Mariners already know Matt Brash means business with big 2026 goal

In addition to having an elite rotation, the Mariners bullpen isn't too shabby either. Along with Andrés Muñoz and Gabe Speier, Matt Brash has been a staple of the relief unit since returning from injury in 2025. Now that pitching-related injuries are out of the way, his goal is to throw harder than ever before.

In a report by Ryan Divish for The Seattle Times, Brash discussed recovering from his recent dental procedure and how he was planning on turning his focus to relaxing on the mound and rediscovering the mechanics that made him so effective to begin with. He hasn't quite ramped up at the same speed as other pitchers, and just recently made his first spring training appearance. Despite the small sample size, there are big reasons to be optimistic about what he'll accomplish this upcoming season.

The numbers on Matt Brash's first spring training outing suggest his stuff is as good as ever

In a game against the Rockies, Brash threw 16 pitches, his typical mix of his slider, sinker, and changeup. He conceded an earned run and got just two outs but especially in spring training, it's the underlying pitch data that's more important.

His velocity in particular ticked up, averaging 97.1 mph on the five sinkers he threw in the outing. Over the course of 2025, the average velocity on his sinker was 96.4 mph. More importantly, he topped out at 98.5 mph in the outing, a point he reached just three times last season.

The 2023 season was arguably the most successful year of his big league career so far, resulting in a 3.06 ERA and 2.26 FIP over 70.2 innings. In that season, his fastball averaged 98.1 mph. While his fastball has never been his primary breadwinner, this velocity translated over to his slider which had an average velocity of 88.8 mph, still nearly 3 mph faster than it was last year.

The sinker was also a relatively new tool in his kit that gained significant usage in 2025, replacing the four-seamer as his primary fastball offering. It boasts almost 18 inches of arm-side run, forming an excellent duo with his glove-side slider. If his velocity continues to ramp up throughout the final weeks of spring training and he's ready for Opening Day, there's a good chance Seattle will be getting the best form of him.

Encouraging news about the team having a healthy Matt Brash is coming at the right time since Seattle's big relief acquisition of the offseason is already starting to become a cause for concern. He's not the only pitcher the Mariners would like to have firing on all cylinders, but he's absolutely one of the more important ones, especially if the team wants to make a deep run in the postseason.

In the world of pitching, velocity isn't everything but as arms across the league have gradually begun to throw harder on average, it's still important to keep up. Throwing harder gives pitchers more of a margin for error and is generally harder to hit, for obvious reasons. He'll still rely heavily on his frisbee slider, but Matt Brash has the right idea trying to restore his velocity to where it once was. So far, it looks like he's on the right track.