Newcomers Bring Fire Power to Los Bomberos

President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto and Manager Scott Servais built the Mariners with close games, defense, and a lockdown bullpen in mind. The proof is in the pudding, as the team has excelled in one-run games over the past two years (67-30). Of all the accomplishments, this is the most remarkable, especially considering the fickle nature of relievers. We knew there would be some regression this season, as Erik Swanson left for Toronto in the Teoscar Hernandez trade. However, I didn’t expect Paul Sewald to regress this much. Again, it is early, and we can still say that, but the 32-year-old reliever doesn’t seem dialed in yet. Thankfully, three key transactions are helping the Mariners keep the ship afloat.

Newcomer #2: Justin Topa

When Dipoto shipped Top 30 prospect Joseph Hernandez to an oft-injured reliever with minor league options, Mariners Twitter went berserk. I might have done the same thing a couple of years ago, but this team has a track record of finding and fixing guys with unique qualities (Paul Sewald). So the first thing they did with Justin Topa was change his pitch mix.

Topa went from throwing the sinker 68% of the time in 2022 to 42% this season. So what is his second-most-thrown pitch? You guessed it, a slider, and it has some serious horizontal break. Four series in, The 32-year-old reliever has thrown some key innings. Look for him to get a stranglehold on the 7th inning shortly.

Newcomer #3: Gabe Speier

I’m not one to tell you I told you so, but well. So I’ll leave this here. I’ve been on the Gabe Speier hype train since Dipoto claimed him off waivers from Kansas City in November. This team needed a southpaw in the pen with the amount of lefty power bats in the AL West (Alvarez, Lowe, Ohtani, Seager, Tucker). Despite a strong spring, the diminutive lefty started the year in Tacoma, but he’s here now.

The traditional stats don’t jump off the page, but the spin on his 4-seam fastball (2295) and horizontal break on his sinker does (19.0). He also features a changeup and a slider. By the way, Speier is elite at getting what Mariner play-by-play announcer, Aaron Goldsmith calls, "silly hacks." He is NUMBER ONE in the entire MLB in chase rate percentage.

Gott, Topa, and Speier sound like a law firm. If they were, I’d trust them, mainly because of the early results and Dipoto’s reliever track record. According to Mariners PR, "the trio of Mariners relievers Trevor Gott, Gabe Speier and Justin Topa, who were all acquired prior to the 2023 season, have only allowed two earned runs in 16.2 IP this season, while striking out 15 and walking three."

These newcomers will more than likely play critical roles in the Los Bomberos. Locking down lineups in the later innings, piling up the holds, and hopefully run-one wins that will get this team back in the playoffs. For now, it’s an essential story line to follow as Scott Servais starts to define roles in what is usually a strength of the team.