Series Preview: Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins

After sweeping the Cardinals in St. Louis, the Mariners proceed their annual early-season cursèd march by the Midwest with a stopoff in Minnesota, the well-known not-roof-havers. The Twins are recent off their very own sweeping, at the arms of former Mariner Ben Williamson and the Tampa Bay Rays. They’ve misplaced 5 straight and 9 of their final ten, as they’re beginning to actually appear like the crew PECOTA predicted for below 80 wins.

The Twins are in rebuild mode, so have already introduced up (and despatched down) a few their MLB-ready pitching prospects, one among whom will make the beginning on Monday towards the Mariners: lefty Connor Prielipp, which means the Mariners should pull out their righty-heavy lineup once more within the collection opener. Offensively, Minnesota introduced up contact-monster infielder Luke Keaschall for a pair months final season and he continues on with the crew this season, however has dropped off considerably after a torrid begin to his MLB profession. The Twins’ different prime offensive prospects, Walker Jenkins and Kaelen Culpepper, stay at Triple-A for now; Jenkins is working again from a hamstring harm, and Culpepper remains to be gaining expertise at the extent. The prime prospects are shut however nonetheless a methods away for Minnesota, so the Mariners will see the group that remained after the Twins stripped down the crew final commerce deadline (particularly bullpen-wise), accented by their modest low season upgrades reasonably than a full youth motion.

Byron Buxton is the Twins’ leadoff man and the non secular coronary heart of this crew, though he’s slowing down because the perpetually-injured outfielder strikes by his early 30s. He’s adopted by Trevor Larnach, whose efficiency has aggravated Twins followers sufficient that they were trying to trade him to Seattle this off-season. Josh Bell, one of many aforementioned modest low season upgrades, often hits third, and those that have lengthy clamored for Josh Bell, Seattle Mariner, will likely be happy to know that he continues to be Josh Bell. We stan a constant king.

Things get spongy after that, as supervisor Derek Shelton has tried just a few completely different lineup combos. Usually one of many Twins’ catchers bats cleanup, often Ryan Jeffers however switch-hitting Victor Caratini, who can even play first base, can slot in round there too. Then it’s a spin-the-wheel to see what the underside half of the lineup spits out in what order. Third baseman Royce Lewis will likely be in there someplace, together with shortstop Brooks Lee, off to a stable begin this yr; the outfield is the same mixture of bench gamers all steadfastly ignoring the “starting jobs this way” signal.

The Twins promoted Connor Prielipp final week to make his main league debut towards the Mets. He accomplished 4 innings, permitting two runs on 4 hits whereas hanging out six. Entering the season, he was ranked because the Twins prime pitching prospect and their third total prospect. A pair of significant elbow accidents — one in school in 2021 and one within the minors in ‘23 — have curtailed his development somewhat, but his raw stuff has continued to look dominant. His best pitch is a superb slider that features tight, downward movement and higher than average velocity. His fastball is fine — it’s the pitch he can command the perfect at the second — and his changeup has flashed some promise, although he has bother together with his really feel for that offspeed pitch.

Joe Ryan survived the Twins unload final summer season, and with Pablo López sidelined with Tommy John surgical procedure this yr, he has change into the de facto ace of the pitching employees. His four-seam fastball is among the finest in baseball. He’s in a position to generate an especially flat strategy angle with the pitch due to an excellent quantity of journey and a very low arm angle. His ongoing difficulty has been making an attempt to determine the correct mix of secondary pitches to pair together with his heater. He’s now throwing three completely different breaking balls and a splitter to maintain batters off his fastball.

The Twins acquired Taj Bradley from the Rays final summer season in a deal that has turned out to be considerably of a coup. Back in 2023, Bradley was probably the most extremely regarded pitching prospects in baseball, however he struggled to harness his spectacular uncooked stuff throughout his first three seasons within the huge leagues. Tampa Bay reduce bait on him, and he continued to wrestle in Minnesota after the commerce, however he’s managed to place all the pieces collectively this season. The largest distinction for him has been small changes to his cutter and splitter to distinguish these pitches from his fastball. His cutter is breaking glove facet a bit of extra and his splitter is diving out of the zone extra usually. With an especially excessive arm slot and an arsenal that closely depends on vertical motion, these small modifications have had a big impact on his outcomes on the mound.

We’re nonetheless not wanting at standings, but when we have been, we might level out that the Mariners have firmly stepped on the Angels in climbing out of the cellar of the division whereas leaving Houston buried within the backside. The A’s and Rangers simply spent a collection slugging it out towards one another, pushing the Athletics to the highest of the division for now, however the Mariners lurk simply behind these two groups. The A’s welcome in Kansas City this week, whereas Texas has to deal with the Yankees crew that simply hung out beating up on the Astros. The Astros, in the meantime, journey to Baltimore, and the Angels make the same journey to the Mariners, heading north to tackle the Chicago White Sox.