Shannon Drayer shares observations on Mariners’ Domingo Santana, Justus Sheffield, Justin Dunn

Monday was a day off for the Mariners at spring training in Arizona, making it a perfect time for 710 ESPN Seattle’s John Clayton to check in with Mariners insider Shannon Drayer about some of her observations.

Haniger invested in Mariners’ rebuild — with sights set on a World Series

Drayer shared her thoughts on a few of the newer, younger Mariners player in the conversation with Clayton, which you can listen to in the player embedded in this post or download in podcast form here.

Here are a few excerpts of Drayer’s observations.

Left-handed pitcher Justus Sheffield

“I don’t know that (he’s) making a push for the roster because there isn’t a spot right now in the rotation, but Justus Sheffield has looked fantastic. It’s just a couple of outings, but you look at the stuff, you look at the poise on the mound, you look at just the way he goes about his work in camp, and then you also know that coming into camp he was pretty much a finished minor-league product except that he is still working on his third pitch a little bit. I think that pitch has probably made some improvements; it was a focus in the offseason. Mentally he seems ready to take that next step into the big leagues and the only thing right now is is there isn’t a spot in that rotation.”

Further reading: Mariners manager Scott Servais on Sheffield’s last start

Left fielder Domingo Santana

“Domingo Santana’s still relatively young (26 years old), and I think that his power is just awesome. If he gets a hold of a ball, it not only goes far, it goes very high. He’s got a ridiculous hang time, ridiculous launch angle on what he does. The power to drive the ball out, that has been a little bit eye-opening.”

Domingo making a statement. ☄️#MarinersST pic.twitter.com/4ZydQUtpAt

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) February 25, 2019

Further reading: Mariners get Santana for Gamel in trade with Brewers

Right-handed pitcher Justin Dunn

“Another younger player not pushing for the roster but I think has turned around some impressions is Justin Dunn, who was also picked up this offseason. He’ll probably start at Double-A but could move quickly (through the minor league system). The thought was they weren’t sure if he was a starter or a reliever; he’s got very dynamic stuff but is more of two-pitch guy working on a third pitch. (Manager) Scott Servais was a big proponent of keeping him as a reliever. (General manager) Jerry Dipoto said, ‘No, we’re going to give him the chance to start.’ And now that they’ve had him in front of them for a little while, Scott Servais is agreeing, this guy is a starter, no question about it.”

Further reading: Justin Dunn convincing Servais he’s a starter