A utility reliever? How Bazar(do)

The Mariners righty is finding an identity as the bullpen’s Swiss Army Knife

If you watch the bullpen walking across the field at T-Mobile Park pregame, the first pitcher out leading the line wears high socks, dreads, and the number 83. That’s Eduard Bazardo, who’s gone from a fringe contributor to an integral part of the Mariners bullpen, providing manager Dan Wilson with both length and leverage options out of the ‘pen.

The Red Sox signed Bazardo as an international free agent out of his native Venezuela in 2014, putting him on a timeline to arrive close to the big leagues right as two things were happening: the COVID pandemic in 2020, and Boston’s 2021 post-season run. After spending time shuttling between the alternate site and the big-league team, the Red Sox opted to leave Bazardo out of their post-season plans, eventually designating him for assignment after the 2022 season. It was tough for Bazardo, who felt connected to the veteran pitching staff in Boston, especially fellow Venezuelans Eduardo Rodríguez and Martín Pérez. But it was staff ace and All-Star Nathan Eovaldi who took special time to coach up the young reliever.

“I was missing some pitches,” Bazardo said. “Like I’d get into really good counts and then miss some pitches, give up a hit or a homer, so he [Eovaldi] talked to me a few times about competing in the count.”

That off-season, the division-rival Orioles signed Bazardo to a minor-league deal and sent him to Triple-A Norfolk to start the season. They called him up to the bigs around the Fourth of July, using him primarily in blowouts before one disastrous outing where he came in with a 5-0 lead in the ninth and gave up two runs on three hits, two doubles, while only recording one out; Danny Coulombe took over and allowed two of those inherited runners to score. The Orioles designated Bazardo for assignment the next day, something that obviously still rankles him.

“In Baltimore, it was crazy because I was playing really well in the minor leagues, then when they gave me the opportunity, I threw four games, the fifth game I threw really bad, they scored like four or five runs, and they DFA’d me.”

With Baltimore, Bazardo ran into the same problem he’d faced in Boston: with a team heading to the postseason, every win mattered, and there was no time for a young player to get his feet wet at the big-league level.

“That is the problem when the team is winning so much, they don’t wait. You don’t have the process where you can get opportunities because they need guys who are ready, the guys they’re always calling for in that moment.”

But the 2023 Mariners had innings to give the young right-hander. Soon Bazardo found himself on a plane to Seattle, to play for a franchise he knew vaguely thanks to his older brother Yorman, who was with the Mariners’ Double-A affiliate in San Antonio in 2007. With the flexibility provided by his option year, the Mariners found innings for Bazardo to give him the opportunities he needed to develop, moving him back and forth between Seattle and Tacoma over 2023 and 2024 as primarily a low-leverage relief option. When Bazardo had a four-run meltdown in June of 2024 (again: two that scored, and two inherited runners that his replacement allowed to score), the Mariners didn’t DFA him but continued to give him low-leverage opportunities before eventually optioning him to Tacoma. When he returned in September, outside of one blip against the Cardinals, he made nine scoreless appearances, racking up 12 strikeouts in his 10 appearances while issuing just one walk.

“Seattle was a really good opportunity for me after being in the minor leagues and DFA’d. They gave me the opportunity to pitch here and I was able to spend time in the big leagues. That was the first year I threw more innings, I think like 20?, and that was the first time I could do that.”

The consistency helped him build his confidence, and Bazardo broke camp with the Mariners to begin 2025, again filling the role of lower-leverage reliever. With the pressures on the bullpen, though, the Mariners were forced to use Bazardo in some leverage situations anyway, which initially didn’t go well: he gave up two runs in a close contest against the Giants in early April, and blew a save later in the month at Cincinnati in what’s been, so far, his worst game of the season. But he rebounded quickly in another tight game at Toronto, and since then, has been one of the steadier hands in the M’s bullpen. His wOBA dropped by nearly a hundred points between May and June, and his wOBA in high-leverage appearances is roughly the same as it is in lower-leverage situations.

“For me, that feels great,” said Bazardo. “In ‘23-’24 I was throwing like when the team was either winning or losing by a lot of runs, and right now, I’m more consistently throwing in tied games, and that fills me with confidence because they put me in those situations, and now I feel like that’s part of my career too.

The tight situations are better for your career, because it helps the team know that you can be there and competing and they know you have the stuff to succeed in that moment.”

But as encouraging as these improvements in leverage situations are, Bazardo’s real value to the Mariners is in his versatility, especially his ability to cover multiple innings. Bazardo doesn’t just lead Mariners relievers in innings pitched; there are only three relievers in baseball who have more innings pitched than him (and two of those are quasi-starters/bulk relievers Ben Casparius and Mike Vasil). Unlike other relievers who have a fairly solid sense of how or when they’ll be called upon, Bazardo has to prepare for any range of situations.

“I’m ready for every moment. It doesn’t matter if the game is tight or not, because there are a couple situations they could put me in: maybe when there’s a lot of runs, maybe a tied game or a tight game. Maybe sometimes I need to go in during the ninth because we need Muñoz for the tenth. I start getting ready early, in case something happens with the starter. I need to prepare each day for anything.”

Bazardo says that while he tries to keep the same mentality of competing in the strike zone no matter what the game score is, the reality is that hitters operate differently in tight games vs. blowouts, and he has to be mindful of whether hitters are going to be in swing mode or not, which helps him decide how much to mix his pitches. In high-leverage situations, he turns most often to his devastating slider, which has a run value of +7 this season.

If that sounds like a lot to juggle, it is. But Bazardo prides himself on the unique role he fills for the Mariners and the role he’s carved out for himself after searching for an identity earlier in his career.

“For me, it’s good because they know what situation I can come in. They know I can throw one inning, they know I can throw back to back, they know I can throw two or even three innings if they need. I can do whatever is needed.”