Seattle Mariners: Arms race to fill out starting rotation
Justus Sheffield
Look for the Seattle Mariners to give Justus Sheffield every opportunity to succeed this spring. During the 2020 COVID-shortened season, Sheff looked like he was progressing toward a steady middle-to-back end starter. Unfortunately, it all blew up on him in 2021.
It was so bad that after his injury healed up, Seattle sent him to Triple-A Tacoma because of his ineffectiveness. He didn’t pitch much better there, either. The M’s hope a winter off gives him enough rest to compete in 2022. If Sheffield doesn’t make the team, Seattle is likely done with him.
Justin Dunn
It seems odd to call Justin Dunn a veteran with just 25 MLB games under his belt. Last season he was good early on, especially in May when he posted a 2.52 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and .563 OPS. Then he developed shoulder problems which effectively ended his season after a pair of starts in June. The longest he’s gone in any of his 25 career starts is 6.0 innings.
Dunn is a perplexing option. He should be better than he is, but control problems continue to come back and bite him. Additionally, he has problems getting through the sixth inning. That can put undue pressure on the bullpen.
The 26-year-old righty has plenty of ground to make up if he wants to be on the team on Opening Day. He’ll need to be the pitcher he was last May and keep himself in games longer.
Justin Dunn threw 6 scoreless frames and gave up just 1 hit today for the #Mariners. pic.twitter.com/hSX7cYm1uX
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 30, 2020