Kelenic and Gilbert, 2 for 1

It is the start of a new era in Seattle baseball today. The much anticipated debuts of a couple top 100 prospects in all of baseball, and two of the Mariners biggest and most ready prospects at this point in time; OF Jarred Kelenic (#4) and SP Logan Gilbert (#28).

After a competitive 2018 season, the Mariners decided to change course and tear down their veteran-heavy team. Nelson Cruz was an incoming free agent after the season, Felix Hernandez was far into the twilight of his career and was no longer the ace of the Mariners or any team's rotation. Robinson Cano had a handful of years still left on his contract but GM Jerry Dipoto decided to package him and All-Star closer Edwin Diaz in a trade to the Mets for a multiple player deal that involved Kelenic who was the headline of the return for Seattle's part, the Mets 1st round pick in 2018. The Mariners later said they had a lot of interest in Kelenic during the draft process but he was already off the board when their pick came around. Yet they still got their man. This trade was the kickstart to a relatively quick rebuild, as far as the young talent acquisition phase of a rebuild is concerned. The winning phase is still to be seen. Subsequently, the Mariners ended up using their 2018 first round pick (#14 overall) on Gilbert out of Stetson University where the likes of Corey Kluber and Jacob deGrom also call their alma mater.

Tonight, March 13, 2021 the Mariners get to introduce not one but TWO first round picks from the same draft to the majors. Even with these two coming off the farm, the Mariners have plenty of talent still on the horizon. This is just the start of what will hopefully be an ongoing influx of young, exciting talent to the major league club that will translate into the next period of winning baseball from the Seattle Mariners.

**Prospect rankings from MLB.com**

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/top100/