The Seattle Mariners will be tasked with navigating the 2024 season without one of their best relievers.

Seattle Mariners farm system report: 7 early-season standouts

General manager Justin Hollander said Friday that hard-throwing right-hander Matt Brash underwent Tommy John surgery Wednesday to repair a small tear in his Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) in his right elbow. Brash is expected to be out for 12 months.

“Hopefully (around June) next year he’s back and ready to go,” Hollander said before Friday’s game against the Oakland Athletics. “It’s a tough one.”

Brash was shut down early in spring training with right elbow inflammation and suffered a setback in late April that caused the team to shut down the 25 year old again after he wasn’t fully bouncing back from throwing sessions. Brash and the Mariners went to Dr. Keith Meister, who concluded Brash needed the surgery. Meister performed the procedure on Brash, per Hollander.

Brash came to Seattle as a starter in a trade that sent right-hander Taylor Williams to the San Diego Padres in 2020. The Mainers converted Brash to a reliever in 2022 after he struggled early on in a starting role. He appeared an MLB-high 78 games last season and posted a 9-4 record with a 3.09 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings.

“What he did for us last year was unbelievable how many times he came through for us,” Hollander said. “He (had) horrible batted ball luck the start of the year, didn’t get down on himself and was rapidly turning himself into the best or one of the best relievers in the American League, and to have his season just go away like this stinks for him, stinks for us. Probably one of the most popular players in our organization among his teammates, among staff members.”

Hollander also had injury updates on a number of other Mariners.

• Right-handed starter Bryan Woo was activated from in the injured list before Friday’s game and was set to make his season debut. Manager Scott Servais announced Woo would be the starter after Thursday’s game in Minnesota. Hollander said Woo wouldn’t have any restrictions. In three rehab appearances with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, he pitched 11 1/3 scoreless innings and totaled 17 strikeouts, while allowing no walks and just five hits. Woo went on the IL with elbow inflammation in spring training.

“We’ll obviously monitor the pitch count,” Hollander said. “I wouldn’t anticipate him out there for like 110 tonight or something like that. Tough for him to build volume in Triple-A just because he was so efficient in every outing.”

• Outfielder Dom Canzone is heading to Reno, Nevada, to start a rehab appearance with the Rainiers on Saturday. Canzone suffered a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder making a highlight-reel catch crashing into the wall in left field against the Chicago Cubs on April 14. The left-hander led the team with three home runs at the time.

“The last week was a big positive in terms of his being him being able to take next steps, swinging the bat and everything,” Hollander said.

Hollander said Canzone will play at least four games with Tacoma and the team will reassess where his timing is at afterwards.

“I wouldn’t consider it a setback if he’s not ready on Wednesday,” Hollander said. “It’s been a while. We need to find out where his timings at and what his comfort level is at, but it is very possible that after four games he’s ready to go.”

• Shortstop J.P. Crawford was with the team Friday and being assessed for his readiness for a rehab assignment. Hollander said Crawford could be ready to start one as soon as this weekend or at least by early next week. He expects Crawford will need less time on assignment than Canzone.

“He’s making great progress. All the reports have been super positive,” Hollander said. “… We’ll see how long of a rehab assignment he needs, obviously probably less than Dom, but J.P. will tell us when he’s ready, basically.”

• There’s hope reliever Tayler Saucedo will need just the minimum 15 days on the IL after he suffered a hyperextended knee on a scary play when the left-hander fell awkwardly covering first base Tuesday night against the Twins. Hollander said the club was still waiting for soreness to go away before assessing where Saucedo is at.

“Right now we’re hopeful that is the minimum 15 days down for Sauce, which is a a huge relief given the way it looked on the field of the time,” Hollander said. “Obviously, I think all of us were scared that it was a knee or Achilles or something like that. Structurally, everything looked good in the knee, no Achilles issues or anything.”

• The Mariners are bringing right-handed reliever Gregory Santos to Seattle to be with the team and continue throwing, but he hasn’t gotten any closer to making his debut. Santos suffered a setback after an MRI and is back to throwing at 60 to 90 feet. Hollander said the team had hoped he’d be ready by late May or early June, but a more realistic window is now July.

“We just feel like having him spend some time around our big league team, be around (pitching strategist) Trent (Blank) and (pitching coach Pete Woodworth),” Hollander said. “Where he’s at in his rehab, there’s nothing that he needs in Arizona that we can’t give to him here.”

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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

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— 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

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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

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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

More on the Seattle Mariners

• What’s the biggest problem ailing the Mariners’ offense?
• Rost: Mariners can’t waste World Series-caliber pitching
• Why Mariners should keep Josh Rojas in leadoff spot
• The Mariners who aren’t getting the credit they deserve
• Seattle Mariners place Saucedo on IL, option Hancock to Tacoma

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Portland Thorns FC (4th, 4-3-1, 13pts) have turned it up in the last four matches. A perfect four wins from four matches, they now wait in the comforts of Providence Park for their next opponent: Seattle Reign FC (11th, 2-5-0, 6pts). Kickoff is set for 7pm PT with streaming on ION.

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