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Good stuff. Mac does know how to draft to fill need, doesn't he?
And let's not forget Smoak rediscovering his RH swing. That may be doing more for the big club than anything else right now.
Suddenly the Kids are All "Right"
The Mariners rediscover right-handed power (all at once)
Time travel to early summer 2013.
The best healthy right-handed hitters on the Mariner roster, I suppose, were mostly-used-up and soon-to-be-shipped-out Michael Morse and Jason Bay. Franklin Gutierrez was in his usual perpetual limbo.
Mike Zunino had been rushed to the majors, and wasn’t hitting a lick.
Once-promising Vinnie Catricala had been cut due to a free-fall so steep that it eventually caused him to leave baseball for the police academy. Stefen Romero wasn’t living up to his modest expectations. Jack Marder‘s free-fall was as steep as Vinnie’s, though he hasn’t yet traded bat for badge.
Way off on the horizon was the faint hope of then-red-hot Daniel Paolini, but he was in High Desert, was old for his level and didn’t even have a certain defensive role.
Paolini, though quite good, had floated to the top of the prospect list by default. The entire organization had very little promise in terms of right-handed hitters of any stripe.
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