The spring training season is halfway done for the most part with the Mariners less than 3 weeks away from opening day. The 2024 spring training season has been full of a lot of up and down rides for the Mariners this year. Dan Wilson’s first spring training as manager has shown lots of promise but also lots of worry. Here are my thoughts and views on the first half of spring training!
George Kirby’s Injury…
George Kirby is going to start the season on the Injured list, and this comes to be a worry for the Mariners. As the Mariners were one of the healthiest pitching rotations last year and this certainly attributed to the rotation’s extreme success. However, their most effective strike thrower is going to start the season on Injured List with shoulder inflammation. This is not what we wanted to see from Kirby and this staff before the season even started. However, worry not because thankfully this is just Shoulder Inflammation and not something much worse and it is supposedly “week-to-week”, Justin Hollander said. We also should be fine as Emerson Hancock the 6th pitcher in the Mariners rotation that was most likely going to start his season in AAA Tacoma will certainly make the opening day roster in place of Kirby and he is a more than fine replacement at the position. Hancock last year in 12 games of rookie ball had:
60.2 Innings
4-4 Record
4.75 ERA
1.335 Whip
While these are nothing stellar these should improve as he gets older, and this won’t be his first campaign with the Mariners as he was previously called up the past 2 seasons. He should look better considering he will start the season on the roster, and I expect him in this rotation to put up similar numbers with slight improvement. While Kirby’s injury is a setback for this rotation, the team should be able to recover and hopefully Kirby will be back soon.
Andres Munoz New Pitch
On the Bright side of pitching the Mariners best leverage arm Andres Munoz out of the bullpen also known as Senor Smoke has added some new heat to his game. This “kick change” we are calling it is a low 90’s changeup with of course some “kick” that the fans and media seem to be loving. If this 4th pitch can be added to Munoz repertoire, we could see the best leverage arm get even better and cement himself as one of the MLB’s best relievers and bullpen arms. Last year Munoz threw:
59.1 IP
60 Games
22 Saves
2.12 ERA
70 K’s
.961 WHIP
And this is some serious stuff from a bullpen guy but to think that a new pitch could take his game to another level is great sight to see.
Some Offensive Success Early On
The offense showed some promise after a rough first game of spring training following it up with 4 straight games of 10+ runs. They did eventually come back down to earth and of course it is only spring training, but this was very promising considering the poor offensive production from the Mariners for the most part of last year. This team looks to improve drastically on offense and just a league average offense should be able to ascend them into a playoff spot with this elite pitching core. The most pleasant offensive change from this spring training cycle is the resurgence of Mitch Garver, who last year was unfortunately one of the league’s worst hitters. With Edgar Martinez back in at hitting coach and Kevin Seitzer joining him we have seen Garver in 7 games hit:
17 AB
7 Hits
5 Runs
2 Home Runs
4 RBI’s
1 BB
This is a promising sign from Garver and hopefully we can see the player we thought we were getting after he won a World Series with the Rangers in 2023.
Some Young Promise
Harry Ford, Lazaro Montes, and Ryan Bliss have been some standouts so far this spring training with great offensive numbers so far. This is a great sight to see from the guy’s especially Montes and Ford as Montes is highly anticipated and young and Ford has become a mock trade piece and questioned on whether he is truly developing into a star like we thought he would be. So far Harry Ford has slashed .583/.667 and a 1.500 OPS in 12 at bats with yesterday his first home run of the spring training vs the Cubs. Montes on the other hand has been slashing .417/.563 and a 1.563 OPS with 4 walks and 2 homers in 12 at bats showing he might live up to his highly touted comparison of Yordan Alvarez. Ryan Bliss on the other hand a competitor for the opening day 2nd base position has shown off that he can hit the fastball this year with 6 hits and 4 of those being 3 doubles and a triple. He has not gotten any walks so far this spring training, but we have seen some improvements from the speedy infielder.
Continued Pitching Excellence
We have seen some great signs from the pitchers this spring training. When it comes to our starters Bryan Woo has been the best in his first 2 appearances allowing 1 hit in 2 starts of 4 innings pitched. He has a 0.50 WHIP so far with 6 K’s and 1 walk showing that he may be in for a strong 3rd season in the Mariners uniform. Newcomers Casey Legumina and Josh Fleming have shown up with 0.00 ERA’s as well and effective work in their first couple of games. Another year and another Mariners bullpen that has taken over some rejects and troubled guys and made them stars potentially with Josh Fleming a career 4.77 ERA and Legumina a career 6.95 ERA. Another promising player yet not conveyed in his stats is Shintaro Fujinami former Oriole and Athletic. He has shown some great pitches and lacks some technical aspects but hopefully this pitching staff can unlock him as he looks to be a good arm if that’s the case.
I am headed to Spring Training right now as I write this on a flight to Phoenix and am excited to see the team in person and hopefully this year we can see some promising games and can’t wait to see how we finish the spring training campaign.
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