Seattle Mariners: The Pitching Future is Here Already
Andres Munoz
When Seattle acquired Andres Munoz from San Diego in the Austin Nola trade, not everybody knew about him. Arguably the headliners were Ty France and highly-touted prospect Taylor Trammell. Those who knew about Munoz were ecstatic by the acquisition. I said he would be the Seattle Mariners’ future closer when the trade happened.
The fireballer hasn’t disappointed in his return from Tommy John surgery. Before his injury, Munoz threw over 100 miles per hour. It took over a year-and-half for him to come back, but the 23-year-old is back to his triple-digit self.
On the season, he’s pitched seven innings, earning a win, save, and hold. All while allowing one home run, walking three, and striking out 14 to accompany his 2.57 ERA and 1.00 WHIP.
Munoz is a two-pitch pitcher. Along with that blazing heater, he throws a nasty 86.4 mph slider. Those two pitches have a combined 82.6 percent whiff rate. It’s almost not fair to hitters that he has two devastating pitches.
Currently, he is more slider-heavy by nearly a factor of two to one (63.3 percent compared to 36.7 for his fastball). It’s working nicely as Muniz K’s almost 60 percent of the batters he faces. With some more refinement and experience, this kid will be nasty out of the pen. Batters beware.
Since allowing a home run to Byron Buxton on April 9, Mariners reliever Andrés Muñoz has …
— Faced 25 batters
— Punched out 14 of them
— Allowed three hits
How has he done it? It's not (totally) the heater.https://t.co/8hPCWEky8m— Corey Brock (@CoreyBrockMLB) April 27, 2022