Photo Credit: Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma have both gotten off to amazing starts so far this year, and are pitching at all-star levels. As is always however, they are not getting enough run support to have an overwhelming amount of wins, and that combined with the fact they are on the Mariners, means they will not get much national credit. But locally, fans are starting to take notice. Iwakuma’s 1.67 ERA is third among American League starters, and Felix’s 1.90 ERA was sixth among American League starters coming into Friday, but his dominant performance against Toronto dropped it even further to 1.60. These stats beg the question, where does Seattle's pitching duo rank among other American League starting combos? There is certainly room for debate in the following rankings, but they are based off performance thus far this season.

Photo Credit: Pat Sullivan/Associated Press

Franklin Gutierrez has been known to be a fragile player over the past couple years, not even coming close to playing a full season. But in his first two years in Seattle, he sat out only 19 games total, yet in his last two he has missed over 100. At this point, Seattle fans have simply begun to expect an injury from Guti, and this year is no different as he sat out a few games earlier in the season with some leg soreness and now, most notably, has been sent to the DL for a hamstring injury.

With Michael Saunders already on the DL, the Mariners outfield is all of a sudden lacking depth, something it had plenty of before the season. Losing two of three starting outfielders can do that to a team, and with Michael Morse being in the middle of a slump since his return from a pinkie injury, all members of the opening day outfield for the Mariners are either hurt or not performing. Injuries happen to every team, but what’s important is how the team responds to these injuries. Can guys step up?

Photo Credit: Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

This was supposed to be the year. Two new power-hitting additions, shorter fences, health and improvement from the guys already here. This is the year the offense was supposed to really arrive. But where is it? Some early season injuries haven’t helped as Michael Morse, who is leading the club in home runs, missed four games with a pinkie injury. Franklin Gutierrez, who has also been hitting well, missed a couple games with some leg soreness. These injuries, along with Michael Saunders being placed on the 15-day DL for a sprained right shoulder, have created revolving doors in the outfield. Jason Bay, Raul Ibanez, and Endy Chavez have gotten more playing time than expected.

This will be updated periodically with additional photos from Seattle Mariners spring training in Peoria, Arizona. (Photo Credits: Alex Gallant/SeaTown Sports)

Photo Credit: Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images

Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, and yes, even Alex Rodriguez. The Mariners have made a habit in the past of failing to re-sign their superstars. Instead, they’ve opted to trade or even let them walk away via free agency. Yes, the return trade package has been decent in a couple instances (see Randy Johnson to Astros). But nothing can replace the impact superstars have on a franchise. Prospects are nice, but you can only stomach those types of deals for so long. 

                                                             Photo Credit: Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

Two-thirds of the Mariners starting outfielders have been either traded or injured, yet the outfield is the best it’s been in the past several years. Even with Mike Carp, who was supposed to be a huge part of this Mariners lineup out on the DL almost all year and Ichiro traded to the Yankees, this team has found success in some young former prospects.

Michael Saunders has been in the team’s farm system since 2005 and jumped between the bigs and AAA since 2009. We’ve long known that with his size he has easy 20 HR/20 SB capability, but he just hasn’t put it together. Saunders currently boasts a fairly decent .246/.300/.414 slash with a .298 BABIP to go with 14 HRs and 13 steals. With that said, he’s far from perfect. With 108 K’s to just 32 walks, Saunders has much work to be done but he’s finally taken a big step in the right direction.

                                                                     Photo Credit: Otto Gruele, Jr./Getty Images

Editor's Note: This is the first installment in a new series that runs every Monday regarding the Seattle Mariners.

As of yesterday, the Mariners ranked 26th in runs, 29th in batting average, and dead last in OBP and slugging percentage. But the rise of catcher John Jaso has been a bright spot for the offense.

Jaso was acquired last winter from the Rays for reliever Josh Lueke, who after posting a 6.06 ERA in 32.2 innings for the M’s last year, clearly didn’t seem to be in future plans for the club. So when he got traded for a catcher with a career average of .257, no one thought much of it. Now, Jaso is batting .289 with 59 hits and an astonishing 37 walks in just 204 at bats.

Just a few hours ago, the Mariners prospect situation got even more interesting with the signing of Brazilian southpaw Luis Gohara. Standing at 6’3”, 220 pounds, Gohara has no problems (according to reports) hitting 94 mph, while regularly sitting at about 91 mph. Pair that with what is said to be a quality slider, and he already has the makings of a solid starter. Oh, by the way, did I mention that he was only 16 years old?

Once again, we have to keep our expectations in check. While being rated routinely in the top 5 international free agents (except by Baseball America, who ranked him 7th), Gohara is still young at 16 years old. Not many people have seen him play, so we have no clue what his stuff actually looks like or what composure he has on the mound. He could be a totally wild fireballer for all we know (then again, Felix was a wild fireballer, and see where he is now?).

All in all, today the Mariners added yet another young pitching prospect to the ever growing pile. I’d imagine he has a ceiling around that of a Taijuan Walker, and that it will likely be 3-4 years minimum until we see him in the big leagues. It’s an exciting signing, but he’s still just a young kid.

Shortstop Nick Franklin
Photo Credit: Seattlepi.com

It’s that time of year again. The season is winding down and once again the M’s are out of contention. But this is never a boring time of the year. As a matter of fact, quite the opposite.

Now, we get to speculate and evaluate how the club’s top prospects are doing and who may get a September call-up to get his first taste of what it feels like to be in The Show.

Pitchers:

Let’s start with the club’s obvious strength: pitching. No other team in baseball has the pitching depth and talent the Mariners have in their farm system. Between Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker and James Paxton, the future is bright for the M’s pitching.

Hultzen has struggled after being called up to AAA Tacoma in late June. He currently sports a 5.23 ERA, having given up 19 earned runs in just 32.2 innings. In comparison, Hultzen gave up 10 earned runs in 75.1 innings with AA Jackson. However, the strikeouts are still there as he is averaging a combined 10 K/9 this year. Hultzen is considered the Mariners’ safest prospect, but his potential limits him to probably only a solid no. 2 starter.

Editor's note: SeaTown Sports correspondent Kevin Neuzil is living in Tennessee for the summer, and put on the scouting hat on Tuesday while he watched the Mariners Double-A affiliate, the Jackson Generals face the Montgomery Biscuits. Neuzil kept his eyes on prized Mariners prospect, pitcher James Paxton. What follows are his observations and notes while he watched Paxton on Tuesday.

1st inning:

• Five straight fastballs to first batter, mid 90s.
• First curve a little loopy, just missed on a good change.
• Third batter really fooled on a change up out of the zone, another groundout.

2nd inning:

• First batter singles to deep right on a decent change up.
• Good location on fastballs so far.
• Threw his fourth change up, not one for a strike yet. Make that five.
• No hitter has had a good swing on his fastball.
• Cheap slow roller down 3rd line for a hit.
• Nice double play off a well placed fastball and weak groundball.

3rd inning:

• Two good breaking balls for first K.
• First good change up, right on outside corner. R
• Real quick inning, very efficient with good tempo on mound.

4th inning:

• Much better breaking ball this inning, better location with good break, not overly sharp though.
• Got last two batters out with it.
• Fastball still with good velocity

Final stat line: 4 innings, 2 hits, 0 earned runs, 2 strikeouts

Finishing thoughts:

• Efficient pitcher and no walks. Very promising. Only one batter made decent contact. Final pitch count was 62.

• His velocity is pretty good. Sat around 92-94 all game, touching 96.  The change-up was 81-83 which isn't fast but he doesn't change his motion or arm speed to throw it so should be effective when he can locate it (which I didn't see at all). Curve was low-eighties as well which is a bit slower than you'd like to see but not by much and it was good enough where even though he didn't have the best location, it was enough to induce some weak contact and swinging strikes.

• The fastball success was probably a combination of speed and location. 94 is by no means slow but most hitters are going to be able to get around on it unless its well placed, which from what I saw it definitely was. He was able to throw it inside and out, to both righties and lefties, and when he missed (which was rare) he missed out of the zone, not over the plate.

• I think he needs to work on mixing his pitches up (at least from the small sample I saw). There was a point mentioned it in the notes where he threw five straight fastballs to a batter, which no matter how well placed in the majors that just won't work.  Change-up location at least on tuesday was also a pretty significant question mark. While it's clear his curveball is an effective pitch for him, I'm  interested as to why he didn't go to it more. He was only in for four innings which might partially explain the high fastball use, especially if he was expecting to go deeper into the game.

• I would guess he finishes the year in AA, starts in Tacoma next year and has the chance to be a late-season call-up depending on how he
  does.