New Seattle Mariners draftee David Banuelos may be making a return to Washington. The Long Beach State catcher spent last season with the Bellingham Bells. The Mariners selected the catcher in the 5th round of the Major League Baseball Draft this week.
Banuelos doesn’t know where he will start out his career in the Mariners organization. Could a stint with the Everett AquaSox be in the near future?
Banuelos told KPUG the friendships and the professional nature of within the Bells organization really stood out to him. After getting his deal with the M’s, he and his his advisor discussed the possibility of returning to the Evergreen State.
“We talked about it and said wow, they actually have do have a short season team in Washington,” said Banuelos. “So it was kinda cool, that’s not to far from Bellingham and it was like wow, I was just there last summer. So maybe I can make a return to Washington.”
LISTEN: Former Bellingham Bells catcher David Banuelos in The Zone on KPUG
Banuelos is a confident player with good reason. He is finalist for the Johnny Bench Award, which is given out each year to the best catcher in college baseball. “I consider myself the best defensive catcher coming out in the draft,” said Banuelos. “I think I’ve shown and proven that. i take a lot of pride in my work, so that’s why I see myself as that type of player. I’m for sure going to bring the defense to the table and bring along the bat as well.”
Former Bellingham Bells David Banuelos was
drafted in the 5th round of the 2017 Draft by
the Seattle Mariners. Photo: Courtesy of the
Bellingham Bells.
Seattle Mariners Director of Amateur scouting Scott Hunter expects more than just a good glove out of the Ontario, California native. “There is power, there is some adjustments to be made with the bat, but it’s not just a defensive minded type of catcher in our mind,” said Hunter. “We think that he’s going to be able to hold his own with the bat and provide enough offense that will keep that defense in the lineup pretty consistently.”
Banuelos hit .289 with 7 home runs and 29 RBI’s for Long Beach State last season. He finished the year with .991 fielding percentage.
(KPUG – Doug Lange)
