Seattle, WA
Seattle Mariners farm system report: 7 early-season standouts
We’re a little over a month into the minor league season, which makes it a good time to take a glance at the Seattle Mariners’ farm system. Here’s a look at seven Mariners minor leaguers who are off to strong starts.
Mariners RHP Bryan Woo to start Friday in return from injured list
OF Lazaro Montes (age 19, Low-A Modesto)
Montes, the No. 86 overall prospect in Baseball America’s Top 100, has long drawn comparisons to Houston Astros slugger and fellow Cuban native Yordan Álvarez. They both have massive frames, elite raw power and similar left-handed swings that were honed by the same hitting instructor.
The 6-foot-4 Montes is on an Álvarez-like tear right now, with five home runs in his past 11 games. He is slashing .327/.432/.564 in 27 games this season, with six homers, one triple, six doubles and a .995 OPS that ranks third in the California League. This comes on the heels of a strong stateside debut last year, when he hit 13 homers and posted a 1.001 OPS in 70 games between the Arizona Complex League and Modesto.
Perhaps the most encouraging sign? Montes’ strikeout rate continues to drop, even as he climbs the minor league ladder. After a concerning 33.2% strikeout rate during his 2022 pro debut in the Dominican Summer League, he cut it to 25.2% last season and just 14.4% so far this year.
“A magical [Lazaro] Montes moment once again!”
The @Mariners‘ No. 4 prospect launches a grand slam for the @ModestoNuts. pic.twitter.com/rJkTBKEECR
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 6, 2024
1B Tyler Locklear (age 23, Double-A Arkansas)
Locklear, a 2022 second-round draft pick who set the single-season home-run record at Virginia Commonwealth, continues to steadily produce at the plate. The muscular 6-foot-2 right-handed slugger is slashing .298/.421/.500 with four homers and nine doubles in 28 games this season. His .921 OPS ranks seventh in the Texas League. He also had an impressive showing in major league spring training, hitting .320 with one homer and three doubles in 25 at-bats. In his three pro seasons, Locklear has posted a .902 OPS with 24 homers in 144 games. Just about the only thing that’s slowed him down was a hit by pitch last season that broke a bone in his hand and sidelined him for two months.
MAY THE FOURTH (HOME RUN) BE WITH YOU, TYLER LOCKLEAR ‼️
2-RUN BLAST PUTS THE TRAVS UP 4-0 IN THE B3! pic.twitter.com/PQ6lbwHPj6
— Arkansas Travelers (@ARTravs) May 5, 2024
RHP Logan Evans (age 22, Double-A Arkansas)
Evans, a 12th-round draft pick out of the University of Pittsburgh last summer, might be the latest revelation in the Mariners’ pitching development pipeline. The 6-foot-4 right-hander had an underwhelming college career at Pitt, but has added significant velocity and morphed into one of Seattle’s top pitching prospects since entering the system. He was touching 99 mph in spring training and his six-pitch mix includes a nasty sweeper that has massive horizontal break. The results are showing in Arkansas, where he has posted a Texas League-leading 1.57 ERA with 23 strikeouts and 11 walks in 28 2/3 innings this season. In his latest start on May 4, he threw six shutout innings of one-hit ball with nine strikeouts and no walks.
Logan Evans.
The @MsPlayerDev product now ranks No. 7 in Seattle’s system 👀
He’s one of 15 notable additions to Top 30s: https://t.co/JX5PtsbzkT pic.twitter.com/ljpYFOv7ri
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) May 7, 2024
LHP Jhonathan Díaz (age 27, Triple-A Tacoma)
Díaz signed a minor league contract with the Mariners in February after spending his previous eight pro seasons in the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels organizations. The 6-foot left-handed starter made his major league debut with the Angels in 2021 and pitched 35 1/3 innings at the MLB level with them over the past three seasons. He has a 2.37 ERA in 38 innings with Tacoma this season, while totaling 42 strikeouts and just eight walks in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He is near the top of the PCL leaderboard in several categories, ranking second in ERA, second in WHIP (0.97), second in strikeout rate (27.1%) and first in walk rate (5.2%).
IF/OF Michael Chavis (age 28, Triple-A Tacoma)
Chavis, a 2014 first-round draft pick by the Boston Red Sox, made his major league debut in 2019 and has played in 357 MLB games with three teams over the past five seasons. He signed a minor league contract with the Mariners in January and is off to a strong start in Tacoma, slashing .303/.394/.532 with six homers, one triple, five doubles and a .926 OPS in 31 games. At the MLB level, he has a career .238/.283/.401 slash line and 42 homers. He spent last season with the Washington Nationals, hitting .242 with two homers in 48 games.
IF/OF Caleb Cali (age 23, Low-A Modesto)
Considering his name, it’s appropriate that Cali was the California League Player of the Month in April. A 16th-round draft pick out of Arkansas last summer, Cali is slashing .360/.473/.584 with two homers, two triples, 10 doubles and a 1.057 OPS in 23 games during a scorching full-season debut. The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder leads the California League in batting average by 33 points, slugging percentage by 20 points and OPS by 53 points.
Power Cali 💪
There’s a reason @Caleb_Cali won April’s California League Player of the Month. #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/avQlZchruN
— Mariners Player Development (@MsPlayerDev) May 3, 2024
RHP Will Schomberg (age 23, Low-A Modesto)
Schomberg signed a minor league contract with the Mariners last summer as an undrafted free agent out of Davidson. The 5-foot-10 right-hander has burst onto the scene in his full-season debut, posting a 2.48 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 15 walks in 29 innings. Over his past two starts, he has pitched 11 scoreless innings and totaled 16 strikeouts while allowing just two hits and two walks. He leads the California League with a .158 opponents’ batting average and ranks fourth with a 30% strikeout rate.
Masterful pitching performance from Will Schomberg.
6 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K pic.twitter.com/AAIIrSjWkD
— Mariners Player Development (@MsPlayerDev) May 3, 2024
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The Seattle Mariners have been staring down a difficult decision for weeks now and it’s only getting closer as Bryce Miller nears the end of his rehab assignment.
Two factors Hyphen sees in Bryan Woo’s recent struggles
When Miller makes his return to the big league club, which is now less than two weeks away barring a setback, the Mariners will have six capable starters but only five rotation spots.
The assumption when Miller started the season on the injured list was that he would replace Emerson Hancock when he returned, but Hancock has been Seattle’s best starter thus far, posting a 2.59 ERA over seven starts while striking out batters at a career-best 28.9% clip.
Now it looks as if veteran Luis Castillo could be the top candidate to taken out of the rotation. In seven starts this season, the right-hander has produced a 6.29 ERA and minus-0.8 bWAR.
ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan weighed in on the possibility of Castillo being taken out of the starting rotation when he joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Tuesday.
“I think it all depends on where Luis Castillo’s frame of mind is,” Passan said. “If Luis Castillo is open to going to the bullpen, you consider that. And if he is not, then you take a look and see what his willingness to go on the injured list is. And if that’s not the case, then maybe you do consider a six-man rotation. I think there are just lots of different possibilities here.”
For Passan, what Castillo has done for the organization, which includes helping the team reach the playoffs twice, is also an important part of the equation.
“I think what also factors in is Luis Castillo has done this for a really long time at a really high level and been a really important part of the success that you’ve had organizationally, and I don’t take that lightly,” Passan said. “I think the way that you treat people who have done right by you and helped you get into the position (you’re in), they’re not disposable. So you can’t just say to Luis Castillo, you’re not performing right now, you’re going to the pen.
“Well, you could. I just don’t know how well that goes over and I don’t know what sort of precedent that sets for treatment of players going forward.”
Passan added that moving Castillo to the bullpen is the type of “cold” decision a contender has to make sometimes, but that having a productive Castillo is also key for the team.
“Having a productive Luis Castillo makes them much likelier to be a World Series team,” Passan said. “You can get rid of your manager and survive that. But knowing that Castillo has to be around still, you just need to be mindful of the way – not even the way that you’re treating him, because the way that you’re treating him is through your perspective. The question is, how does he feel like he’s being treated? That is imperative here, and if you can thread the needle and figure out a way to solve your problem while still keeping Luis Castillo content, then that’s the ideal (situation). That’s the goal, that is the aim of this whole thing. And it’s a very delicate and difficult subject.”
Castillo in line for positive regression?
While it has been a struggle for Castillo early on, Passan sees some reason to believe his numbers will level out with more starts. He pointed to Castillo’s 4.25 FIP, which is nearly identical to Bryan Woo’s and better than Logan Gilbert’s. However, he is concerned with Castillo’s career-low groundball rate.
“Ever since he’s come to Seattle, he’s been much more of a flyball pitcher. But he’s down to a 33% ground ball rate this year. Not good,” Passan said. “I will say this, the positive regression is going to come in the form of runners being stranded. He’s got a strand rate right now of only 58.8%, league average is somewhere in the 70-plus range.”
Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
Seattle Mariners coverage
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• Mariners prospect Felnin Celesten on a tear for High-A Everett
• What Mariners’ Emerson Hancock says has been key to his breakout
The West Seattle Junction space formerly occupied by Willow, preceded by Fleurt, will not be empty for long. A familiar Junction fashion entrepreneur is moving into 4536 California SW – here’s the announcement:
Well-known West Seattle staple Carmilia’s announced today that it will open a new store in the Alaska Junction, offering everything from skincare products to fashion accessories. The new store, located at 4536 California Ave SW, formerly home to Fleurt and Willow, will do a soft opening on Art Walk Night, May 14, 2026. Carmilia’s owner, Linda Walsh, is at the helm of the project.
The store will be filled with all of Walsh’s favorite things: shoes, accessories, and gifts, at a variety of price points. It’s the perfect place to find unique and playful items for your next celebration or shopping spree. The store’s scheduled hours are Wednesday-Saturday 11 am-6 pm, and Sunday 10 am-4 pm.
Walsh told us she hasn’t yet settled on a name, so if you pass the future shop’s windows you will probably see “Watch This Space” as a placeholder!
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