| By Jason A. Churchill |  | By 02-24-2013 |
The Seattle Mariners bounced back from a poor offensive effort in Game 1 of the Cactus League schedule with a 3-homer effort Saturday, including 2-run shots by Jason Bay and Justin Smoak.
Smoak's came off right-hander Brad Boxberger on a 3-1 count. Bay also drew two walks.
Other highlights include the 7-pitch masterpiece by left-hander Danny Hultzen. The seven offerings got Hultzen through three outs -- all were strikes, two were strikeouts. Think about that for a second.
Taijuan Walker and Carson Smith also tossed a scoreless inning in relief of starter Blake Beavan, who unveiled his new delivery. The 6-foot-7 right-hander is trying to stay taller and on top of his pitches better in attempt to create more downward plane, which could help him induce more ground balls -- a good thing -- and more plane WILL help him keep the ball in the ballpark.
The wind-up version of his new mechanics looks very similar to that of Derek Lowe, who, not coincidentally, has made a very good career out of getting ground balls. Beavan's slider may benefit most from this new delivery, but I don't expect enough change that he'll now have an out pitch.
Sunday's tilt will again be on 710 ESPN Seattle -- check out new broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith and Rick Rizzs on the call.
Lineup
1. Kyle Seager, 3B
2. Robert Andino, 2B
3. Raul Ibanez, RF
4. Michael Morse, LF
5. Michael Saunders, CF
6. Jesus Montero, DH
7. Vinnie Vatricala, 1B
8. Mike Zunino, C
9. Nick Franklin SS
Pitchers for Sunday
Erasmo Ramirez will get the start Sunday and likely go about two innings. He's among those vying for a rotation spot so every pitch he throws is meaningful.
Also expected to throw Sunday are lefties James Paxton, Charlie Furbush and Lucas Luetge, and right-hander Tom Wilhelmsen, Stephen Pryor, Carter Capps and Yoervis Medina.
Monday's pitchers
Monday the M's will take on the Angels in Peoria with Jeremy Bonderman starting his first game of the spring. Right-handers Brandon Maurer, Andrew Carraway, D.J. Mitchell, Chance Ruffin, Logan Bawcom and Danny Farquhar, and left-handers Anthony Fernandez and Brian Moran are each expected to pitch.
TV Games
Six Cactus League games will be televised via Root Sports with the first coming March 4 against the Rockies. Also scheduled for TV: March 17 vs. Texas, March 19 vs. San Francisco, March 21 vs. Cubs, March 23 vs. Cleveland and March 30 vs. Colorado.
Fun facts
Courtesy of the Seattle Mariners media relations department: Walker was 20 years and 194 days old Saturday, the youngest player in big-league camp. The right-hander was not even born when Raul Ibanez debuted with the rookie league Peoria Mariners in June, 1992... M's prospect John Hicks led all minor league catchers with a caught-stealing percentage of 53.8. He gunned down 57 of 106 runners attempting to steal, a remarkable percentage and raw total considering young pitchers struggle holding runners and young fielders tend to make catch-and-tag mistakes quite often... The M's currently have 61 players in camp, including 21 non-roster invitees. Of those 61, there are 32 pitchers (23 RHP, 9 LHP), six catchers, 13 infielders and 10 outfielders...
spring-training-preview:-game-3
Comments
The following 15 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: maqman on 02-24-2013 11:15:43 I believe Hicks also got two hits in two PA yesterday. He has some pop, SLG .472 with a .824 OPS at high desert last year, although he only threw out 8 of 30 base runners trying to steal. I'm guessing they will move him up to Jackson this season. The Incredible Hultz couldn't have hardly pitched any better than 3 outs on 7 strikes thrown. Hopefully that's a portent of things to come but I'm not holding my breath. He took some lumps last season though and it seems he learned from it. Bay could make things interesting if he has indeed "re-found his swing." With Wells thumping a homer in the first game it doesn't look like he's going without a fight. If Raul keeps dropping balls he could be facing early retirement. |
| 2. By: Jason A. Churchill on 02-24-2013 11:20:03 He did, maqman, but neither was all that impressive. Seeing-eye single on a ground ball and his soft liner was a pitch he reached for out of the zone -- not something I wanted to brag about here. ;) |
| 3. By: Marlin Man on 02-24-2013 11:38:17 #1 post- "if" Raul keeps dropping balls???? When in the heck has he ever NOT dropped/chopped balls/plays out there?? Everyone knows what you get from Raul in the field. LOL M.M. |
| 4. By: Paul Martin on 02-24-2013 13:41:24 Granderson of the Yankees breaks his arm! Could we trade them a Jason Bay? |
| 5. By: Jason A. Churchill on 02-24-2013 14:56:02 Wells, maybe. Bay isn't going anywhere. |
| 6. By: Edman on 02-24-2013 15:35:58 LOL.....whatever, Paul. |
| 7. By: Jason A. Churchill on 02-24-2013 15:40:14 Not sure I get the hatred of Bay. If he hits, he deserves to make the team. |
| 8. By: candasharp on 02-24-2013 15:53:31 I think the Yankees might look towards Bourjos or Trumbo, one of the outfielders on the Athletics, or maybe Stubbs/Brantley on the Tribe roster. |
| 9. By: Mackie on 02-24-2013 16:06:02 I agree with Jason in comment #7. Some of the positions are pretty much set, but for ones where there is more competition, I'd like to see whoever does the best job in Spring Training be who the team takes north. If Bay has a great spring and makes the team, I'm happy with it. And if we're talking about guys people seem to not like very much, same goes for Smoak. We all have our favorites, but the team needs all the help it can get... and I want to see the team made up of 25 guys who are most ready to help. I'm highly skeptical of Smoak and Bay, but I am cheering for them. Bravo to both of them for getting off to good starts! Cool about Hultzen! That's a great start to his spring training! |
| 10. By: Edman on 02-24-2013 18:03:25 Good teams don't play favorites when you have had an epically bad offense over the last three years. If Bay can be an effective option, then let's find out, and not pass judgement too early. It won't hurt Wells at all to have a little competition though-out training camp. It's not like he's been consistent enough to deserve a spot on the 25 man roster. For anyone to worry about the roster right now is foolish. The first couple weeks of Spring Training are about giving players as many ABs as possible, to be able to make roster determinations when the team rolls into the regular season. |
| 11. By: Gibbo on 02-24-2013 19:00:00 I would love to see a bounce back year from Bay, if it helps the M's win more games I dont care about who misses out on the the 25 man roster. To be honest it looks like there are not that many spots up for grabs anyway. So if Wells and Bay battle that sopot out then great and it would be really interesting to see a good battle for the last rotations spot, thats assuming Felix, Saunders, Iwakuma and Rameriz have the first 4 spots booked. |
| 12. By: Bookbook on 02-24-2013 19:38:21 I'm frankly surprised Wells is still on the team. He needs a change-of-scenery, and the M's have never seemed to fully value his contributions. |
| 13. By: sexymarinersfan on 02-24-2013 19:42:50 So far: Wells has 1 HR Smoak has 1 HR Bay has 1 HR Ibanez has 1 HR The race is pretty tight so far!! lol Seriously I know it's way too early but it's awesome that the guys I just mentioned have shown up ready to hit!! They all seem to have more speculation than the rest of the team as to why they might not make the 25 man roster. |
| 14. By: Wishhiker on 02-24-2013 20:41:24 Good point, sexym. Aside from HR we're seeing good hitting in general from the while club with plenty of 2b and pretty good OBP too. If we ignore Noesi, the pitching has been very good from all those competing for spots and even really in general. Game 2 they only gave up 3XBH 1 walk (Laframbios) and had 5 BB/4XBH, Game 3 they gave up 2 XBH, all 5BB were given up by Wilhelmsen, Capps, Pryor and Luetge who I'm not worried about and while the hitters only received 1 BB the 8 XBH were very heartening. All in all things are looking pretty good so far. If we ignore the opener that was started out so deflatingly by Noesi things look even better. Ready to see a new opponent though. |
| 15. By: maqman on 02-25-2013 11:12:15 Frankly I had not expected much out of Bay and it is early days but I'm happy to see some meaningful competition for spots on the roster. As I recall last year's spring training was not overly encouraging. This year is shaping up to be significantly better. What do they do if everyone keeps mashing? What a wonderful problem to have. |
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