A Year in Review: The 2024 Minor League Season

One last trip down to the farm

Well, the time has officially come. The 2024 season has come to a close, and with that comes the final minor league recap of the year. This week’s recap will try to run through the highlights of the system’s success and all of the outstanding individual performers from the 2024 season, but I’m naturally going to have to leave some things out to keep this to one article. We’re in for a doozy this week, but I hope you’ll stick around and relive the 2024 minor league season for all of your favorite Seattle Mariner affiliates.

Tacoma Rainiers

The Rainiers had about as successful of a season as you can have without actually making the playoffs or playing meaningful baseball down the stretch. Finishing second in their division both times, they steadily plodded through their schedule, never getting too far from the median for more than a month or so. They certainly had their fair share of names to follow and some career revitalizations, but for the most part, it was a just a run-of-the-mill solid season.

Tacoma has never been a hotbed of prospect talent for much of the Dipoto regime, mostly acting as a place for prospects to get a dash of final seasoning while the big league club sorts through their mess to open up a roster spot. Logan Gilbert, Cal Raleigh, and others spent some time there, but their development has mostly been done by the time they graduate Arkansas. Guys like Bryan Woo, Bryce Miller, Kyle Lewis, and Evan White skipped over AAA entirely, albeit to varying degrees of success. So yes, while Ryan Bliss, Emerson Hancock, Tyler Locklear, and a handful of others are legitimate pieces moving forward, the bulk of this roster is likely not much more than organizational filler.

I’m opting to give Emerson Hancock my Pitcher of the Year award for Tacoma, though Jhonathan Diaz deserves an honorable mention for essentially coming out of no where and being a serviceable arm all season. Hancock, who often gets forgotten in the glutton of young starting pitching found in this system, worked a 3.43 ERA on the season across 94.1 IP, an excellent total for the offense-happy PCL and the best in the league for pitchers with at least 90 innings. He’ll never be a top-shelf arm that’s blowing batters away with strikeouts, but his ability to limit damage has been remarkable. It’s been made clear that the organization has no intention of moving an arm over the offseason, but Hancock acts as a rare luxury for Seattle as a serviceable backup starting pitcher with minor league options. Congrats on the fantastic year, Emerson.

When looking at bats, it’s impossible not to say that Jason Vosler was the best hitter on the team. He led in basically every offensive category. That said, our year in review is more prospect oriented, and I’ve decided I’m going to highlight the two aforementioned “big names” and try to objectively analyze their seasons. No shade to Vosler, you absolutely destroyed everybody else offensively and are clearly the team’s Player of the Year. I am, however, more interested to talk about the young bucks.

Tyler Locklear’s season is difficult to pin down as it was truly a tale of two halves. During his time in Arkansas, he was legitimately one of the best hitters in the Texas League and seemed to be knocking down the door to the majors. Upon his promotion, however, it was tumultuous every step of the way. Promotions, demotions, slumps, you name it. His time in Tacoma wasn’t bad, per se, just not to his level of excellence. In the long term, there’s not a ton of concern; his plate discipline numbers were in line with his career norms and his results could easily be chalked up to small sample weirdness. But as a RHH first baseman, his path to the big leagues is naturally slim. Plain and simple, he has to hit. With a hole at first base glaringly obvious for the 2025 Mariners, it would seem natural to plug him in and schedule him for 500 PA’s next season, but his year in Tacoma didn’t show me enough to award him that role just yet. He’ll get a shot at some point, but he’s got to go and earn it early next season.

Ryan Bliss, the other primary “prospect” bat in this Tacoma lineup, had a good year in Tacoma and put up some encouraging numbers when looking at the long term. Bliss was able to post solid plate discipline numbers and respectable power, however his value will almost certainly come from his legs. Nabbing 50 bags on the year, Bliss is a difference maker on the base paths and ultimately profiles as a fringy hitter who can make up for it with speed and defense. With as poor as second base has been since Robinson Cano’s departure, the standard is set pretty darn low. If Bliss can ever get to a league average bat with solid defense and plus speed, he’d instantly become one of the more exciting players in their lineup. Like Locklear, he’ll have to prove he can get to that point in the majors, but the opportunity is there for the taking.

Arkansas Travelers

The first of two Seattle affiliates claiming their league championships, Arkansas rode their tremendous pitching all season and ended up claiming the Texas League crown in walkoff fashion. There were some ups and downs from the Travs’ finest this season, but a strong end always helps put some of the early struggles aside and makes the offseason speculation that much more potent. Don’t be surprised if there’s a significant chunk of this team that ends up debuting in 2025.

Pitching wins championships, and damn it this team can PITCH. It seems like every season the Seattle Double-A affiliate is teeming with elite starting pitching, and in what many predicted would be a down year for arms in this system, Arkansas closed the season with the best rotation in the league for the seemingly millionth year in a row. Logan Evans closed out the championship win and got most of the acclaim this season, but Juan Mercedes was the most stable contributor all season and both Michael Morales and Brandyn Garcia were nails after their midseason promotion. Plus, Danny Wirchansky, the final member of the rotation, secured the Texas League ERA title. If you want to pick a Pitcher of the Year for the Travelers, be my guest. No way I’m going to try and separate out my favorite.

Offensively, much of the focus was put (deservedly) on Cole Young and Harry Ford, two of the top five prospects in the entire system. Both had strikingly similar seasons, each flexing their premiere discipline at the plate with less happening in the power department. Overall, I’d clump both of their seasons in the “good” bin. They showed me they can be productive hitters at the Double-A level and hold their own despite their young age. Whether they choose to start them at Double-A or Triple-A next season is likely a matter of taste for the front office, but they both carried the load of this offense all season and deserve a look at the big leagues some time next season.

Shoutout to Jared Oliva, who sneakily was a tremendous hitter for the Travs. The man is 28 and has big league experience, but he was fantastic down in Arkansas.

Everett AquaSox

Everett was perhaps the most frustrating team all season, never quite reaching the level of success their talent should’ve produced on the field. Between defensive miscues, bullpen implosions, and general inconsistency, the Frogs would routinely squander leads and subsequently found themselves missing the playoffs.

Stalwart of the lineup Jared Sundstrom had a great first full season in the pros and will deservedly be playing in the AFL this fall. As a 10th rounder in the 2023 draft, he might not be on a ton of people’s radar, but the hulking outfielder has some legitimate tools and will look to carve out his professional career even further in Arkansas next spring. He’s not one of the flashy names we’ll be covering for the AquaSox, but I needed to give him his flowers. He’s earned them.

The three biggest names here are Michael Arroyo, Colt Emerson, and Lazaro Montes. You all know them, you all love them. Emerson, the greenest of the bunch, was only around in Everett long enough to get his feet wet, but finished the season strong with an impressive series in September. His budding power and his elite swing metrics have people hootin’ and hollerin’ about his potential as a big leaguer, but his play at shortstop has been much more sound than most expected. It’s a long road ahead, but there’s a ton to be excited about. He too will join Sundstrom in the AFL, where he’s projected to be one of the youngest attendees in recent memory.

Next, we’ll go to Lazaro. The mammoth slugger started ice cold for his first month in Everett, but managed a heater to end all heaters to close out his season. Montes features some of the most raw offensive upside of anyone in minor league baseball, and he flashed legitimate improvement with his hit tool throughout the season. There’s always going to be a healthy amount of swing-and-miss to his game, but the ability to make improvements to his game on a day-to-day basis appears to be there, however nascent it may be. That awareness is encouraging, and pairing that with his undeniable work ethic only adds to the excitement surrounding his innate talent. Montes will almost certainly begin next season back in the PNW, where he’ll get a shot to prove his late season stretch was no fluke.

Who else but Michael Arroyo could close off this year’s AquaSox team? My personal choice for minor leaguer of the year (though it was closer than you might think), Arroyo was as good as they come all season and utterly mashed at the plate no matter who the competition was. Sure, the defense was shaky, but a season slash of .285/.400/.509 across two levels cannot be argued with. His remarkable uptick in power this season took his offensive output to the next level, though some swing-and-miss did rear it’s ugly head for the usual barrel-oriented Arroyo. Truly, I do not know what Michael Arroyo’s MLB career will look like. This being said, I’m confident he’s going to hit, and everything after that typically falls into place. Is he Brian Dozier? Is he Ozzie Albies? Does he debut as a Mariner at all? Nobody knows right now. But it’s not the time to dwell on what he is or isn’t, and rather celebrate is triumphant season. Arroyo is firmly a top ten guy organizationally and has earned all of the credit in the world for the work he put in this season.

Modesto Nuts

The other league champions of the 2024 Seattle Mariner farm system, Modesto weathered some serious storms to take home the Cal League title. Having their team decimated by trade, promotion, and injury, the Nuts were a shell of their usual selves, yet still came out on top. Now back-to-back champs, whisperings of a Modesto dynasty can be heard up and down the California coast.

By nature of how I’m covering players in this recap, much of the premiere talent found in this organization has already been discussed. Tai Peete, however, has not been, and I believe Peete is being judged somewhat unfairly due to the resounding success his peers have seen. Draft mates Jonny Farmelo and the previously mentioned Colt Emerson have both soared up rankings while Peete has had to take a backseat, steadily improving his game where he can. It’s long been known that Peete was drafted as a work in progress, the hope being his physical tools would translate on to the field after years of professional guidance. While year one showed similar warts to the concerns on draft day, expecting an immediate jump isn’t always realistic. The strikeouts are a major problem, and the bat to ball will ultimately make or break his career, but his dynamic athleticism was on display all season. Moving to centerfield and swiping 45 bags at 6’2 200 lbs is what you’re dreaming on. It’s not a bet for right now, but a bet on what he can be. I fully understand the concerns and share them myself, but I can still see the vision.

Jonny Farmelo’s season ended far too early, but what he was able to show while on the field was tantalizing. Outside of his elite centerfield defense, Farmelo showed off excellent speed and a good combination of hit and power. It’s tough to say what he’ll look like on the other side of his knee injury, but let’s all hope he makes a full recovery and gets back to being the player he’s shown he can be. He’ll rank highly in my offseason reranks.

The pitching showed up this year, and Ashton Izzi was yet another arm that took a step forward this season. He’s a contact manager type of player who doesn’t have overwhelming stuff, but he managed to get everything working together all season long and served as the staff ace. He’ll get a crack at Everett next season where he’ll look to build on his success.

If you want some names to watch for from this year’s draft (outside of the obvious Jurrangelo Cijntje), my picks are Josh Caron and Brock Moore. Caron looks like some actual catching depth for this system and I think Moore gets the Brandyn Garcia treatment next year and gets a chance to start. There’s not a ton to go off in their small sample size, but that’s just my gut feeling.

ACL Mariners / DSL Mariners

Listen, I’ll be frank. It was a bad year for the two lowest rungs of the system ladder this year. The ACL team featured some exciting names, but between injuries to Felnin Celesten and suboptimal developments from Jeter Martinez, the bigger names on the team had year’s that were less than great. Guys like Carlos Jimenez and Ricardo Cova played well in their time at the complex, but both fizzled a bit in Modesto. The DSL team I’m not even going to get into. Just rotten. Dawel Joseph does not look to be equipped to handle professional pitching at this point in time, and most everyone fell short of expectations. If you want a name to follow, check out Dervy Ventura. He’s a smaller second base type of player, but the switch hitter has found success offensively thus far. He’s a sleeper type you can use to elevate your Mariner ball knowledge.

That concludes our 2024 minor league baseball coverage for your Seattle Mariners. It’s been a long season and a lot of work, but I truly thank each and every one of you who read along the way. It’s something I love doing and your readership make this all possible. For one final time and from the bottom of my heart, GOMS!!