Jerry Dipoto sheds light on Mariners prospects contending for roster spots

This Mariners spring training has been all about youth.

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There’s 2016 first-round draft pick Kyle Lewis, hitting home runs against big league pitching in his first spring training ever. Left-hander Justus Sheffield, all of 22 years old and one of the Mariners’ biggest offseason additions, is doing his best to pitch his way into the rotation. A number of other new prospects, including Jake Fraley and Shed Long, have been among the many pleasant spring training surprises.

The youth movement has had an impact on even the most experienced players in the Mariners’ big league camp in Peoria, Ariz., general manager Jerry Dipoto told Danny, Dave and Moore on Friday.

“We’re watching young players develop before our eyes, and I think it’s affecting the way the veteran players are going about their business,” Dipoto said. “It has really been an elevated source of energy throughout the camp from day one.”

That elevated source of energy may result in some young Mariners joining the Major League roster ahead of schedule, perhaps as soon as Opening Day.

Here are a few points Dipoto made about specific players who have either played their way into roster contention or provided hope that they’re not far off from rising up the ranks, as well as how he feels the early steps of the team’s rebuild is going.

2021 may be ‘a little conservative’

Dipoto had no trouble reeling off names of recently acquired prospects that have impressed him and the rest of the Mariners’ brass this spring. And in at least one case, that could result in one of them pitching sooner than expected at T-Mobile Field.

“Justus could not do much more than he’s done in this camp to convince us of what his upside potential is, and maybe his current readiness (to pitch in the MLB),” Dipoto said.

It wouldn’t be a complete shock for Sheffield to break camp with the Mariners or appear in Major League games in the first month or two of the season, as he did make his MLB debut late last season with the Yankees. But other players that have caught Dipoto’s eye not only haven’t made it to the show yet, they haven’t played higher than Double-A.

“We couldn’t see any more from (right-handed pitcher) Justin Dunn, having never pitched an inning above Double-A, to come in here and not just hold his own in a Major League camp but thrive. Similarly with Shed Long, who has never taken a Triple-A at-bat. A guy like Jake Fraley, who has never played above A-ball, and on any given day out there might be the best player on the field.”

All the positive showings in MLB camp has Dipoto rethinking his estimate that the Mariners’ rebuild won’t result in a true contender until 2021.

“It’s been so much fun to watch. We came in here with high expectations,” he said. “Most of the guys have exceeded those high expectations and I think given us reason to believe that what we at least eye-balled as a 2020 arrival and in 2021 (being) ready to start contending with this group of players, that that is a timeline that seems fair if not maybe a little conservative.”

Opportunity in the outfield

Braden Bishop and the aforementioned Fraley didn’t come into spring training expecting to compete for a spot in the Mariners’ outfield, but their strong showings over the last month could earn one of them a ticket to Japan. That’s where the M’s will start the regular season with two games against the Oakland A’s on March 20 and 21, and Seattle will have three extra roster spots to fill for the trip.

An injury to Seattle’s center fielder has opened the door for a surprise outfielder to join the team in Tokyo.

“They’ve put themselves in a position to be in a unique spot next week for two guys that have never played above the mid-levels (of the minor leagues), especially with Mallex Smith nursing an elbow issue that we don’t think is a long-term concern,” Dipoto said. “But as we get prepared to leave for Japan, somebody needs to go with us, and these guys have given us every reason to consider them.”

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Vogelbach will be in Seattle

Dipoto confirmed at least one thing about the Mariners’ roster: first baseman/designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach will be on it.

The left-handed-hitting slugger has excelled in the minors but hasn’t been able to stick with the big club in previous seasons, and since he’s out of minor league options this year, sending Vogelbach down would require the Mariners to first make him available to other teams on the waiver wire. So even though the Mariners have a number of veterans who can play first base or DH, including All-Stars Edwin Encarnación and Jay Bruce and 2018 starting first baseman Ryon Healy, Vogelbach will get his shot in 2019.

“Daniel Vogelbach will be on our roster when we break camp and we are going to commit to finding out if he can transition to the big leagues,” Dipoto said. “Last year he had a remarkable spring training, it was awesome. This year he’s doing it again, great spring training. Last year we just didn’t have the at-bats to give him at the Major League level to find out where he was. This year we will. … He’s done all you can do to be convincing at the minor league levels. He’s roughly destroyed the (Triple-A) PCL over the last two-plus seasons. There’s no reason why this shouldn’t work in the big leagues.

“He’s got a great idea what he wants to do at the plate, he knows his skill-set. Vogey may have a better understanding of who he is as a hitter than 90 percent of the guys that are in the big leagues. It’s a tougher place to play and we’re certain that he has the ability to do it. What comes next is the experience. Not every day is going to be a rose garden, but he’s going to figure it out and we’re willing to wait it out.”

Dipoto said the Mariners will still be careful with how they use Vogelbach, however.

“We’re going to transition him at the right pace, and we need to balance his at-bats with the other veteran guys around him. But we made a commitment when we traded for him (in a 2016 midseason deal with the Cubs) and he’s done nothing to dissuade us from the fact that the upside still exists. And he’s just 25 years old.”

The best story in camp

The Mariners had high hopes for Kyle Lewis when they made him their first draft pick under Dipoto in 2016, but that quickly turned to worry when the talented outfielder suffered a traumatic leg injury during his first season in the minors.

Even though it has been nearly three years since that injury, Lewis has had to slowly work his way back up to speed.

It has looked like’s he finally gotten there in Peoria.

“He’s been awesome, and I think in a in a camp of feel-good stories he is the one that everybody is probably most excited for because it’s been a long road for Kyle,” Dipoto said. “Not even two months into his professional career he had a devastating series of knee injuries. It wasn’t just one – it was an MCL, it was an ACL, it was a torn hamstring. Anything that you could do to the leg, he did. And in the time since, it’s been one long rehab for him.”

Due to the timing of his injury and the subsequent surgery and rehab that came with it, this spring has been a bit of a milestone for Lewis.

“It’s not just his first Major League camp and and us being able to see what he can do against the game’s best competition. It’s his very first spring training – ever,” Dipoto noted. “He’s never been healthy enough to have a spring training.”

Not only is he healthy, but Lewis is also showing off his first-round talent.

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“He looks fantastic, he’s physically fit, the skills are playing, his at-bats have been as good as anybody on the the field night after night,” Dipoto said. “He’s tracking pitches. Between the A-games and the B-games he’s hit three homers, and they’re not short homers. He’s hitting the ball a long way. It’s exactly what we thought he could do when we drafted him back in 2016, and along the way there was a lot of turbulence, there was a rocky road for him to get here, and I will stop short of saying there’s not a dry eye in the house, but we’re all thrilled for where he is today.

“He’s going to go off and he’s going to start in the minor leagues, but we are now to the point where you can see the light at the end of the tunnel for Kyle Lewis, where for most of the last two years you had to imagine that.”

To listen to a podcast of Danny, Dave and Moore’s full interview with Dipoto, click here.

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