Sodo Mojo’s Top 40 Seattle Mariners Prospects: 25-21

We wrap today’s portion of the list with our second-highest ranked reliever on our list, Joey Gerber. Why does Gerber edge out Delaplane in our ranks? Gerber has better stuff than Delaplane and it isn’t all that close.

His fastball sits 94-97 mph with great life up in the zone. Gerber gets even more value from the pitch thanks to some deception in the delivery and it is a true 65-grade pitch. Gerber’s slider flashes plus, sitting 86-89 with a sharp movement. He can overthrow it on occasion, giving the pitch a cement mix spin that stays over the plate.

He needs better control and has the stuff to get away with the occasional mistake. If he can harness his stuff and throw it with average command, he has closer potential. Gerber will probably start the year in AAA Tacoma and should see the big leagues in 2020.

Gerber should excel early as a set-up man if nothing changes, but a few tweaks to the slider and better control could land him as the closer for the next winning Mariners team.

In our next installment, we will enter our Top 20 Mariners prospects. The next group has a nice balance of high-upside plays and high-floor, probable big leaguers. The Mariners would greatly benefit from one or more of these guys from reaching their ceiling, but with the Top 10 as stacked as it is, if all 40% of them reach their 80% plateau, they’ll be just fine.