Seattle Mariners: Predicting the Opening Day 30-man roster
Tom Murphy, Seattle Mariners. (Photo by Dinur via Flickr)
Catchers
The Mariners have five catchers in camp among the 60 players. With 32 pitchers on hand, they will be quite busy. Tom Murphy returns as the starter with Austin Nola as his backup. Nola is also a valuable utility player. When called up last June, he played first, second, and third base in addition to appearing in seven games behind the plate. Each team is required to carry a three-person taxi squad for road games during the season, which includes a catcher.
Of the other three catchers in camp, none are on the 40-man roster. They are Joe Hudson, Brian O’Keefe, and top prospect Cal Raleigh. Hudson, the only member of the trio with Major League experience, 13 at-bats worth will likely be the third man. O’Keefe, as well as Raleigh, the team’s eighth-ranked prospect, will spend their summer in Tacoma unless someone gets sick or injured.
DH
Daniel Vogelbach became the Mariners’ primary designated hitter after the team traded away Jay Bruce and Edwin Encarnacion last June. He represented the Seattle Mariners at the All-Star game after crushing 21 home runs by the break. The second half of the season saw Vogelbach mired in a slump. He only hit nine homers the rest of the season. The big left-handed power hitter will likely platoon at DH, facing righties. Lopes, who hit lefties at a .319 clip last year, is the favorite to platoon with Vogelbach. If Haniger returns, expect him to get at-bats as a righty-hitting DH.
The 30-man roster is only for the first two weeks until rosters get cut to 28, which lasts another two weeks. From there, it’s the standard 26-man roster for the rest of the way. At that point, it will be interesting to see if they stick with the six-man starting rotation or go down to five.