Mariners Minors: Affiliates Make Winning Look Easy

AAA Tacoma Rainiers

For the AAA Rainiers it was a another great year. Finishing with over eighty wins and making it to the Pacific Coast League semi-finals. They also won the PCL Pacific Northern division by a comfortable 5.5 games.

Their success did have some help from Mariners who were on the mend, but for the most part, it was their roster of prospects that helped push them so far.

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Two, now current Mariners, Mike Freeman and Dan Vogelbach were key components to their winning year. Freeman finished the season with the fifth best batting average in the PCL. Vogelbach finished in the top ten in home runs and third in RBI.

As for the pitching staff, they finished in the top five of all major categories. They had the third lowest ERA, and WHIP in the PCL. The team also finished with the third most saves in the PCL. But that wasn’t all. They even had the fourth most strikeouts. There clearly was little that the entire rotation and bullpen didn’t do.

When you combine the offensive power with the pitching accuracy, it is easy to understand how they did so well. It is surprising they didn’t do even better.