Seattle Mariners Given Huge Advantage in 2025 MLB Draft; Here's How and Why it Matters

The Mariners already (surprisingly) earned the No. 3 overall pick in the draft through the lottery system. Now, they have the biggest bonus pool as well, with more than $17 million to spend over the first 10 rounds.

A general view of the set of the MLB Draft Lottery at the Hilton Anatole during the 2024 MLB Winter Meetings. | Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

The Seattle Mariners are in prime position to add to an already elite farm system this summer via the MLB Draft.

After narrowly missing the playoffs last season, the M's surprisingly earned the No. 3 overall pick in the draft via the draft lottery system.

Now, we've learned that the M's also have the highest bonus pool in the draft as well. Jim Callis of MLB.com reports the Mariners have $17,074,400 to spend.

Now, there's a lot that goes into this, but here's the basics:

1) Each draft choice for the Top 10 rounds comes with an assigned "slot value." Players can be signed for more or less than their assigned value, but teams cannot go over their bonus pool money total for those rounds, at least not without penalties.

2) Your total bonus money is calculated as a sum of your "slot values" for the top 10 rounds. Since the Mariners have an 11th pick in those 10 rounds, they are given extra money.

Per Callis:

Seattle gets $9,504,400 for the No. 3 pick and also owns a competitive balance selection at No. 35, which is worth $2,758,300. The Mariners' 11 picks in the top 10 rounds add up to $17,074,400, the fourth-highest allotment since the pool bonus-pool era began in 2012.

3) So what does this mean for the Mariners?

We caught up with Joe Doyle, prospect guru and Draft Insider at Overslot, for his take:

The strength of the 2025 draft class is on the high school side. Seattle owning the biggest total bonus pool is going to allow them to take several shots on high-upside preps this year. Where most teams may have to give up on the dream of drafting high-ceiling high schoolers after the second round, Seattle has enough money to conceivably take shots on those players into the fourth and fifth round depending on what they do with their first two picks.

Remember, high school players have the leverage of being able to go to college, so they require a lot of money to draft and sign them.

In 2023, the Tigers selected Max Clark with the No. 3 pick overall. They signed him to a bonus $650k under the $8.34 million slot number for that pick. That move afforded them the ability to draft Kevin McGonigle at pick No. 37 and over-pay him. Both players are now consensus Top-40 prospects in the sport.

On Wednesday, MLB front offices the the MLBPA were informed on the bonus pools for the 2025 MLB Draft.

The Seattle Mariners, a farm system already chock full of premier talent, are primed to spend more than any other club 👀https://t.co/7062iD4SIh

— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) April 24, 2025

The MLB Draft begins on July 13 and takes place as part of the All-Star week festivities.

The Mariners currently have nine players ranked in the Top 100 prospects in the game by Baseball America, and the draft should only add to to their treasure trove at the minor league level.

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