Mariners select pitcher Will Vest from Tigers in Rule 5 Draft
This season’s winter meetings, originally planned to be held in Dallas this week, were pushed online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the event still ended as usual Thursday with the Rule 5 Draft.
The Mariners continued their recent trend of using the annual December draft to boost their bullpen, selecting a reliever for the third consecutive year by drafting right-hander Will Vest from the Detroit Tigers with the No. 12 pick.
“He’s a very athletic right-handed reliever,” Mariners assistant general manager Justin Hollander said on a video call with reporters. “We think he has a chance for three plus pitches as a reliever. I think the primary two are fastball, changeup for us.
“Really took a step forward in instructional league with Detroit this year. Velocity was up, action was up and command was up. … We think there’s strike-throwing, athleticism and really good mound presence. So, really excited that we were able to get him in this process.”
Hollander said Vest was Seattle’s top target in the draft. Vest did not pitch in 2020 after the minor league season was canceled, but played for Detroit’s instructional league team this fall.
“We had interest in him prior to the (instructional league), but the step forward we saw on all his pitches and in the command was pretty significant,” Hollander said. “I wouldn’t say that (drafting Vest) was solely based on the (instructional league) performance, but the step forward we saw sort of vaulted him into a new category for us.”
Hollander said Vest’s fastball is up in velocity about 1 1/2 miles per hour, sitting at 96 and topping out at 98. Vest also has an above-average slider, Hollander said, and what the Mariners believe is one of the best changeups in the minors.
“It’s a wicked dive bomb of a changeup,” Hollander said.
Vest was drafted by Detroit in the 12th round in 2017 out of Stephen F. Austin State University, and compiled a 10-10 record with a 3.88 ERA in 88 relief appearances across three seasons in the Tigers’ minor league system. He has 142 strikeouts to 41 walks in 132 1/3 innings.
Vest reached as high as Triple-A in 2019, and was 3-5 with a 3.27 ERA in 37 appearances between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A that season. He finished 2019 with a scoreless streak spanning nine games and 16 1/3 innings, during which he allowed five hits and struck out 23. He later pitched in the Arizona Fall League.
Seattle’s two most recent picks prior to Vest, relievers Yohan Ramirez (2019) and Brandon Brennan (2018), are also still on the 40-man roster which is now at 39 players.
“For us this year to take a pitcher, as we’ve done in previous years, you know there are going to be situations where you can use that player to continue their development, along with help your major league team function,” Hollander said.
Players selected in the major league section of the Rule 5 Draft must remain on a team’s 26-man roster for the entirety of the following season or offered back to the team they were selected from.
The Mariners also made one selection in the Triple-A phase of the draft, selecting infielder Amador Arias from the Rays in the first round.
Arias hit .277/.286/.318 in 13 games with the Gulf Coast League Rays in 2019 as an 18-year-old and appeared at second base, third and shortstop.
Arias, who is now 20, signed with Tampa Bay out of Venezuela in 2016. He hit .197/.297/.296 in 124 games in three minor league seasons with the Rays.
“He’s an above-average runner with above-average raw power who can play the infield,” Hollander said. “It’s a hard tool set to find in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft at 20 years old, so it’s a tools pick for us based on a scout look a couple years ago, and we’ve followed him since.”
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 9:27 AM.
