The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

The Mariners took pitchers in nine of their first 11 picks in this past weeks baseball player’s draft. Overall, out of their 41 picks they took 23 pitchers. That works out to 56% of all picks in this year’s draft. The average team takes about 54% pitchers to 46% position players. If you were listening to the local sports station you may have heard them criticize taking so many pitchers so early in the draft. With the Mariners pitching staff currently giving up over six runs per game, pitching is definitely a need.

Pitchers drafted, make the major league at a much lower rate than positi...