Futures Game showcases talent level in Mariners organization
In center field you had Jonatan Clase, a 21-year-old Dominican who made a diving catch in the second inning that personified the term “big league play.” Behind the plate you had Harry Ford, the Mariners’ top prospect who, at 20, has climbed his way to Class high-A Everett.
The event was the All-Star Futures Game, a seven-inning contest showcasing some of the best young talent in the minor leagues. And if you’re a fan of the Mariners, the past few years have likely given you confidence that at least one of these guys will blossom into a significant contributor on the major league level.
This premise isn’t specific to Ford or Clase, although the former is considered the No. 27 prospect in baseball. It is more a reflection of how the M’s have been able to transform their calves into bulls lately.
Center fielder Julio Rodriguez is a two-time All-Star at 22. Pitcher George Kirby just made his first All-Star appearance at 25. Catcher Cal Raleigh posted a 3.9 WAR at 25 last season.
Twenty-six-year-old Logan Gilbert has become a mainstay in the starting rotation, 24-year-old Bryce Miller has a WHIP of 0.949 in his 11 starts this season, and 23-year-old outfielder Jarred Kelenic — though inconsistent — has shown flashes of being the star the organization has longed for him to be.
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Over the past few weeks, “they’ve got a great young core” was the top answer players from around the league gave when I asked why the Mariners might be a desirable destination for a pending free agent. Doesn’t mean they are World Series-caliber yet, but you can’t deny that they’ve had their share of hits on the development front.
“The talent that’s here in the big leagues now speaks for itself,” said Ford, who went 0 for 1 Saturday as the National League prospects won 5-0. “They don’t just stick in the league, they flourish.”
So what’s the recipe behind this recent success? Is it a nod to the scouting of the talent, the shaping of their abilities, a combination of both, or dumb luck? It’s hard to get concrete answers to such questions, but you can at least ask the people tasked with molding these young men.
One of them is “Mr. Mariner” Alvin Davis, who played eight seasons in Seattle and serves as a roving instructor for the team’s development department. Davis was one of the coaches for the American League prospects Saturday and offered some thoughts.
“The same things that are being emphasized and measured, the same messages here in Seattle, are also filtering throughout our whole organization,” Davis said. “I call it being vertical (as opposed to zigzag). Sometimes there can be a disconnect at the top, when you get to Triple-A or the big leagues, maybe the messaging is a little bit different. I doubt that really serves the players well as they move up through the system. … So to try and keep your organization vertical, that’s one thing I think we’ve done tremendously well.”
What Davis is essentially saying is that the Mariners make the minor leagues as accurate of a dress rehearsal as possible for players before they are called up to the show. Perhaps the consistency in messaging has played a key role. Or maybe players such as Rodriguez and Kirby are just supremely talented. Either way, something has been going right with the M’s and their up-and-comers of late.
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During a brief break from preparing for Sunday’s MLB draft, Mariners assistant general manager and former senior director of player development Andy McKay weighed in on the younger players’ progress.
He admitted that it’s almost impossible to detail what the Mariners are doing differently from other clubs when he’s not privy to any of those 29 teams’ process. But he did echo Davis’ thoughts to a degree, emphasizing the “alignment” between the scouting group, development group, front office and major league coaching staff.
So is he proud of the results?
“We’re all some combination of proud, and excited, and highly, highly aware that we’ve come nowhere close to reaching our goal, which is to win a world championship,” McKay said. “We’ve got the needle moving in the right direction, but we’re Sisyphus with his rock, and we’re on that hill pushing our way to the top.”
You can’t glean too much from prospects in an event such as the Futures Game. But you can make guesses based on an organization’s results.
The Mariners have produced young stars of late. Whether that leads to something more tangible remains to be seen.
Source: The Seattle Times
