Seattle Mariners Pick Ex-Yakima Pippins Pitcher Taylor Dollard

While not nearly as big as the NBA or NFL Drafts, Major League Baseball conducted Rounds 2 -5 of their annual amateur selections yesterday (June 11) and the Seattle Mariners used their selection in the 5th Round to pick a pitcher with some ties to the Yakima Valley.

Former Yakima Valley Pippins Right-handed Pitcher Taylor Dollard -- who played for the club in the summer of 2017 -- was tabbed by the club as the second day stocking the minors was concluding. Dollard, coming off of his junior year in college, was the sixth player taken in the fifth and the 137th overall.

While not a pitcher with dominant stuff, Dollard has shown the ability to control the strike zone, a trait that the Mariners organization values immensely.

Dollard, out of Cal Poly, was congratulated by current Mariners Outfielder and Cal Poly alum Mitch Haniger via Twitter.

From his bio page on the Cal Poly-SLO website:
" ... played summer ball for Yakima Valley Pippins in the West Coast League, posting 6-0 record and 1.92 ERA in the regular season, striking out 24 batters and walking just five over 32 2/3 innings ... earned West Coast League Pitcher of the Week honors for his performance against the Cowlitz Bears on August 1, tossing eight scoreless innings with nine strikeouts for the win as Yakima Valley earned a 1-0 victory ... allowed just two hits and did not walk a batter ... in the opening round of the West Coast League playoffs, Yakima Valley defeated Corvallis 9-3 and Dollard went 5 2/3 innings for the win, allowing three runs and eight hits with one walk and three strikeouts."

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