Mariners Injury Updates: Muñoz, Moore, Ray and Haggerty

Apr 20, 2023, 11:40 AM

Andrés Muñoz of the Seattle Mariners looks on against the Atlanta Braves on Sept. 11, 2022. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

BY BRENT STECKER

Seattle Sports

On Seattle Sports’ weekly Jerry Dipoto Show, which airs at 8:30 a.m. each Thursday, the Mariners president of baseball operations offered updates on a number of players looking to come back from injury.

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You can hear the full conversation in the podcast below. Let’s break down what Dipoto shared.

Andrés Muñoz

The Mariners have been without perhaps their best relief pitcher since April 9 when Muñoz was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right deltoid strain. Dipoto said the Mariners are optimistic he could return to the club before the end of this month.

“Muni has already started his throwing program. My understanding was in his ‘touch and feel’ the day before yesterday, his final pitch was at 98 mph,” Dipoto said. “So I think he’s doing ‘Muni’ things.”

Muñoz, 24, had a big 2022 season for Seattle with a 2.49 ERA, 0.892 WHIP and 96 strikeouts to 15 walks over 64 appearances (65 innings), but he played through a foot injury towards the end of the year and underwent offseason surgery to have it corrected.

Fans of Seattle’s minor league teams may get a chance to see Muñoz soon.

“He’ll get a couple of rehab outings before we send him back out on the major league mound,” Dipoto said. “We’re not hours away, but we’re close enough. I think there’s a reasonable chance that we may see Muni in the month of April, but wouldn’t want to pin it until we see how he reacts to getting out and throwing in live games.”

Dylan Moore

Seattle inked Moore to a contract extension prior to this season, and the M’s planned to play him regularly as the right-handed half of a platoon with Kolten Wong at second base and as a regular fill-in for shortstop J.P. Crawford. They haven’t been able to execute that yet, however, as an oblique strain following offseason core surgery prevented him from taking part in spring training.

Moore began a rehab assignment with Single-A Everett on Tuesday, going 1 for 2 with a walk and a stolen base, but Dipoto said the Mariners aren’t looking to rush him back.

“We’re going to take that slowly. He didn’t have a spring training and we want to be really smart about just building him up so that we don’t run into the same issues that we ran into with Andrés,” Dipoto said.

Moore, 30, slashed .224/.368/.385 for a .753 OPS with six homers and 21 stolen bases in 104 games for the M’s in 2022.

Robbie Ray

The veteran left-hander and 2021 Cy Young Award winner hit the IL with a flexor strain after his first start of the season, and Dipoto didn’t have much new to share about his status.

“Not sure yet where we are in terms of a return with Robbie Ray,” he said. “Still looking at him getting back out to the mound in the middle of May, and and if that is the case, then it’s about what we thought. But his rehab’s going well.”

Chris Flexen has pitched in place of Ray in the rotation after coming into the season in a long-relief role.

Seattle Mariners quick hits

Dipoto said the Mariners think they’ll get utility player Sam Haggerty, who was placed on the seven-day (concussion) IL Monday in a move retroactive to April 15, back this weekend.

In the upper levels of the minors, Dipoto added that “we’ve had a lot of young players that have now returned – guys like Cade Marlowe, Taylor Trammel are getting back in action – and that’s helpful.”

Marlowe, a speedy 25-year-old outfielder who traveled with the Mariners during the playoffs last season but has yet to make his MLB debut, suffered an oblique injury last month during spring training and began the season on Triple-A Tacoma’s injured list.

Trammel, also a 25-year-old outfielder, has 12 home runs over 94 games with the Mariners the past two seasons. He is coming back from a broken hand that came from being hit by a pitch in a spring training workout in February.