Seattle Mariners 2020 Review/2021 Preview – Relief Pitching
- Taylor Williams, Seattle Mariners.
The Departed
Taylor Williams
As a rebuilding team, not many veteran relievers were expected to spend all season with the Seattle Mariners. Injuries kept the number of deals down, but several pitchers were traded by the deadline.
There were two “feel-good” stories as the Seattle Mariners as the broke summer camp in July. The first was Jose Marmolejos, who made his Major League debut at 27-years-old, after eight years in the minors. Reliever Taylor Williams was the second.
Seattle claimed Williams off of waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers just before spring training. Williams grew up in Camas, WA, as a Mariners fan. It was a dream come true for him to pitch for his favorite team.
If the season began on time, Williams would have started the year at Tacoma. With a strong summer camp, the 5-11 righty began 2020 as the Seattle Mariners closer. Aside from one awful outing in San Diego on August 27, he was quite effective, earning six saves in 11 appearances. That bad outing didn’t stop the Padres from trading for him a few days later.
Dan Altavilla and Austin Adams
Also headed to San Diego on deadline day were Dan Altavilla and Austin Adams. Big things were expected from Altavilla; however, he couldn’t control his pitches and was little use to the M’s. Since he was out of options, it was easy to deal him away. Adams was hurt at the end of the 2019 season. He didn’t pit a game in 2020 for the Mariners but rehabbed at the alternate training site when the trade was made.