Mariners’ minor-league rosters announced; Hultzen to start on DL

The Mariners’ minor-league affiliates announced their 2015 Opening Day rosters Tuesday morning. The “where will they play” questions have been answered.

The Mariners’ top pick in the 2013 draft, D.J. Peterson, will start his season with Double-A Jackson. Peterson, who finished the 2015 season at Jackson, hit .297/.360/.552/.912 combined between Jackson and High Desert. He was one of 11 minor leaguers to drive in 100 runs in 2014. Jordy Lara, who is also on that list with 104 RBIs last year, joins Peterson on the Jackson roster as does Gabby Guerrero, the nephew of former big leaguer Vladimir Guerrero. Alex Jackson, the Mariners’ top pick (No. 6 overall) in the 2014 draft, will start at Single-A Clinton.

Danny Hultzen, who had a strong spring coming off shoulder surgery, has been assigned to Triple-A Tacoma but will start the season on the disabled list and remain in extended spring training. The Mariners have laid out a thorough plan to manage Hultzen’s health and innings this year and will look for him to build arm strength and get some innings under his belt in a more controlled environment before reporting to his full-season club.

The full-season minor-league rosters:

With Endy Chavez opting out of his contract and Peterson being assigned to Double-A, we don’t quite see the logjams at Tacoma that I think some anticipated. Interesting to see Patrick Kivlehan assigned as an outfielder. He was assigned as an outfielder in spring training but saw most of his innings at first or third base. Ketel Marte should get the bulk of the time at shortstop until Chris Taylor returns from injury, but after that he could possibly see more time at second. The roster has five active left-handed pitchers, eight if you count the players on the DL. It could soon be nine as Joe Beimel is in extended spring and has yet to be added to a roster. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Mariners view Mike Montgomery – whom they acquired for Erasmo Ramirez – as a starter despite the fact that the Rays were converting him to a reliever at the time of the trade.

Of note, there are four relatives of current Mariners in the organization. Justin Seager, younger brother of Kyle, and Burt Reynolds, cousin of Robinson Cano, will play for High-A Bakersfield. Moises Hernandez, older brother of Felix, is on the Jackson roster. Joselito Cano, Robinson’s younger brother, will be assigned to a short-season team later in the year.

Related

Pereda’s ABS challenges prove huge in Mariners’ tight win over YankeesNFC West Check-In: Status updates on Rams’ Puka Nacua, Myles GarrettRecap: Mariners beat Yankees 1-0 to snap 6-game losing streakMariners pitching staff delivers their first win in over a weekFormer M’s closer Paul Sewald lands back in AL on waiver claimMLB returns to Field of Dreams, now a permanent ballpark amid corn