ANALYSIS: Carlos Vargas Has Been a Welcome Surprise For Seattle Mariners Bullpen
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners began the season with a bullpen that wasn't at full strength.
High-leverage relievers Troy Taylor and Matt Brash started the year on the 15-day injured list and still haven't been activated as of Saturday. Over the first 14 games of the season, a Mariners bullpen that was already working with a deficit has been heavily-taxed.
Seattle has had to use the entire bullpen once and used at least one reliever for 1.1 innings or longer in several games. The Mariners have had to offset the heavy usage by bringing up several fresh arms from the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. Jhonathan Diaz, Jesse Hahn, Casey Lawrence and Casey Legumina have all been moved to the majors this season from Triple-A.
One surprising consistency for the unit this year has been right-hander Carlos Vargas.
The 25 year-old Vargas was acquired by Seattle in the (in)famous trade that sent Eugenio Suarez to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Nov. 22, 2023. The Mariners also netted catcher Seby Zavala, but Vargas was the main piece off the deal.
To that point, Vargas had only made five major league appearances since being signed as an international free agent by the then-Cleveland Indians on July 2, 2016. In five major league outings with Arizona in 2023, he had a 5.79 ERA with seven strikeouts in 4.2 innings pitched.
Vargas' stuff has been apparent since he came to Seattle. But he was unable to break through the major league roster in 2024. He entered spring training this year out of minor league options. He would either break camp, be released or designated for assignment.
Vargas made the Opening Day roster. Through 14 games, he's shown why the Mariners were so high on him.
Vargas has a 3.12 ERA with six strikeouts in 8.2 innings pitched across six outings this year.
¡VARGAS! 🤩🙌🏻
— Tigres del Licey (@TigresdelLicey) April 12, 2025
El derecho Carlos Vargas (1-1, 3.12) obtuvo la primera victoria de su carrera en Las Mayores, tras lanzar un episodio en blanco en rol de relevo en el triunfo 5-3 de los Marineros de Seattle sobre los Vigilantes de Texas. 👏🏻#LiceyFamily #ElGlorioso #LiceyEnGL pic.twitter.com/PHeKM43gcq
Vargas pitched the eighth inning of a 5-3 Seattle win against the Texas Rangers on Friday, and earned the first win of his major league career.
"(Vargas) is throwing the ball great," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a pregame interview Saturday. "I thought he really did a nice job yesterday after giving up the lead-off double to be able to get out of that without any scoring. That shows a lot and shows you how much he's maturing."
Vargas has thrown longer than an inning in two of his six appearances. He threw 3.2 innings in a 9-6 loss against the Detroit Tigers on March 31. Despite the lengthy outings, Vargas has let up just four runs (three earned) on 10 hits.
Vargas has almost completely deleted the fastball from his arsenal, and is exclusively using his secondary pitches. According to Baseball Savant, Vargas has thrown his fastball once out of 119 pitches (entering Saturday). He's thrown his sinker 62 times, his cutter 29 times, his slider 26 times and his changeup once.
That approach is working. He has a put-away rate of 60% with his cutter and 28.6% with his sinker. His average exit velocity allowed (84.2 mph) is in the 91st percentile in the league. His hard-hit rate (23.3%) is in the 93rd percentile and his ground ball rate (60%) is in the 85th percentile.
"His stuff has always been good," Wilson said. "And his ability to command the zone, get in the zone, get ahead and then be able to put guys away has been the key for him, I think, since spring training. And he's done a much better job of that, and continues to get more consistent with that."
Seattle will have tough choices to make with the bullpen when Brash and Taylor are activated off the IL. But if he continues at his current pace, Vargas won't be a victim of those roster decisions.
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