2025 Mariners Minor League Recap, April 7 - April 13

A whole lot of good mixed with a just a touch of bad

Tacoma Rainiers

7-8

After a hot start, the Rainiers have fallen towards the middle of the pack in the PCL standings. With a tight group in the West division, the Rainiers find themselves just a few games back of Las Vegas for the top spot. They’ve seen some improved play as of late with some of the big names starting to get going, however with promotions imminent, the Rainiers may find themselves with some holes that need patching up.

The big news of the week comes in the form of a player leaving the team, with Ben Williamson earning a promotion to the big league squad where he’ll presumably make his debut early this week. Williamson is known predominantly for his glove at the hot corner where he’ll instantly give a much needed boost to an infield that’s been spotty at best. Depending on how the M’s want to shake out their infield, I’d expect Williamson to get a substantial amount of run at third from the get go. The bat has been a bit slower to heat up than the glove, but his approach at the plate should be more conducive to success in T-Mobile Park than most and his tempered offensive expectations mean he won’t have to do much at the plate to be a net positive. Hopefully Williamson can bring some line drives and flashy defense to a Mariners team that’s looking to build on a series sweep over Texas.

Utility man Samad Taylor had a hot week at the plate, tallying a 7-20 week that featured two doubles and a two homer game that concluded with his walk off winner during Saturday night’s game. Taylor has excellent speed on the bases and can cover both the infield and outfield positionally. If Leo Rivas, Miles Mastrobuoni, or another bench bat struggles, don’t be shocked if Samad makes his way up to Seattle.

Logan Evans had his best start in a Tacoma uniform this week, completely dismantling Sacramento across six innings of one run ball. Evans was able to notch seven strikeouts on the night and didn’t walk a single batter, a testament to how dominant he truly was on the night. It’s great to see Evans get back on track after some middling starts to the begin the year, especially after last season that saw his performance fade as the year went on . Evans still needs plenty of seasoning in Tacoma before he’ll receive a big league call up, but hopefully this start is a sign of great things to come.

Arkansas Travelers

6-3

What a week it was for the Arkansas Travelers! A 5-1 series win over the Dodgers affiliate is always a welcome sight, but for a team that lacks true impact in the form of prospect superstars, it’s an extra sweet accomplishment. Now back on track in the standings, the Travs find themselves just one game back of the division behind their usual rival Springfield.

Jared Sundstrom had a real nice week against the Drillers, collecting six hits, three walks, and six stolen bases across 17 AB’s. Sundstrom has played all three outfield spots this season and has some thunderous power in his bat, but his overall athleticism and speed on the basepaths are a rare trait someone as big as him possesses. It’s not all that dissimilar to what Luke Raley brings to the big league team right now, an exciting ceiling for someone the Mariners took in the 10th round of the 2023 draft out of UCSB. Sundstrom didn’t quite crack our Top 20 prospects, though he was one of a handful that just missed it. His approach is one that typically goes to die in Arkansas, so a successful season for Sundstrom would be an especially encouraging accomplishment.

The Traveler rotation is older than in years past, however it’s been more than serviceable thus far. Guys like Adam Seminaris, Garrett Hill, and Danny Wirchansky all have been good for the Trav’s and bullpen arms such as Michael Hobbs, Taylor Floyd, Yorlin Calderon, and Juan Burgos have held it down on the back end. It’s been a winning strategy so far and should leave the team in a position to win a lot of games this season.

Everett AquaSox

3-6

The crown jewel of the system, Everett got smacked around by a really good Hillsboro team that features plenty of serious prospect talent itself. The Frogs secured a win on Sunday, but lost a couple close games throughout the week and only managed the single W throughout the week. Plenty of storyline on the player side, but a tough week overall for the team’s record.

On a team seemingly overflowing with prospect pedigree, Milkar Perez has been a massive contributor for the Frogs in the middle of their order. Now slashing .346/.500/.538 on the early season, Perez is finally showing some more impact in his bat to accompany his already superb eye at the plate. Perez has managed to hang around in the system for several years since signing in 2018 and is finally putting some things together that could recapture some of the prospect pedigree he once had. Hopefully this isn’t strictly a product of the smaller ballpark in Everett and a discernable change in his game he made over the offseason.

The crew of prospects were again good this week despite the losses, with Colt Emerson (5-17, 3BB, 1 2B), Michael Arroyo (6-19, 6 BB, 2 HR, 2B), and Lazaro Montes (5-24, 4 BB, 1 HR, 1 3B, 2 2B) all continuing to be steady forces at the plate. Emerson has looked excellent in the field this season and continues to be incredibly steady against all levels of pitching, with the only truly substandard tool being the power. He’s shown he can get to it in spring training, but he’ll have to show it over the course of an entire season to change the narrative around his bat. With Michael Arroyo officially back on track and Montes walking more than he’s striking out, I expect brighter days ahead for an AquaSox team that is simply too talented to lose this many games.

Modesto Nuts

7-2

The system’s most successful affiliate to date, Modesto is off to a 7-2 start after a series win against Lake Elsinore this week and find themselves atop the California League North Division. The bats are absolutely on fire!

The duo of Dervy Ventura and Ricardo Cova have long flown under the radar in the M’s system, but they’re certainly putting themselves on the map with a torrid start to the season. Ventura (7-16, 6 BB, 3 2B, 2 SB) and Cova (12-30, 3 BB, 1 HR, 1 3B, 3 2B, 3 SB) were unbelievable this week for the Nuts and both feature similar offensive skillsets. Both smaller infielders that profile best at second base, they feature an offensive approach catered to getting on base and spraying the ball around the ballpark. Cova has shown more pop than Ventura, however Ventura has been able to draw an absurd amount of walks early, thus putting their season OPS at roughly 1.000. These are names you’re going to want to flag; I wouldn’t be shocked in the slightest if both are firmly in the top twenty prospects in a loaded system come mid-season.

It wasn’t all peachy for the Nuts despite their winning ways, as both Ryan Sloan and Jeter Martinez made their season debuts and weren’t able to get into the second inning. These starts were intentionally short, but neither had the command to keep their pitch counts low and got into some trouble with walks. Additionally, Walter Ford and Christian Little were not good either, with Ford’s performance in particular becoming more and more of a concern as he gets more of a footing as a professional. Easily of the most importance is the fact that Felnin Celesten has been out of games since Thursday after fouling a ball off of his ankle. Celesten has had trouble with injuries in his brief career but has always had supreme ability when on the field. Off to a hot start this season, let’s hope it doesn’t cost him any more time than it has already.

Big shoutout to some more unheralded guys like Carter Dorighi, Austin St. Laurent, Matthew Ellis, and Cesar Quintas. They’ve all been excellent at the plate and have put the Nuts in a favorable spot offensively all year. Their success will be critical for this team’s winning chances if the pitching continues to be relatively inconsistent.

Thanks for reading this week’s recap! Let us know your thoughts in the comments and GOMS!