Seattle Mariners: 1st-Round Pick Mike Zunino Promoted to AA

The Seattle Mariners are not wasting time with their first-round draft pick as, according to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times, catcher Mike Zunino is being promoted to the AA Jackson Generals.

Zunino was the perfect candidate to move quickly through the farm system, so I guess that this should not necessarily be surprising.

First of all, he had a very strong career at the University of Florida. In his final season with the Gators, he ended up hitting .322 with 19 home runs, 67 RBI and 28 doubles.

Overall, he tallied 79 hits, and we can find out by summing those two totals above that 47 of them went for extra bases. That is some definite power.

His production didn't stop there. He was drafted with the third overall pick, was assigned to the Everett AquaSox and proceeded to dominate.

In just 29 games, he hit .373 with 10 home runs, 35 RBI and 10 more doubles. Again, with only 41 hits, almost half of them went for extra bases.

On top of that, he had more home runs than anybody on his team in about half the playing time.

He is clearly ready for the next level, and AA should be a good test for him. It is typically the last stop for top prospects before they hit the major leagues, so the competition is typically much better than it was at lower levels.

That being said, Zunino hasn't been slowed down by anything yet, so he should continue to proceed up the organizational ladder and land in Seattle before we know it.

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