Harry

Ford

Ford is now hitting .292 with an .851 OPS, two home runs, and 12 RBI on the season. There is no spot for the 22-year-old in Seattle, but it’s nice to see him begin to find his power stroke a bit.

Ford has gotten off to a strong start at Triple-A on the heels of an impressive spring training performance in Mariners camp. The 22-year-old backstop’s speed and athleticism are extremely rare for a catcher and give him a shot at being one of the more unique talents in the fantasy landscape once he arrives. He’s a name to monitor in deeper mixed leagues on the chance that he gets a shot later this year with Seattle in a backup role.

No real surprises here. It’s worth noting for dynasty purposes that Ford put together an impressive spring in Cactus League action, batting .421 (8-for-19) with one homer and three steals in 12 contests. His fantasy value tanked last year in the upper minors, but his athleticism is unparalleled at the catcher position.

It’s a star-studded lineup with several of the top fantasy prospects in the game featured alongside Basallo. The 19-year-old burgeoning slugger has morphed into one of the premier dynasty hitters in the fantasy landscape last year, and has backed it up this season in the upper minors, batting .274/.338/.449 with 12 homers and seven steals through 75 games for Double-A Bowie. Here’s the full lineup: Max Clark CF, Cole Young 2B, Sebastian Walcott SS, Basallo C, Spencer Jones RF, Xavier Isaac 1B, Colson Montgomery 3B, Jaison Chourio LF and Harry Ford DH.

Ford’s unique speed and athleticism gives him a chance to be high-impact fantasy contributor at some point in the near future. Meanwhile, Young and Locklear are a bit underrated from a fantasy standpoint, depending on the source, but they figure to continue rising up dynasty rankings over the next few months. Young specifically has a chance to blossom into one of the top prospects in baseball as he ascends into the upper minors.

The Mariners’ number two prospect has played exclusively catcher since being drafted in the first round in 2021 and he’s impressed, including during his time with Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic. Ford hit .257/.410/.430 with 15 homers, 67 RBIs and 24 stolen bases in 118 games last year at High-A Everett. He’s expected to begin 2024 at Double-A and while the Mariners have no plans to permanently move him out from behind the plate, Kramer reports that they’re also cognizant of Cal Raleigh’s success at the MLB level and want to see if Ford could handle another position in case his bat forces their hand for a promotion.

White, who made his major-league debut earlier this season for a contending Rangers’ squad, will toe the rubber in Seattle with a pretty sensational lineup behind him. Here’s the full order: Jonatan Clase (SEA) CF, Marcelo Mayer (BOS) SS, Heston Kjerstad (BAL) RF, Harry Ford (SEA) C, Lawrence Butler (OAK) LF, Junior Caminero (TB) 3B, Tyler Soderstrom (OAK) 1B, Justyn-Henry Malloy (DET) DH and Nick Yorke (BOS) 2B.

The latest batch of cuts trims the Mariners’ spring roster to just 43 players. Ford is the most notable inclusion following an epic run with Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic. Bukauskas is the most likely to make an impact this season out of Seattle’s bullpen.

The Mariners catching prospect, who just turned 20 last month, has homers in back-to-back WBC games. Great Britain threw Team USA a lifeline today, giving the U.S. control of its own destiny ahead of games against Canada and Colombia. As it was, the U.S. was quite likely to lose a tiebreaker if they joined Mexico and Colombia at 3-1. Now, assuming that Mexico takes care of business, it will probably come down to the U.S.-Colombia finale to see who advances in the WBC.

The hard-hitting backstop connected on a 405-foot blast off of Evan Rutckyj in the fourth inning, pulling Great Britain to within two runs at 10-8. It was hit only hit in three at-bats on the day. The impressive 20-year-old catcher was slotted in as the cleanup hitter for Great Britain on Sunday and projects as a middle of the order type of hitter once he eventually climbs to the big leagues.