The Major League Baseball amateur draft rolled on Tuesday and the Mariners made several more selections, picking up two more shortstops in the process. In the 5th round (161st overall), they went with Chris Taylor, a 6'1, 180 pound player out of the University of Virginia, and in the 6th round (191st overall) they chose high-schooler Timmy Lopes.
MLB.com provides a scouting report on Taylor, noting "Most of Taylor's value comes from his defense. Taylor has good range and instincts with a plus arm. Offensively, he has shown off his plus speed on the basepaths . Right now, he mostly just has gap power, and he is not likely to hit many home runs at the next level. If a team thinks that he can hit, they could take a chance on him in the early going. "
MLB's take on Lopes is intriguing. "Lopes' older brother, Christian, was the Blue Jays' seventh-round pick in 2011, and Timmy has a chance to be even better than his older brother, while almost surely being picked higher than him. Lopes has above-average range and instincts in the field but has an average arm that will likely mean a move to second base. On the basepaths, he has slightly above-average speed that plays up due to his great instincts. He makes consistent contact and is above average at handling the bat, which allows him to make hard contact to all fields. He also gets high marks for his makeup."
Taylor and Lopes mark the second and third shortstops taken in this year's draft for the M's, joining their 2nd round pick, high schooler Joe DeCarlo.
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