Continuing to emphasize development, Mariners load up 60-man player pool with prospects
The Seattle Mariners will continue to let the kids play — or at least practice — in 2020.
With the shortened Major League Baseball season set to begin in less than a month, the Mariners released their league-mandated 60-man player pool for the summer version of camp Sunday afternoon.
The collection of major leaguers who were expected to make the everyday roster out of spring training in March are all in the pool — and should still make up most of Seattle’s active roster — but so are most of the organization’s up-and-coming prospects.
There are 37 players in the pool with MLB experience, but 17 of them debuted in 2019, meaning the Mariners are continuing to trend young and focus on developing players in hopes of a brighter future for a big league club that hasn’t advanced to the playoffs since 2001.
The players invited to this second iteration of spring training include the 37 currently on the 40-man roster and 22 non-roster invites. Seattle has invited 23 of its top 30 prospects to either spend the summer with the big league club or eventually work out in Tacoma at Cheney Stadium with the other reserve players in the pool. Four of the club’s six 2020 MLB Draft picks were also invited.
“We are entering into this really viewing it as a 17-month process,” Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said last week about how the club will approach a season that has been significantly shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. “How are we going to build our pitcher innings over the next 17 months? What does 2020 plus 2021 look like for the Mariners?
“We are viewing this as almost the beginning of an on-boarding for the next 17 months and messaging it to the players like that — we have your best interests in mind, we are going to preserve your health and well being above all other things, and along the way we’re going to compete our butts off and try to win as many of these 60 games as we can win.
“And, who knows what can happen in a season like (this), when it’s 60 games. Anybody can get hot and make a run, and I guess to that extent we have as good a shot as anybody, but we’re also highly focused on the big picture and it will stay that way.”
When the season begins on either July 23 or 24, teams will be allowed to carry 30 players on their active roster for two weeks, 28 for the two weeks after that and then 26 through the remainder of the 60-game season.
Seattle’s 60-man player pool includes 32 pitchers, five catchers, 16 infielders and seven outfielders.
Right-handed reliever Austin Adams remains on the 60-day injured list, but is expected to be able to fully participate in camp and be activated for the season.
Outfielder Mitch Haniger has been moved to the 60-day IL as he continues to rehab from offseason surgery. There is no timeline for his return, but he is still eligible for the season and can be added to the active roster upon returning from the IL.
Here is a look at Seattle’s 60-man player pool, and a detailed breakdown of each position group. Non-roster invites are denoted with an asterisk and MLB.com prospect rankings are listed in parenthesis.
PITCHERS (32)
RHP Austin Adams
RHP Dan Altavilla
RHP Gerson Bautista
RHP Brandon Brennan
RHP Isaiah Campbell* (No. 12)
LHP Nestor Cortes
RHP Sam Delaplane* (No. 21)
RHP Justin Dunn (No. 7)
RHP Carl Edwards Jr.
LHP Aaron Fletcher* (No. 20)
RHP Joey Gerber* (No. 19)
RHP Logan Gilbert* (No. 3)
LHP Marco Gonzales
RHP Kendall Graveman
RHP Zac Grotz
LHP Taylor Guilbeau (No. 23)
RHP Emerson Hancock*
RHP Yoshihisa Hirano
LHP Yusei Kikuchi
RHP George Kirby* (No. 5)
RHP Matt Magill
LHP Nick Margevicius
LHP Anthony Misiewicz*
RHP Ljay Newsome* (No. 28)
RHP Yohan Ramirez
LHP Justus Sheffield (No. 13)
RHP Erik Swanson
RHP Juan Then* (No. 14)
RHP Taijuan Walker
RHP Art Warren (No. 26)
RHP Taylor Williams
RHP Brandon Williamson* (No. 11)
The skinny: The league is not imposing a limit on how many pitchers teams can carry on their active rosters this season, meaning the Mariners have a chance to keep several extra arms — both young and veteran — around for a longer look as their starters get stretched back out after a three-month break. ... How Seattle’s Opening Day bullpen would shake out was still way up in the air midway through March, but having additional space available now should lead to opportunities for up-and-comers like Delaplane, Gerber and Fletcher — who would have to be added to the 40-man roster to pitch in games — or young returners like Brennan and Guilbeau, who might have just missed the big league cut this spring. … Dipoto said last week Seattle plans to open the season with a six-man rotation so its starters — Gonzales, Kikuchi, Graveman, Walker, Sheffield and Dunn — only have to pitch once a week. The Mariners will also consider having starters piggyback off each other early on, Dipoto said. The addition of the sixth starter makes room for Dunn, who pitched well enough to make the Opening Day roster in the spring, but still seemed headed for a start in Triple-A Tacoma. … Adams was one of the Mariners’ most productive relievers last season before a shoulder strain derailed him in July. He returned briefly in September before an ACL tear ended his season. He has been recovering from surgery since October and opened spring camp on the 60-day IL in February, but will be ready to go when the Mariners resume workouts this week. “He’s been throwing max bullpens and facing live hitters down in the Tampa area, and he’s ready,” Dipoto said. … Each of Seattle’s three most recent first-round draft picks — Hancock (Georgia, 2020), Kirby (Elon, 2019) and Gilbert (Stetson, 2018) — will be in camp and likely spend the summer continuing to develop in Tacoma. Gilbert perhaps has an outside shot of seeing the field with the big league club — had the season started on time, he may have already reached Seattle by this point — but the Mariners aren’t keen on pushing him to debut in a shortened season. “The intent was that he would have pitched a half season by now at the Double-A or Triple-A level to prepare himself,” Dipoto said. “Now, the idea of taking players who haven’t had those experiences or been built up appropriately, and just throwing them into the deep end of the pool at a time when the threat of injury, if not handled properly, is higher — we have to manage that properly, and we will.”
CATCHERS (5)
Joe Hudson*
Tom Murphy
Austin Nola
Brian O’Keefe*
Cal Raleigh* (No. 8)
The skinny: Each club will be allowed to bring a three-player “Taxi Squad” on road trips this season if players need to be replaced due to injury or COVID-19, and it must include a catcher, so the Mariners could eventually elevate one of their non-roster invites to the 40-man roster, or perhaps look outside the organization if there’s ever an immediate need at the position. ... Murphy and Nola were expected to be Seattle’s catching tandem this season, while Nola’s versatility also makes him an extra option in the infield. ... Hudson signed a minor league contract with the Mariners in January and is the only other catcher in the pool with MLB experience. ... Raleigh is the club’s top catching prospect, and had his share of reps in the spring, but was still expected to spend a full season in the minors.
INFIELDERS (16)
J.P. Crawford
Dee Gordon
Sam Haggerty
Tyler Keenan*
Shed Long Jr.
Tim Lopes
Jose Marmolejos*
Noelvi Marte* (No. 6)
Dylan Moore
Kaden Polcovich*
Kyle Seager
Austin Shenton* (No. 17)
Daniel Vogelbach
Donovan Walton (No. 24)
Evan White (No. 4)
Patrick Wisdom
The skinny: What allows the Mariners to remain so fixated on their rebuild during this peculiar season is how much positional flexibility they already have available on the 40-man roster. “We have enough utility players who play all over the field that we feel confident we don’t need a breadth of bodies” in the reserve group, Dipoto said. Moore and Lopes were both reliable moving around the field for the Mariners last season, and were raking this spring as they battled for an Opening Day utility spot. Both are primarily infielders, but also serviceable outfielders when needed. Haggerty has played every infield and outfield position in his professional career except first base, and Wisdom has ample experience at both corners. Marmolejos, who has logged nearly 4,500 innings at first base in the minors and nearly another 1,500 in the outfield, is another option the Mariners liked this spring. … The long-awaited debut of White as the Mariners’ everyday first baseman is almost here (again). Seattle’s first-round pick in 2017, White signed an unprecedented six-year deal with the club in November without ever having played a game in the majors. … Seager, now Seattle’s longest-tenured player after the offseason departure of former ace Felix Hernandez, will resume his regular role at third base, and Crawford seemed poised for a breakout season in his second year as the club’s starting shortstop before camp was suspended. … The Mariners still plan to move forward with Long as their starting second baseman after moving Gordon, in the final year of a five-year contract, into more a utility role. … Marte was one of the top international prospects when he signed with the Mariners in 2018. The 18-year-old shortstop slugged at .511 in his professional debut with the Dominican Summer League Mariners last season. … Shenton, a Bellingham High School product, is the top third baseman in Seattle’s farm system and was promoted to Low-A West Virginia about a month after he was drafted last summer. … Polcovich (third round, No. 78 overall) and Keenan (fourth, No. 107) are both members of Seattle’s 2020 draft class.
OUTFIELDERS (7)
Braden Bishop (No. 18)
Zach DeLoach*
Jake Fraley (No. 9)
Jarred Kelenic* (No. 1)
Kyle Lewis (No. 10)
Julio Rodriguez* (No. 2)
Mallex Smith
The skinny: Seattle’s outfield depth remains thin with Haniger still working his way back from a series of injuries that date back to last June, but the Opening Day outfield figures to look the same as it would have if the season had started on time. Smith will resume his regular role in center field, and the Mariners will get extended looks at both Lewis, their first-round pick in 2016, and Fraley, who tore through the minors in 2019 only to have his late-summer promotion to Seattle cut short by a thumb injury. Bishop should also see more time after losing most of his debut season to a lacerated spleen. … As exciting as the prospect duo of Kelenic and Rodriguez are, don’t expect to see them play for the big league club this season. Kelenic vowed to make it to the big leagues at some point in 2020 when he visited T-Mobile Park last season, but that was before the COVID-19 pandemic cost him three months of an important developmental season. Dipoto hasn’t completely ruled out the possibility of his top prospect — who showed signs of what’s to come this spring — somehow winding up in a Mariners uniform this summer, but it’s not likely. … DeLoach (second round, No. 43 overall) is a member of Seattle’s 2020 draft class, and ripped up the SEC this spring, slashing at .421/.547/.789 before his junior season at Texas A&M was cut short by the pandemic.
This story was originally published June 28, 2020 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Continuing to emphasize development, Mariners load up 60-man player pool with prospects."
