Mariners News: Ken Griffey Jr. goes viral, Logan Evans award, Emerson Hancock plans

For Seattle Mariners fans, thoughts of Ken Griffey Jr. inevitably conjure up iconic images. They could be of that oh-so-sweet swing, the backwards cap, or him at the bottom of a pile of Mariners at the conclusion of the 1995 ALDS.

Unexpectedly, a new one has entered the chat courtesy of Griffey's work as a credentialed photographer at the 2025 Masters.

When Rory McIlroy sunk a birdie on the first playoff hole to defeat Justin Rose and win the tournament on Sunday, Griffey was there to capture his reaction. One shot he took of McIlroy was shared by PGA broadcaster Jeff Eisenband on X, where it quickly went viral:

As of this writing, Eisenband's post has thousands of reposts and tens of thousands of likes. The story has been aggregated seemingly everywhere, including Awful Announcing, Yahoo Sports and, obviously, here as well.

Mariners News: Ken Griffey Jr. is as talented a photographer as he was a baseball player

There aren't many positions one can take without having to worry about arguing the point, but "Ken Griffey Jr. is one of the greatest baseball players of all time" is certainly one of them.

He has a spot in the Hall of Fame to prove as much, and even numbers like 630 home runs and a .907 OPS don't fully capture how dominant he was. His 1990s peak with the Mariners might be the single best decade by any individual MLB player ever.

Griffey is 55 years old now and long since retired from baseball, having hung up his spikes in 2010. It hasn't been a secret that he's had a second career as a photographer, but simply knowing about this couldn't have prepared anyone for such a perfect exposure of his talent.

All this is just plain cool, and it gives Mariners fans a weird brand of bragging rights. Between Griffey and Randy Johnson, their former stars are better photographers than your team's former stars.

Mariners News: Red-hot Logan Evans wins Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week

Meanwhile in the Mariners' minor league system, Triple-A Tacoma right-hander Logan Evans was named the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week on Monday.

This followed an outstanding start on April 9 in which Evans logged six innings and allowed just one run on two hits, with no walks and seven strikeouts. That start alone jolted his prospect stock, and he basically did it again on Tuesday.

This time, the 23-year-old lasted 5.1 innings and gave up one earned run, with six hits against no walks and seven strikeouts.

Ranked as the Mariners' No. 10 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Evans is in a position to help in the near future if the team needs a starter. Such needs didn't arise often in 2024, but in 2025 the team has already had to deal with shoulder inflammation for George Miller and arm soreness for Bryce Miller.

Mariners News: Emerson Hancock is about to get another chance

The Mariners have yet to set their rotation for their upcoming series in Toronto against the Blue Jays, but Emerson Hancock is likely to be a part of it. This is according to Adam Jude of The Seattle Times:

Mariners fans are unlikely to greet this as good news. Hancock has been a letdown since the M's took him No. 6 overall in the 2020 draft, posting a 5.40 ERA in 16 major league starts. His most recent outing on March 31 saw him get just two outs and resulted in a demotion.

Hopefully, Hancock can get it done this weekend and perhaps again in one or two more fill-in starts until Kirby is ready to return. But if he flops yet again, the M's will have to seriously consider whether it's time to give Evans a shot.