CLEVELAND — Who should know more about Washington center fielder Braden Bishop than his hometown club?
The Seattle Mariners selected Bishop with their third-round pick Tuesday (No. 94 overall) when Major League Baseball resumed its 40-round draft, which runs through Wednesday.
Bishop, 21, is generally viewed as a defensive specialist whose bat needs work — although he batted .295 this season in 49 games for the Huskies while setting career highs with 14 doubles and four home runs.
“Through the draft process,” Bishop said, “it’s been made pretty public that I have a weak bat. But I’ve never believed that. I bought into my role here at U-Dub, and that called for me to get on base any way I could.
“That’s a stereotype that was put on me, but I strongly believe that I’m a good hitter.”
Scouts say Bishop is susceptible to injuries because of his gung-ho playing style, and he was hit 43 times by pitches in his three-year collegiate career.
Bishop also gained attention this year for starting a charity — 4Mom — to raise money and awareness for the early onset of Alzheimer’s Disease after his mother was diagnosed with the affliction at age 54.
“My mom is my biggest advocate,” he said, “and I’m going to be her’s. It’s tough to see her struggle, but it definitely puts things in perspective. If I struggle, I know she’s going through (something) a lot worse than I am.”
The Mariners also selected:
—Fourth round (125): Right-handed pitcher Dylan Thompson, 18, of Socastee High School in Myrtle Beach, S.C. He was 16-4 over three high-school seasons and never had an ERA above 1.99.
—Fifth round (155): Shortstop Drew Jackson, 21, from Stanford University. He batted .320 this year in 40 games and was picked as a All-Pac-12 honorable mention.
—Sixth round (185): Right-handed pitcher Kyle Wilcox, 20, of Bryant University in Rhode Island. He was 7-3 with a 3.24 ERA this season as a junior and was picked as Northeast Conference pitcher of the year.
—Seventh round (215): First baseman Ryan Uhl, 22, of Indiana University in Pennsylvania. He had 29 homers and 74 RBI while batting .415 in 44 games for the Division II Red Hawks.
—Eighth round (245): Right-handed pitcher Cody Mobley, 18, of Mount Vernon, Ind., High School. He was 6-2 with one save and a 1.69 ERA as a senior with 104 strikeouts in 54 innings.
—Ninth round (275): First baseman/third baseman Conner Hale, 22, of Louisiana State. He is batting .343 with 17 doubles, four homers and 56 RBI for the Tigers, who are still playing.
—10th round (305): Right-handed pitcher Darin Gillies, 22, of Arizona State. He was 3-6 with a 3.83 ERA as a senior in 28 appearances, including three starts.
The draft concludes Wednesday with rounds 11 through 40.
Plans for Rodney
Don’t look for the Mariners to ease struggling closer Fernando Rodney back into the action once he cleans up whatever mechanical issues resulted in a 6.94 ERA over his 24 appearances.
“I don’t think it’s going to be low leverage,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “When the pitching coach (Rick Waits) comes back to me and says we’ve got this mechanical stuff straightened out, he’ll pitch the eighth and, sometimes, the ninth inning.”
But…it won’t be exactly the same.
“I’m committed right now,” McClendon said, “if he’s closing out a game, to getting him some help in the ninth on the front end if there’s a tough lefty or something. Anything to try to jump-start him.
“Listen, we need (Rodney). If we’re going to make a run at this, and be as successful as we think we’re going to be, we’ve got to have him.
“The other kid (Carson Smith) has greatness written all over him. But if we think we can run him out there three or four days in a row, it’s just not going to happen.”
Lomo’s record run
First baseman Logan Morrison carried a 14-game hitting streak, a career-best, into the series opener. He also returned to leadoff duty after a two-game absence.
“He has the ability to get on base,” McClendon said. “He’s not driving in a lot of runs, but he takes his walks and he’s getting his base-hits. I’m just trying to put more guys on base in front of these sluggers of ours.”
Morrison is batting .358 (19-for-53) in his 14-game run, which raised his average from .219 to .256, but he has scored just two runs in that span and has not driven in any.
Run-starved
The Mariners entered the series on a streak of 12 straight games of scoring three or fewer runs, which matched a franchise record set from June 10-22, 1988.
The last club to score fewer than four runs in 12 straight games was the Philadelphia Phillies from May 22-June 10, 2010.
Minor details
Double-A Jackson will send outfielders Dario Pizzano and Jabari Blash along with left-hander James Gillheeney to the Southern League All-Star Game on June 23 in Montgomery, Ala.
Pizzano, 24, is batting .324 with a .382 on-base percentage and a .470 slugging percentage in 48 games. A 15th-round pick in 2012, he had a 25-game hitting streak earlier this season.
Blash, 25, has a .304/.406/.625 with nine homers and 25 RBI in 31 games since arriving May 2 from Triple-A Tacoma. He was an eight-round pick in 2010.
Gillheeney, 27, is 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 12 games, including five starts. He also won a spot start May 31 in a brief promotion to Tacoma before returning to Jackson. He was an eighth-round pick in 2009.
Looking back
It was 23 years ago Wednesday — June 10, 1992 — that Major League Baseball approved the sale of the Mariners from Jeff Smulyan to the Baseball Club of Seattle, L.P., which still owns the club.
The new group took control on July 1, 1992.
Short hops
McClendon said the rotation switch, which jumped Roenis Elias ahead of Taijuan Walker after the open date, was made to two lefties, Elias and J.A. Happ, from pitching successive games against the Indians. … The Mariners have eight players on their current 25-man roster whom they selected in the draft: Dustin Ackley, Willie Bloomquist, Mark Lowe, Brad Miller, Kyle Seager, Smith, Walker and Mike Zunino. That number doesn’t include James Paxton, who is on the disabled list.
On tap
The Mariners and Indians continue their three-game series at 4:10 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday at Progressive Field. Right-hander Taijuan Walker (2-6, 5.80) will face Cleveland right-hander Trevor Bauer (5-2, 2.94).
The game can be seen on Root Sports Northwest and heard on 710 ESPN.
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