Seattle Mariners Spring Training Lessons Learned

Mar 20, 2014; Mesa, AZ, USA; Seattle Mariners starting pitcher

(50) pitches against the Chicago Cubs at Cubs Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Rotation Taking (Tentative) Shape:

Pocket Rocket Erasmo Ramirez had a great outing on Thursday. Six innings while scattering 4 hits and striking out 4. He only threw 65 pitches, so after six innings of work he went to the bullpen and threw 20 more to get his count up to 85.

He looks to be the number 2 until Hisashi Iwakuma is fully recovered from his finger injury. James Paxton— the rookie darling this Spring Training with Taijuan being brought along slowly with a sore shoulder– looks to be the number 3.

After that, though, it’s anybody’s guess. Randy Wolf and Scott Baker, both non-roster invites on Minor League deals, have made cases to crack the starting rotation. So too has Blake Beavan, and Roenis Elias: The Seattle Mariners 5th Starter” href=”https://sodomojo.com/2014/03/17/roenis-elias-the-seattle-mariners-5th-starter/” target=”_blank”>Cuban youngster Roenis Elias.

Whoever fills the 4 and 5 will inevitably get sent down to Triple-A Tacoma or moved to the ‘Pen when Iwakuma and Walker are healthy. But, hopefully, they will provide important pitching depth to get the Mariners through a long 162-game season.