Who should the Mariners draft?

[Jeff23]

Most mocks drafts have us drafting Anthony Rendon, i don't know much about him. I saw a youtube clip and thats it. I guess he's the right pick.

[TTown]

I know the baseball draft is different in that teams typically don't draft for 'need', since even the most polished of college kids can take well over a year to get to the Show (see: Ackley, Dustin) and so many things within an organization can change in that time span. But man, Rendon "fits" into our future infield so well its scary: 1B Smoak, 2B Ackley, SS Franklin, 3B Rendon in late 2013/2014. That sounds KILLER.

By all accounts (that I've read), Rendon's nagging 2011 injuries aren't serious, and everything should be good to go with him. So, that's good. And, Pittsburgh *appears* to be leaning towards pitching.

[Bulltalk]

Anthony Rendon if the Pirates don't take him.

Goodnight.

[bennith13]

Rendon, Lindor, or Starling all sound good to me.

[Jeff23]

pirates apparently will draft cole... so we will most definitely draft rendon. I'm fine with that.

[TTown]

Anthony Rendon, career stats @ Rice:

2011 (62 games): .332/.522/.531 (slg %), 6 HR/37 RBI
2010 (63 games): .394/.530/.801 (slg %), 26 HR/85 RBI
2009 (61 games): .388/.461/.702 (slg %), 20 HR/72 RBI

I believe he was a consensus National Freshman of the Year in '09, and the consensus National Player of the Year in '10. It would appear that injuries really did hamper his production, especially power, his junior year (which is still going on). Everything I've read suggests his shoulder injury will not be a lingering problem. Sounds like he swings one hell of a bat.

[Bulltalk]

Anthony Rendon, career stats @ Rice:

2011 (62 games): .332/.522/.531 (slg %), 6 HR/37 RBI
2010 (63 games): .394/.530/.801 (slg %), 26 HR/85 RBI
2009 (61 games): .388/.461/.702 (slg %), 20 HR/72 RBI

I believe he was a consensus National Freshman of the Year in '09, and the consensus National Player of the Year in '10. It would appear that injuries really did hamper his production, especially power, his junior year (which is still going on). Everything I've read suggests his shoulder injury will not be a lingering problem. Sounds like he swings one hell of a bat.

He's also simply not getting pitched to this year. Is drawing a ton of walks. Knows the strike zone. It shows in his OBP.

Take him and don't look back. Golden glove fielder, great eye at the plate, hits for power and average, a 5 tooler....what more do you want?

[TTown]

Yep. It's kind of cool, though, that even if we don't get Rendon, we'll have Felix/Pineda/Gerritt Cole as our 1-2-3 in 2013.

[Zyme]

With the 1st pick, the Pittsburgh Pirates Select:

RHP Gerrit Cole
http://plus.sites.post-gazette.com/inde ... le-is-no-1

Means the choice for mariners is down to Rendon or Bubba. My thoughts, take Rendon, go the the bank. Send him to High-A/AA, do not pass go, do not send him to rookie league

[TTown]

Great news!

[Bay_Areas_Finest]

Rendon is DEFINITELY the obvious choice here.

[Bulltalk]

Rendon is DEFINITELY the obvious choice here.

I agree. I am very leery of "Bubba". First off, he's a multi-sport star, and I fear, especially with Boras as his agent (I think he is) that this will be used as a bargaining chip. Secondly, I could actually see him going to the Cornhuskers to play QB. I don't want such a scenario to drive me mad with such a high pick in a strong draft.

Rendon is going to go pro. The idea of playing anyone with his return for his senior year at Rice just strikes me as being disingenuous. He's gotten all out of the college game that he can, and baseball is his game.

I've heard that they might be *tinkering* with that SS (Lindor) who I don't know much about, but he seems to be a reach at #2 in comparison to Rendon. I do not think that Z will go with a pitcher, as highly drafted pitchers don't pan-out nearly as well as highly drafted position players. Also, Z has a much better track record in the scouting of position players, and strong position players are clearly our need now.

Call me crazy, but Rendon seems like all but a no-brainer to me. I will be a little surprised and disappointed if they don't pick him. This is a guy who could potentially be our starting 3rd baseman for the 2013 season. I just don't much see the argument for going any other way. If he should not pan-out, for whatever the reason, at the very least it would have been a highly intelligent gamble. He's potentially that good of a player.

[TTown]

Statistically of note, his power is down this year but his doubles are way up (20 this year, 12 last year). If he's not getting the necessary strength from his lower legs (ankle injury), that would explain the amount of line drives as opposed to balls leaving the yard.

I've lurked at ESPN's M's forum for over a decade now. The majority over there seem so afraid of past draft busts that they've completely written off Rendon. They seem enamored with HS OF Bubba Starling and HS SS Francisco Lindor.

[Bulltalk]

Statistically of note, his power is down this year but his doubles are way up (20 this year, 12 last year). If he's not getting the necessary strength from his lower legs (ankle injury), that would explain the amount of line drives as opposed to balls leaving the yard.

I've lurked at ESPN's M's forum for over a decade now. The majority over there seem so afraid of past draft busts that they've completely written off Rendon. They seem enamored with HS OF Bubba Starling and HS SS Francisco Lindor.

This is key right here. Rendon is MUCH closer to having a ML impact than either of these guys, possibly as early as the 2013 season. That's a big factor with the M's at this pick, it seems to me. After all, it's not like Z has forever to build this team back up from top to bottom.

[Zyme]

It's probably from the time lincicum/morrow draft followed by Aumont. 2 Bad years while the local prospect explodes in SF.

[TTown]

Agreed.

Hey, speaking of Bavasi-era first round draft picks, is Josh Fields still alive? Okay, I know he's alive, I'm looking at his AA Jackson numbers as I type this. But I was not a fan of taking a specialist in the first round in.... 2008 (??), but I figured, at the very least, that hopefully he'd be Major League-ready, or close to. 3 years later... he appears to be in AA ball still (and actually doing relatively well, by the numbers). But I've never seen him on an organizational top 10 prospects list. Dan Cortes is often listed as our "closer of the future" when Baseball America releases their annual minor league reports.

[Bay_Areas_Finest]

You know, town. I was thinking about Fields a little while back when League was having all of that trouble. I thought to myself "Didn't we draft a closer in the 1st round not too long ago?" I had trouble remembering his name because I have heard ZERO about the guy since he got drafted. I didn't even know he was only in AA and wondered if he was still with the club.

Hmm.

In un-related thread news; I hope Peguero gets seated on the bench a lot more now.

[Sweezo]

Rendon is DEFINITELY the obvious choice here.

I agree. I am very leery of "Bubba". First off, he's a multi-sport star, and I fear, especially with Boras as his agent (I think he is) that this will be used as a bargaining chip. Secondly, I could actually see him going to the Cornhuskers to play QB. I don't want such a scenario to drive me mad with such a high pick in a strong draft.

Rendon is going to go pro. The idea of playing anyone with his return for his senior year at Rice just strikes me as being disingenuous. He's gotten all out of the college game that he can, and baseball is his game.

I've heard that they might be *tinkering* with that SS (Lindor) who I don't know much about, but he seems to be a reach at #2 in comparison to Rendon. I do not think that Z will go with a pitcher, as highly drafted pitchers don't pan-out nearly as well as highly drafted position players. Also, Z has a much better track record in the scouting of position players, and strong position players are clearly our need now.

Call me crazy, but Rendon seems like all but a no-brainer to me. I will be a little surprised and disappointed if they don't pick him. This is a guy who could potentially be our starting 3rd baseman for the 2013 season. I just don't much see the argument for going any other way. If he should not pan-out, for whatever the reason, at the very least it would have been a highly intelligent gamble. He's potentially that good of a player.

Agree 100%.

[TTown]

The Draft always prompts me to shift through some of our minor league player's stats and such.

2B Kyle Seager, the "other" North Carolina infielder we took in '09 (3rd round) is batting .316//.389 with 4 HRs/36 RBI in 53 games for AA Jackson. #9 on last December's Top 10 organizational prospect list. He's hit the ball well at Clinton and High Desert, I wouldn't write him off for a future infield spot. If Ackley just doesn't pan out at 2B and has to move to left... Chapel Hill might have still provided us a 2B in the same draft. I'm pretty high on the kid; Franklin/Robles/Taijuan Walker/certainly Ackley seem to get the most love in our system (and they probably should), but we've got some depth.

[TTown]

Pirates take Cole, we're on the clock!