FINAL GRADES: Austin Voth's Future on Seattle Mariners Still Up in The Air
The Seattle Mariners bullpen will likely undergo several changes by Opening Day on March 27.
Gregory Santos will be back healthy after missing most of the year with a variety of ailments and Matt Brash will be back in the fold by July at the latest after undergoing Tommy John Surgery in May 2024.
Seattle also has five relievers up for arbitration in 2025: Tayler Saucedo, Gabe Speier, Austin Voth, JT Chargois and Trent Thornton.
The Mariners will likely non-tender some of the five aforementioned bullpen arms and pay others in arbitration.
As to which players will fall into what category, that's still to be determined.
And Austin Voth's season and estimated earnings in arbitration makes his fate with Seattle hard to pin down.
Austin Voth by the numbers
Pitching stats: 3.69 ERA, 68 appearances, 2-5 record, 61 innings pitched, 61 strikeouts, 1.05 WHIP, .204 opp. BA, -0.2 WAR
Advanced pitching stats: 3.27 xERA, .216 xBA, 31.4% Chase, 31.6% Whiff, 4.12 FIP, 9.00 K/9, 66.2% LOB
What I liked
Voth is the most confusing reliever to try and figure out in the bullpen.
According to his Baseball Savant page, Voth was a positive pitcher by almost all metrics. His fastball and breaking run value both graded above average. He ranked in the 79th percentile or better in xERA, xBA, average exit velocity, chase rate, whiff rate and hard-hit rate. He also ranked in the 60th percentile or better in strikeout and walk rate.
Voth has a four-pitch arsenal of a cutter, four-seam fastball, sweeper and curveball. Hitters averaged .280 against Voth's cutter, which he threw the most (33.8%).
Hitters didn't average better than .220 against any of Voth's other three throws.
Austin Voth, Soul-Stealing Curveball. đź‘» pic.twitter.com/pq4AMohCxJ
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 4, 2024
Voth was in a thankless scenario for most of the season. He was often one of the first arms out of the bullpen when the Mariners were either trailing by a small margin, when they were getting blown out, when a starter was pulled early or when they were trying to preserve its more high-leverage arms. It wasn't rare for Voth to inherit runners.
At the beginning of the season, Voth was used in high-leverage spots. He pitched more than an inning seven times. Four in the first two months of the season.
This led to him being the pitcher on the hook for several losses, resulting in his 2-5 record. Voth allowed five or more runs in five-of-six full months of the season. Despite this, he still managed to be effective more often than not. His ERA never went above 4.00 after April 21.
Best game
Voth's best game came in a high-pressure scenario during a contest that Seattle needed to win during its final postseason push.
Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo was pulled in the sixth inning of a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 28. Seattle had a three-run lead with two runners on base and the game-tying run at the plate.
Voth entered the game and produced the final out to leave two runners stranded and struck out the side in the seventh. Voth pitched 1.1 innings and struck out three batters in total while giving up no hits and no free bases.
The Mariners ended up winning the game 6-2.
Future prospects
As mentioned before, Voth is up for arbitration for the 2025 season. He's projected to earn the most out of any arb-eligible reliever at $2.5 million according to Spotrac.
Voth will enter his age-33 season in 2025. And despite his decent advanced analytics, when batters did get contact on him, it often spelled disaster.
Hitters had a barrel rate of 7.8% against Voth and generated a 36.7% groundball rate. Both marks were below the league average. Between those statistics and Voth's high whiff and chase rate, he was a very boom-or-bust pitcher in 2024.
Seattle has no shortage of veteran arms that it can bring back for 2025, including JT Chargois.
Voth's cost, age and penchant for allowing solid hits might lead to his time coming to an end with the Mariners.
Final Grade: C
C: Voth earns an "average" grade for 2024.
Voth would be a more-than-capable bullpen arm for any team in 2025, especially contenders.
And that might be enough for the Mariners to bring him back. But Seattle has options in its major league bullpen and several capable arms in the minors. The team can fill out more spots in the bullpen at a cheaper cost than bringing Voth back.
Voth was put in a lot no-win situations that most of the Mariners' relievers would have struggled in. And there's not many other players that have plus-throws across their arsenal like Voth does.
Seattle wouldn't be wrong or right in bringing back Voth. And the Mariners' decision on whether or not to non-tender him might indicate how they approach setting up their relievers in 2025.
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