After year with Mariners, local product heads to Japan

Austin Voth was a solid member of the Seattle Mariners’ bullpen in 2024. But after one year with the local team, the Kentwood High School and UW Huskies product is taking a chance at returning to a starting role.

The 32-year-old Voth is headed to Japan’s Nippon Pro Baseball to join the Chiba Lotte Marines, where he is expected to be in the team’s starting rotation, according to Yakyu Cosmopolitan.

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A native of Redmond, Voth won a Washington state championship with Kentwood in 2010 and stayed in the area for college at UW, where he pitched for three seasons. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the Washington Nationals, who he made his MLB debut with in 2018.

Voth was primarily a starter in the big leagues from 2019-22, then spent the 2023 season in the Baltimore Orioles bullpen. The Mariners added the right-hander for the 2024 season, and he had a strong year as a reliever and his best season in the MLB, appearing in 68 games with a 3.69 ERA, 1.049 WHIP, and 61 strikeouts to 18 walks over 61 innings.

With the NPB’s Marines, Voth has big shoes to fill as he moves into a starting rotation that had a vacancy left by Roki Sasaki, one of the big offseason additions by the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Voth was a free agent after joining Seattle on a one-year MLB contract last offseason.

The Mariners’ 40-man roster heading into spring training includes a couple of new names competing for spots in the bullpen: Will Klein and Casey Legumina. There are also several non-roster invitees with MLB experience to spring training who could find their way onto the team as relievers, including Peyton Alford, Luis F. Castillo, Neftalí Feliz, Shintaro Fujinami, Jesse Hahn, Austin Kitchen, Casey Lawrence, Adonis Medina and Drew Pomeranz.

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Seattle Mariners spring training begins Thursday with the first workout for pitchers and catchers at the team’s complex in Peoria, Ariz.

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