Prospect Insider - Spring Training Preview: Game 6

Spring Training Preview: Game 6

By Alex Carson

By 02-27-2013

Another Cactus League game and another come from behind win for the Seattle Mariners as they toppled the Milwaukee Brewers yesterday 6-5. Down a run in the eighth inning, Carlos Peguero ripped a double the other way (no, seriously) so he could be on board when Justin Smoak demolished a pitch for a towering dinger to right.

Throw out all the small sample and spring-doesn't-matter caveats you want. Smoak got a hittable pitch from a quality pitcher -- Milwaukee closer John Axford -- and didn't miss it. That means something.

Franklin Gutierrez and Michael Saunders also had homers in the game. Theirs came in back-to-back fashion in the second inning off starter Yovani Gallardo. Gutierrez's shot was perhaps the most impressive of the day as it was hit over the 25-foot batters eye in dead center field, 400 feet from home plate. Here's what matters about that: Franklin Gutierrez is healthy and has his strength.

Wednesday's contest comes on the road in Goodyear, where the M's will take on the re-tooled Cleveland Indians. The game will be broadcast on 710 ESPN Seattle on a delay (airing this evening). You can catch the broadcast live via Gameday or the MLB At Bat app on your mobile device.

Lineup
4-L Dustin Ackley
7-R Casper Wells
5-R Kyle Seager
3-S Kendrys Morales
0-L Raul Ibanez
8-L Michael Saunders
2-R Ronny Paulino
9-L Carlos Peguero
6-R Brendan Ryan

Pitchers for Wednesday
Top pitching prospect Danny Hultzen will get his first start for the Mariners this spring. The southpaw will face right-handed veteran Brett Myers.

Hultzen has only pitched one inning thus far, but he looked good as he struck out two Padres batters and didn't allow a base runner. He faces a better hitting team today, so we'll continue to add to the sample to see how Hultzen has changed things up after his struggles in Tacoma last summer.

The M's have fewer pitchers scheduled today, so perhaps the plan is for Hultzen to go two innings. He's still the closest of "The Big Three" -- whoops, check that -- "The Big Four" to the bigs, regardless of his Tacoma woes in 2012. So, forward moving strides would be nice to see, even if it's only over a couple frames.

Be forewarned: There will be a Hector Noesi sighting in this game.

Other pitchers scheduled to appear
Taijuan Walker, Charlie Furbush, Hector Noesi, Lucas Luetge, Stephen Pryor, Josh Kinney, Jhonny Nunez.

Thursday's pitchers
Jon Garland, Blake Beavan, Erasmo Ramirez, Tom Wilhelmsen, Carter Capps, Yoervis Medina, Chance Ruffin.

Fun facts
Though the Indians moved back to the Cactus League in 2009, the M's did not face the Tribe last spring... Since 2009, the Mariners are 2-3-2 against the Indians in spring play... Today is "National Polar Bear Day," which is only kinda-sorta interesting because "The Polar Bear" is the nickname for Mariners third base coach Jeff Datz... Wow, there really were not a lot of fun facts to pass along today...

spring-training-preview:-game-6

Comments
The following 12 comment(s) for this article are shown below:

1. By: maqman on 02-27-2013 11:18:42
"The Polar Bear?" Datz silly.

I like the look of this group, hits, home runs, coming back from behind.

I think we got hosed on Noesi.

2. By: Edman on 02-27-2013 11:29:58
It's way early with a small sample size, but it's good to see Martinez and Morban swinging the bat well.

I think it's still a little early to make a decision about Noesi, but if he can't grasp the mental game needed to be an MLB pitcher, you're probably right. He has the stuff, but as I've often said, stuff is worthless without application.

3. By: Paul Martin on 02-27-2013 11:37:33
Nice to see Smoak off to a great start. While he hit .378 last spring, he had ZERO home runs. Most impressive is seeing him hit them from the left side. Spring just started but it is encouraging...

4. By: nwmsfan on 02-27-2013 11:53:38
I'm not down there but it sounds like Smoak's results are visible with balls clearing gaps and over fences. Sure spring numbers don't matter but results for me are what you see and hear and so far, so good. This reminds me of Saunders last year and that turned out to be sustainable

I can't remember a spring where I've been more intrigued by the roster top to bottom. Health is key and if that goes our way July 31 could be fun

5. By: Docmilo on 02-27-2013 12:06:13
My guess is even if Hultzen is lights out this spring, he starts in Tacoma until at least June for super 2 purposes. It would be nice to see Hultzen shut down the Tribe.

6. By: Paul Martin on 02-27-2013 12:15:26
@5 I think a lot of teams are going to regret not making their offensive players available to us via trade when Jack made them available in the right deal this past offseason.

7. By: Docmilo on 02-27-2013 12:46:49
Paul, no kidding. The value of these kids are just going to go thru the roof.

How about Peguero with a homer to left?!

8. By: rotoenquire on 02-27-2013 16:58:53
Peguero blasted 2 homers and looks to be strking out less. Could be a fun year for the M's offense.

9. By: Paul Martin on 02-27-2013 17:17:04
@8 Is he just hitting fastballs that pitchers are grooving in just getting their work done? Are they throwing him off speed stuff and curve balls? I just never thought Peguero would ever figure it out. If he did, this is a major bonus!!!

10. By: rjfrik on 02-27-2013 19:33:06
Im not sure if Paxton has pitched yet but Hultzen, Walker and Maurer have been very very impressive. If they keep this up through the year we will have a plethora of young SP's. Felix, Iwamura, Ramirez, the big four, a couple of them will have to go.

With the success of our young players and the way the Marlins owner is handling that team, I fully expect Stanton to be traded in the next year. I think we could make a very attractive offer for him. Just saying.

I think Smoak has his first in a long line of good years. He seems to have carried over his momentum from the end of the season last year. He could be this years Pedro Alvarez. Sometimes it takes these guys a few years to figure it out. The great thing is we literally have three guys (Ackley, Montero, Smoak) who fit that mold, guys who take a few years to figure it out and then hopefully sustain it through their careers. Let's hope. They would make a hell of a trio to build around, along with Zunino.

11. By: cpuglisi on 02-27-2013 22:46:39
I don't see the young pitchers making the team. Even though they have been impressive. Even though they won't make it, there not that far off. If I had to guess on which pitcher, I would pick Hultzen. Even though he probably needs more seasoning, this guy looks like a immediate impact pitcher. I think the idea that the mariners are the farm team of baseball is going away because they are holding onto these guys. Jason, I would like to get your opinion on Kameron Loe because he is really intriguing to me. Does he really have shot to make an already stacked and young bullpen? If he does who do you send down?

12. By: cigarsmokeaswirl on 02-27-2013 23:16:14
i'm new to your site so Hope not being rude here tochimr e in on question, I think it comes down to Capps or Prior, they both have options and are basically the same pitcher. Loe can go long as well as induce the ground ball, I'd prefer they keep Capps, Priors ball seems to strighten out a bit more and stays up, I think hes going to be good, But Capps is really electric, so far it appears hes throwin about 70 percent breaking balls this spring.

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