2025 Mariners Minor League Recap, April 1 - April 6

An amphibious pitcher puts hitters under water, Laz and Emerson dominate, and a large Little makes his debut

It’s our first full recap of the season! We’ve got a ton to get into across all four affiliates, including a wide array of professional debuts and monster performances at the plate. We’ll jump right in with an interesting week from Tacoma who faltered a bit after a nice start.

Tacoma Rainiers

5-4

Tacoma was the only team that had a full slate of games this week, and they fell a bit flat against the Reno Aces. With a 2-4 record against the DBacks affiliate, the Rainiers fell to third in the division after a 3-0 opening weekend. With the recent Victor Robles injury and general underperformance with the major league team, I’d wager we’ll see some of these guys in Seattle sooner than later.

The top prospects were held in check for the most part, however Tyler Locklear capped the series off with an excellent 4-5 day at the plate and raised his average up to .370 on the year thus far. He’s maintained the pop he’s always had and has already got his OPS north of 1.000. The whiff has still been present which was his biggest issue last season, but with the level of impact we’ve seen him produce at the plate it’s much more tolerable. I wouldn’t rush him up to the big leagues just yet, but with how dire things are offensively, I wouldn’t say anything is impossible.

Despite his overall numbers being poor, Cole Young has been getting incredibly unlucky to start the season. He’s actually hitting the ball harder than he ever has with some consistency and just hasn’t been able to find the outfield grass. He’s one I’m not worried about in the slightest.

Logan Evans, now having notched his second start of the season, has had a rough go of things early on, currently sitting with an ERA of 6.23 so far. It’s obviously a tiny sample size of roughly eight innings, however it’s certainly something to keep an eye on after his late season struggles last season. Harry Ford and Ben Williamson to a lesser degree have been disappointing, though they’ve both had some encouraging AB’s at the plate and bring some additional value with their premium defense/positional value. No panic buttons after seven games, but I’d sure like it for them to turn things around quick.

Arkansas Travelers

1-2

The team on the lightest side for prospects in the system, the Travs salvaged a game in the series on Sunday with a dominating 9-0 win over the Rockhounds. It hasn’t been all that pretty just yet, but with just a three game set in the books and some significant prospect talent just a step below in Everett, I’d bet the Travs will get things turned around eventually.

There’s been some reasons to be excited offensively, as both both Brock Rodden and Caleb Cali have provided the infield with some juice. Additionally, Victor Labrada has started the season on fire and has been a key piece of the puzzle offensively. It’s not as though they’re knocking the cover off the ball, but Sunday’s game really helped out the numbers in such a tiny sample size. Let’s hope there’s more to follow in the upcoming series against a struggling Tulsa team.

The only prospect on this squad that made our top twenty list, Brandyn Garcia made his first appearance since transitioning to the bullpen full time and logged a clean inning on just 14 pitches. He’s all but certain to be a part of the major league bullpen at some point this season and should be an excellent addition to the stable of arms. The fastball-slider combo is nasty.

Everett AquaSox

2-1

Going from zero to a hundred in the prospect department, the Everett squad provided non-stop action all weekend with some gaudy performances from the system’s top dogs. With both sides of the ball showing some unbelievable talent, it’s an amazing time to be located in the PNW. Get out there and watch some games!

In what was the most electrifying debut we’ve seen thus far, Jurrangelo Cijntje looked unbelievable in Saturday’s game against Spokane. Pumping fastballs in the upper 90’s a consistently reaching north of 100 mph on the radar gun, Cijntje seems to have found some additional velo in his back pocket this offseason and used it to completely overwhelm the opposing hitters. Allowing just one hit on the day and striking out six over four innings, Cijntje looked to be on a completely different level than whoever was standing in the box to face him. The slider was tight, the fastball had zip, and he looked to be moving with relative ease. Everything was as advertised (if not better).

Things have been cooking offensively as well, as both Colt Emerson and Lazaro Montes have been scorching the ball and find themselves with OPS totals over 1.200. Montes in particular (1.835 OPS) couldn’t get out for the first few nights, reaching base eight consecutive times to open the season. Laz has shown off the power with a homer and a triple so far while Emerson hasn’t slugged his first dinger just yet but is still peppering extra base hits around the park. They’ve been incredibly impressive in these first few games and are both vying for an early promotion to Arkansas.

The rest of the gang has been a bit slow to catch up with the blazing hot Emerson and Montes, however there’s no reason to get too worked up over a few bad games. Tai Peete has already made some nice plays out in centerfield and Michael Arroyo will get things straightened out in due time. They’ll take on Hillsboro this week and look to get everyone back on track.

Modesto Nuts

3-0

A fun, up-and-coming squad of risers exacted revenge for the major league squad, sweeping the Giants to open their season and doing so in a truly electrifying fashion. With a walkoff homer, dominant pitching, and much more to come this week, Modesto has been a lot of fun so far and should continue to provide many more magical moments.

A name that we’ve talked about quite a bit since his insertion into the pitching development machine of the Seattle Mariners, Christian Little debuted as a professional and did not disappoint. Striking out six over five innings and not walking anyone, Little flashed some wicked stuff as a starter and is moving incredibly well on the mound. He’s a big, physical right hander that can reach the upper 90’s with the heater and has both a breaker and a changeup that flash well. He’s been my pick for this year’s break out pitcher for a while now, and his start over the weekend only strengthened that prediction. Long way to go, but it was a fantastic game one.

Another debut, Matt Tiberia dominated on Sunday and pitched four shutout innings with six K’s. Tiberia was a bit of a mystery coming out of Lynn college in Florida, but the lanky right hander looked excellent against the Giants and only surrendered two baserunners all day. I was impressed with his stuff and really think they might have something here. He’s a name to put on your watch lists.

The bats haven’t been going crazy to start the season, but Carlos Jimenez has looked good so far and is on the shortlist for a promotion to Everett. The centerfielder has shown the ability to hit to all fields and has some speed in his game that helps on both sides of the ball. I’d imagine he’ll be in the PNW come summer, if not sooner.

That wraps our first full recap! Leave your thoughts in the comments below and GOMS!