Could Adam Oller Help Mariners Pitching Staff Down the Stretch?

The Seattle Mariners have gotten great contributions from their pitching staff this year. Right now the Mariners are relying on three rookies to pitch the rest of the season: Bryce Miller, Emerson Hancock, and Bryan Woo. Right now Woo is on the shelf with a minor injury, and Hancock has only made two big league starts. If Seattle needs multiple innings from anyone else, they would have to call up someone from the minor leagues and Adam Oller has been pitching well since he was acquired.

Adam Oller was claimed off of waivers by Seattle from Oakland in July and the Mariners sent him to Triple-A Tacoma. Since joining the Rainiers he has started six games, pitching 34 innings and allowing just 11 earned runs, giving him a 2.91 ERA. He has been striking out just over 23% of opposing batters and walking 12% of them. In his second start with the team he went eight innings and allowed two runs while striking out eight and walking four.

It is really hard to be a pitcher in the Pacific Coast League since many of the places the teams play are true hitters paradises such as Reno, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque. It is impressive that Oller has a sub-3 ERA in Tacoma so far. If he continues to pitch well then he could see himself pitching at T-Mobile Park for the Mariners down the stretch.

The Mariners staff has the most WAR in the American League according to Fangraphs at 16.6 for the season through August 16th. If Bryan Woo remains injured or if he hits an innings limit or if Emerson Hancock struggles then the M's then the Mariners might need to call someone up from Tacoma. We have seen Darren McCaughan and Tommy Milone make appearances for Seattle this year and they could also see the big league in September, but Adam Oller deserves to be in that conversation also.