The Seattle Mariners drafted Texas A&M outfielder Zach DeLoach in the second round of the 2020 draft. He was considered to be a well-rounded player who did not have any standout skills, but possessed solid tools across the board. In a 2020 scouting evaluation from Prospects Live, they said, “Deloach is average or better across the board with no true plus tools.” They gave him a future OFP (Overall Future Potential) grade of 45. The thought was that he could be a little more than a bench/platoon player at the time.
Since being drafted, DeLoach has made his way through the upper minors and arrived at Triple-A where he is now playing with the Tacoma Rainiers. His best stretch of baseball came in 2021 with Class-A Everett where he slashed .313/.400/.530 with 9 home runs in 58 games. He spent the second half of that 2021 season with the Double-A Arkansas Travelers as well as all of 2022 where he would slash .249/.359/.401 in 163 games.
Now DeLoach, Jason Churchill’s 24th ranked prospect, is slashing .328/.427/.469 through 16 games with the Rainiers and has been playing a solid outfield at all three spots. He probably wouldn’t play center field much in the big leagues, but he could play adequately there in a pinch. The native Texan will turn 25 late this summer, and might get a chance to help the big league team if he can continue to stay hot at the plate. The one thing to keep an eye on is the strikeout rate. He is currently striking out 33% of the time.
Modesto Nuts (A) – California League
| RANK | PLAYER | POS | STATS |
| 5 | Cole Young | SS | .333/.467/.542, 20% BB, 15% K |
| 9 | Gabriel Gonzalez | OF | .385/.441/.558, 8.5% BB, 13.6% K |
| 18 | Michael Morales | RHP | 2 GS, 10 IP, 0.90 ERA, 27.5% K, 12.5% BB |
| 28 | Tyler Gough | RHP | 2 GS, 4 IP, 9.00 ERA, 22.2% K, 11.1% BB |
| 35 | Milkar Perez | 3B | .207/.410/.310, 23.1% BB, 20.5% K |
| 36 | Josh Hood | SS/3B | 333./.362/.519, HR, 5.2% BB, 27.6% K |
| 48 | Tatem Levins | C | .143/.240/.190, 12% BB, 8% K |
Everett AquaSox (A+) — Northwest League
| RANK | PLAYER | POS | STATS |
| 1 | Harry Ford | C | .243/.440/.324, 24% BB, 16% K |
| 8 | Axel Sanchez | SS | .140/.213/.186, 6.4% BB, 38.3% K |
| 13 | Tyler Locklear | 3B | .289/.377/.422, HR, 13.2% BB, 20.8% K |
| 14 | Jonatan Clase | OF | .318/.464/.614, 2 HR, 21.4% BB, 25% K |
| 25 | Hogan Windish | 2B | .216/.383/.486, 3 HR, 21.3% BB, 27.7% K |
| 26 | Juan Mercedes | RHP | 3 GS, 15 IP, 3.00 ERA, 35.8% K, 7.5% BB |
| 29 | Alberto Rodriguez | OF | .275/.453/.425, 22.6% BB, 11.3% K |
| 38 | Walking Cabrera | OF | .182/.280/.545, 2 HR, 12% BB, 36% K |
Arkansas Travelers (AA) – Texas League
| RANK | PLAYER | POS | STATS |
| 2 | Bryce Miller | RHP | 3 GS, 14.2 IP, 7.98 ERA, 19.1% K, 2.9% BB |
| 6 | Bryan Woo | RHP | 2 GS, 8 IP, 2.25 ERA, 40% K, 6.7% BB |
| 7 | Emerson Hancock | RHP | 2 GS, 9 IP, 1.00 ERA, 34.2% K, 7.9% BB |
| 12 | Prelander Berroa | RHP | 2 GS, 9.2 IP, 3.86 ERA, 26.2% K, 14.3% BB |
| 19 | Juan Then | RHP | 4 G, 4 IP, 4.50 ERA, 30% K, 15% BB |
| 21 | Robert Perez Jr. | 1B | .282/.326/.513, 2 HR, 7% BB, 25.6% K |
| 22 | Isaiah Campbell | RHP | 2 G, 2 IP, 4.50 ERA, 11.1% K, 0% BB |
| 33 | Travis Kuhn | RHP | 3 G, 3 IP, 6.00 ERA, 14.3% K, 14.3 BB |
| 40 | Stephen Kolek | RHP | 4 G, 5.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 42.1% K, 5.3% BB |
| 45 | Spencer Packard | OF | .441/.512/.618, HR, 12.2% BB, 14.6% K |
Tacoma Rainiers (AAA) – Pacific Coast League
| RANK | PLAYER | POS | STATS |
| 15 | Taylor Dollard | RHP | 3 GS, 8.1 IP, 7.56 ERA, 22.2 K%, 8.3% BB |
| 20 | Cade Marlowe | OF | .273/.467/.636, 26.7% BB, 20% K |
| 24 | Zach DeLoach | OF | .328/.427/.469, HR, 13.3% BB, 33.3%K |
| UR | Brian O’Keefe | C | .345/.446/.745, 6 HR, 15.4% BB, 15.4% K |
Mariners Draft Spotlight
Seattle has recently drafted high school prospects at the top of the draft and there is a lot of talented high school shortstops in this draft class. This leads some to think that they might select one of the many high school shortstops this July. One of those talented shortstops is Colt Emerson. He is a 6-foot 17-year-old from Ohio who is known best for his hitting ability, something that Seattle’s 2022 first rounder Cole Young was known for.
MLB Pipeline praised his hit tool, saying, “Emerson is an advanced high school hitter who makes repeated hard contact with a pretty left-handed swing.” Joe Doyle of Future Stars Series said, “The swing is anchored by lightning quick hands that have feel to all-fields with some pull-side juice.” If Emerson can be the type of hitter that Doyle and Pipeline believe he could be, then he could be a really good selection for the Mariners in the upcoming draft.
Mariners Prospects in the News
MLB Pipeline highlighted one prospect in each organization that could make an impact for each big league club, including an outfielder for Seattle.
The Mariners have a new Top 100 Prospect on MLB Pipeline’s list, and that prospect is locked in to start his season.
Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto wrote about the multitude of roster moves the Rainiers had earlier this week where they added some familiar names to the roster.
Curtis Christianson
Latest posts by Curtis Christianson (see all)
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