3 Potential Award Candidates for the Mariners in 2023

For the first time in who knows how long, the Mariners are a playoff team with a lot of young talent. It also got me thinking that heading into 2023, they have a candidate for each of the 3 major awards that are given out each year in baseball.

Now, I'm leaving Gold Glove off of here, and going just with MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year. The Gold Glove potential winners is an article in itself, and one that we might just touch on later in the offseason.

Off the top of your head, can you name the last Mariners player to win each of those awards? ROY is easy since it just happened. Julio Rodriguez easily won the award in 2022 and was just one vote away from being unanimous. However, it wasn't that long ago the Kyle Lewis won the award back in 2020. Funny enough, he was unanimous, winning over Luis Robert.

As for Cy Young, the Mariners have won the award twice. The Big Unit back in 1995 and then King Felix in 2010. Two MVP awards have come to the franchise as well, with Griffey winning in 1997 and Ichiro winning in 2001.

For now, I want to look at the guys who could potentially take home one of those big three awards. We start with the obvious one.

Mariners Cy Young Candidate: Luis Castillo

Now, if we fast forward a year, I think we would likely be shifting toward one of his teammates here. Logan Gilbert is coming off a darn good 2022 season, and many believe that George Kirby is the next pitcher in the mold of Greg Maddux and Cliff Lee. If Gilbert can keep getting better or Kirby proves himself worthy of picking up that title, it'll be a different conversation for sure.

Instead, we now focus on Castillo.

Projecting him out for 192 innings doesn't seem like a stretch. He's thrown full seasons a few times already, and that puts him at 6 innings an outing. He had a 10.6 K/9 with the Mariners last year, which is in line with 2019 and 2020, barely the lowest of the three years. With a 2.91 FIP and a .302 BABIP, I could see him doing even better than the 3.17 ERA he posted once he got to Seattle.

2023 - 192 IP, 2.51 ERA, 226 K, 15 W, 1.045 WHIP, 2.1 BB/9, 17 HR

Would it be enough? I think it definitely would get him in the conversation for Cy Young. Sure, maybe the numbers are optimistic, but he has the stuff and the ceiling to get there. If he does, I'd think it would be a big part of getting the Mariners back to the playoffs, and that many would look to him as the leader of the staff that got them there. That would further increase his sway and importance in voters' eyes.

Mariners Rookie of the Year Candidate: Bryce Miller

This is always the tough one. The Mariners still seem to be posturing about what they are going to do with the fifth starter. Could it be Marco of Flexen? What about signing a free agent, someone like Zach Greinke?

Or, would they look to the minors and call up recent 4th round pick Bryce Miller?

Miller had a wonderful 2022 and has leapt up man scouting boards, even as high as 2nd over at Prospects Live on their Mariners list. With decent control and a really strong H/9 number, Miller kept showing the ability to sit batters down last season, racking up a 1.046 WHIP and 10.8 K/9 in AA Arkansas.

The 24-year-old finished off the season on an incredible note, throwing seven innings of two-run ball, allowing just two hits, one walk, and fanning a career high 14 batters. Oh, and he did it on just 92 pitches as well.

I don't know that he will start with the Mariners. Maybe they take a Kirby approach and bring him up in May, just in order to keep his innings a bit more in check. Kirby threw a total of 156.2 IP in 2022, so that's a similar path that they could take with Miller.

I don't know that 130 IP at the major league level would be enough, but there is something else to keep in mind. The Mariners have the 29th pick because Julio was on the roster when the season started and he won ROY. IS that going to entice a team to bring someone up earlier in the hope of acquiring such a valuable pick? It definitely could, as the lost year of control is easily worth a player of that caliber.

Bo Naylor, Dane Dunning, Ryne Stanek, Joe Panik, Cam Bedrosian, Carlos Quentin. Those are all guys who were taken with the 29th pick, and that's not to mention all the talent within a couple spots of that pick as well. It's an incredibly valuable pick, and one worth thinking of as decisions are made.

Those are the three guys that I think could take home the awards in 2023. Whether or not any of them do, it's definitely going to make for a fun season.