Hultzen, Paxton, Walker among those cut by Mariners

By Shannon Drayer

The future will have to wait a little bit longer as the pitching trio of Danny Hultzen, James Paxton and Taijuan Walker were among the 15 that were cut from big-league camp today by the Mariners. All three have impressed and all three will have time to hone their skills at the minor-league level.

Hultzen was the only one who stuck around for awhile after receiving the news as all players who were re-assigned today were given the day off. He told us his expectations have been realistic all along.

“I didn’t really expect it but I wasn’t thinking I would be there the whole time either,” he said of the news. “I wasn’t really thinking about it but I was kind of surprised it happened today.

“I had the confidence I could do it but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. I wanted to keep it realistic and not to get to high on it.”

There was little doubt that the three pitchers had talent, had the pitches and could perform coming in. The lone question in pitching coach Carl Willis’ mind was, how would they react?

“When you have that kind of physical ability that they all have the only question mark becomes the mental part,” he said. “How they are going to control their emotions because it is a very exciting time for them being young. That may have been a surprise because they have certainly handled that part of it beyond their years of experience but as far as what we see coming out, the breaking balls and things of that nature, we kind of knew about that already.”

Walker is only 19 and has a 19-year-old arm that must be taken care of. Paxton has the stuff and needs to fine tune the command. Hultzen is polished. In asking time after time what he needs to work on the only answer I have been able to get is his pickoff move. What was he told when he was pulled into Eric Wedge’s office? What were his marching orders?

“Just keep doing your thing. I realize that this is not quite the time for me yet but it was fun and keep being yourself and keep improving,” he answered.

Their time may be soon.

The complete list of roster moves which leaves the spring roster at 47.

Optioned to minors:

Danny Hultzen
Mauricio Robles
Yoervis Medina
Francisco Martinez
Carlos Triunfel
Johermyn Chavez
Chih-Hsien Chiang

Reassigned to minor-league camp:

James Paxton
Scott Patterson
Forrest Snow
Taijuan Walker
Ralph Henriquez
Nick Franklin
Darren Ford
Luis Jimenez