Top Seattle Mariners Pitching Prospect Comments on Award-Winning Season
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners have been heralded for their minor league development over the past several seasons. Especially their pitchers.
The Mariners boasted arguably the best pitching staff in all of baseball this season. And four of the five starters on the rotation were drafted and developed in the organization's farm system.
One of Seattle's best rookies, Troy Taylor, played himself into the back-end of the bullpen and became a high-leverage reliever.
And more stellar pitchers might soon be on the way.
On Saturday, as a part of the franchise's annual minor league award ceremony, Brandyn Garcia and Michael Morales were named the Jamie Moyer co-Pitchers of the Year and were at the ballpark before a game against the Oakland Athletics.
Garcia had a stellar season with the team's Double-A affiliate Arkansas Travelers. He finished the year with a 2.25 ERA in 27 appearances (25 starts) with Arkansas and the team's High-A club the Everett AquaSox. He struck out 134 batters in 116 innings pitched.
Brandyn Garcia was great in Game 2. Final line: 3IP, 4H, 0R, 0BB, 3K, 43 pitches, 30 strikes. What a first full professional season for him. pic.twitter.com/KW2O4pX5LZ
— Mariners Minors (@MiLBMariners) September 25, 2024
At 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, Garcia has a two-seam fastball that touched the upper 90s with a cutter and sweeper that generate a lot of whiffs.
His physical tools as a lefty make him a rare prospect. And according to him, he noticed improvement when he started to focus on developing his own tools rather than comparing himself to other hurlers around the league.
"That's actually something I had to focus on this year," Garcia said on Saturday. "Was more getting away from comparing myself to other people and just focusing on what I did the best and what I'm going to do the best. So that was one of those things — I don't really compare myself or my mechanics to anybody else. It's just focusing on doing what I do to a high level. ... A big thing the Mariners focus on is just being athletic and throwing athletically. So doing that is something that I've focused on since getting drafted and it's helped me out a lot."
Garcia is a consensus top-two pitching prospect in Seattle's farm system according to most publications. Logan Evans being is the lone hurler rated above him. And it helps that his pitching coach with the Travelers is one of the best staff members the organization has.
Arkansas pitching coach Michael Peoples earned the Dave Henderson award for Staff Member of the Year on the same day Garcia and other minor leaguers earned their respective honors.
"Pitching development is huge here and that's why I'm so grateful to be in this organization," Garcia said. "Michael Peoples is a great coach, great guy. I've loved working with him for the second half of the year. Worked with Cam Ming the first half of the year in Everett. Those two guys have really helped me turn into the guy I wanted to (be) today."
Garcia, along with Morales and the other prospects at T-Mobile Park on Saturday, got to have some conversations with a lot of the big leaguers. The hope is that those conversations can help the minor league players make it to the majors one day.
For Garcia, talking to the Seattle pitching staff that boasts three All-Stars is especially helpful to that goal.
"It's so helpful," Garcia said. "Even a little conversation goes a long way to show that, one, that everybody's human. Just because they're in the big leagues, that doesn't mean that they're superheroes or anything like that. We're all doing the same things, we all have the same goal in mind and that's to win a World Series ring."
Speaking of winning rings, Garcia was a part of an Arkansas team that won the second-half Texas League title — the second minor league club to win a title for the organization this year. Being a part of that kind of winning experience can go a long way when trying to establish a winning culture for the young players.
"Going into every single year, of course the goal is to win a championship wherever I'm playing," Garcia said. "We had a good group this year. Started in Everett, we competed in the first-half, too. We were pretty close. Then when I got to Arkansas it was a fresh start. We knew we needed to win the second half to make the playoffs. So we all had one goal in mind, and we went out there every single day with that goal in mind. So it was awesome."
The Mariners aren't starved for starting pitching at the moment, but a left-handed hurler, especially one with Garcia's physical tools and pitch selection, is valuable.
And it might be sooner rather than later that Garcia has a chance to become the rotation's resident southpaw.
Related Stories on Seattle Mariners
TOP MARINERS PROSPECTS IMPRESS IN TITLE RUN: The Seattle Mariners Double-A club the Arkansas Travelers became the organization's second minor league club to win a championship this season; and two of the team's top prospects shined in the win. CLICK HERE
TRAVELERS WIN TEXAS LEAGUE TITLE: The Arkansas Travelers became the second Seattle Mariners minor league club to win a championship this season. CLICK HERE
MARINERS LOW-A CLUB WINS CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP: The Seattle Mariners Low-A affiliate the Modesto Nuts earned their second straight California League championship in dramatic fashion on Wednesday. CLICK HERE
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