North Cobb Catcher Ford Drafted 12th Overall By Seattle Mariners

KENNESAW, GA — Although the Seattle Mariners aren’t known for taking high school players, with their first pick of the annual Major League Baseball Draft, North Cobb’s Harry Ford was just too good to pass up.

The versatile catcher, who has the skills to play elsewhere, was taken by the Mariners with the 12 overall pick of the draft on Sunday. It marked the first time since 2014 the Mariners haven’t gone with a college player for their first pick. The Mariners have selected two prep players in the first three rounds since 2015, but the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Ford has all the makings of a five-tool player, according to MLB Pipeline.

On Twitter Monday, Ford retweeted a Mariners tweet from Sunday, announcing they were taking him with their first-round pick.

"Still feels like a dream," Ford wrote. "Beyond blessed."

Ford was the 13 overall-rated prospect in the draft, according to MLB Pipeline and was committed to Georgia Tech. The 18-year-old Ford has better overall tools than the four previous first-round catchers to come out of Georgia, MLB Pipeline surmised and has reminded scouts of former Houston Astros catcher Craig Biggio.

Ford has some of the best bat speed in the high school recruiting class but is sometimes guilty of trying to do too much at the plate at times, MLB Pipeline said. Ford has the ability to show average or above average power and demonstrates good speed for a catcher with a 6.42 second time in the 60-yard dash at the East Coast Pro showdown.

In an interview with WSB-TV earlier this year, Ford tried to keep all of the attention he has received from teams in perspective while finishing out his North Cobb prep career.

“It’s surreal,” Ford told the station. “It’s just an amazing experience to know that actual MLB teams are coming to my games every day and texting me all the time. I love it. I’m trying to embrace every moment of (the process).”

Ford was ranked the No. 9-ranked position player in the draft and the No. 5-ranked high school position player, according to MLB Pipeline.

“When you can get an athlete like Harry Ford to start building another part of our organization – we feel we’re pretty deep in pitching right now – and to have a player this high on our board get to us and really be able to dream one where, as we’ve said, we’re calling him a catcher but this kid can play center field, he can play second base,” Mariners director of scouting Scott Hunter told reporters on Sunday.

“We’re going to send him out as a catcher, but he has a toolset of a true five-tool player, so to say he’s just a catcher is probably an understatement. We’re truly excited about adding an offensive impact bat like Harry.”

Hunter referred to Ford as the most athletic player in the draft.

“The pure explosiveness, the pure athleticism, the hand speed, the old school scouting of hand speed and foot speed and all those good things, he hits all of those things,” Hunter told reporters. “When you start watching this kid just roll around a baseball field, you just notice it’s different. When he wants to run, he runs. When he wants to throw, he lets it loose and it’s a top-of-the-scale arm.”