Seattle Mariners Top Prospect Earns Final Regular Season Weekly Honor
The Seattle Mariners are still looking to make their October dreams a reality with 12 games left in the season.
The Mariners are 4.0 games out of first place in the American League West and 2.0 games out of the last AL Wild Card spot and will start a series against the New York Yankees at 6:40 p.m. PT on Tuesday.
But while Seattle is still looking to make its second postseason in three years, several of its minor league affiliates are already at the end of their seasons.
One of those teams is the Mariners' Double-A affiliate Arkansas Travelers. They'll begin Game 1 of a Texas League Divisional Series against the St. Louis Cardinals Double-A club the Springfield Cardinals in a game at 4:35 p.m. PT on Tuesday.
But before the Travelers start to play for their own championship, one of their most promising pitchers earned some hardware to close out the regular season.
Arkansas pitcher Michael Morales earned the Texas League's final Pitcher of the Week award for his start against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Sept. 12. Morales pitched six innings and helped lead the Travelers to a 3-0 shutout win.
Morales threw six innings and struck out four batters while not giving up a free base and allowed two hits.
Wheelin’ and dealin’ 🔥@Michael9Morales takes home this season's final Texas League Pitcher of the Week honors! #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/uN6WT2kuob
— Mariners Player Development (@MsPlayerDev) September 16, 2024
Morales closed out the season with two quality starts including his most recent outing against the Naturals. The 2021 third-round Mariners draft pick finished out the season with a 3.02 ERA and 147 strikeouts in 27 starts and 149 total innings pitched.
Michael Morales was locked in 🔒
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 9, 2024
The @Mariners' 2021 third-rounder records a career-high 12 strikeouts over six scoreless innings for the Double-A @ArkTravs: pic.twitter.com/gFEMfLKc3m
Morales is in his fourth year in Seattle's farm system and began the year with the team's High-A affiliate Everett AquaSox before being promoted to the Travelers on June 30.
The Mariners have been one of the best organization's in the league at developing pitchers and it looks like Morales has the potential to be the latest success story to come through Seattle's farm system.
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