Mariners Minor League Recap, Week 14: July 1 - July 7

The calm before the storm (of incoming draftees)

Welcome back to this week’s minor league roundup! This will be the last roundup before a major influx of players enters the system via the first year player draft. Moving forward, I’ll be sure to include updates on as many of the new guys as I can without forgetting the older ones who got us to this point. Without further adieu, let’s take a look at a Tacoma team who’s starting to kick things into gear.

Tacoma Rainiers

6-6, T-2nd in PCL West

It was a nice bounce back week for the Rainiers as they take the series against Salt Lake by a score of 4-2. They got some stellar performances on both sides of the ball this week and continue to be a steady force in the PCL. They’re not all that flashy and are definitely led by their small handful of prospects, but with some inevitable roster churn approaching alongside the trade deadline, don’t be surprised if Tacoma can make a run for a playoff spot.

The trio of Tyler Locklear (6-22, 2 HR, 4/4 K/BB), Spencer Packard (5-17, 2 HR), and Jonatan Clase (7-25, 3 HR, 3 SB) was superb for the Rainiers this week and have injected life into a previously mundane Tacoma squad. The three of them have been slugging their way to success over the first week of July and all feature OPS numbers right around 1.000 for the month so far. Clase is still struggling to avoid Ks at a reasonable rate and Packard could be hitting the ball a little harder, but overall they’re showing as promising options that could fill in on the fringes of a major league roster.

On the bump, the recently promoted Blas Castano was good in two outings against the Bees. The 25 year old entered the system mid way through last season and has pitched some pretty solid innings for both Arkansas and Tacoma. He’s nothing more than emergency depth at this point, but he’s earned his spot in Tacoma and will help log some innings for the Rainiers down the stretch.

Next up: Tacoma heads down to Albuquerque

Arkansas Travelers

6-6, 3rd in Texas League North

The Travs fell to a tough Rough Riders team this week with a couple close wins, a couple close losses, and a couple games that really just got away from them in every sense. Regardless of the outcome on the field, there’s plenty to talk about regarding some key players on the roster and how they’ll play out the rest of their tenure with the Travs.

Top prospect Harry Ford seems to be flashing some positional versatility, making his first start in LF as a professional. While this is unlikely to be a permanent change, with the trade deadline looming, it’s very possible the front office may be looking to showcase Ford in a variety of roles for opposing scouts. The numbers may not be jumping off the page right now after a brutal month of June, but Ford possesses elite chase rates and still shows a good understanding of the strike zone. He’s sure to be an attractive piece for a rebuilding club if they choose to move him.

Logan Evans, who was moved into a bullpen role with the intent of expediting him to the big leagues, will be returning to the rotation despite his solid showing out of the ‘pen. The team was looking for a bigger uptick in stuff over a shorter outing and has decided it’s more valuable for him to get some extra reps as a starter. While I don’t think expediting his development to the big leagues would’ve been a bad move, I do know that a slower, more traditional path has worked incredibly well for this team historically and I more than trust their judgment in all matters pitching. The long term value for Evans lies in his ability to start and giving him every opportunity to so can’t be a bad thing. Arkansas will have a remarkable rotation with Evans, Brandyn Garcia (who was absolutely phenomenal in his Arkansas debut), and Michael Morales (who was less phenomenal) for the remainder of the year.

Next up: Arkansas heads down to Midland

Everett AquaSox

8-7, T-3rd in Northwest League

The Frogs are yet to take off in the early weeks of the second half, finishing with yet another split against the Canadians. Vancouver hamstrung the Everett lineup a bit with their Canadian-ness blocking Lazaro Montes in the states due to some visa issues, but Montes got to hang out with Tacoma in the meantime and seemed to enjoy taking in the game from the dugout. Even without Lazaro for the first half of the split series, there were some major offensive performances that really turned some heads.

One of those performances came via RJ Schreck, who has been on an absolute heater for the last month and a half. With an 8-23 series that included five extra base hits, Schreck has elevated his season slash line to .263/.406/.466, good for an .872 OPS. In fact, since June 1st, Schreck is running a gaudy 1.062 OPS and is walking more than he strikes out. The lefty corner outfielder is a little old for the level at 23 years of age, but he’s easily been Everett’s best hitter this summer. If he hangs around for the rest of the season, he and Lazaro are sure to make one of the most lethal corner outfield duos in all of Hi-A.

Will Schomberg made his Hi-A debut for the Frogs this week and did not disappoint. Allowing just one run across five innings pitched and striking out six, Schomberg has been punching tickets left and right all season and now has 103 Ks across 75.1 IP. We unfortunately don’t have access to the MiLB footage due to some technical difficulties, but there will be plenty of opportunities to watch Will pitch over the remainder of the season.

Next up: The Frogs head to Spokane.

Modesto Nuts

7-8, 2nd in California League North

The Nuts haven’t been themselves in the second half. With much of their juggernaut lineup missing due to both injury and promotion, the Nuts actually feature a negative run differential in the second half after their two losses over the weekend. Modesto is likely to get some big reinforcements via the draft this week and I’m certainly not all that worried about the long term outlook for the Nuts, but this lineup is in need of some impact. A seasoned college bat (or three) would do wonders for Modesto’s playoff run.

Aidan Smith remains the steadying force in Modesto’s lineup with Colt Emerson still easing back into full playing time. Logging a 9-23 week with a pair of doubles, Smith continues to impress at the plate and absolutely looks the part of an upper echelon prospect. There’s legitimate power to the pull-side, he swings at the right pitches, and his outfield defense is tremendous. He doesn’t quite get the acclaim as the eight top 100 prospects in this system, but I have little doubt he’ll be a major factor for this system moving forward.

It wasn’t a very good week on the mound for the usually stout Modesto pitching staff, however Brody Hopkins had an absolutely stellar performance in one of Modesto’s better wins this series. Working six innings with 80 pitches, Hopkins managed to K ten batters and only allowed two earned runs. His relative inexperience as a full time pitcher has seen him lose the thread at times, but it’s stellar stuff when he’s got it all dialed in. Hopkins now features a 3.26 ERA on the season and was recently ranked as the 7th best prospect in the entire Mariner system by Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs.

Next up: Inland Empire, the Angels affiliate.

ACL Mariners

22-24, 2nd in ACL West

Injury update: Felnin Celesten, who’s been held out of games the past few weeks, is nursing a bit of a sore wrist. Our very own Kate Preusser talked with Justin Hollander and it sounds as though it’s largely precautionary. They want to be extra careful with the young shortstop before he returns to playing full time.

Walter Ford worked his third consecutive scoreless outing, striking out a batter an inning across four frames. Ford’s season ERA now sits at 3.25.

Jeter Martinez again fell victim to the walk monster this week. He rarely had issues like this in the DSL last season and leads me to suspect it has something to do with his pitches not drawing the same chase rates at the higher level, but frankly, it’s all just very puzzling to me. Young pitching! You never really know what you’ve got.

DSL Mariners

7-17, 7th in Dominican Summer League Central

This is just sad at this point. A winless week puts the DSL Mariners on the doorstep of the cellar, just barely edging out the White Sox squad by a half game. Dawel Joseph actually had a three hit week this week, but his numbers have still been dreadful thus far with zero power to speak of. I don’t want to kick this team while they’re down, so I’m going to leave it here and hope for the best.

That wraps it up for this week! Be on the lookout for the upcoming draft content and GOMS!