The M's feature several high-end prospects, which continues to keep them at the forefront of the prospect development conversation.
At the major league level, the Seattle Mariners enter play on Wednesday at 47-45 and with a 0.5-game lead in the American League West.
They'll take on the Miami Marlins at 3:40 p.m. PT coming off a difficult loss on Tuesday night. George Kirby (7-7, 3.81 ERA) will pitch against right-hander Tyler Phillips (1-3, 3.52).
At the minor league level, the M's are experiencing exciting times as well. Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan are both set to pitch in the Futures Game this weekend, and both could be options for the M's at the big league level as the season progresses.
Furthermore, the Mariners just brought up top prospects Michael Arroyo and Lazaro Montes from Double-A to Triple-A. They also could be options for the M's in August or September.
And the minor league news got even better on Wednesday, as Baseball America ranked the Mariners as having the fifth-best farm system in the sport, up from a preseason ranking of No. 10.
The reason for the jump? Sloan is up to the No. 5 overall prospect in the game and Anderson is at No. 7. Montes is at No. 53 and infielder Felnin Celesten is at No. 91. Even without Arroyo listed in their rankings, having four Top-100 prospects is a situation that most teams would envy.
What they're saying
BA praised the M's depth of homegrown pitching, while questioning its overall depth:
Depth. The Mariners’ Top 10 prospects match up pretty favorably with most systems, but the depth of prospects 11-30 on this list doesn’t match the talent of the clubs who rank around them in the farm system rankings.
How the M's can address it
The MLB Draft is set to begin on Saturday, so the Mariners will get another crack at bringing in upper-echelon talent into the system.
The Mariners are picking No. 24 overall, which is a far cry from where they were a year ago at No. 3, which allowed them to take Anderson. Seattle has just over $8 million available in draft capital this year, which ranks No. 24 in the sport. That will certainly impact what they can do in the draft.
Also of note
The latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is now out, and it features former Mariners' 3B Ben Williamson. You can listen here, or you can watch the YouTube player below.
We will have a new draft-focused episode on Friday with Joe Doyle, the founder of Overslot Baseball.
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