2025 Mariners Minor League Recap, June 30 - July 6

One more week until a fresh new crop of draftees enter the system

As All Star weekend quickly approaches and the draft looms over much of minor league baseball, the Mariners system had themselves a nice little week down on the farm. Let’s jump right in with the Tacoma Rainiers.

Tacoma Rainiers

45-42

A dominant 5-1 week for the Rainiers has them on the up-and-up with plenty of fun things going on offensively. There’s a handful of new faces on the team, and they’ve really brought a nice spark to this squad. I’m really looking forward to seeing how they’re able to finish out the next few months of ball. It feels like they just might have a strong run in them.

What a start to the month of July it has been for Tyler Locklear! The scorching hot Locklear has been on a tear since his pre-swing setup change last month, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. Going 10-25 this series with three homers and three stolen bases, Locklear is showing just how good of a player he can be when he’s going right. Since the first of June, Locklear is slashing .313/.410/.661, good for an OPS of 1.071. Perhaps even more encouraging, he’s running a sub 21% K rate over that stretch while walking nearly 13% of the time. With a sneaky 15 bags on the year to boot, I think Locklear is potentially playing himself into another shot at the big leagues. With the obvious change he’s made that’s clicked in a big way, I think it’s worth revisiting the conversation on how he fits on the roster should a move be made.

Victor Labrada has been off to a hot start in his brief time as a Rainier, comfortably looking like a player that belongs amongst the increased level of competition in Triple-A. The Cuban outfielder is hitting .346 with an aggressive approach at the plate, showing off some impressive bat to ball skills to go alongside his excellent speed. Labrada’s even shown off some pop this month, launching his first homer at the level in grand fashion. Gauging where Labrada fits long term might not be the clearest at present, but if he continues to hit like this and provide an intriguing mix of tools to the table, he’ll be a big leaguer in some capacity. He’s worth keeping an eye on.

Arkansas Travelers

43-38

It was a series win over the Rough Riders for the Travs this week, knocking off the Texas affiliate with a series score of 4-2. The Travs got the designer brand upgrade to their lineup last week, and it’s proven to pay massive dividends in the short time they’ve had their new look.

Both Michael Arroyo and Lazaro Montes stayed hot at the plate this week and continue to look superhuman despite being just 20 years old and in the throes of perhaps the most treacherous promotion in all of minor league baseball. Arroyo sat out a few games as a precaution after a weird slide in at home, however he’s back to playing and managed to still post a 5-10 week with a triple and a double. Montes, who played all six games on the series, clocked in with a 6-20 week that featured a pair of triples for the big man. This duo has been remarkably consistent for the bulk of their professional careers and though expecting them to continue this level of production for the rest of the season isn’t reasonable, their success during this adjustment period has me considerably more confident they’ll be able to stay closer to their career norms than I previously thought. Put frankly, there’s not a lot of players out on the trade block I’d be interested in moving either one of these players for. I just don’t see how it’s worth it.

It might be time to take notice of Marcelo Perez. The right hander has been dominant all season across two different levels and has bounced back in a big way after a poor season last year. Perez doesn’t have much swing and miss in his arsenal, but armed with a mix of breaking balls and good command, Perez now sits with a 2.41 ERA on the year and has held relatively steady in his first three starts as a Traveler. I’d love to see the whiff tick up, but it’s hard to argue much at all with the results.

Everett AquaSox

40-41

Another rough week for the Frogs this week, dropping all but one game in the series to a Canadians team that’s been red hot for most of this last month. Losing your two best hitters with very little in the way of reinforcements taking their place would be brutal for any club, but I can’t say it hasn’t been a tough watch as of late. Hopefully this week’s draft can help them get back on their feet.

Teddy McGraw isn’t yet going all that deep into games, but man does he look good when he’s on the mound. McGraw has arguably the best stuff in the entire system and has only fallen down prospect boards due to injury concerns. The 6’3 right hander just needs to keep ramping up and keep his body feeling right in order for this season to be considered a success, but if he’s able to continue the level of production he’s had thus far, we might be looking at the third best pitching prospect in the organization.

Jurrangelo Cijntje had a bit of a bounce-back from a poor start last week, logging 4.2 IP of three run ball with five strikeouts. Though this line is fine at a glance, Cijntje continues to struggle with his command and has grown a bit erratic in his previous two starts. The stuff is big enough that he’s been able to get away with it thus far, however I’d like to see him lock it down with more consistency and avoid the free passes as much as possible. Once he’s able to nail that down, the rest of the arsenal (outside of a right-on-left change of pace) more or less falls into place. Cijntje was always going to be a bit more of a project than the average college arm, but I’m hopeful these are merely bumps in the road and less indicative of future problems.

Modesto Nuts

45-36

The Nuts salvaged a series split on the week with a resounding 15-6 win in Sunday’s matinee, however this series felt like an outright win in a lot of ways. With many of the bigger prospect names now performing more like how we’d expect them to, this week featured plenty of things that make me optimistic about this team’s chances moving forward.

It was a massive week for Felnin Celesten, a fantastic sign for the young shortstop who’s been having a tough stretch at the plate for quite some time now. Logging an 8-23 week with a homer, a triple, and a pair of doubles, Celesten looks to be finding some more of his power stroke as of late while finally getting some more balls to bounce his way. The feel to hit is evident when you watch him play, we’ve just got to keep this consistency going for more than a week at a time. Hopefully this is the start of a red hot summer for Celesten that sees him rise right back up to where he once was in the eyes of national evaluators.

Ryan Sloan again pitched arguably his best game of his young career, notching five innings of shutout ball with six strikeouts. Only allowing three baserunners all game (two hits, one walk) only makes the outing more impressive and shows just how dominant the right hander can be. Though the range of outcomes is still so wide for a player his age, I’m incredibly bullish on his future and think he’s got an immense amount of talent that’s about ready to coalesce into a premiere pitching prospect. Though I don’t think he’d be on the table in trade talks for nearly anybody, it certainly would feel like you’re selling low on a kid that’s lighting up A-ball as a 19 year old. I know I’m the resident prospect hugger, but I think most would agree holding on to Sloan isn’t all that crazy.

ACL Mariners

This roster is in pretty rough shape after arguably losing their best player on each side of the ball in recent weeks (George Feliz and Chia-Shi Shen), but if you want a name that’s been performing well so far, 23 year old Dustin Crenshaw has been good for them this year and bounces around all over the field defensively. He was an undrafted free agent signing out of Grand Canyon last summer.

DSL Mariners

This was the Yorger Bautista week we’ve all been waiting for. Going 6-15 with a homer, triple, and double, Bautista landed a 4-4 day at the plate in Saturday’s game and has been striking out much less since getting his feet wet as a professional. The tools here are utterly massive and put him inside the organizational top fifteen despite his youth. He’s a name you need to know.

That concludes our round up for this week. Tune into our draft content this week and GOMS!!