Seattle Mariners: Latest Arizona Fall League Update Part Two

Yesterday we updated you on how the Mariners bats are doing after more than a week in the Arizona Fall League. Today we’ll take a look at how their promising pitchers are holding up as the season continues to kick into full gear.

For the most part, the four Mariners pitchers on the Peoria Javelinas are off to decent starts through the first quarter of the season.

Certain players have had a couple of hiccups in the last nine days (including today), but for the most part -in the limited time they get on the mound- they are playing well enough not hurt their standing with the club.

Pitchers

The Mariners see a star forming in front of their eyes. Dylan Unsworth has made two starts this AFL season, and he has shined in both of them.

His first start back on the 15th of this month was completely dominant. Over three innings he allowed four hits -three of which came consecutively in the second inning. Unsworth escaped the bases-loaded jam with a two-out groundout. Unsworth also added three strikeouts in the three innings of work.

He would make his next start earlier this afternoon, and he was almost as impressive. Unsworth would scatter four hits again over three frames. But, this time, those hits would come back to hurt him.

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Back-to-back singles to start off the third inning positioned the competition to score a run, and, a couple batters later, a sacrifice fly would plate that run. It was the first run Unsworth allowed all season, but the Mariners will be OK with that. Over his six innings this AFL season, Unsworth has allowed that single run.

As for another top prospect, Luiz Gohara, he is struggling the most. After giving up two runs and three hits in his AFL season debut, he has since given up two more runs and six hits, including his first allowed home run, in four innings. His best outing was on Tuesday when he gave up one hit over one inning.

The most positive aspect of Gohara’s game is his strikeout ability. We touched on it in the last update as he struck out five men in 1.2 innings. Since then, he has fanned five more batters. His total is now ten K’s in 5.2 innings.

Thyago Vieira has also been absolutely excellent, even if he’s only pitched twice for a total of two innings since the last update. He has been perfect with three total strikeouts over those two frames. This is an improvement since his shaky first start where he allowed two hits and one run over 1.2 innings.

Finally, we have reliever Emilio Pagan. Two appearances ago he struggled with his control. He may have allowed only one hit, but he walked three consecutive batters. He managed to get out of that jam, but it exposed issues of his control on that day. He would rebound in a flawless next outing over one inning, so it appears things may be on the up and up for Pagan.

Next: Mariners Add Brosius to MLB Staff

As the seaosn moves into the second quarter of the season, we should hope that these four pitchers improve on their mistakes and continue to excel where they have so far. With over twenty games left on the season, there is still plenty of time for each of these men to make a name for themselves.