SEATTLE -- The Mariners are heading into the 2026 MLB Draft without the kind of spotlight they’ve had in recent years, but that doesn’t make this one any less important to how they build.
If anything, Seattle’s front office sees the draft as even more central to the club’s long-term success now that the organization has stacked so much of its current core through that pipeline.
“We’ve set such a high standard,” Mariners vice president of amateur scouting Scott Hunter said.
That standard is easy to see on the 40-man roster. Ten players on it were drafted since Hunter joined president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto’s staff after the 2016 season.
The list includes first-rounders Colt Emerson (2023), Cole Young (2022), Emerson Hancock (2020), George Kirby (2019) and Logan Gilbert (2018). It also includes Kade Anderson (2025), who could be the next one to join that group if his rise keeps moving at the same pace.
Seattle has also found major value outside the first round with Cal Raleigh in the second round in 2018, Bryce Miller in the fourth round in 2021 and Bryan Woo in the sixth round in 2021. Year after year, the Mariners have found ways to turn draft picks into real big league pieces.
“We do have a very good development system, and if we set our standards high and continue to do the right things by getting the right people, I think we'll continue to hopefully build those waves,” Hunter said.
This year’s draft setup looks different from the ones that gave Seattle so much firepower before. The Mariners hold picks at 24, 65, 101 and 129 on Day 1, and their bonus pool allotment is $8,218,200, the 24th-most in the draft. That’s less than half of what they had to work with last year, when they owned the No. 3 overall pick, and it’s a far cry from 2023, when they had three of the top 30 selections.
That smaller pool and later first pick mean the Mariners will have to spread their scouting wider and deal with more uncertainty about how the board will fall ahead of them.
“We've been really good as a group, being able to narrow it down to three or four players that fit in the pocket of the Draft that we're picking," Hunter said. “This year, we probably have about 14 -- it's just that wide open.”
The lack of a top-three selection doesn’t change the stakes for Seattle. The Mariners still view this draft as a major part of how they sustain the roster they’ve built.
“There's a big trust factor in how we talk about players,” Hunter said, “and I may not see something someone else does, but when we put all the pieces together, making that kind of decision -- where it's a group decision that every part of our organization has weighed in on -- it gives me comfort in these times.”
Seattle’s draft approach has shifted over time under Hunter, Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander. In the early years, the Mariners leaned heavily toward college players in the upper rounds, especially pitchers. Later, they moved more toward hitters and high school talent, a stretch that helped produce Emerson and Young as the kind of middle infield pairing the organization expects to rely on for years.
Hunter also pointed to the way player development has changed the evaluation of high school prospects. He said that over the past decade, the floor for that group has risen, making those players less volatile and easier to project.
“At this point, we're open to anything,” Hunter said. “But at the end of the day, you're not going to settle for a college guy if you think the high-school guy is better, especially with what we've [seen] with these kids so far.”
Another area the Mariners value is player makeup, and that part of the process has had a different feel this season without former assistant GM Andy McKay. McKay handled a huge share of the in-home visits with prospects before leaving the organization last offseason to become the Guardians’ field coordinator.
Hunter said the Mariners have pushed their area scouts to go beyond what the numbers and reports already show.
“We've challenged our area scouts, it's like we know what's in the computer,” Hunter said. “Tell us something about the person, how they're wired.
What's the family like? What does baseball mean to them?
Something I would say to guys: 'Everybody loves to play, but tell me the kids that love the preparation that goes into playing.'”
There’s no glamour attached to this draft the way there was a year ago, but Seattle’s front office knows exactly what it’s trying to do: keep feeding the system that has already become the backbone of the roster.
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