Servais: Robbie Ray’s first spring bullpen stopped Mariners camp

The Mariners hit the ground running at spring training Friday, the day after the MLB lockout officially ended. And while not every player was able to report immediately to camp in Peoria, Ariz., the Mariners’ big offseason addition was one of those in action.

Drayer: All eyes now on M’s OF – and Julio Rodríguez’s role in it

Robbie Ray, the defending American League Cy Young Award winner who joined the M’s on a five-year contract reportedly worth $115 million, got right to work with his first bullpen in a Seattle uniform. And as manager Scott Servais told Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Friday afternoon, Ray’s bullpen pretty much stopped camp.

Here’s how Servais told the story during his conversation with Dave Wyman and Bob Stelton:

One of the highlights for me in a long, long time – so Robbie Ray comes into camp today, and certainly we made a big commitment to Robbie. He gets out, he’s gonna throw a bullpen, first bullpen for him this spring and he gets out in the ‘pen. First of all, he’s wearing the tight pants just like in Toronto… I know he’s gonna throw a bullpen, I want to kind of take a look at it, and all of a sudden I hear this grunting, and he’s grunting on every pitch in his bullpen today.

So I walk around the corner and I go stand down by the catcher and I’m like ‘Holy cow. This guy’s some kind of getting after it.’ You know, we’re tracking everything – he’s throwing 94, 95 mph in a bullpen today, and he is grunting on every pitch. All of a sudden every young player that’s in earshot and can hear this is watching it.

You talk about, like, a difference maker, somebody that can really help lift up, raise the bar around your culture and what we do, it was some kind of impressive. You can tell how excited I am about it, and to add him to our pitching staff with the type of person and work ethic and the results he’s been able to put up, winning a Cy Young last year, I am some kind of jacked. This is going to be a fun year.

You can hear Servais’ full interview with Wyman and Bob in the podcast at this link or in the player below. For a more in-depth breakdown of the conversation with Servais, read the story at this link.

You can hear Wyman and Bob live on Seattle Sports 710 AM and streaming here on SeattleSports.com from 2-7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Jerry Dipoto Show: Mariners’ post-lockout priorities, pitching plans

Follow @BrentStecker