In 2016, the Seattle Mariners organization made a decision regarding a player that has become something of a trend as of recently throughout Major League Baseball, converting a young starting pitcher to the bullpen in hopes of increasing his overall use to the big league club. Okay, they did that several times, but the one I’m referring to here is a guy who was converted more in hopes of avoiding the injury bug rather than to get him to Seattle in time to capitalize on the Mariners’ shrinking window of opportunity to compete for a playoff spot.

Enter LHP Jake Zokan.

A little background on Jake:

• Baseball Reference lists him as a 6’1" 200lb Left-Handed Pitcher
• He pitched four seasons at the College of Charleston, the same college Yankees OF Brett Gardner played at as a walk on.
• In 2013, Zokan appeared in 17 games for CofC, starting 14 and posting a 2.85 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and notching 80 strikeouts in 79.0 innings as a Senior.
• He was drafted in 9th Round of the 2013 Draft by the Seattle Mariners
• He has been on the disabled list six separate times since being drafted in 2013
• He has been much, much more effective as a reliever than as a starter

From the time he was drafted in 2013 through 2015, Zokan was used almost exclusively as a starting pitcher, starting 39 of the 46 games he appeared in. The numbers he put up throughout that timeframe were fairly solid (minus a stop at notoriously hitter friendly High Desert), but his projected ceiling was likely somewhere around that of a back end starter for a non-competitive team*.

* You’ll notice a few games missing from the chart below. I removed a few rehab stops that were all between 2.0 – 6.0 IP.

After an underwhelming 2015 season spent mostly at the Double-A level, Zokan made some mechanical changes in the offseason that, coupled with a transition to the bullpen, produced big time results.

Here’s a brief Q&A I had with Zokan via Twitter regarding his breakout season:

BT: In 2016, you cut your WHIP nearly in half, and your K/9 jumped from 6.31 to 10.37. Did you make a change to your mechanics/arsenal/delivery that you feel allowed you to overpower batters more steadily this season, or was it simply a combination of transitioning to the pen and staying healthy?

JZ: I made a slight change in my mechanics and was able to repeat my delivery consistently. This helped me stay healthy most of the season and my stuff was the best it’s ever been. I was more aggressive out of the pen and attacking the strike zone with all my pitches.

BT: Are you willing to disclose what that mechanical change was?

JZ: A higher front side

BT: Last question: Is there something in your arsenal you feel allows you to live in the strike zone without getting punished for it?

JZ: My changeup was a huge factor. I could throw it in any count and keep hitters off balance.

BT: Okay, last last question. Was that a new development or just more effective with the other changes you’ve made?

JZ: I’ve always had it, but it just progressed by messing with grips, placement in my hand, and repetition after that.

His 2016 numbers seem to support what he said. His strikeout rate increased by 65%, his walk rate and home runs allowed decreased by 89% and 80%, respectively, while he sliced his ERA, WHIP and FIP all in half and then some. This is a guy who seems to have truly put it all together in to one nice, C the Z’ing little package. The one blemish on the otherwise breakthrough season is that, as different as it was from past years for Zokan, one thing stayed the same. He missed a large chunk of the season after being placed on the disabled list on August 5th, missing the remainder of the season and just over a month of games.

Considering Jerry hasn’t shied away from inviting guys with limited upper-level experience to big league camp, don’t be surprised if you hear Zokan’s named being thrown around as a dark horse candidate for an Oliver Perez/Mike Montgomery type role in 2017 as a left-handed swingman who can come in for multiple innings at a time, and get outs against both left and right-handed hitters. He averaged a little more than 1.2 innings per appearance last season, and after originally struggling to get out righties in previous years, the mechanical changes he’s made appear to have fixed any platoon issues he’d previously had.

If Zokan manages to get an invite to Major League Spring Training, I expect him to throw his hat in the competition with Ariel Miranda, Zac Curtis, James Pazos and Paul Fry for the role as the second lefty out in the bullpen, behind veteran Mark Rzepczynski. It might be a longshot for Zokan to make the jump from High-A to the bigs, but such a thing has been done before, and unlike Curtis at the time of his promotion, Zokan has actually had some exposure to the Double-A level, albeit before being converted to a reliever. Regardless of where he starts the season, he should be a fun story to follow throughout camp, and don’t be surprised if you see him in Seattle at some point in 2017.