Mariners reliever Dan Altavilla on his journey to the big leagues

The Mariners’ opening night game against the Cleveland Indians is just over a month away, but 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny, Dave and Moore are already gaining some insight into this year’s clubhouse. This time, reliever Dan Altavilla joined the trio to catch up from Spring Training in Peoria.

“We have a lot of depth,” Altavilla said of this year’s bullpen. “A lot of guys that can go multiple innings, and not just multiple innings, but we’ve got power arms that can go two innings. Right now it seems there’s a lot of focus with the rotation, with them being so young, and that’s just the way the game is evolving. The multi-inning relievers looking like that’s going to be the way moving forward.”

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Altavilla, 25, is entering his third season with the Mariners with a bit more insight.

“It’s tough to get outs when your command’s not the best,” Altavilla said, when asked what lessons he learned from 2017. “You find out pretty quick whenever you’re not in the zone, hitters are going to be more patient and they’re going to wait for their pitch.”

He originally came to the big leagues from Mercyhurst University, a small liberal arts college in Erie, Pennsylvania.

“I didn’t pass the eye test really coming out of high school,” Altavilla said. “I wasn’t a typical 6-5 right-hander starting pitcher. So for me, it was just getting there and working my butt off to impress major league scouts … I wasn’t really there to embrace the college life, I was there to get to work from day one. (I would) constantly be in the weightroom and do whatever I could to better myself as a pitcher … just really devoting all my time to baseball.”

Altavilla also took some questions from Moore about his dog (a dachshund named Diesel) and talked about his family (he’s recently become an uncle). Listen to his entire interview with Danny, Dave and Moore here.

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