Crunch Time: Mariners at Angels Series Preview
The Mariners embark on a critical road trip beginning in Anaheim.
The Mariners have won back-to-back series for the first time since mid-June when it looked like they were going to cruise to the AL West title. Four wins over their last six games is a good start to getting the season back on track but this upcoming road trip presents the M’s biggest opportunity to put some pressure on the Astros. Seattle will travel to Anaheim, Oakland, and St. Louis to face three ball clubs that are well out of the playoff picture. A win in each of these series would give them a 7-3 record over their next 10 games; that’s probably the bare minimum they’ll need to stay competitive as the calendar flips to September.
The last time the Mariners played in Anaheim, they were swept in three games in the middle of their July swoon. For their part, the Angels have been absolutely dismal over the last three weeks; they’ve won just five times over their last 20 games — only the White Sox have been worse during that stretch. For whatever reason, their ownership group decided to hand general manager Perry Minasian a contract extension a week ago. He’s largely responsible for the state of the organization, though he was handed the team’s largest contracts by the previous administration under Billy Eppler. Minasian has been aggressive in promoting their prospects up through the farm system, and to wit, they’re calling up two of their top pitching prospects this weekend to make their major league debuts.
Zach Neto blasted his 20th home run of the season yesterday which means he’s reached the 20-20 plateau in just his second big league season. His development into an everyday shortstop has been one of the few success stories for the Angels this year. Though he’s had his share of ups and downs, Taylor Ward has been the guy they’ve leaned on for most of their run production this year. The rest of the lineup is filled with the usual suspects; core adjacent youngsters (Schanuel, O’Hoppe), veterans lazily playing out their contracts (Rendon, Drury), or flawed youngsters still trying to play their way into the organization’s future (Moniak, Adell).
Probable Pitchers
Acquired from the Phillies in the Carlos Estévez deal at the trade deadline, Samuel Aldegheri is on-track to become the first Italian-born pitcher in major-league history when he makes his debut on Friday. He’s really raised his profile this season by striking out over a third of the minor league batters he’s faced across two levels. His fastball sits in the low-90s but it has plenty of ride helping it play up over its velocity. He also has a good slider and decent changeup in his repertoire, both of which generate plenty of swings and misses. His profile is held back by a lack of true pinpoint command, though he’s raised his ceiling to more of a back-end starter this year.
From a previous series preview:
After a career-year in 2022 with the Dodgers, Tyler Anderson signed a three-year deal with the Angels the following offseason. He wasn’t able to replicate his success in his first season in Anaheim and his second season has been a mixed bag, too. From a results standpoint, he’s running one of the best ERAs in the American League and that earned him an All-Star nod this year. Unfortunately, all of his peripherals indicate he’s enjoying some pretty significant good luck on his results and that a swing back towards his 4.53 FIP is imminent. The big driver behind his sudden success two years ago was an improved changeup; that pitch is still just as effective, but the rest of his repertoire has deteriorated a bit.
Anderson has allowed five runs in 11.2 innings during his previous two outings against the Mariners.
Caden Dana is the other top pitching prospect making his debut this weekend. Ranked third by FanGraphs on their preseason prospect list, Dana has excelled in Double-A this year. Just 20 years old, he’s flown through the organization since being drafted in the 11th round in 2022. He slipped to the middle rounds of the draft due to signability concerns, but the Angels handed him a pretty sizable bonus and his talent has proven that his draft position should be taken with a grain of salt. He has a decent fastball that sits in the mid-90s but his best pitch is a two-plane slider that he can manipulate to gain depth or sweep depending on what the situation calls for. He also has a big 12-to-6 curveball that acts more as a change-of-pace pitch than a true swing-and-miss offering.
The Big Picture:
After losing their series to the Phillies earlier in the week, the Astros started off a four-game set against the Royals with a win yesterday. That puts the M’s four games back in the division. Somehow, the final Wild Card spot is still in play thanks to a pretty significant slump by the Twins. Minnesota has won just twice over their last 10 games and will host the Blue Jays this weekend.