Marco Gonzales, Seattle Mariners. (photo by Udeezy via Wikicommons)
Seattle Mariners summer camp is underway at T-Mobile Park, as baseball returns from its self-imposed COVID-19 hiatus. Each Major League team submitted a player pool of 60 men. The players are in the process of getting back in game shape, while the team gets a look at who they want to take into battle this year.
M’s manager Scott Servais is charged with narrowing the group down to a 30-man squad to open the MLB season. His job is initially made easier by the makeup of players in camp. The M’s are using a different approach than most other MLB teams. They invited many of the organizations top prospects to camp. A majority of the up-and-comers will spend this season working with coaches and scouts at the Mariners’ alternate site in Tacoma.
The Mariners will likely go with 15 pitchers and position players each. Here is an early look at who will be in uniform on opening day.
The Seattle Mariners will begin with six pitchers in the starting rotation. Among the starters, only Marco Gonzales and Yusei Kikuchi are the only two returners from last year’s team. They will headline the rotation. Gonzales had a record of 16–13 last season, with an era of 3.99. With some run support in his last two outings, down the stretch, Gonzales would have been 18–11. On September 22, he lost 2–1 to the Baltimore Orioles, then 1–0 to the Oakland A’s, September 28.
Yusei Kikuchi had a disappointing season with a record of 6–11, with an era of 5.46. It was Kikuchi’s first season in the USA after signing as a free agent from Japan. Kikuchi changed his delivery going into spring training. The team hopes he will have a better season in 2020 in his ten-ish outings. Gonzales will likely pitch the opening game since he was slated to at the beginning of spring training. Kikuchi and newcomer Kendall Graveman have been throwing during the break. They are ready to go in the two and three spots.
Highly regarded Justus Sheffield looked very shaky at times last year. He gained some composure toward the end of the season, posting a 4.38 ERA in 24.2 innings over his final five starts. Although his record was 0–0 in those games, the Mariners went 4–1. Considering the team only won 11 games the entire month, that’s a big accomplishment. Sheffield is penciled into the number four slot to start 2020.
Former 2010 M’s first-round pick Taijuan Walker, who returns to the team after three disappointing seasons with Arizona, and high rated prospect Justin Dunn round out the rotation.
Matt Magill, Seattle Mariners
With six starters, Seattle will likely go with nine relievers to start the season. The relief corps has plenty of turnover from the beginning of 2019. Only Brandon Brennan spent the entire season with Seattle. With six starters to open the year, the Seattle Mariners will likely go with nine relievers at the start of 2020. There are 18 relievers at camp, including four non-roster players.
Matt Magill, acquired from the Minnesota Twins on July 11, 2019, became one of the Mariners closers on August 17. He came in to play the ninth inning with a 4–3 lead in Toronto. The big right-hander shut down the Blue Jays to preserve the Seattle victory. For the remainder of 2019, Magill split closer duties with Anthony Bass, who has since been claimed off waivers by Toronto. Last September, Magill appeared in seven games with one save. He had an era of 1.35 for September, leaving him with a final 3.63 ERA in 22 total appearances.
Brennan will be one of the primary set-up men. Last year, shoulder and back issues limited him to 47.1 Innings. In the first two months of 2019, before his shoulder started to become fatigued mid-season, Brennan had a 3.00 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and .183 batting average against, in 24 games. Servais has a valuable weapon—if he’s healthy.
Carl Edwards Jr. and Yoshihisa Hirano are both pitchers the Seattle Mariners signed as free agents during the winter. Each had subpar 2019 seasons, so the team hopes to get both men back to their previous form. In 2018, Edwards had a 2.60 ERA in 58 appearances with the Chicago Cubs, while Hirano had an ERA of 2.44 in 75 games for Arizona.
The M’s are likely to open with just one left-handed reliever, Nestor Cortes Jr. Seattle picked him up in a November trade with the Yankees. In New York, his primary role was long relief. Cortez threw 66.1 innings over 33 appearances with a 5.67 ERA. His 28 walks indicate that control is an issue. On the bright side, Cortez struck out 67 batters. Erik Swanson, acquired along with Sheffield in the James Paxton trade, also projects into a long-relief role this year.
Two men are almost sure locks to make the team. Dan Altavilla is out of options. He would have to go through waivers before going on the taxi squad. The 2018 version is a useful middle innings reliever, but the 2019 version of Altavilla will be on another roster. Rule 5 acquisition Yohan Ramirez has to remain on the Seattle Mariners roster all season, like Brennan in 2019, or be returned to the Houston Astros.
If the Seattle Mariners go with nine relief pitchers as expected, Austin Adams should be that man. The Mariners acquired Adams in a minor league trade with Washington on May 4. He made his first M’s appearance on May 13, after his recall from Tacoma. Adams showed his value to the Mariners in June, where he appeared in 12 games with an ERA of 2.08. In July, he only appeared in two games before going on the injured list for a right shoulder strain.
One of the non-roster pitchers in camp is Sam Delaplane. The Mariners have high hopes for the former Michigan Wolverines star after he dominated in Double-A ball last year. If one of the previously mentioned relievers gets injured or sick, Delaplane is the next man up.
J.P. Crawford, Seattle Mariners. (Photo by Dinur via Flickr)
Third baseman Kyle Seager is the longest-tenured member of the infield as well as the Seattle Mariners since Seattle didn’t re-sign “King” Felix Hernandez after last season. The previous three years have been disappointing for Seager after having his best season in 2016, where he hit .278 with 30 home runs and drove 99 runs. His batting average dwindled to .248 in 2017, followed by .221 and .239 the last two seasons. He still has hit over 20 home runs in each of those seasons. The seven-year extension Seager signed in 2015, runs through 2021, though there is a team option for 2022.
JP Crawford made his debut for the Mariners on May 10, after being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma. The shortstop had a solid month of May hitting .279 but went on the injured list at the end of the month through June 14. In 16 June games, he showed what he was capable of by batting .338. Unfortunately for Crawford, he went into a slump the rest of the way, hitting .167 in July, .198 in August, and .160 in September. The Mariners hope Crawford learned from last year’s experience and will become more steady at the plate.
The Seattle Mariners will start the year with rookie Evan White at first base. The M’s number four prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, will be making his major league debut. Shed Long, who made his debut on May 10 of last year, is listed as Seattle’s starting second baseman on the depth chart. The 24-year-old rode the Seattle-Tacoma shuttle several times. He finished 2019 with a slash line of .263/.333/.454/.787, which is an excellent place to start his 2020.
Dee Gordon is also in the mix at second. For now, he is the backup. This is the last season of Gordon’s guaranteed contract. However, Seattle holds an option for 2021. As the case has been for most of his career, Gordon once again posted low numbers in on-base percentage (.304) and OBP (.663) last year. He is running out of time to give the M’s a reason to keep him after this year. Dylan Moore and Tim Lopes round out the infielders.
Mallex Smith, Seattle mariners (Photo by Dinur via Flickr)
The starting outfield to open the season will be Kyle Lewis, Mallex Smith, and Jake Fraley. Smith slumped badly to open the season, hitting a putrid .191 through May. He found his game in the summer months batting .243, with a .723 OPS, and 25 stolen bases from June through August, before finishing the year on a horrendous 8-for-61 slump. To compete, the Mariners need Smith to be the .296/.367/.406/.773 slash line player he was with Tampa Bay in 2018.
Fraley and Lewis, the numbers nine and ten ranked prospects, respectively, both had a cup of coffee in the Majors last year. Lewis was particularly impressive with six home runs in 71 at-bats, including three in his first three MLB games. If he can be a little more selective at the plate, Lewis will become a very dangerous middle of the order batter.
Mitch Haniger starts the season on the 45-day injured list as he recovers from several nasty injuries. Depending on how his rehab goes, Haniger could return in mid-August.
Seattle might add Braden Bishop to the 30-man roster, though he was sent down to Tacoma before the end spring training in March. Additionally, top prospect Jarred Kelenic has a punchers chance to make the team, although he only played 21 games at the end of last season in Double-A ball. Gordon, Lopes, and Moore can all play the outfield.
Tom Murphy, Seattle Mariners. (Photo by Dinur via Flickr)
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.
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.