Look at Tacoma Rainiers

Since the Seattle Mariners have Monday off before starting a three game series in Toronto I figured I would write primarily about the Tacoma Rainiers the Mariners triple a team.

The Mariners split the six games at home against the Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Angels this last week. Mariners beat the A’s two out of three however lost to the Angels two out of three. The Mariners are showing they need improvement to help beat the Angels just like the Houston Astros. The Mariners now have a record of 19-14 and a game and half behind the Angels. The Astros are in second place a half-game ahead of the Mariners. In my opinion the Angels are not that much better than the Mariners if at all. The Angels won the series because the Mariners had trouble stopping Mike Trout who had three hits in each game. The Mariners won the middle game of the series however on Sunday Felix Hernandez didn’t pitch a good game going only five and two/thirds innings giving up five runs on seven hits and four walks plus gave up two solo home runs. One of Trout’s hits was a two-run homer off of Chasen Bradford when he came in for Felix. The final score was 8-2. I will look at the Mariners and the Blue Jays on Tuesday.

The Tacoma Rainiers currently have a record of 13-17 and they are finishing off a series against Reno playing this afternoon. The Rainiers than continue on the road going to El Paso who is in second place in the southern division with a record of 18-13.

Outfielder Ian Miller who won the Ken Griffey Award last season for being the best hitter in the Mariners minor leagues continues hitting well with Tacoma. He started last year in double A but completed the season with Tacoma. He is the Rainiers top hitter right now with a batting average of .326. He isn’t known for his power as he only has one home run so far this season and a career total of six. He considers that his game is similar to Dee Gordon and Ichiro with speed. Currently have six stolen bases and minor league career totals of one hundred and sixty-two stolen bases.  Whether he has a chance to make it to the major leagues it is anyone’s guess right now but he certainly giving it a shot. Two other outfielders on the Rainiers are hitting well too. John Andreoli is batting .324 while Cameron Perkins is batting .312. Depending on the situation if one of the Mariner outfielders got hurt than Perkins would likely be sent up because of his past major league experience.

Want to know what is going on with utility player Taylor Motter right now he has been struggling at the plate though doing better lately however is batting .192 with no home runs in eighteen games. Gordon Beckham who could be called up as well depending on who would be injured in the infield is batting .308. Daniel Vogelbach who was sent down when Ryon Healy was activated has played in ten games batting .250 with three home runs and six RBI’s.

Looking at the pitchers Ariel Miranda who many thought would be brought up when Erasmo Ramirez was put back on the disabled list is 3-0 in five starts with an era of 4.38. He has walked fourteen batters in twenty-four and two/thirds innings and striking out twenty-two batters. Rob Whalen looked like he may have come out of spring training being the fifth starter until the last start of the spring has started six games but he has had his ups and downs with a current era of 6.00. He has only walked twelve in thirty-three innings along with thirty strike outs. Max Povse who is one of the Mariners top prospects has been struggling having a record of 1-5 with an era of 7.58. He has given up more hits than innings pitched though he has more strike outs as well. Hopefully he will be able to settle down.

Looking at the bullpen veteran reliever Ryan Cook has pitched in ten games with an era of 2.61. He has walked only three batters in ten and one/thirds inning along with fourteen home runs. So he looks as someone the Mariners may bring up if needed staying on the same course. Another reliever the Mariners picked up during the off-season is Shawn Armstrong who has an era of 2.45 in nine games however he has walked eight batters in eleven innings though he has fifteen strike outs. What is impressing though he has only given up four hits for an average of .108 by the hitters. So we could see him up well as Cook at some point in the season.  So that is the look at some of the players on the Rainiers.