Seattle, WA
Ranking the Seattle Mariners’ draft classes from Dipoto era
The Seattle Mariners will be on the clock soon.
The first day of the 2025 MLB Draft kicks off at 3 p.m. Sunday with the first three rounds taking place. The Mariners will make four selections that day, including the No. 3 overall pick. The draft concludes Monday with rounds 4 through 20.
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Under president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and vice president of amateur scouting Scott Hunter, the Mariners have developed a reputation as one of baseball’s best draft and development teams. A look back at each class beginning when Dipoto was hired as general manager and Hunter as director of amateur scouting in 2016 shows plenty of hits from the organization.
Which class in the Dipoto-Hunter era is the best? We’re going to take a look back at each class and attempt to rank them from best to worst. Below is a look at the picks from the first five rounds of each draft, other notable picks and reasoning for each ranking.
Seattle Mariners draft class rankings
1. 2018
• First round (No. 14): Logan Gilbert, RHP
• Second round (No. 54): Josh Stowers, CF
• Third round (No. 90): Cal Raleigh, C
• Fourth round (No. 118): Michael Plassmeyer, LHP
• Fifth round (No. 148): Nolan Hoffman, RHP
• 33rd round (No. 988): Penn Murfee, RHP
Overview: A draft that featured a pair of All-Stars who have shown they are capable of being legitimate Cy Young and MVP candidates has to come in at No. 1 here. Logan Gilbert has emerged as the ace of a very talented starting rotation and one of baseball’s best pitchers. Cal Raleigh is currently in a two-man race for AL MVP and is baseball’s best catcher. In fact, the 16.1 WAR Raleigh has produced to this point in his career is more than the combined 13.3 WAR produced by all six catchers picked in front of him.
Seattle also got a stellar season-plus out of reliever Penn Murfee, a 33rd-round pick, before he had Tommy John surgery and was eventually released in 2023. Two other pitchers the Mariners picked – 21st-rounder Grant Anderson and 36th-rounder Justin Wrobleski (who didn’t sign) – have also reached the big leagues with other teams.
2. 2021
• First round (No. 12): Harry Ford, C
• Second round (No. 48): Edwin Arroyo, SS
• Third round (No. 83): Michael Morales, RHP
• Fourth round (No. 113): Bryce Miller, RHP
• Fifth round (No. 144): Andy Thomas, C
• Sixth round (No. 174): Bryan Woo, RHP
• 20th round (No. 594): Troy Taylor, RHP (did not sign)
Overview: The Mariners started to see this fruits of this draft class early with both Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo becoming fixtures in the rotation after debuting in 2023. Elbow issues have put a damper on Miller’s 2025 campaign, but the right-hander already has a sub-3.00 ERA season under his belt. Woo, who had a 6.36 ERA in college, just made his first All-Star team and looks like the biggest steal of the draft.
Harry Ford, a top 100 prospect who was just selected to his third Futures Game, could end up making this draft class look even better. The pick of Edwin Arroyo in the second round is also notable since he was second-best prospect moved in the trade that brought starting pitcher Luis Castillo to Seattle in 2022, a move that helped end the Mariners’ 21-year playoff drought.
3. 2023
• First round (No. 22): Colt Emerson, SS
• First round (No. 29): Jonny Farmelo, OF
• First round (No. 30): Tai Peete, SS
• Second round (No. 57): Ben Williamson, 3B
• Third round (No. 92): Teddy McGraw, RHP
• Fourth round (No. 124): Aidan Smith, OF
• Fifth round (No. 160): Brock Rodden, SS
• 11th round (No. 337): Brandyn Garcia, LHP
• 12th round (No. 367): Logan Evans, RHP
Overview: For as good as the drafts above were, the 2023 draft class has a chance to be best on this list once everyone has played out their big league careers. Colt Emerson and Jonny Farmelo have become two of the most exciting prospects in Seattle’s talent-rich farm system and appear to be important pieces for the future of the franchise. Ben Williamson and 12th-round pick Logan Evans have already reached the majors and made key contributions this season to a Mariners team that’s in the hunt for an AL wild playoff berth.
Brandyn Garcia, an 11th-round pick, has reached Triple-A and could crack the roster as a reliever at some point this season. And there’s still plenty of untapped potential with Tai Peete, who is in High-A at just 19 years old. Oh yeah, the M’s also used fourth-rounder Aidan Smith and sixth-rounder Brody Hopkins to acquire Randy Arozarena last July. Pretty good stuff.
4. 2019
• First round (No. 20): George Kirby, RHP
• Second round (No. 59): Brandon Williamson, LHP
• Second round (No. 76): Isaiah Campbell, RHP
• Third round (No. 76): Levi Stoudt, RHP
• Fourth round (No. 126): Tim Elliot, RHP
• Fifth round (No. 156): Austin Shenton, 3B
• 20th round (No. 606): Cade Marlowe, OF
Overview: The Mariners went heavy on pitching early in this draft and hit in a major way by taking George Kirby in the first round. Kirby was the first of Seattle’s core of homegrown starting pitchers to make an All-Star game and has been one of baseball’s best strike-throwers since he debuted in 2022.
Most of the rest of the notable picks in this draft were used as trade chips. Brandon Williamson, Austin Shenton and Levi Stoudt were each used to acquire players who helped the Mariners end their playoff drought. Williamson was the headlining prospect sent to the Cincinnati Reds in the deal for Eugenio Suárez and Jesse Winker in 2022. Shenton wasone of two players sent to the Tampa Bay Rays for reliever Diego Castillo in 2021. And Stoudt was one of four players moved to land Luis Castillo. Seattle also got some value out of 20th-rounder Cade Marlowe in 2023.
5. 2022
• First round (No. 21): Cole Young, SS
• Second round (No. 58): Tyler Locklear, 3B
• Second round (No. 74): Walter Ford, RHP
• Fourth round (No. 126): Ashton Izzi, RHP
• Fifth round (No. 156): Reid VanScoter, LHP
• 12th round (No. 366): Troy Taylor, RHP
Overview: The Mariners’ 2022 draft class very much falls into the category of being too early to make any definitive statements on. Much of the value of this draft could end up falling on the shoulders of Cole Young. Now at second base in the majors, Young quickly became one of Seattle’s top prospects. Considering the fact that he is one of just two high schoolers taken in the 2022 first round to reach the big leagues (the other is No. 1 pick Jackson Holliday), he’s lived up to that billing so far.
The rest of the class is still very much up in the air. Troy Taylor seemed like the latest late-round pitching gem uncovered by Seattle during a surprising debut season in 2024. However, he struggled in the majors this season and has also had troubles in Triple-A. Tyler Locklear was briefly a top 100 prospect and got a taste of the majors last season, but has yet to make an impact at the big league level. Second-rounder Walter Ford has also lost much of the prospect hype he had after being taken out of high school. He ended 2023 as Seattle’s eighth-ranked prospect, per MLB Pipeline, but is no longer in the organization’s top 30.
6. 2024
• First round (No. 15): Jurrangelo Cijntje, switch-handed pitcher
• Second round (No. 55): Ryan Sloan, RHP
• Third round (No. 91): Hunter Cranton, RHP
• Fourth round (No. 121): Josh Caron, C
• Fifth round (No. 154): Charlie Beilenson, RHP
Overview: This is another class that’s far too early to judge, but the early returns on Seattle’s first two picks look promising. Switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje was named to this year’s Futures Game and is a top 100 prospect ranked eighth in the Mariners’ system by Pipeline. With his unique ability to throw with both hands, there’s a lot of intriguing upside. Speaking of upside, there might be even more with Ryan Sloan. Sloan is putting together a solid season with Single-A Modesto at just 19 years old, and he’s also cracked Pipeline’s top 100 rankings.
7. 2016
• First round (No. 11): Kyle Lewis, OF
• Second round (No. 50): Joe Rizzo, 3B
• Third round (No. 87): Bryson Brigman, SS
• Fourth round (No. 117): Thomas Burrows, LHP
• Fifth round (No. 147): Donovan Walton, SS
• Seventh round (No. 207): Matt Festa, RHP
• 40th round (No. 1,197): Adley Rutschman, C (did not sign)
Overview: We’ve gotten to the territory of recent Mariners drafts that just weren’t very good. However, part of the reason this class comes in so low is some unfortunate injury luck. First-rounder Kyle Lewis looked like Seattle’s center fielder of the future after winning Rookie of the Year in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. As we all know now, Lewis would play just 54 games in a Mariners uniform after that season as he dealt with recurring knee issues and freak injuries like being concussed by an errant pitch. With that said, the 2.4 WAR Lewis produced as a Mariner is the most by anybody in this class.
One fun note is that Seattle took a high school catcher out of Oregon named Adley Rutschman in the 40th and final round. He didn’t sign, but it’s a good look on the scouting department that they took a future No. 1 overall selection nearly 1,200 picks into the draft.
8. 2020
• First round (No. 6): Emerson Hancock, RHP
• Second round (No. 43): Zach DeLoach, OF
• Second round (No. 64): Connor Phillips
• Third round (No. 78): Kaden Polcovich, 2B
• Fourth round (No. 107): Tyler Kennan, 3B
• Fifth round (No. 137): Taylor Dollard, RHP
Overview: The 2020 draft has to be graded on a curve. It was only five rounds and it came after the college season was cancelled by the COVID pandemic. However, it’s one that doesn’t look very good for the Mariners even with all that considered. First-rounder Emerson Hancock has shown some good signs of progress this year while helping an injury-riddled starting rotation, but names like future All-Stars Garrett Crochet and Pete Crow-Armstrong were still on the board with the sixth pick.
This class may look a bit better if it weren’t for an injury to fifth-rounder Taylor Dollard, though. Dollard reached Triple-A Tacoma by 2023, but a torn labrum forced him to miss most of the season and all of 2024. He recently made his return in June and is currently pitching in High-A.
9. 2017
• First round (No. 17): Evan White, 1B
• Second round (No. 55): Sam Carlson, RHP
• Third round (No. 93): Wyatt Mills, RHP
• Fourth round (No. 123): Seth Elledge, RHP
• Fifth round (No. 153): David Banuelos, C
• 11th round (No. 133): JP Sears, LHP
• 36th round (No. 1,083): Heston Kjerstad, CF (did not sign)
Overview: The best thing to come out of this class for the Mariners was that third-rounder Wyatt Mills was one of two players traded to get Carlos Santana from Kansas City in 2022. Outside of that, this was a rough draft. The most productive player Seattle picked never ended up playing for the team. Left-hander JP Sears, an 11th-round pick, has become a decent big league starter for the Athletics, but the Mariners traded him to the Yankees in a 2017 deal for reliever Nick Rumbelow, who had a 7.58 ERA in 19 innings with the Mariners.
Seattle does have a Gold Glove from this class, though. First-round pick Evan White won one at first base in 2020, but the University of Kentucky product never showed the ability to hit big league pitching, missed most of the next three seasons with injuries and was traded to Atlanta after 2023. This was also the second year in a row where the Mariners picked a future top-two pick by the Orioles in the later rounds. Heston Kjerstad, a 36th-rounder who didn’t sign, went on to be the No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft.
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Seattle, WA
Victim identified in deadly Seattle beer garden shooting on Lake City Way; suspect sought
SEATTLE — A north Seattle community is mourning the loss of a 25-year-old beer garden employee who was killed while closing the business Friday night.
Loved ones identified the victim as Quusaa Margarsa, known to many as “Q.” Seattle police are searching for the suspect but have not released details about the circumstances surrounding the killing, including whether investigators believe it was a robbery gone wrong or a targeted attack.
Police said Margarsa was working at The Growler Guys on Lake City Way NE on Friday night when he was killed. A co-worker discovered him the next morning.
“I want to know why. I think we all want to know why. What was the reasoning?” said Coreena Richards, a childhood friend of Margarsa.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Memorials, mourners honor young employee found dead at North Seattle beer garden
Throughout the weekend, friends, family members, and customers stopped by the north Seattle beer garden to leave flowers, candles, and messages at a growing memorial honoring Margarsa.
“Amazing, one of one — you’re never going to meet anybody like him,” Richards said.
Margarsa, a graduate of Nathan Hale High School, was a member of the school’s 2017 championship basketball team, according to the school’s alumni association. Friends described him as a “gentle soul” who was full of humor.
“He’s funny as hell. He was the life of the party. Very sweet, very kind,” Richards said.
Family members said Margarsa was preparing to celebrate his 26th birthday later this month and had been planning a birthday trip. Instead, his life was cut short while he was closing the beer garden where he worked. Police said Margarsa died of apparent gunshot wounds.
ALSO SEE | Seattle beer garden employee found shot to death inside workplace
“He was very sweet, very nice — a young guy with his whole life ahead of him. Very sad,” said Robert Bishop, a customer at The Growler Guys.
Days after the killing, customers continued to visit the memorial site, lighting candles and calling for answers as detectives searched for whoever was responsible.
“I’ve been on social media asking everybody, because it’s one thing for a mom to find out on Mother’s Day,” Bishop said. “Everybody in the neighborhood should be up in arms about this.”
As investigators work to solve what police say is Seattle’s 12th homicide of 2026, authorities have not said whether the attack was random or targeted. Police also have not said whether surveillance cameras at the business captured images of the suspect.
“You got nothing out of it. You gained nothing from this,” Richards said. “They took somebody very, very important to the people who knew him, loved him, and cared for him.”
Seattle police said the circumstances surrounding the killing remain under investigation. Anyone with information is urged to contact the department’s violent crimes tip line at 206-233-5000.
I have always been in love with cities. I joke with friends that I have crushes on cities the way they have crushes on good-looking strangers. Sometimes—as with Paris and London—my unrequited crush meant finding an excuse to move there. With Seattle, however, that initial attraction grew into a long-term relationship.
Liz Dunn
Phot by TRAVIS GILLETT
I arrived here as a “tech baby,” coming from Canada to work at Microsoft as a college intern. For a long time, I felt as though I were living in a bubble—until I realized I could pivot my career and work in and on the city I’d come to call home. Through my company, Dunn & Hobbes, I’ve done just that, spending more than 25 years building and renovating spaces for retail, restaurants, and creative work. I love old buildings—but what I love more is what happens inside and around them. I love making space for creative people and then watching them fully inhabit those places and thrive. I also love how a collection of structures on a block can become an economic and artistic ecosystem.
Working in real estate is not just about making deals—you’re crafting pieces of the city, and that comes with both impact and responsibility.
Small businesses are the heart and soul of any neighborhood. Research shows that locally owned businesses generate a much higher multiplier effect in the regional economy than national chains. Beyond economics, the independent shops, restaurants, and designers that comprise the core fabric of a city are the secret sauce that makes it feel unique.
Nowhere is that more evident than Capitol Hill’s Pike/Pine corridor, where I’ve conducted most of my work and lived out large chunks of my adult life. During the past 25 years, it has become a case study in what happens when you preserve character and invest in small business. The area was once filled with old auto-row buildings that had fallen into disuse. Instead of wiping the slate clean, local developers, including me, saw an opportunity for creative reuse. Those buildings turned out to be perfectly scaled for independent retailers and restaurants, creating a unique critical mass that offers a popular destination for locals and tourists alike.
What makes Pike/Pine special is its texture and grit—the layered history you feel in both the physical architecture and the spirit of the shops and restaurants. A large percentage of businesses are owned by members of the LGBTQ+ community, women, immigrants, and people of color. The density of independent retailers and studios—and the inclusive community that supports them—creates omething you can’t replicate with a formula. It evolved over decades, shaped by artists, musicians, designers and small entrepreneurs willing to take risks and plant their flags.
Today, neighborhoods like Pike/Pine face challenges that threaten the tightly woven ecosystem that makes them thrive. There’s a difference between gritty and too gritty, and during the past six years, it’s become harder to attract people. Foot traffic in neighborhood retail districts is dropping, even as downtown begins to recover with tourism. Small businesses are dealing with crushing cost pressures, many tied to public safety concerns and well-intentioned policies with unintended consequences. Public safety has been the elephant in the room—though I do believe we are starting to see improvements. At the same time, our habits have changed. Seattleites have been hibernating, whether because of repercussions from the COVID-19 pandemic or the convenience of delivery apps, streaming, and gaming.
And yet, people still deeply crave connection.
That’s why what’s happening in Pike/Pine right now is inspiring and hopeful. Many of the people who helped shape the neighborhood are still here, investing their time, money, and creativity because they care deeply about its future. We’re doubling down on what makes it special—art walks, a slate of new murals, the On The Block street fair, and Capitol Hill Block Party—all invitations for the community to come back out and re-engage.
This spring, on Saturday, May 16th, we’re launching something new: the Pike/Pine Spring Fashion Walk and Social. It’s designed to be an annual celebration that stretches across the neighborhood, anchored by a collection of activations at Melrose Market, and a runway show on the “catwalk” at Chophouse Row that will include Seattle fashion apparel leaders Glasswing, JackStraw, the Refind, the Finerie, and Flora and Henri. Neighborhood-based designer and brand activations up and down the corridor will include open studios, DJs, wine tastings, in-store pop-ups, and involvement from local college students—bringing in the next generation of designers and entrepreneurs. One of the goals is to remind everyone that Seattle still has amazing fashion “game,” offering a scene that is just as creative and diverse as anything you might find in New York or LA. At its core, this event is not about shopping. It’s about creating a reason for people to come together, to reconnect, and to experience the neighborhood as a shared space.
Because that’s the point. Cities work best when we show up—for them and for each other. Seattle’s culture is not something that exists just for us to consume; we are all participants in shaping it. So, my call to action is simple: come out. Walk around and meet your neighbors. Engage in what’s happening. It feels good—and it does good.
SEATTLE — Memorials are growing outside popular beer garden The Growler Guys in North Seattle, as friends and family honor the life of a young employee found dead at the business Saturday morning.
Seattle police said coworkers found the victim’s body with apparent fatal gunshot wounds inside The Growler Guys around 9 a.m. Saturday. Authorities have not publicly identified the victim yet. He was in his 20s.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Seattle beer garden employee found shot to death inside workplace
The young man’s death has shocked and shaken the surrounding North Seattle community.
Dozens of family members, friends, and regular customers surrounded the taped-off homicide scene for hours throughout the day Saturday. Several people who knew the victim described him as a friend to all, a family man, and a stand-out employee to his boss, Kelly Dole.
“He was a part of my community at The Growler Guys,” Dole said. “It’s been a joy just to see them together day after day, and for him to lose his life this way is just a shame and such a loss.”
The victim was also a close friend of Dole’s son for years.
The Growler Guys is closed for the time being, but many people stopped by on Sunday to drop off flowers, cards, or to stop to take a moment and reflect.
A note left at the corner of NE 85th St. and 20th Ave. NE was written by a family that had the victim serve them at The Growler Guys. “While we were only lucky enough to know you for one evening,” the note reads, “I know there are many, many more lives you have made a lasting impact on.”
Left next to the note was a child’s apple juice box. Coworkers of the victim said he always gave kids free apple juice.
“Don’t tell my boss,” they said the victim would say with a smile.
He really was important to the guests and always had a smile, Dole said of his young employee. He had worked at The Growler Guys for about a year.
The victim was killed sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning, and police are still investigating a possible motive and suspect. So far, no arrests have been made.
People living nearby, who wanted to remain anonymous, said they didn’t hear any gunshots but called the death shocking: “Well, my heart breaks. My first thought is that it’s a tragedy,” one man said.
Anyone with information or surveillance video in the surrounding Lake City area should contact Seattle police or 911 immediately.
Dole said he hopes justice is served to offer a small piece of closure to the victim’s grieving family.
“My heart goes out to his mom and his dad, his brother and other family members,” Dole said. “It’s just so tragic.”
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