Seattle Mariners Best Tools
As the club's 26-man is improved from floor to ceiling, let's take a look at who owns the best tools on the current 40-man roster.
If you are anticipating a lot of Julio Rodriguez, you might be right. But the runner-ups are intriguing, too.
Best Hitter: Julio Rodriguez — 60
Runner-Up: Ty France — 55
Rodriguez batted .284/.345/.509 in his rookie season at age 21, posted a hard-hit rate over 50%. If he avoids the sophomore slump, we could be looking at a .300/.370/.550 season, and in a full slate that’s an MVP candidate.
Best Power: Julio Rodriguez — 70
Runner-Up: Teoscar Hernandez, Eugenio Suarez — 60
Rodriguez’s 28 homers are a Marines rookie record, but in future seasons we’re going to see a lot of 30-plus HR campaigns, as well as 30-40 doubles. The guy hits rockets.
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Best Defense: Cal Raleigh — 60
Runner-Up: Sam Haggerty, Dylan Moore — 55
Raleigh has worked his way to good defense by getting in and staying in great shape, and shoring up his lateral work behind the dish. He’s still got a ways to go to be elite, but he’s very good now.
Haggerty and Moore can provide legitimate above-average defensive value at multiple spots. For Moore, he’s a 60-grade glove at second, at least average at short, and above-average in an outfield corner. Haggerty’s sample is smaller, but he’s plus in left or right, and with more work could be plus at 2B, too.
Best Arm: Julio Rodriguez — 70
Runner-Up: J.P. Crawford — 60
Rodriguez was a no-brainer, but while there are stronger arms on the roster than Crawford (Hernandez, for example), J.P. has plus arm strength with the consistent ability to make every throw at shortstop.
Fastest Baserunner: Jonatan Clase — 70
Runner-Up: Sam Haggerty — 60
Haggerty can run, but Clase remains a burner, even as he closes in on 200 pounds with the added strength and physical growth the past two years.
Best Fastball: George Kirby — 70
Runner-Up: Luis Castillo — 65
Kirby not only touches 98, but the value he gets from both his fastballs is remarkable. Castillo isn’t far behind.
Paul Sewald sits 91-93 mph, but for the year batters went .144 with a 29.5% whiff rate off his four-seamer. He did allow five homers on the pitch, however.
Matt Festa gets an honorable mention here. He doesn’t throw that hard (92.6 mph), but the league batted just .179 off his fastball.
Best Slider: Andres Munoz — 70
Runner-Up: Robbie Ray, Matt Brash — 60
And to think, at the start of the season the general thought about Munoz was, hey, if he can polish that slider he’ll have something. Well, he had the most valuable slider in baseball among relievers, and that includes Edwin Diaz. Ray didn’t have his best slider in 2022, but it still carried big value for him all year with batters hitting just .184 off the pitch and whiffing at 39.4% rate.
Festa and Penn Murfee deserve love here, too.
Best Curveball: Matt Brash — 60
Runner-Up: Logan Gilbert — 55
Brash’s two breakers blend together, and both are pretty nasty. Gilbert only threw his fastball 12.5% of the time, favoring the slider, but the curveball has a lot of ptential still.
Best Changeup/Split: Luis Castillo — 55
Runner-Up: Logan Gilbert — 50
There are times when Castillo’s change is filthy and more a pure plus offering, or better, but in 2022 he served up six homers on the pitch. Still, it’s the best on the roster right now.. for now. Gilbert has the makings of a 60-grade changeup and I hope we see it more (8% usage in ‘22) this coming season. Batters went 5-for-40 when putting it in play and whiffed 32% of the time.
Best Control/Command: George Kirby — 70
Runner-Up: Marco Gonzales — 55
The easiest one of the day, really. Kirby is an absolute assassin, and is now doing it with two fastballs, two breaking balls, and the occasional changeup.
TBH, Kirby was the easiest prospect to scout for me in 20 years. Easier than Felix Hernandez. When a pitcher throws strikes with ease and commands to every part of the zone, it opens so many doors, and Kirby is walking through all of them.