Alberto Rodríguez has a great week – News Block

Alberto Rodríguez had arguably been one of the best in the Seattle Mariners organization for the first two months of the season. In the last week and a half he’s been on quite a roll. In his 6 games with the AquaSox, he dominated the Eugene Emeralds pitching staff, hitting just under .500 and had 6 home runs.

Have a week, Alberto! 🔥@EverettAquaSox | #SeaUsRise pic.twitter.com/9L4zwwGQrE

— Mariners Player Development (@MsPlayerDev) May 29, 2023

This is a new development for Rodríguez because he spent last season with the AquaSox and was not commanding the level at 21 years old. He slashed .261/.336/.396 in more than 500 plate appearances and struck out 26% of the time. Now a year older at 22, Rodríguez has been killing it.

So far this season, the lefty is hitting .335/.417/.684 with 31 extra-base hits, ten of which are home runs. His strikeout percentage has also dropped to around 22%. Hitting almost .500 for a week will really help his numbers, but even before the hot week he was still hitting above .300. If Rodríguez continues to hit and hit for power in the Northwest League, the Mariners might need to challenge him and send Rodríguez to Arkansas.

Modesto Nuts (A) – California League

Everett AquaSox (A+) — Northwest League

Arkansas Travelers (AA) – Texas League

Tacoma Rainiers (AAA) – Pacific Coast League

Mariners Draft

It’s now June, just over a month before the draft, and the mock draft season is heating up. Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline projected that Seattle would select TCU third baseman Brayden Taylor with his 22nd overall pick. Callis noted that the Ms could try to pitch them a prospect on the board if they want to show their financial strength in the draft because of their large bonus pool. He also commented that it’s too early to tell who might try to float the board, so it doesn’t seem like there’s much clarity on the direction the Seattle organization will take in the first round.

Taylor was recently one of the players Joe Doyle highlighted in his Future Stars Series comparisons article. Doyle compared the left-handed third baseman from TCU to former Padres infielder Chase Headly. He points out that they are both good athletes and that Taylor should add some value on the bases. Doyle said, “Taylor should be a power-on-hit type of guy with low chase rates that boost his batting average and on-base numbers.”

Another composition Doyle suggested at the end of his article was former Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager, “who built a career based on passivity at the plate and a HR swing grooved with a solid glove at third base.” .

Mariners prospects in the news

Seattle Sports’ Brent Stecker wrote about two Mariners rookies who came out of nowhere.

MLB Pipeline highlighted the best draft pick from each team from the 2018 draft and includes a major league starter for the Mariners.

Bryan Woo and Jake Scheiner were named Mariners Minor League Players of the Month.