With the 2011 draft now done, scouts already looking ahead to 2012

Three days of drafting have come to an end and the Mariners have 51 more players to deal with. The next step for the scouting department is to work on signing them – some will, some won’t – and then start working on the draft class of 2012.

“Now that this is over, we’ve got to get into position for 2012,” Mariners scouting director Tom McNamara said. “There are a lot of summer showcases are coming up. The Area Codes (showcases), the Cape Cods (summer leagues), you name it. The Perfect Game (junior national showcase) starts next Tuesday in Florida.”

To me, all this begs one question of McNamara: When will you get a day off?

Knowing that Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik was either listening to the conversation or will read his response, McNamara answered, “Check with Jack on that and get back to me.”

The final 20 rounds of a 50-round draft occasionally will turn up a kid who’ll play in the big leagues, but more often these picks help an organization round out its minor league system. In some instances, there are familiar names that appear in the final picks.

One with the Mariners is Andrew Grifol, younger brother of Mariners minor league director Pedro Grifol. Andrew played first base and pitcher this year at Santa Fe College in Florida.

“Good bloodlines,” McNamara said. “Plus, Pedro is in charge of all the players we draft and sign. We’ll see him in the summer and see if he’s ready to go, and if he can handle his brother.”

A few numerical notes about the Mariners’ 2011 draft class:

They selected 28 pitchers (including six left-handers), seven catchers, nine infielders and seven outfielders. Thirty-eight of the 51 were college players. The Mariners took players from 22 states – two from Arizona, 11 from California, one from Colorado, three from Connecticut, eight from Florida, three from Georgia, one each from Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and New York, two from North Carolina, one each from Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Tennessee, two from Texas, one from Virginia and two from Washington. They also drafted players from four countries (U.S., Canada, Germany and Puerto Rico) and one U.S. territory (Virgin Islands).