Seattle Mariners lean on “Chief” Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn
Chris Phillips
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This year the Seattle Mariners threw rookie starters Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn into the fire. Both have responded to the challenge.
Starting pitchers Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn are becoming who the Seattle Mariners scouts and management thought they would become, and M’s fans are thrilled! These two were either the big piece or one of the big pieces in the James Paxton and Edwin Diaz/Robinson Cano trades from a year ago. In 2020, the duo is justifying why GM Jerry DiPoto acquired them.
J.D.
Justin Dunn was a former closer at Boston College. In his junior year, he showed that he could start, which is when scouts and organizations really took notice. In the 2016 draft, the New York Mets selected Justin Dunn 19th overall. Some mock drafts predicted Dunn going to the Mariners, who instead chose Kyle Lewis.
Dunn has two plus pitches: a fastball that gets up to 95 mph and a slider. He does throw a changeup and curveball, but coming out of college, those pitches weren’t as good as his bread and butter. The 6-2 righty uses the breaking balls more for a change of pace against aggressive hitters. Additionally, Dunn is experimenting with a sinker, but he doesn’t use it that much at this point.
This year, his first in the majors, he has “Dunn” very well (yes we really went there). Due to some quirky scheduling, Dunn has mostly pitched on the road earning quality starts in half of his starts. In his last two starts, he has looked like the player we thought we were getting from the Mets as he is currently working with a 12 innings scoreless streak.
Sheff is cookin’
Justus Sheffield, the son of former major leaguer Gary Sheffield, has some bumps on his road to the majors. Justus comes equipped with a fastball that tops out at 98 mph, a slider, and a changeup. Chief Justus (I can’t take credit for the nickname, but I like it) was one of the Yankees best pitching prospects. But outside of 2.2 innings in the majors, he never got an opportunity to pitch in the Majors. Considering New York needed starting pitching help in 2019 when they traded him away to get Paxton, that is a bit surprising.
2019 saw Justus start the year with a huge regression. At one point, the M’s demoted to Double from Triple-A. Being a professional, he bore down and righted the ship. Sheff received the call up to the Majors in September and pitched alright. This year he’s been much better and now looks the part of a Major League starter. Unlike Dunn, Justus has primarily pitched at home this year. His best start came against the Houston *Asterisks* on August 16. That night, he gave up one earned run and struck out four, over six innings.
Earlier in the year, there were concerns that both Dunn and Sheffield were going to bullpen guys. Neither looked like they could handle being a starter. It appeared that both were good for about two or three innings before they lost steam.
After a few games, they made the necessary adjustments to be successful in the big leagues. Both look like they will be in the Seattle Mariners rotation for a long time. I don’t believe Dunn or Justus wind up as the top starters; those roles probably go to Emerson Hancock and Logan Gilbert. I do think Sheffield and Dunn make for excellent middle to high end back end starters.
Future
When the Seattle Mariners get to the place where they are competing for division titles, Dunn and Sheffield will compete with Marco Gonzales for the three, four, and five slots in the rotation. That is once Emerson and Logan have been pitching in the majors for a year or two. The M’s future starting pitching outlook looks great. Chief Justus and Justin Dunn will be a big part of that future. “They are what we thought they were.” Dennis Green
How do you feel about the Seattle Mariners young starting pitchers? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.