Mariners' new velocity specialist is beginning to open eyes in spring training

Some of the best relievers can come at bargain prices. Like most teams in the offseason, Seattle made a plethora of moves to add bullpen depth and one of those moves was to acquire Alex Hoppe from the Boston Red Sox.

At first, it seemed far from notable and after conceding nine earned runs in his first four spring training outings, it seemed like he was destined for minor league purgatory. However, the data on his pitches has been simply too good to ignore.

Alex Hoppe's stuff might just be enough for him to be a breakout reliever for the Mariners in 2026

It's important to reiterate that surface-level statistics like ERA in spring training don't matter nearly as much as they do during the regular season. If anything, it's time for players to get re-acclimated to life as a professional baseball player and also for young unproven players to demonstrate their upside.

Hoppe, who has yet to debut, falls into the second camp and so far, he's doing a pretty good job. He was reported as being a "max-effort delivery" guy and he has lived up to the moniker. His four-seam fastball has an average velocity of 98 mph and his slider sits in the upper-80s and has a whiff rate of 44.4. In fact, his cumulative whiff (30.9), zone-contact (76.5), and ground ball rate (52.9) are all in the top quartile of spring training players.

As with many less experienced pitchers, Hoppe's biggest issue is his command, or lack thereof. He either misses the zone too frequently, giving him a walk rate of 16.1 this spring, or grooves too many pitches down the middle, giving opposing hitters a hard-hit rate of 58.8.

Nonetheless, it's clear that the team sees potential in him. He has appeared in six games and pitched 5.2 innings, making him one of the more active pitchers on the team. Not only does the organization seem intrigued by what he can do, he was also listed as a dark horse breakout candidate for Seattle by Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.

The Mariners don't exactly have a shortage of flamethrowing relievers, but who's going to complain about having an excess of stuff in the bullpen? At the moment, Hoppe still has a long way to go before he becomes a major league mainstay, especially given how competitive the Mariners' relief unit currently is. However, if he continues to impress with his elite stuff, he may already be closer than people think.