Evans Thrilled To Chase His Dream With The Mariners

Logan Evans RHP / 3B / Saline, MI / 2019

PEORIA, Az. - “I’m just chasing my dream.”

It is a dream that is becoming a reality for Logan Evans, the 12th round pick of the Seattle Mariners in this month’s Major League Baseball Draft.

The 2019 Saline High School graduate is now in Peoria, not far from Phoenix, pursuing the next step of what he hopes is a long and successful career in professional baseball.

“The plan has always been to play pro baseball,” noted Evans, who decided to forgo his one year of eligibility remaining at the University of Pittsburgh to join the Mariners. “It’s a good organization. I thought it was the right fit. After discussions with coaches and my family, we all thought it was the right fit for me.”

Evans, who pitched at Penn State his first two years in college before changing schools to Pittsburgh the past two seasons, was with his parents, brother, girlfriend, cousins and best friend when the draft was going on.

“It was like a big party, all the people that really care about me were there,” Evans related. “I got a call and went into another room because I didn’t want them all to know. It was my agent telling me the Mariners were going to pick me with their next pick. They were 20 away. After that I went in and watched it on TV.”

It was a memory that will last a lifetime.

“I hugged my brother and I kinda started crying,” Evans said of what took place after he was chosen in the draft. “There isn’t anything like it that will ever happen to me again.”

Leading into the draft, Evans had some uncertainties like most draft picks do.

“I was thinking the end of day two, but really expecting to go on day three,” the 367th selection in the draft admitted. “Honestly, I was thinking the later rounds. But The Mariners were not one of the teams I thought would draft me. I thought it would be the Reds. I had a call with the Reds prior to the season and were talking with them after the season. And I did a workout for them at Great American Park.”

The White Sox, Tigers, Padres, Giants, Royals and Angels were others that showed a lot of interest in Evans prior to the draft.

“I had no contact with the Mariners except filling out a general questionnaire,” Evans noted. “The area scout called at the start of day three and asked about my availability.”

It brought an end to a long process that began while Evans was pitching at Penn State.

“Some pro scouts started watching me as a sophomore,” Evans reflected. “I made a big velocity jump at the end of the year to 95, 96, 97. Junior year at the start of fall I was talking to practically every team. The Blue Jays had me in their top five rounds. While I didn’t have a great season, I still had interest in last year’s draft, but it was a money thing. Then after this year I had a lot of interest.”

Whether to sign or return to college was not a difficult decision according to the 6-5 225-pound right-hander.

“It was not too tough,” the 22-year-old explained. “I called the coaches but they were on the same page as me. I felt it was my time to end my chapter of college baseball. It was fun while I was there, but I don’t think I could have gained anything more out of it and was ready to move on.”

The eighth-rated 2019 right-handed pitcher in Michigan coming out of high school at Saline has been in Arizona a week.

“The plan this summer is to build back up and throw in the ACL (Arizona Complex League) with the Mariners or Low A Modesto Nuts in California,” Evans related. “I’ll throw a low number of innings. But in our organization, everything is written in pencil.”

A typical day right now consists of breakfast, meetings, lifting, stability work and throwing on the field. It is a routine that Evans hopes is just the start of an exciting career in the pros.

“Obviously the majors is the end goal,” Evans concluded. “But you can’t put too much focus on the future. In this job you have no guarantee every day. You just take it day to day knowing you’re working toward your future. But you can only focus on the day presented to you.”