Seattle Mariners 2022 MLB Draft: Picks, bonus pool, slot values

The 2022 MLB Draft is in the books and the Seattle Mariners made 20 picks. The Athletic has comprehensive live coverage of the 20-round, three-day event, including top-100 prospect rankings, mock drafts, prospect profiles, team-by-team analysis and much more. Find out how the Mariners fared in the draft and much more…

How did the Mariners do in the draft?

Jerry DiPoto took a high school player in the first round for the second year in a row, lord have mercy. Colonics for everyone! Shortstop Cole Young (1) cleaned up his swing over the offseason and looked better while making harder contact this spring, while showing the hands and footwork to give him a good chance to stay at shortstop. There was some disagreement among scouts I talked to about how good Young’s hit tool is right now, though, so there’s a little risk around that — maybe coming from the failure of the last high school hitter taken in the first round from western Pennsylvania, Austin Hendrick, to hit at all in the minors. Tyler Locklear (2) had a tremendous year for VCU, walking nearly twice as often as he struck out, hitting 20 homers, and getting hit by 23 pitches, but that reflects the weaker pitching he faced in the Atlantic 10 conference as well. He struggled last summer on Cape Cod, swinging a wood bat against better arms. He’s played a lot of third in college but is going to end up at first.

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The Mariners took the Vanilla Missile, right-hander Walter Ford (2A), with their competitive balance pick, landing one of the youngest players in the draft class. He’s been up to 97 mph and can sit 94-95 mph, coming down at hitters with the fastball and a hard, downward-breaking slider. He needs to develop a changeup and improve his fastball command, which will mean getting more consistency in his delivery. He offers huge upside. Right-hander Ashton Izzi (4) is an extremely projectable high school arm, listed at 6-3, 165 and looking no heavier than that, with a frame that should fill out a ton in the next few years; he gets on top of the ball really well and can get some depth on his breaking ball, but the delivery isn’t very consistent and his arm isn’t that fast yet. He could be a completely different guy in two years and 30 pounds, in a good way.

Shortstop Josh Hood (6) has some pop but he’s a dead fastball hitter who got exposed on the Cape in 2021 and still only hit .268/.350/.498 as a senior for North Carolina State this spring. He might be a good utility player who can play the three skill positions in the infield and hit a few homers. High school right-hander Tyler Gough (9) has a super-short arm action and high-effort delivery with some head-whack. He works in the low 90s and can spin a curveball well enough to project it to above-average. He seemed like a surefire college guy, especially with his commitment to Oregon State.

Mariners draft bonus pool

$7,254,400 — 21st-largest bonus pool in this draft
Source: MLB.com

Mariners draft picks with top-10 round slot values

(bonus information from MLB.com)

Round 1, Pick No. 21: Cole Young, SS, North Allegheny High (Wexford, Pa.) (signed: $3,300,000 / pick slot value: $3,291,200)
Scouting Report: Young has surged up draft boards with a strong showing this spring in the Pittsburgh suburbs. Last summer he would often overstride, and since he nearly bars his lead arm, he was left off-balance enough that he couldn’t adjust to stuff spinning away from him, although he’s quieted all of that down somewhat this spring and scouts have reported seeing better quality contact from him. He’s at least a 55 runner who has the speed and arm to stay at shortstop, although he’ll need some adjustment with his footwork to remain there in the majors. The Duke commit will turn 19 a few weeks after the draft, which will hurt him with certain teams that weigh age more heavily, while teams that focus more on tools and athleticism are likely to push him into the first 15 picks.

Round 2, Pick No. 58: Tyler Locklear, 3B, Virginia Commonwealth (signed: $1,280,000 / pick slot value: $1,280,000)
Scouting Report: Locklear walked more than he struck out this year for the Rams by nearly a 2:1 ratio while leading the team with 20 homers, posting a .402/.542/.799 line (thanks to 23 times he was hit by a pitch as well), although most of his production came against the weaker pitching of the Atlantic 10 conference. He’s got an extremely compact swing with a short, direct path to the ball, and rarely swung and missed this year at any sort of pitching. He also hasn’t faced much quality pitching, barely seeing anything over 92 mph and doing far less damage when he did, and his results on the Cape last summer with a wood bat were quite different — 32 strikeouts and six walks in 141 PA, but with nine homers, tying Chase DeLauter for the league lead. He’s played third at VCU and probably moves to first base, so he’ll have to continue to hit for average and power as he faces better competition in pro ball.

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CBA Round B, Pick No. 74: Walter Ford, RHP, Pace (Fla.) High (signed: $1,250,000 / pick slot value: $887,000)
Scouting Report: The Vanilla Missile has one of the best arms in the high school class, regularly hitting 97 and sitting 94-95 with great arm speed and a strong starter’s frame at 6-3, 200. Ford moved from Alabama to go to Pace, which produced a first-rounder in 2012 in Addison Russell. Ford also reclassified from the 2023 draft class to this year, making him one of the youngest players in the draft at 17 and 7 months on draft day. He finishes his delivery well and comes down at batters with good angle to the fastball, but his arm can be late and he hasn’t always repeated it as well as he’ll need to for average command and control. He’s mostly worked with the fastball and a downward-breaking slider in the low 80s, up to 85-86, with a changeup he barely uses. He’s probably a slower-developing prospect, especially given his age, but has mid-rotation upside and a frame that should let him hold some innings.

Rd. 3: Pick forfeited for signing FA Robbie Ray

Rd. 4, Pick No. 126: Ashton Izzi, RHP, Oswego (Ill.) East HS (signed: $1,100,000 / pick slot value: $474,700)

Rd. 5, Pick No. 156: Reid VanScoter, LHP, Coastal Carolina (signed: $20,000 / pick slot value: $353,700)

Rd. 6, Pick No. 186: Josh Hood, SS, North Carolina State (signed: $250,000 / pick slot value: $272,600)

Rd. 7, Pick No. 216: Hogan Windish, 2B, UNC-Greensboro (signed: $20,000 / pick slot value: $213,700)

Rd. 8, Pick No. 246: Tatem Levins, C, Pittsburgh (signed: $50,000 / pick slot value: $175,500)

Rd. 9, Pick No. 276: Tyler Gough, RHP, JSerra HS (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) (signed: $275,000 / pick slot value: $159,300)

Rd. 10, Pick No. 306: Bill Knight, OF, Mercer (signed: $50,000 / pick slot value: $150,800)

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Rd. 11, Pick No. 336: Marcelo Perez, RHP, TCU (signed)

Rd. 12, Pick No. 366: Troy Taylor, RHP, University of California – Irvine (signed)

Rd. 13, Pick No. 396: Darren Bowen, RHP, UNC Pembroke (signed)

Rd. 14, Pick No. 426: Tyler Cleveland, RHP, Central Arkansas (signed)

Rd. 15, Pick No. 456: Blake Rambusch, 3B, Auburn (signed)

Rd. 16, Pick No. 486: Jacob McNairy, RHP, Alabama

Rd. 17, Pick No. 516: Stefan Raeth, RHP, U Washington (signed)

Rd. 18, Pick No. 546: Brandon Schaeffer, LHP, North Carolina (signed)

Rd. 19, Pick No. 576: Curtis Washington Jr., OF, Purdue (signed)

Rd. 20, Pick No. 606: Nick Zona, 2B, James Madison U (signed)

Dates, location and times

The 2022 MLB Draft is a three-day event spanning Sunday through Tuesday of MLB All-Star weekend in Los Angeles. The Sunday evening kickoff includes the first two rounds and will be held live with representatives from each team on hand, as well as several potential draft picks and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.

When: July 17, at 7pm EST; July 18, at 2pm EST; July 19, at 2pm EST
Where: Los Angeles
TV: MLB Network (first 80 picks) and ESPN (first round)

Top prospect rankings and mock draft

Druw Jones leads Keith Law’s latest top-100 prospect ranking.

Will the Orioles go with best player available for the top pick? How will the Mets approach their two top-15 picks? The Athletic’s MLB staff weighs in with a first-round mock draft.

Get all of our latest draft coverage here.

MLB Draft explainer

How does the draft bonus pool work? And why can’t all picks be traded?

(Photo: Paige Calamari / MLB via Getty Images)

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