Sad about John Clayton. In 2009 he met a Rainiers employee at an event & said he always wanted to call baseball on the radio. We welcomed him for a series. He arrived early & prepped like a pro. I'll never forget Rainiers players huddled around him getting fantasy football advice
#Mariners
roster moves:
--Julio Rodriguez reinstated from 10-day IL
--Curt Casali reinstated from 10-day IL
--Jarred Kelenic optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.
--Luis Torrens designated for assignment.
Julio might think it's cool that he tricked everyone into thinking it was a homer, but let me tell you he will be receiving a very strongly worded letter from the Baseball Broadcasters Union.
Kyle Lewis with an opposite-field 3-run HR off Sam Gaviglio. Including his last three games with Class-A Everett, Lewis has homered in 5 of the last 6 games of his rehabilitation assignment.
That sound you just heard was the entire Seattle Mariners organization exhaling after Kyle Lewis survived a sliding tag play at home plate, scoring from second base on Steven Souza's single to left. He's 2-for-4 today.
Jarred Kelenic has connected - his first hard hit ball since being optioned. 431 feet, 110mph off the bat, off former Mariners reliever Matt Carasiti. Rainiers lead, 5-0.
Mark Mathias just flew four hours to Houston with the Rainiers, landed, found out he was traded, said goodbye to everyone at the baggage claim, and disappeared.
Tonight the Rainiers face a pitcher named Kent Emanuel, who reminded me of Immanuel Kant, which caused me to learn that Socrates Brito is 0-for-4 against Kent Emanuel this season. Just another day in the Philosopher's Coast League.
Seems like as good a time as any to let you know that Tacoma Rainiers single-game tickets go on sale tomorrow (online and at the box office).
Opening Day is April 5th. The MLB lockout has no impact on the minor leagues.
Shed Long just hit a *long* two-run walk-off HR against experienced MLB lefty Sammy Solis to give Tacoma a 7-5 win over Fresno. He went 4-for-4 in the game.
Today's roster manipulations as a result of the Mariners trades has left Tacoma with nine position players for tonight's game - three of them catchers, who are all in the lineup of course.
Matt Brash is making his Triple-A debut out of the bullpen. He struck out the first batter he faced on two pitches (there was a pitch clock violation strike).
Congratulations to the Tacoma Rainiers, who clinched the Triple-A West league championship with a 7-3 win at El Paso! Taylor Trammell snapped a 3-3 tie with a bases loaded triple in the top of the 9th inning for the lead. Strong start for Darren McCaughan, great bullpen work.
Brennan Bernadino called up by the Mariners. Great story, SoCal native was released out of Double-A by Cleveland early in 2019 and had been pitching in the Mexican League for three years until Mariners picked him up from Tijuana just one month ago.
The Mariners have traded Tacoma infielder Kean Wong to the White Sox, opening a roster spot for tonight's starting pitcher Jose Rodriguez (was was on the IL).
Jon Rahm was informed while on the golf course that he tested positive for COVID-19. He will be forced to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament.
Rahm was in 1st place through three rounds, shooting 18 under par with a six shot lead on 2nd place.
Jarred Kelenic went 4-for-4 with two singles, a triple off the CF wall, and a homer, but the Rainiers lost to Las Vegas, 6-2. Daniel Ponce de Leon takes the mound Saturday at 5:05 at Cheney Stadium - he's coming off a 12 K performance in his last start.
Rainiers roster news:
Ken Giles and Evan White rehabbing with the team.
LHP Anthony Banda signed.
INF Abraham Toro reports today (he's a career .392 hitter in Triple-A).
18-yr-old Cesar Izturis Jr. has been with the Rainiers for ten days as an emergency infielder. Hasn't played at all. Trailing 12-4, manager Pat Listach got him an AB - and he hit an RBI double over the left fielder's head for his first US hit.
Sad to hear the passing of Bob Robertson, longtime voice of Tacoma baseball. He called Tacoma Giants TV games in 1960, and Tacoma Rainiers games in 2018 - when he was 90! A college football Hall of Famer. The man truly loved broadcasting sports. RIP.
Jose Marmolejos, Triple-A West MVP and batting champion, signs with Rakuten Eagles. He was heavily scouted by multiple Japanese teams throughout the 2021 season.
Kyle Lewis is in the lineup for Tacoma today, marking the first time he has played three games in a row. All as DH - doesn't seem like he'll be playing the OF again for a while (my opinion).
Evan White is at the very start of his rehab and is off today after playing yesterday.
Unbelievable! They called Carter Capps for an illegal delivery. Catcher, manager ejected. Capps refused to go back to his crow-hop, lobbed three pitches in to finish a walk while a reliever warmed up, and was taken out of the game.
The Rainiers have scratched Kyle Lewis from the lineup. He's been on the field doing knee exercises with the M's rehabilitation coordinator, so I'm guessing they just want to back him off a little.
Five Mariners appear in Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list, which was released today.
2-Julio Rodriguez
12-George Kirby
18-Noelvi Marte
45-Matt Brash
83-Brandon Williamson
Remarkably, four are likely to play for Tacoma at some point this season. (Marte the exception)
#Nats
top prospect Cade Cavalli takes home Triple-A Pitcher of the Week honors after tossing seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts for
@RocRedWings
.
🏆
It turns out that outfielder Billy Hamilton is still with the Rainiers/Mariners, despite the team having told me that he had opted out. Not sure how that happened. My apologies, and I have deleted the previous tweet.
Triple-A robot umpire work schedule for 2023 has been revealed:
Monday-through-Thursday: robot calls all pitches, no arguing allowed.
Weekends only: human umpire calls pitches, players can challenge (3x per team, same as last year) and let the robot decide.
Evan White is in the Tacona lineup today, his first appearance since 5/31.
Jarred Kelenic (hamstring) is still out, but he did take batting practice with the team.
Tacoma just hit four straight home runs. Zach DeLoach, Adam Engel, Mark Mathias, and Sam Haggerty. Haven't seen that in my 25 years with the Rainiers. Last time they hit three straight came in 2013 (Carlos Peguero, Rich Pouthress, Nate Tenbrink).
Sat in the King's Court and watched Felix's last game in the Mariners org. It was an unbelievable ride from 2005 in Tacoma to today. Wish him the best & hope he gets a chance with someone next season.
Tacoma Rainiers shortstop J.P. Crawford has a hit and a walk today (thru 5 innings). He has reached base in 25 straight games, currently has an 8-game hitting streak and had a 15-gamer previously. Should add that his defense is better than his offense.
Newly-acquired Mariners prospect Ryan Bliss hit his first Triple-A home run last night for Reno, and it was dramatic: a 3-run shot in the bottom of the tenth inning to tie the game against Oklahoma City, 14-14. (They lost in the 11th).
Justus Sheffield is done with his rehab outing for tonight after 66 pitches - overall, looked very good. First two batters went: single, homer. Then he retired 12 of next 13 batters, with seven K's and no walks, getting ahead in the count repeatedly. Topped out at 95 mph.
Fresno played four outfielders with Vogelbach up again, but did not position one behind the right field fence where they needed one. 4-0 Tacoma in the fifth.
The Mariners have signed former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Daniel Ponce de Leon, and he is starting the second game of today's doubleheader. He had been in spring training with the Angels.
Dallas Keuchel pitched five shutout innings in his Tacoma Rainiers debut. He gave up three hits, no walks, three K's. Terrific command. Topped out at 88 mph (from what I saw).
RIP Gaylord Perry, Baseball Hall of Famer and Tacoma Giants legend. Perry pitched for Tacoma from 1960-1963, including the entire 1961 and 1962 seasons, was key member of 1961 Tacoma Giants that went 97-57 & are recognized as an all-time great minor league team.
Tacoma's Jose Marmolejos has been voted Triple-A West MVP. He's the first Tacoma player to win the MVP since Dick Phillips of the 1961 Tacoma Giants. A sixty year drought is over!
Cal Raleigh just tied Seth Beer for the league lead in doubles, which is weird to me because when I was at Cal we used to go to Raleigh's to drink Beer.
With my billion dollars, I'm going to buy the other 15 PCL teams and move them to small towns in the Pacific Northwest. Gonna give them all really stupid names, too.