Seattle Mariners Top 5 Prospects
This is one of the Top 5’s that I’ve really been dreading, because there’s just not much there. (Don’t ask me about the Cubs. Ugh.). Having Bavasi and Gillick as your only GMs of the decade will cause some serious long-term harm to your farm system.
1. 2B/SS Carlos Triunfel
Who?: Triunfel is the one really shining star of the Mariners’ farm system. I assume that I covered Triunfel in-depth enough here, and that there’s not much left to say. Extremely advanced for his age and an extremely high ceiling are an excellent combination.
Projection: Triunfel will likely be among the best hitters at whichever position he plays, whether it’s 2B or 3B. He figures to play all of next year in AA, and then start to make some major league noise in 2010 - when he turns twenty.
2. RHSP Phillippe Aumont
Who?: The Mariners’ 2007 first round pick. Aumont is a big, Canadian power pitcher. Everybody knew he had excellent stuff with a mid-90s FB and a hard breaking slider, but nobody thought he was as polished as he is. The Mariners have taken it easy on Aumont as far as pitch count goes, and he missed two months with an elbow injury, but in his limited time he struck out 44 with only 15 BB in 47.2 IP. These aren’t the dominating numbers you’ve seen with guys like Feliz and Bumgarner, but it’s ahead of what people expected this early.
Projection: Aumont has front-of-the-rotation potential, but he’s way too far away right now to start talking like that.
3. CF Greg Halman
Who?: In a thin system, you should always just look for the guys with ceiling. Ceiling is Halman’s middle name. He has a ton of strength and raw power, hitting 26 HR in 102 games this year and 20 in 114 last year. He has good speed (54 SB and 5 3B the lat two years), an excellent arm and has a chance to be a very good defender in CF. Overall, he definitely has star potential, yet he didn’t even make the Top 100. Why? Let’s put it this way… it’s a good sign that he’s only struck out 26.7% of the time this year. That’s a huge, huge improvement over last year’s 34.6%. To go with his 127 Ks this year, he’s only walked 25 times. In other words, Halman is extremely raw.
Projection: Halman has star potential, but the chances of him getting close to it are very slim.
4. RHRP Josh Fields
Who?: The Mariners’ first round pick this year. He’s a prototypical college closer. He’s got a good hard mid-90s fastball and a real plus power curve. He strikes out a ton of people, but he also has the usual control issues that go with these top college reliever prospects. In 37.1 IP in his last year of college, Fields struck out 63, but he also walked 22.
Projection: College closers don’t take long to develop. Don’t be shocked if he’s striking out major league hitters sometime next year.
5. OF Michael Saunders
Who?: Saunders is a big, Canadian power hitter. He plays CF right now, but he’ll likely be a RF in the majors. He’s got a decent arm with above-average speed, and he’s got good raw power that projects in the 20-25 HR range in the majors. He’s got decent patience, with 39 walks in 391 PA, but the biggest problem is that he also has 96 strikeouts.
Projection: He definitely has the potential to be an average to above average major league corner outfielder.
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