Sailors draft athletics Georgia HS C / OF Harry Ford with 1st round pick

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For the first time since 2014, the Mariners have a high school player with their first-round pick in the MLB Draft, using the 12th overall pick over Harry Ford, from North Cobb High School in Georgia.

Seattle Mariners MLB 2021 Draft Tracking

Since general manager Jerry Dipoto joined the Mariners in late 2015, he and his front office have avoided prep players with their top picks, selecting just two high schoolers – Joe Rizzo in 2016 and Sam Carlson in 2017 – over the three first laps since 2016. Ford was clearly too attractive to move up to 12th place overall, however.

Ford played catcher in high school, but the Mariners press release mentions him as both catcher and outfielder. This makes sense because Ford’s speed and overall athleticism is what stands out when viewed as a prospect.

Per MLB Pipeline, which ranked Ford 13th among the top prospects in this category, Ford scored 60 (20-80 on a scale of 50 being the average) for his speed and 55 for his arm and arm. alignment. Ford would have received a lot of praise for his work behind the plate, but his speed and general athleticism could allow him to move to the outfield if needed.

The 5-10, 200-pound Ford is extremely strong to go with that speed and athleticism, and it has a lot of potential and room to grow at home plate. He currently got 50 ratings for his punching tool and power, but he has one of the best bat speeds in the project, per MLB Pipeline, although the site notes he tends to try it out. do too much with the bat.

With a few tweaks at the minor league level, it wouldn’t be surprising to see these two tools catch up with his speed, glove, and arm and give him a chance to be a legitimate five-tool prospect no matter where he ends up. in terms of his defensive home.

“He has a five-tool player’s tool set”

Shortly after the Mariners made Ford the 12th overall pick in this year’s draft, Mariners amateur scouting director Scott Hunter spoke to reporters about the team’s new outlook.

Hunter said everyone he spoke to expected the Mariners to take on a varsity pitcher for the fourth year in a row, but Ford’s mix of athleticism and maturity was too much to pass up.

“When you can get an athlete like Harry Ford to start building another part of our organization – we think we’re pretty far into the pitch right now – and a player this high on our board join us and can really dream of the one where, like we said, we call him a catcher, but this kid can play center, he can play second base, ”said Hunter. “We’re going to send him out as a catcher, but he has a five-tool set of a real player, so to say he’s just a catcher is probably an understatement. We’re really excited to add an offensive impact bat like Harry.

The Mariners’ mindset, Hunter said, was to take a bat “if all things are equal,” and Ford had been on his radar for some time.

“The kid he has in terms of maturity, the adversity he went through in his childhood and just the presence he has, I think you’ll be amazed once you meet him,” said Hunter. “He’s focused on the right things, he comes from a great family and he fits in very well with what we do as Seattle Mariners.”

Hunter and Dipoto had Ford practice batting in front of them during the pre-draft process, and that round played a big part in what sold the Mariners on Ford.

“He’s gone to the cage, he’s done his routine and the first two rounds of BP he slaps a donut on his bat – a weight – and starts batting practice like some of the big leagues do,” he said. said Hunter. “I’m sitting there looking at it like, ‘Is that kid real right now? He just hit the lines at right field with a weighted donut on his bat while the GM is there. And then he took it off and he started spraying balls and we came out of there saying, “This kid has a level of maturity that is beyond his years and he took batting practice in the major leagues in front of a general manager of major leagues. ” … That’s what really solidified it for us.

Hunter added that there was no concern about signing Ford, which is a Georgia Tech commitment, and that he believes Seattle has the most athletic player in this year’s draft class.

“Just the explosiveness,” Hunter said of what stands out at Ford. “… He’s probably the most athletic kid in the draft in terms of metrics.

“Pure explosiveness, pure athleticism, hand speed, old-fashioned hand speed and foot speed screening and all that good stuff, he hits all of these things,” a- he added later. “When you start to watch this kid roll around on a baseball field, you notice it’s different. When he wants to run, he runs. When he wants to throw he lets go and he’s a high end arm.

The Mariners will continue the draft when the second round kicks off at 10 a.m. on Monday.

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