riskiest demographic, only twice: Joe Rizzo in 2016 and Sam Carlson in 2017, both in the second round.
While each of us on staff have our own favorite prep hitter (I like the pure swing of Robert Hassell; John enjoys Austin Hendrick’s ability to light up the Allegheny Valley with his power; Joe drools over beef-boy-in-training Zac Veen), one thing we all agree on is that we’d like to see the Mariners take a high-upside prep player with star potential to dream on, especially after last year’s class of serviceable, if unexciting, college arms.