Seattle Mariners: Rule 5 pick Will Vest big part of M’s bullpen turnaround
Joe Swenson
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2021 Season
Vest didn’t have a particularly great spring training. So far in the 2021 regular season, Vest has been outstanding. He’s only given up one earned run through 8.1 innings. During the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader against Baltimore, he managed a three-up-three-down inning on just seven pitches. That kind of efficiency will get him far in this business.
Vest features a strong spin-rate on his slider (2300+), but it’s his change-up that is absolutely unhittable. In fact, he’s thrown his change-up 29 times (21.5% of his pitches), and he has yet to give up a hit. He’s only given up five hits total (four on his fastball, one on his slider), so overall, he’s not very hittable.
The overall results through three weeks of major league baseball are outstanding. In a statistical oddity, Vest has a 1.08 ERA and WHIP with a .179 batting average against, no barreled-up balls, and a whole host of qualitative growth.
Mariners Bullpen Improvement
The Mariners bullpen was one of the worst in all of baseball last season. Will Vest is part of the reason that narrative has changed to start 2021. With two more innings of scoreless baseball Friday night, the Mariners bullpen ERA is 3.40, which is nearly two runs lower than in 2020, and Vest’s 1.08 ERA is helping to drive that down.
The closer situation for the Mariners appears to be up-in-the-air at present. With Opening Day closer Rafael Montero relegated to a set-up role after a few poor performances. Kendall Graveman and Keynan Middleton both picked up saves during Thursday’s doubleheader sweep. Vest was the set-up guy for Middleton’s save in the second game, and he’s a big part of the reason for the Mariners’ early success and 9-5 record.
Joe Swenson is a life-long Seattle Mariners fan, writer, director, producer, and editor for Broken Arts Entertainment and author of the Young-Adult Fiction novel, Letter #3.