Mariners Moose Tracks, 6/20/17: Jean Segura, Latin Ballplayers, and Chris Taylor

Good morning my party people! Err...my Mariners fan friends? I dunno. People of earth: welcome to Mariners moose tracks. I hope you have come here for links or you have come to the wrong place.

In Mariners news...

• Both Hisashi Iwakuma and Jean Segura could come back to the big league club this week.
• James Paxton has joined members of the Reign, the Storm, the Sounders, and the Seahawks as the Mariners’ champion of LGBT equality through the group Athlete Ally.

The teams will kick-off their pride week efforts on June 20th at 3 p.m. PST with a joint press conference held at The NINETY. Representatives from each team will speak about the Seattle community’s continued commitment to LGBT equality efforts, and the athletic community’s support of its LGBT players, fans, coaches, officials and administrators. As part of the press conference, teams will announce an ongoing partnership with Athlete Ally, a nonprofit aimed at fostering a culture where athletic communities, and all whom they influence, advance LGBT and gender equality in sports and under the law.

• other things

In Mariners minors news...

• Most of the teams didn’t play yesterday, but the Tacoma Rainiers fell to the Salt Lake Bees 6-3 last night. Dan Vogelbach and Leonys Martin continued to crush Triple-A pitching. Now if only they could do it here in Seattle too...
• The AquaSox got romped by Hillsboro 9-2. I’m very happy for the youngsters that are getting the opportunity to play in Everett now, but I sure can’t wait for the new draftees to get there.

Around the league...

• In one of the coolest baseball features that ESPN has ever done, reporters interviewed dozens of Latin players on what it was like dealing with the language barrier, the food, and all sorts of changes they deal with when they came over to the states. Some of the quotes are particularly revealing, or hilarious like Nelson Cruz’s on language. Check it out.
• Cody Bellinger has hit 21 home runs in his first 51 MLB games, which is a new major league record.
• Hmm...well that’s certainly interesting.

• Tim Kurkjian wonders what the game of baseball will be like in 2037.
• The Cubs are trying to tap in to the talent pool in Mexico, a country that many baseball teams ignore when it comes to signing international players.
• Dave Cameron checks in on what teams will likely be doing at this year’s trade deadline. Who will be the buyers and who will be the sellers?
• This year’s top 20 home run hitters are filled with names that nobody expected, which is weird.
• Top Yankees prospect Gleyber Torres will require Tommy John surgery.
• What is the ceiling for Chris Taylor? Jeff Sullivan takes a quick glance in his latest post for Fangraphs.
• Baseball is wacky, edition 483,242:

• Hunter Strickland’s appeal for his suspension has been denied, and he will have to sit out for six games.