Seattle Mariners Farm Report, Best Performers of April

While the Major League team is off today and is struggling in all phases of the game, it is important to remember that the Mariners minor league teams are filled with promising prospects to keep an eye on.

The Mariners 4, full-season affiliates are just about a month into their regular season. And while a month is not a significant sample size, it is still a convenient amount of time to do a quick check in on some of the top performers of the month.

Today, we will look at one position player and one pitcher at each level to crown as the “Mariners Prospects of the Month” at each level. Some names will be a surprise, others will not. But it may behoove fans to keep all these names in the back of their minds. Now, let’s start with the big boys.

AAA- Tacoma Rainiers

The best everyday player for the Rainiers is a bit of a toss-up in April. There are really two players who we are considering for this “honor”. One player has a name that Mariners fans should be familiar with: J.P. Crawford.

Crawford was the prize for Seattle in their controversial trade to send Jean Segura to the Philadelphia Phillies. Crawford came on late in Spring Training

but got off to a slow start in Tacoma. However, Crawford is now on fire and looks like the prospect he was once touted as being. The voice of the Rainiers, Mike Curto, had this to say:

Overall, Crawford is slashing .290/.388/.410 with 6 doubles and 2 home runs. Crawford finished April second in hits in the entire Mariners farm system.

While Crawford does have the name recognition, it is hard to ignore the production of Austin Nola, the 28-year-old catcher who is slashing .384/.464/.685 with 4 home runs, 10 doubles, and 3 steals. Impressive regardless of age.

It is a tough decision. But while Mariners fans should be most excited about Crawford, it is hard to deny that Nola hasn’t been the best player on the Rainiers roster in April.

Offensive Player of the Month: Austin Nola

Now let’s talk about the Rainiers pitching, or lack there off. I would love to tell you that Justus Sheffield was really good in April and move on, but that isn’t the case. And looking at the rest of the pitching staff, there aren’t many candidates.

Parker Markel has the best numbers, but only has 5.2 innings pitched, so that doesn’t feel right. We have to pick somebody and I’m choosing to hand this award to David McKay, despite his 1.56 WHIP.

Why McKay you ask? In 16.2 IP, he has 27 strikeouts. On that pitching staff right now, that is all it takes. Plus, McKay will get run with the big club this year, and his mid-90’s fastball and hard curveball give him a chance to be a solid middle relief option.

Pitcher of the Month: David McKay