New Driveline signing shows Mariners are still chasing former ace closer's ghost

The Seattle Mariners' newest pitcher needs some introduction. And for this, the best way to understand Sam Whiting is that he'll hopefully be the next Paul Sewald for the Mariners.

Before we get to that, Whiting was a 16th-round draft pick by the San Diego Padres in 2023. He'd previously had a modest college career at UC Santa Barbara, and he didn't do much of note in the minors before the Padres released him in March.

The Mariners picked up the 25-year-old righty on a minor league deal on May 7, which snuck by everyone until the deal got a shoutout from Driveline Baseball on Tuesday. Whiting had been training with them, and they provided video to prove it:

If you're into the science of pitching, these videos are always good for a little dopamine rush. And the part that sells Whiting as a project for Seattle's pitching lab is in the middle where someone compliments the 6-foot-3, 220-pounder's release point and remarks on his "insane" VAA.

That stands for "Vertical Approach Angle" if you're not in the know. And for the purposes of flashing back to Sewald's rise with the Mariners, it's an important thing to know.

Even years later, what made Paul Sewald special is clearly still of interest to the Mariners

It's been a minute since the Mariners traded Sewald in 2023, and the controversy that originally surrounded that deal has abated thanks to the ongoing rise of Dominic Canzone.

Looking back, it's still remarkable how Sewald went from off the map as a New York Met between 2017 and 2020 to on the map as a Mariner between 2021 and 2023. By the time he left town, he was the team's closer and sitting on a 2.88 ERA over 172 appearances for Seattle.

That Sewald was only throwing in the low 90s naturally prompted questions about how he was doing it. Those questions were part of how Vertical Approach Angle became a big-hype thing in certain circles, as it provided a stat for a pitching habit that was basically a hack: low release point plus high zone location equals a tough angle for hitters to deal with.

This was Sewald's whole thing, and it's still something the Mariners do well as a team. Per Alex Chamberlain's public database, the average VAA on four-seam fastballs is -4.7 degrees, and 14 of the Mariners' 17 qualified pitchers come in under that. The poster boy is Bryan Woo, whose flat VAA helps explain why his fastball is so effective even without blistering velocity.

Just like any other pitching metric, though, VAA is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. Luis Castillo is still good at it, and he's now subject to regular shellings. Casey Legumina was also good at it, yet the hope that he would be the next Paul Sewald died when he was DFA'd in April.

Their shortcomings aren't necessarily because the secret of VAA is out, but dare we say that could be a factor? It's a copycat league, after all. And as Joon Lee and Adam Ottavino highlighted in their excellent YouTube video, the last few years have seen pitching science go from niche to mainstream. That mainly shows in the proliferation of high velocity, but pretty much everything else that has roots in Driveline's teachings feels commonplace now.

As for Whiting, whether he'll rise up through the system remains anyone's guess. He did get off to a good start in his first appearance for High-A Everett, striking out two of the six batters he faced over 1.1 scoreless innings. But from there, the road to the major leagues is long.

The main takeaway for now is that Whiting is with the Mariners because he fits a template that the organization happens to like. Even after just a few years' time, though, it feels less revolutionary and more just standard.

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