Kivlehan powers Sags past Scorpions

For a time, Patrick Kivlehan didn't even consider himself a baseball player. He played four seasons as a safety for the Rutgers football team before deciding to give the national pastime one more shot by trying out for the baseball team. He not only made the squad but was successful enough to be taken by the Mariners in the fourth round of the 2012 Draft.

Now the Mariners' No. 6 prospect, he doesn't think himself a power hitter. The results might again tell another story.

Kivlehan went 2-for-3 with a homer and a double from the cleanup spot to lead Surprise to a 7-3 win over Scottsdale on Thursday in Arizona Fall League play.

The home run, which came off Scorpions right-hander Julian Hilario (Mets) in the seventh inning, pushed the right-handed slugger into a four-way tie for the AFL lead in the category with three in six games. (Yankees prospect Greg Bird hit two homers for Scottsdale on Thursday to join Kivlehan, Arizona's Peter O'Brien and Oakland's Matt Olson at the top of the leaderboard.)

That early return, however, won't change Kivlehan's perception of himself any time soon.

"I don't consider myself a power hitter," he said. "I just want to be one of those guys where they put the barrel on the ball and see where it goes. But I'm just going to try to keep that going and hope for more."

The 24-year-old slugger, who also doubled and came around to score in the fourth, certainly is capable of a power-hitting profile, though. He clubbed 20 homers with nine triples and 32 doubles in 138 games between Class A Advanced High Desert and Double-A Jackson this year. Throw those figures together with a .295/.363/.507 slash line in his second full season, and it's easy to see why Kivlehan was selected to both the Southern League postseason All-Star and Mariners Organization All-Star teams. Even the Seattle organization acknowledged the Majors might not be too far off.

"His bat is coming on so fast he could be knocking on the door pretty quickly," Mariners director of player development Chris Gwynn told MiLB.com. "More than likely he'll start at [Triple-A] Tacoma, but you never know. He's earned a right to play in Tacoma. He's been steady, a leader, and it's been amazing to watch him transform into a guy who has a talent and is starting to put it together and figure it out."

Still, Kivlehan's focus in the AFL is two-fold.

First, this second go-round offered a chance to improve on a difficult first trip to the Grand Canyon State in 2013, when he batted just .164 with only one homer and 17 strikeouts in 18 games. Considering he's 7-for-24 (.292) with the three homers, two doubles, four walks and only two punchouts in his first half-a-dozen contests, so far so good on that objective.

"I'm feeling pretty comfortable," he said. "After about a month off and not playing every day, it takes a couple at-bats to get back in the swing of things. I think me and the rest of the team are starting to lock in."

The second point of emphasis has been a more permanent move to first base. Kivlehan played 72 games at third base and 39 at first this past season. But with Kyle Seager manning the hot corner in the Majors and Surprise teammate and No. 2 Mariners prospect D.J. Peterson covering it as well, a move across the diamond could best suit Kivlehan, who earned 45 grades on the 20-80 scale for both his arm and glove from MLB.com.

Once again, so far so good.

"I feel comfortable at first base," he said. "It's not a problem anymore. ... It feels natural over there now."

Rangers center fielder Nick Williams and Red Sox second baseman Scott Coyle also collected a pair of hits for the Saguaros.

With his two homers, Bird was the only Scorpion with multiple hits in the loss. In eight AFL games, the Yankees first baseman is 13-for-33 (.394) with nine RBIs.