The Mariners have made a habit of finding real value in the draft, and their newest class already includes a few names that fit that mold. Seattle’s track record has plenty of examples of players who outperformed their draft slot, from Bryan Woo, a sixth-round pick in 2021, to Dominic Canzone, who was taken in the eighth round by the Diamondbacks before finding his stride in Seattle.
This year’s group has its own late-round possibilities, even if one of the more intriguing names won’t end up signing.
Dominic Santarelli came off the board in the 18th round with the 550th overall pick, and the appeal was obvious. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the No. 129 prospect in the draft after he turned heads at MLB’s High School All-American Game and won Wisconsin’s High School Player of the Year award. He’s already built like a pro at 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, and the power potential is loud enough to make him look like one of the better power-hitting prospects in the class.
The catch was always LSU. Santarelli was committed to the Tigers, and teams knew he wasn’t likely to slide far enough to justify an earlier pick if he wasn’t going to sign.
That’s exactly how it played out. He has since said he will honor that commitment and head to LSU in the fall.
Even so, the talent is real enough that he figures to go much earlier the next time he’s draft-eligible.
His bat speed showed up at the MLB Draft Combine, too. Baseball America noted that Santarelli posted a 115.1 mph max exit velocity in batting practice, with easy rhythm, good balance and a clean follow through.
Wyatt Queen is a different kind of late-round bet, but one with a clear path to value. Seattle grabbed the right-hander in the 11th round at No. 340 overall after two years mostly out of the bullpen at Oregon State. He logged a 2.85 ERA over 94.2 innings for the Beavers, and his junior-to-senior leap suggests there may still be more coming.
Queen’s pitch mix gives him starter upside. He works with four pitches, led by a mid-80s slider that has been his go-to weapon.
That breaking ball plays off a fastball in the low 90s, along with a curveball and changeup. Just as important, he has shown an ability to throw strikes, which is often the separator for young arms trying to move up.
There’s also a recent line that shows what he can do when everything is working: four punchouts over two hitless innings for Oregon State to earn his first save of the year, with his fastball sitting 91/92 and touching 93, plus a power curveball and cutter/slider in the mid-80s.
Then there’s Henry Ford, Seattle’s sixth-round pick at No. 191 overall, who brings a different kind of upside. Ford spent two seasons at Virginia before transferring to Tennessee, and across 794 combined plate appearances at those two schools he hit .329/.395/.593 with 37 doubles and 48 home runs.
At 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, Ford looks more like a first baseman than a third baseman, and scouts have questions about whether he can stay at the hot corner as the competition gets tougher. For the Mariners, though, that may not be a problem. They already have plenty of agile infielders in the system, and a little more depth at first base could be useful.
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