If the Seattle Mariners like a pitcher, even a minor-leaguer, his current team may want to think twice about letting him walk. Seattle has become highly acclaimed for its pitching development, and in combination with the pitching haven of T-Mobile Park, it’s become brutal for opposing offenses to score.
Though the Mariners’ major league pitching staff is in a strong position entering the new season, they’re always looking for steals on the free-agent market. As the offseason winds down, the Mariners picked up an intriguing new right-handed pitching prospect whose entire professional career had been in the Philadelphia Philllies organization.
According to the official transactions log of Major League Baseball, the Mariners signed right-handed pitcher Gunner Mayer to a minor-league contract on Tuesday. Mayer, 25, advanced to Double-A in the Phillies organization before electing free agency in November.
It’s not difficult to see why the Mariners think Mayer could be an impact big-leaguer someday. Though he sports a career minor-league ERA of 5.31, he’s racked up 338 strikeouts in just 272 2/3 innings. He stands 6-foot-6, getting down the mound to release the ball just over 53 feet from the plate, and for the most part, he just needs to get out of his own way.
Philadelphia selected Mayer with its fifth-round pick in 2019 out of junior college in Northern California. Going to the draft earlier than four-year college players allowed him to hit minor-league free agency at an age where he can still conceivably count as a prospect rather than a true minor-league journeyman.
Mayer has totaled 179 minor-league walks, and if he can clean up his command, he’s rarely given up a hit per inning at any level of the minors. He’s been working as a reliever exclusively over the last few years, so the Mariners’ goal could be to get him to the bullpen either by the end of the year or early next year.
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