Mariners choose Canadian pitcher

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, June 6, 2007

The Seattle Mariners selected right-handed pitcher Phillippe Aumont with their first selection in Thursday’s 2007 Major League Draft.

Aumont, 18, is a native of Gatineau, Quebec (Ecole Du Versant). He has starred for the Canadian Junior National Team and was rated by Baseball America as the No. 9 high school prospect in the draft.

We are very excited to add one of the premier arms in this draft to our organization, the M’s vice president of scouting, Bob Fontaine, said. Phillippe is a power pitcher and we were surprised we got him where we did in the draft. With development, we are confident he will be able to contribute to the success of our organization very quickly.

During the spring, he worked two scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves extended spring training team, striking out four.