2022 Seattle Mariners Weekly Prospect Update 5/26/2022

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May 26, 2022
Seattle Mariners
Harry Ford, Seattle Mariners.

Week four of this series about the top prospects in the Seattle Mariners system.

The Seattle Mariners have one of the best farm systems in baseball. With the first month of the Major League season down, we continue our series on how the M’s prospects are doing.

Emerson Hancock is now arguably the Seattle Mariners’ top pitching prospect. Sure Matt Brash has a case but there are a few things working against him. His MLB struggles and subsequent move to the bullpen. Now, I’ll be the first to say that Hancock gives me Danny Hultzen vibes. A highly touted and regarded prospect who can’t get rid of the injury bug. I said early this year that the M’s should consider trading him while he’s still thought to be a top prospect. 

That got the kind of backlash you’d expect when you’re the lone person on the island. Why is the rum gone? Anyways, Hancock made his 2022 debut with Double-A Arkansas this month. He pitched 1.1 innings, giving up 2 runs (1 earned), allowing 2 hits, walking 1, and striking out 2. He threw 36 pitches to get four outs. Not ideal but to be fair, the guy has a lot of rust to shake off. If he can continue to make progress and succeed, it’s reasonable to expect him to finish this year at Triple-A.

Speaking of Tacoma, Jarred Kelenic is currently playing ball at Triple-A. His mission is to enjoy himself and to have fun playing baseball again. Yes, he needs to make some adjustments to get back to the Major League level. But most importantly he needs to relax, not press, and have fun. Prior to his demotion, he had made some more tweaks to his batting stance. Obviously too small of a sample size to glean anything from it.

Kelenic’s time in Tacoma this year has been like his time in the Majors. He isn’t getting the expected results. Over the course of his 34 at-bats, Kelenic has scored 4 runs, hit 1 home run, and 3 RBIs, for a .235/.297/.679 slashline. He’s a career .292/.367/.894 Triple-A hitter, so his numbers should rise. It’s just not what everyone was expecting when he was sent down.

New Comers to this Series

Harry Ford is the Seattle Mariners’ most recent draft choice. He’s also one of the more intriguing players in the farm system. Entering the draft as a catcher, and one of the top catching prospects too, many scouts speculated that the best career path for him is to move out from behind the plate, just like Bryce Harper. The kid has enough athleticism to play centerfield or second base. 

In 99 at-bats this season, Ford has scored 16 runs, hit 2 home runs, driven in 14, and stolen 6 bases for a .222/.389/.702 line. Not spectacular numbers but then again, he is only 19 years young and competing against older more developed players. His career slashline is .247/.393/.802, so there’s no need for alarm.

Finally, we come to Seattle Mariners’ next Dylan Moore in Kaden Polcovich. A third-round draft selection out of Oklahoma State, Polcovich is rising through the farm system as a second baseman. However, he’s been used all over the field. He’s also logged time at shortstop and centerfield. 

The Mariners love his versatility, especially since he’s not “great” at one position. Right now Polcovich is more glove-first than a hitter. The hope is his bat will catch up. Offensively, this season he scored 14 runs with 10 RBI, and 7 stolen bases all coming over 119 at-bats to produce a slashline of .218/.354/.631. Polcovich is currently with Double-A Arkansas. The expectation is that he’ll graduate to Triple-A by the end of the year.

We’ll be back next week with another Seattle Mariners prospect report.

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