Baseball America Predicts Seattle Mariners to Draft Elite College Shortstop

The national baseball publication became the latest source to project the Mariners will select Oregon State infielder Aiva Arquette in the 2025 MLB Draft.

Oregon State infielder Aiva Arquette reacts after scoring against Florida State in an NCAA Super Regional game June 7 at Goss Stadium. | Abigail Dollins/Statesman Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Seattle Mariners will have their choice of elite prospects with the No. 3 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft next month. And a top publication predicts the Mariners will select one of the most elite prospects in college baseball.

A recent mock draft from Baseball America written by Carlos Collazo projected the Mariners will select Oregon State shortstop Aiva Arquette with their first pick in July's draft. Collazo detailed the reasoning for for Seattle potentially coveting the shortstop, but noted the several different directions the organization could go. That includes college pitchers Liam Doyle and Jamie Arnold, as well as high school shortstop Eli Willits.

We’ve previously tied the Mariners with upside high school players, but there’s some thought that they might want to add a fast-moving college bat to help out their big league pitching. It’s not a great class for that strategy, but Arquette is the best college hitter and seems like one of the favorites here. Doyle and Jamie Arnold could also be fits, and Eli Willits seems to check a lot of the boxes Seattle seems to target with high school hitters.
Seth Hernandez’s name doesn’t get mentioned here much, but I have to think he’s in the mix considering Seattle’s pitching development and how locked in some of their higher ups have been on him this spring. One potential darkhorse option here is [shortstop] Jojo Parker, whose market typically starts a bit after this. It sounds like the Mariners really like him.

There has been steam building for Arquette being selected by the Mariners. In May, Keith Law of The Athletic predicted Seattle would select Arquette.

Arquette is one of the most polished draft prospects and, as alluded to by Baseball America, is expected to be a quick riser in the minor leagues when he's drafted. The 21-year-old has scored 70 runs this season and has hit .354 to go with 18 home runs and 65 RBIs. He recently hit .385 (5-for-13) with four runs and a double in Oregon State's best-of-three super regional series against Florida State (June 6-8), and will compete in the NCAA College World Series with the Beavers.

Hung the slider and Aiva Arquette parked it!

Live on B1G+ #GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/kXTwGqhr9Y

— Oregon State Baseball (@BeaverBaseball) May 10, 2025

Arquette has experience playing in Seattle. The Hawaii native played for two seasons at Washington in 2023-24 before transferring to Oregon State before this season.

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