Mariners Minor League Spotlight for July 3
With so many games going on, we'll sometimes break one or two out for "spotlight." And news.
***
Of course, the "news" is not good with respect to Danny Hultzen (Talk40 #4). Hultzen was scratched after experiencing similar shoulder tightness to what sidelined him in April. Tacoma interim manager John Stearns didn't seem too optimistic: "We hope it's not too serious."
Even though the Hulzen "medical school" story has been proven to be a myth, at least he seems to be good at self-diagnosis and not being the "tough guy" who goes out a shreds his own shoulder.
***
There'll be Choi Joy at the Futures Game after all. Our man Ji-Man Choi (Talk40 #19) was added to the International team despite losing the "Futures Finalists" fan vote.
He's hitting .303/.394/.578 with 27 doubles, 12 HR and 36 walks. And a low 16.4% strikeout rate.
Gotta find a spot for him -- and for D.J. Peterson -- in the "Dodgers infield." Guess the Dodgers didn't have the DH.
***
After getting caught up with the "Taijuan/Chuck Norris" theme yesterday, I neglected the news that Eric Thames had been shipped to Baltimore for Ty Kelly.
Kelly is a switch-hitting infielder taken in the 9th round of the 2009 draft out of Cal-Davis. Interestingly, he's another guy from the inland part of California, where Taijuan Walker (Talk40 #2), Stephen Landazuri (Talk40 #24), Trevor Miller (26intheMix) and James Zamarripa (Watch List) were discovered. So there's some hope there.
As Gordon noted in the Shout Box, he's a star at drawing walks (13.1% career BB rate) and avoiding strikeouts (12.9% career K rate), and that's pretty intriguing -- particularly for a middle infielder.
But he's actually played mostly at third, he's not a shortstop, and he has no power or speed.
So as a second baseman with some utility value, we like him, and since we were going to dump Thames anyway, it's not a bad pickup.
AAA -- Tacoma 10, Colorado Springs 4 -- Box
So with Hultzen out, He Who Shall Not Be Named stepped into the starting role. Oh, OK ... Hector Noesi. And he wasn't bad: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.
And the offense did fine:
- New kid on the block Kelly got a single and a walk
- Nate Tenbrink (26intheMix): 4-for-5, double
- Rich Poythress (26intheMix): 3-for-5, 2 doubles
Clearly, it will take an unusual set of circumstances ("Brandon Bantz-like" perhaps?) for Tenbrink and/or Poythress to make it to Seattle, but at least they're still in there plugging away.
Poythress is having a good season (.262/.354/.459), but does he really project to more than what Justin Smoak offers? Probably not.
And we love Tenbrink, but to be a utility guy, he'd need to have some middle-infield value, of which we are skeptical (maybe second, but not short). As a corner-guy utility player, it's hard to see.