SEATTLE — The Mariners had a long wait before joining the draft party Monday night, eventually ending up with a pair of right-handed pitchers in Nick Neidert and Andrew Moore with their two second-round picks.
Neidert, a 6-foot-1 right-hander from Peachtree (Ga.) High School who has signed with the University of South Carolina, was selected with the 60th overall pick. Oregon State junior Moore was selected 12 picks later, at No. 72.
“We kept our fingers crossed,” Mariners director of amateur scouting Tom McNamara said. “You pick out certain guys, and you’ve got to wait.”
The Mariners forfeited their first-round pick when they signed right fielder Nelson Cruz in free agency. It’s a tradeoff they don’t expect to regret.
“Yeah, he’s pretty good,” McNamara told The Seattle Times before the draft. “Not a bad first-rounder.”
Without a true first-rounder, the Mariners had to settle for the 15th high school pitcher drafted with their top pick.
Neidert was Baseball America’s 55th overall prospect, the 30th-ranked pitcher and the No. 6 prospect from the state of Georgia. He had a 92- to 94-mile-per-hour fastball before elbow tendonitis slowed his senior season of high school.
Asked about the tendonitis, McNamara said: “Everything’s check out with the doctor.”
Neidert said he took some time off as a precaution midway through his senior year but came back and felt as good as ever down the stretch.
“It’s good,” he said of the elbow late Monday night, during a conference call with reporters covering the Mariners. “It’s 100 percent healthy.”
Neidert added that he’s “still debating” on whether to attend South Carolina but that he’s leaning toward signing with the Mariners.
McNamara said Neidert’s fastball command was the most intriguing thing about the 6-1, 170-pound prospect.
“He was the guy we wanted,” McNamara said. “It was a long wait, and we were very happy that he fell to 60. We’ve been watching him for the last two or three years.”
Moore was Baseball America’s 125th-best prospect. He’s similar to Neidert in that he has a fastball in the 92- to 94-mile-per-hour range and has a 6-foot-1 frame. But Moore is more mature and pitched in the competitive Pac-12 Conference.
Just based on experience, Moore would appear to have a faster track to the big leagues.
“He can command his fastball, he’s got three major-league pitches, and he’s got a lot of confidence,” McNamara said. “So we’ll see where it goes.”
The selections of Neidert and Moore are somewhat of a departure from Seattle’s recent run of first-round position players. The last time the Mariners used their first pick on a pitcher was in 2011, when they selected University of Virginia left-hander Danny Hultzen with the second overall pick in the draft.
“We highlighted Nick and Andrew as two guys we really wanted,” McNamara said, “and we’re excited about landing those two guys with our first two picks.”