Category: Prospects

The Seattle Mariners’ farm system is shallow, lacks impact, lacks arms and is among the worst collections of talent in all of baseball. But there are some good things happening below the minors, suggesting a peak into an improving immediate future. Right-hander Rob Whalen gets back on track after a lost 2017, showing low-90s stuff with a plus curveball. Tommy Romero debuts with advanded feel and improving secondaries. Joe DeCarlo is taking to catching but his bat has shown up early and often in Double-A Arkansas. Middle infielder Donnie Walton…

The Seattle Mariners welcome pitchers, catchers and players rehabbing from injury to spring training next week, officially beginning the long trek that is the 2018 Major League Baseball season. But the club lacks the upside necessary to quiet doubters, and the restrictions on rebuilding the old-fashioned way may be fading fast. When Jerry Dipoto took the GM job in September of 2015, the belief was he’d try and rebuild on the run. That appears to be clear after two seasons and three winters.  What isn’t clear is the Mariners’ path…

Several outlets dole out minor league player of the year awards. Prospect Insider is different. Rather than player of the year, I focus on the Mariners prospects that made the most progress since this time last year. Occasionally, the two are one in the same — player of the year and prospect of the year. Usually they are different, and often the prospect of the year lacks the statistical performance of the player of the year award winners. Subscribe to Baseball Things Podcast for Under $1 Per Episode Players in…

The Seattle Mariners farm system reminds of the 1989 Cleveland Indians. Not the actual baseball team, but the one portrayed in Major League. About mid-season, Harry Doyle proclaimed the Indians were “threatening to climb out of the cellar.” While I don’t believe at any point the Mariners had the worst farm system in baseball, they were closer than they’d ever like to be. But they’ve improved and even jumped a few spots in the rankings — perhaps into the high teens or low 20s. It started last June when the…

I read. I watch. I listen. And the past few weeks I have read, watched and listened to a lot of folks discuss the Seattle Mariners and their trade deadline strategy. What it could be. What it should be. Why they should buy. Why they should sell. And so on. But it sounds to me like there’s a missing factor or three not being connected to the club’s current position. The Mariners are 39-39 entering play Tuesday night at Safeco Field versus the hapless Philadelphia Phillies. It just so happens…