2025 Mariners Minor League Recap, May 5 - May 11

The one where the top prospects come alive

Welcome back to our weekly prospect roundup! The top of this Mariner system has been absolutely humming as of late, starting at the top with Tacoma and working it’s way down all the way to the California League. It was undeniably a great week down on the farm that bodes exceptionally well for what’s to come as the weather continues to heat up.

Tacoma Rainiers

15-24

Back in the win column! The Rainiers took their first series in what feels like months by a score of four games to two, punctuating their excellent week of baseball with a 12-7 win on Sunday afternoon. This was a massive week for several of the Seattle top prospects after a rather slow start to the season and ultimately inspires a lot of hope for what’s yet to come for this team. If the big names catch fire, the outlook of this team dramatically changes into a squad that can compete for a playoff spot.

As you may have already surmised, the prospects I had previously been alluding to is the tandem of Cole Young and Harry Ford, two of the Mariners’ better prospects that have been climbing the ranks together the past several years. Each collecting at least one hit in every game they played in, both dramatically improved their season totals to much more palatable levels. Young (10-22, HR, 3B, 3 2B, 3 BB, 2 K) and Ford (7-13, 2B, 3 BB, 2 K) have each been hot since the calendar flipped over to May, each having an OPS north of 1.000 this month. Despite their early season struggles, they’ve each shown signs to think they’ll turn things around; They’re both young for the level, commanding the zone well, and are playing to their strengths at the plate. Should this duo continue their hot hitting, I’d expect a whole lot more W’s for this Tacoma squad.

It was another monster week for Dominic Canzone down in Tacoma, turning in an 8-24 week with two homers and four doubles. Canzone carries an OPS of 1.049 on the season and is looking like an objectively better baseball player than the pitchers he’s facing regularly. Canzone has been somewhat of AAAA player in his career thus far and with the club committing to pay Leody Taveras I’m not exactly sure there’s room on the big league team for him, however I’d still like to see him get a shot. He should be the next bat up should they need one.

Arkansas Travelers

18-15

It was a series split this week for the Travs, keeping the fourth place Cardinals at arms length in the standings. The Travs haven’t been quite as good as they were the first few weeks of the season, but they still hold the second place spot in their division and are just one game back of first place Wichita. Now closer to full strength with more reinforcements coming soon, I’d imagine we’ll see the Travs pick it up and push for the first half title.

Brock Rodden had missed some time over the past couple weeks, however he returned over the weekend and immediately made his presence felt in a big way. With five hits in his first nine plate appearances, Rodden managed a two homer game on Sunday to raise his season OPS to .849, a more than respectable figure. Rodden has been a steady performer at nearly every stage of his time as a professional and provides positional utility across the infield. He’s aggressive on the basepaths, a switch-hitter, and overall a player I really enjoy rooting for. Hopeful Brock is able to keep this up and show that he can be a big leaguer at some point down the road.

Michael Morales has made a pair of starts since starting the season off on the IL and has shown well after his breakout 2024 season. Morales has been working shorter stints so far (topping out at just three innings), however he’s done well at limiting runs and looks much like the pitcher he was last season. It’ll be a slow build up for Morales to start, but I’d imagine he’ll continue to pitch well regardless of his inning limits. He’s still a little ways off from a big league debut, but certainly a prospect to monitor closely.

Everett AquaSox

14-18

The Frogs had their Sunday game cut short due to inclement weather, however they’ve already locked down at worst a split by taking three of the first five. The stats this week are going to be kind of wonky as the happenings of Sunday’s game aren’t technically official until they finish the game next month, but I’ll try to encapsulate as much of what has actually happened on the field as I can.

Hello, Farmelo! Since returning from the IL last week, Jonny Farmelo has been absolutely unconscious at the plate. If we’re counting the ghost game of Sunday afternoon, Farmelo would now have five homers in his first eight games and has been slugging balls for extra bases with relative ease. His swing and miss has been elevated thus far, however it’s not all that much of a shock to see him struggle a bit with the whiff after missing so much time with his ACL injury. Assuming he’s able to sustain most of this power while getting his K rate to where it was prior to injury last season, it’s not unreasonable in the slightest to say he’d be the Mariners’ top prospect by mid season. As soon as he feels comfortable enough on the basepaths to get back to stealing bags, watch out. Farmelo could be a tremendously dangerous player.

Both Colt Emerson and Michael Arroyo have been trending up the past few weeks, with May treating the pair very well at the plate. On the month, Emerson is slashing .333/.435/.500 while Arroyo is taking home an even better line of .364/.500/.636. Not that it was all that bold of a take, but I had very little doubt both would get back to their former selves at the plate after their slow starts. Neither one has had all that much of an issue commanding the strike zone and the power is slowly but surely trending in the right direction. Emerson even has a homer in Sunday’s first few innings that haven’t hit the books yet.

Jurrangelo Cijntje made yet another excellent start this week, showing his excellence with his right hand has been no fluke so far. With a five inning stint that saw him surrender just one run on two hits, Jurrangelo tallied six K’s on the night compared to two walks in a rather dominant start. As a starter this season, Jurrangelo holds a 2.49 ERA to his name with 27 K’s across 25.1 IP. He’s been utterly shelled as a lefty reliever so far, leading me to question how much utility he’s actually getting out of this arrangement, however we’ll have to see how long they want to continue this strategy. He’s yet to appear as a reliever this month, so perhaps they’ve decided to move on.

Modesto Nuts

20-13

A disappointing series loss was salvaged with an extra innings win in Sunday’s series capper, although dropping a series to a team that’s struggled all season can’t feel great for a first place team like the Nuts. Stuff like this happens, but it’s certainly a bummer.

Ryan Sloan technically raised his ERA in his start this week, but I came away from his start incredibly encouraged with him overall. He got tagged for some soft contact that chipped away at his pitch count, however he looked very good for the vast majority of his start. Tallying six K’s over four innings, Sloan allowed two earned runs on five hits with zero walks. Sloan’s secondaries are both lights out with excellent bite and honestly might be better than his fastball, an offering that’s routinely sitting north of 95 MPH. At just 19 years old, the teenager is looking like a tantalizing prospect that should be competing with Jurrangelo Cijntje for the top pitching prospect in this system for years to come.

While the starting pitching hasn’t quite lived up to expectations, the Modesto bullpen has been stout to start the season and is one of the biggest reasons they’ve found so much success. They aren’t names you’re probably familiar with, but Calvin Schapira, Jose Geraldo, Adrian Quintana, Gage Boehm, and Steven Sanchez have all been excellent options out of the ‘pen this season. None of these guys got major money to sign professionally and have had to work their tails off to get this far, so it’s an awesome sight to see them finding success early in their careers. Hopefully they’re able to continue their hot starts and make it to Everett by the end of the year.

ACL Mariners

3-3

The first full week of play for the ACL squad ends with the team sitting at an even 3-3 on the season. With plenty of players needing to rehab from injury and a handful of young players getting to show off their stuff, the ACL always provides an exciting mix of present and future for us to track.

Taylor Dollard sighting! With a two inning outing under his belt in the ACL, Dollard is looking to get back to his former self after missing what amounts to all but 8.1 innings of the past two years. Dollard had a stellar 2022 season for Arkansas, but various arm and shoulder injuries have kept him sidelined. Now healthy and back on a mound, Dollard could provide much needed depth to the upper minors and perhaps even contend for a big league spot at sometime in the next year or so.

It’s obviously still incredibly early, but early signs of George Feliz look positive. Having struggled mightily the past few years, Feliz has been dominant thus far in the early going. I’m not convinced this is anything but small sample size as this is now his fourth go of the complex league, but the results are worth mentioning. We’ll see if he’s able to earn a promotion to affiliate ball down the line.

That wraps it up for this week! As always, GOMS!!