Mariners select prep shortstop Nick Becker in second round of the 2025 MLB Draft

The Mariners go to the prep ranks for the first time and select a big, toolsy shortstop out of the Northeast

A prep shortstop has arrived! After going with an all-college battery with their first two picks, the Mariners shifted some of their bonus pool money in the direction of an 18-year-old UVA commit, Nick Becker.

Most outlets had Becker predicted to go in the run on high school shortstops that were bunched up around the 20-30 range, but his strong college commitment apparently deterred some organizations. The Mariners, sensing another opportunity like they had in selecting a different first-rounder who had slipped some in Ryan Sloan last year, monitored the situation. With their large bonus pool, they were able to make a move in the second round. While there’s no official word on the slot value, Hunter suggested it would be more comparable to a Comp A valuation than a second-rounder.

“At that part of the draft you have to weigh some safety, and if you have some resources, shoot for the moon. And we did.”

Becker, the Gatorade Player of the Year for New Jersey, is a high-upside prospect who possesses tons of exciting tools and projection. Listed at 6’4”/190 lbs, he has plenty of room in his frame to add strength and projects to have at least average power if not better. He’s got really quick hands and solid twitch that only further aids his long term power projection, though he has plenty of other pieces to his game that could easily make him one of the more exciting prospects in this system, including speed that Scott Hunter say is a 70, close to 80-grade, on the Mariners scouting scale. He also gets points for his makeup and maturity. Becker comes from a baseball family; his father played in college and his older brother currently is Virginia’s starting shortstop. But the selling point here is definitely the raw physicality, as best witnessed in his smooth, easy swing:

With plus speed and above average bat to ball skills, Becker has an incredibly well rounded profile that should be able to stick at shortstop long term. It’s yet another prep infielder for a system flush with such players, but prep shortstops are an incredibly valuable asset to have a surplus of and he’ll immediately slot into the middle of their top prospect echelon. Although Becker projects to stick at shortstop, and takes a lot of pride in being the “field general” of the defense, his across-the-board athleticism should make it easy to slot him anywhere on the diamond.

“He had a good summer last year,” said Hunter. “Probably a little bit greener than some of the guys that went higher. But the tools, in comparison with those guys, really match up with the guys that went in the top 30 or 40 picks of this draft.”

Becker was the top prospect available on our board when he was picked and had some first round buzz this year, so between that and his strong commitment to play at UVA with his brother, anticipate this pick to be substantially overslot. However with the savings they had from the Kade Anderson pick and potentially the Stevenson pick, they shouldn’t have to derail their bonus pool all that much. Overall, this is a fantastic pick that should have Mariner fans pumped up in a big way. Certainly, Hunter is pumped up.

“It’s a tools play, 100% of the way. We felt he was the kind of guy who, if he did go to college, could wind up in the first round area in three years. So when you bank on an athlete who’s physical, that can really run and has power, you just hope the pure hit develops over time. And if it does, we’ve hit a home run”