Seattle Mariners' Prospect Turning Heads in Arizona Fall League

Seattle Mariners first base prospect Tyler Locklear is turning some heads in the Arizona Fall League.

Through 71 plate appearances, he has three homers and is hitting .302.

MLBTradeRumors offered a short write-up of him as well:

Locklear is a powerful right-handed first baseman with double-plus strike zone instincts. He lays off pitches outside of the zone without any evidence of passivity in the zone. His prospect status suffers from a perceived weakness against velocity in on his hands. Since it’s in vogue to attack a hitter’s hands with triple-digit velocity, it makes sense Locklear’s comparative weakness is seen as a limiting flaw. Teams tend to ask right-handed first basemen to doubly prove themselves before they’re given a chance...

Locklear is currently the Mariners No. 11 prospect, per MLB.com. The 22-year-old was a second-round pick in 2022 and reached as high as Double-A this year. He hit .288 across three levels, including .260 at Double-A in 22 games. He had 13 homers and 52 RBI.

Mariners fans are excited about his development given the recent struggles of Ty France, who doesn't run well and only hit 12 home runs this season.

From a portion of Locklear's prospect profile:

His calling card, obviously, is raw power from the right side that many tout as better than plus. Because of the more limited college competition he faced in the Atlantic 10 Conference, it’s possible that he experiences some kinks when moving up, especially against tougher pitching. The swing is advanced, but for an aggressive power guy, there can be tendencies to over-hit and expand the zone. That said, because he’s older, there’s a chance he could climb quickly.

The Mariners finished 88-74 this year and missed the playoffs by 1.0 game.

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