Is Hancock knocking on Major League Baseball’s door? – News Block

The highest overall draft pick used by the Seattle Mariners in the Jerry Dipoto era was the sixth overall pick used in 2020 on Georgia right-hander Emerson Hancock. He was expected to be one of the best college pitchers in his draft class before the pandemic ended his junior season. After dealing with the pandemic and injuries, Hancock returned to Double-A Arkansas this season and has been on a much more normal schedule.

His overall numbers for the season aren’t great, but the native Georgian has been much better of late. In four of his last five starts he has pitched 6 or more innings, except one in which he pitched just four and allowed 7 earned runs. In those five starts, he has a 3.72 ERA with opponents hitting .217/.282/.387 against him while striking out more than 28% of batters and walking 8.5%.

In his last three starts, though, Hancock has thrown 19 innings and has just a 1.89 ERA while holding opposing hitters to a .209/.243/.299 slash line. He’s also struck out more than 31% of batters and walked just 4.5% over these last three starts.

If the Mariners need to call up another minor league starting pitcher, Hancock could be at the top of the list, especially if he continues to pitch at this level. The Mariners have already had to dip into their Double-A rotation twice this year when adding Bryce Miller to replace Robbie Ray after he injured his elbow, and then again by calling up Bryan Woo when Marco Gonzales had to go to the field. injured. List. Woo is only pitching in his second professional season after having elbow surgery after college and has already thrown more innings this year (61.2) than he did last year (57). If the Mariners decide they need to cut Woo’s innings, then they could bring up Hancock, who has more pro innings than Woo.

#Sailors No. 3 prospect Emerson Hancock has earned the win in his last three starts, including Saturday’s eight-strikeout performance.@ANG_Recruitment #ServeYourWay pic.twitter.com/6dFVo6TY9Z

— Arkansas Travelers (@ARTravs) June 20, 2023

Modesto Nuts (A) – California League

Everett AquaSox (A+) — Northwest League

Arkansas Travelers (AA) – Texas League

Tacoma Rainiers (AAA) – Pacific Coast League

Mariners Draft

The MLB Draft is getting closer and the MLB Draft Combine took place this week in Arizona, where a few hundred prospects were able to showcase their talents in front of scouts at Chase Field. There have been plenty of players who have impressed the scouts in attendance, and MLB Pipeline singled out 10 players who impressed on the second day of the event, and one of those players was setup shortstop Tai Peete.

Tai Peete is a 6-foot-2 shortstop from Georgia with an “electric left-handed swing” according to Pipeline. It caught his eye on the second day of the combine because, “Peete has arguably the fastest bat in the Draft and he threw it through the zone, generating the longest average drives (338 feet) and the highest average launch angle (38 feet). degrees). Exit speeds from him averaged 92 mph and he also took a good infield.” MLB Pipeline has him ranked their 53rd draft pick, while Joe Doyle of the Future Stars Series has him ranked 68th.

Doyle said: “A lot of scouts like the talent at the plate a little more, where he brings out the power of the current game and the juice of the drawing side. Peete has a solid glove on the ground with a solid average arm, smooth footwork and quick hands, all traits that suggest he’ll stay at shortstop. He is a reasonably good bet to be selected in the first two rounds in July.”

Tai Peete (’23 GA) sends this safety over to RCF for a double. It continues to appear at each stop #wreckhavoc commit #SEWING pic.twitter.com/y3dtbU78e9

— Perfect Game Georgia (@PG_Georgia) July 24, 2022

Mariners prospects in the news

MLB Pipeline highlighted the prospect who is the best hitter in each organization, and the one from the Seattle organization is in the Modesto Nuts.

MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo put together a new mock draft in which he predicted three Mariners picks.

Check out MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer’s minor league overview of the Mariners earlier this week.