Plenty to choose from

The names are on the board — Cole, Rendon, Hultzen and Starling along with dozens of others — and the Seattle Mariners’ job now is to see who will be available when it’s their turn to pick.

Baseball’s annual amateur draft begins at 4 p.m. Monday and the Mariners, for the second year in a ro

w, find themselves in a prime position thanks to a very sub-prime record the previous year that allows them to pick so high. They have the second overall selection, after the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they’re confident whoever they take will become a quality major leaguer.

But that’s as specific as the Mariners will get in terms of who they will draft.

Will it be a pitcher or a position player?

A high schooler who may take a few years to develop or a college star who’s closer to being big-league-ready?

Will it be one of the heavyweights of a deep draft class — pitcher Gerrit Cole of UCLA, third baseman Anthony Rendon of Rice, pitcher Danny Hultzen of Virginia or high school outfield phenom Bubba Starling?

The Mariners won’t entertain any of those questions until the picks are made, and even then it may take a few years of development to see how the draft class of 2011 impacts the franchise.

What seems clear is that the Mariners’ first pick Monday isn’t quite the either-or situation they faced in 2009 when they drafted outfielder (and now second baseman) Dustin Ackley after the Washington Nationals selected pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

Tom McNamara, the Mariners’ scouting director, says anyone from a group of a dozen or more players would be a worthy pick at No. 2.

“It’s one of those years where the eighth or 12th or 15th guy could be one of the better guys in the draft,” McNamara said. “I’m pretty excited about bringing the right player to this franchise.”

Cole, Rendon and Hultzen have been atop most pre-draft projection lists, but also in that group is Rendon, a player some scouts see as a heavy-hitting Gold Glove-quality third baseman.

Rendon is perhaps the most intriguing player because of the offensive potential he would bring to a Mariners organization that needs production at third base.

Two issues cloud Rendon: his health and his drop in offense this year at Rice.

Rendon broke his right ankle last July when he played for Team USA, and this spring he’s been bothered by a strained shoulder muscle and has been Rice’s DH.

While he entered the weekend batting .327 with a .523 on-base percentage and .535 slugging percentage, Rendon had hit just six home runs and driven in 35 runs in 60 games this year. It’s a significant drop from the .394/.530/.801, 26 homers and 85 RBI last year in 63 games.

One factor could be the NCAA’s change to a less-potent aluminum bat, but it’s a factor the Mariners still must gauge along with Rendon’s history of injury.

McNamara said he and the Mariners’ scouts saw Rendon play third base before he was hurt.

“We’re comfortable with what we’ve seen,” he said.

As for the health concerns, they’re legitimate.

“We’re just doing our due diligence, getting all the facts,” McNamara said. “We’re talking about a lot of different players.”

McNamara, scouts and team executives have spent much of the past two weeks discussing hundreds of players, ranking them and placing them on their draft board. When a team picking ahead of them takes a player, that name comes off the board and the Mariners will move on to the next on their list.

Regardless who the Pirates take at No. 1 — and they haven’t left any solid clues — the Mariners will be prepared, McNamara said.

“I read the blogs,” he said. “I look at who they say we’re picking and sometimes I’m like, ‘Wow, these guys are right on what we’re doing.’ And sometimes I’m like, ‘The guys they’re talking about aren’t even on our radar.’ They (the Pirates) pick first, we pick second. I have no idea what they’re doing or what they’re thinking. But picking two is a good spot to be in.”

Despite having the second overall pick again, this draft is vastly different for the Mariners than 2009 when they had two first-round picks (Ackley and shortstop Nick Franklin) and a compensation round pick (catcher Steven Baron) before the second round.

The Mariners don’t have a compensation-round pick this year and won’t make their second pick until the 62nd overall selection in the second round. By that time, a lot of names will come off the board, including 10 picks the Tampa Bay Rays have before the Mariners make their second.

“That’s what we’ve been doing for 10 days, setting up the board and ranking the players,” McNamara said. “It sounds simple but we think it’s the best formula. The board will lead us to who we pick.”

Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com/marinersblog and follow his Twitter updates at @kirbyarnold.1. Pirates (57-105)

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Compensation for not signing 2010 first-round pick Barret Loux

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