Power with the arm, power with the bat: Meet Seattle's two-way pick
Daniel Kramer
@DKramer_SEATTLE -- After selecting a switch-pitcher with their top pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, the Mariners added more intrigue to their mix when selecting two-way player Grant Knipp with their sixth-round pick during Day 2 on Monday, at No. 183 overall.
At 22 years old and out of Campbell University in North Carolina, Knipp just transitioned to the mound this past season and was already touching 97 mph to go with a blossoming slider. And at the plate, he swatted 18 homers with 1.576 OPS in 29 games this past season at Campbell, with some of the top exit velocity readings among this year’s class and easy, 400-plus-feet power.
And like with first-rounder Jurrangelo Cijntje, the Mariners will further explore the unique skillset of Knipp at the pro level, allowing him to continue to both hit and pitch.
“It's kind of the flavor of the year, it's kind of what we're doing,” said Mariners director of amateur scouting Scott Hunter. “Take the two-way guy, the interesting player that could do a little bit of everything.”
Hunter didn’t want to forecast too far ahead, citing that Seattle’s player-development group will extensively map out Knipp’s trajectory. But he did envision a situation where Knipp is a designated hitter who also pitches and perhaps occasionally plays first base. If Knipp does both longer term, he probably won’t remain behind the plate, given the rigors of the position and how often they throw at high intensity on base stealers and more.
“Where he positionally fits is probably going to be determined a lot by about how the development on the mound goes as well,” Hunter said, “to protect him in regards to pitch limit and not throwing as much. So, first [base] might be an option.”
Knipp suffered a hamstring injury that sidelined him for part of April and May but was seemingly at full strength when reporting to last month’s MLB Draft Combine, where he crushed a 111.5 mph homer and recorded his fastest pitch at 97.2 mph.
According to MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis, scouts have suggested that most teams “like him more as a pitcher.” How the Mariners utilize him will be fascinating to follow, especially given that Knipp didn’t begin throwing off the mound until last fall and has already seen eye-opening results, albeit in a small sample. The hamstring injury was partially why he recorded just 5 2/3 innings over four outings, including two saves.
Even Hunter was unsure of the true backstory of why Knipp opted to try pitching.
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“I think there's an actual urban legend that it was like a challenge,” Hunter said. “Like, 'Hey, what could you do off the mound?' And he gets on the mound and he throws harder than anybody on the team.”
Knipp won’t be a starter, and for that reason, there’s more of a possibility for his two-way status to sustain.
“Keeping the bat in his hands for a while to see how well the power develops and continues to develop in pro ball is something we want to see,” Hunter said. “Positionally, if we are going to develop as an arm of the mound as well, I don't know how much catching he'll get.”
The Mariners have been open to drafting and developing two-way players in the past, but until Monday, they hadn’t taken a legitimate shot at doing so. Part of the calculus to take this chance was due to Knipp’s profile -- the power potential of a player who can crush moonshot home runs, and that his type of velocity will always play in today’s game -- along with the rest of the 2024 class not being as strong as in years past.
“It almost looked like a bad bingo card,” Hunter said of the Mariners’ whiteboard. “Like, it was hard to predict. ... When we went in, we talked about just staying true to the things we believe and trying to find some uniqueness in this Draft. Because in a Draft that was so wide open and probably a little thinner in areas than most years, we had to get creative and just find interesting players that kind of did some things that we really value that might be a little unique.”
The two-way experiment might not last forever, but at least for now, the tools that Knipp brings from both sides have the Mariners eager for his potential.