Seattle Mariners: Who Will Be the #5 Starter?

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Mar 21, 2022

Will the 5th starter be a rookie?

There are several candidates who could fill the void. Team management could be creative in limiting their rookies’ innings this season. There are two rookies that everyone wants to see; then there are two rookies that might get an opportunity to improve their value over the start of the season. We’ll start with the latter of the two sets.

Levi Stoudt was a third round pick in the 2019 draft. He performed well in 2021 and showed promise once promoted to Arkansas. He’s not on anyone’s top 10 Seattle Mariners prospect list, but it’s not for lack of trying. He was hit pretty hard in the third inning of his first spring training start. Other than that, he performed well. Stoudt’s combined 3.31 ERA was decent, and he has a good K/9 ratio (9.5).

Nothing stands out about him other than his make-up. Similar to Logan Gilbert, nothing seems to get to this kid.

Darren McCaughan was a 12th round pick out of Long Beach State in the 2017 draft. He didn’t amaze at Tacoma last year, but he did pitch over 130 innings between Arkansas, Tacoma, and Seattle. Not a long-term answer for the fifth spot, McCaughan could get into the mix to help limit the innings of the next two starting pitcher options.

Household Named Rookies

Matt Brash made it into the top 50 prospects for 2022 by Baseball America (#45), and in his first full minor league season, he was outstanding. The flamethrower didn’t clear 100 innings but made 19 starts and struck out 142 in 97.1 innings.

He has some control issues, but where he might walk a few, he corrects that with a sub .200 BAA. To date, Brash never pitched above Double-A, but he was lights out in 10 starts for Arkansas, and while someone like McCaughan holds down the fifth spot to start, perhaps Brash comes up at some point to provide a more effective option.

George Kirby is the pitcher that Mariners fans want to see promoted right away. His triple-digit fastball with pinpoint accuracy is high on the list of must-see events at Seattle. The 24-year-old right-hander has yet to pitch above Double-A but was lights out there.

Even more significant than his accuracy is that he doesn’t give up home runs. In 90.2 career minor league innings, Kirby gave up TWO! Then again, he doesn’t give up a lot of hits, to begin with. He has top-of-the-rotation stuff, and the Mariners want to see him in Seattle at some point. That will come, but probably not after a bit of seasoning at Triple-A.

Next: Page 4 – Not Yet on the Roster?

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