Mariners Announce 60-man Roster

On Sunday, the Mariners announced their 60-man roster for the upcoming season. These 60 players are all eligible to play for Seattle at any point during the 2020 season, though a large portion of them are not likely to suit up for the big league club.

2020, all 60 games of it, will be a season of learning. Of the 60 players of the squad, the club hopes to keep roughly 25 percent of them off the big stage entirely.

“Several of the guys we don’t expect to see at the ML level this year unless it’s an emergency situation,” one source within the front office said.

He added the team hopes to keep “about 17 of those guys” off the big league roster in 2020.

That leaves the organization with roughly 43 names to play with over the course of the summer. 2019 saw the Mariners throw 67 different players on the field. This isn’t to say everything won’t go as planned for the team, but it could absolutely get interesting if there’s a rash of injuries.

The roster as a whole consists of 32 pitchers and 28 positions player. There are 5 catchers being included. Without further ado, The List™

* denotes players expected to begin the year on the active 30-man roster

Pitchers:

Marco Gonzales*, Taijuan Walker*, Yusei Kikuchi*, Kendall Graveman*, Justus Sheffield*, Justin Dunn*, Austin Adams*, Yoshihisa Hirano*, Matt Magill*, Brandon Brennan*, Nestor Cortes*, Dan Altavilla*, Carl Edwards Jr.*, Yohan Ramirez*, Nick Margevicius, Zac Grotz, Taylor Williams, Gerson Bautista, Erik Swanson, Taylor Guilbeau, Art Warren, Joey Gerber, Juan Then, Aaron Fletcher, Ljay Newsome, Sam Delaplane, Logan Gilbert, Emerson Hancock, George Kirby, Isaiah Campbell, Brandon Williamson, Anthony Misiewicz

Seattle is electing to bring just about any arm you might imagine with them onto the roster this season. The only noticeably absent hurlers are Sam Carlson, Wyatt Mills and to a lesser degree, Brayan Perez.

Misiewicz and Then are a little surprising, but both have been characterized by the team as being on a “hybrid” squad. The hybrid squad is a group of guys in-between the 40-man roster and guys specifically being brought along for development. In essence, the hybrid squad is the emergency team. Gerber, Delaplane, Fletcher and Newsome are all part of this corps.

The likes of Gilbert, Hancock, Kirby, Williamson and Campbell are further down the pecking order and are not expected to pitch for the Mariners in 2020.

Catchers:

Tom Murphy*, Austin Nola*, Joe Hudson*, Cal Raleigh, Brian O’Keefe

The catchers are pretty chalk. The only surprise here is the withholding of Joe Odom. Hudson will likely travel with the big league team as the bullpen catcher and emergency in-game option. He’s part of the 3-man “taxi squad”. O’Keefe is part of the hybrid squad while Raleigh is not expected to get any time at the big league level in 2020.

Infield:

Evan White*, Daniel Vogelbach*, Tim Lopes*, Dee Gordon*, Shed Long*, Dylan Moore*, JP Crawford*, Kyle Seager*, Patrick Wisdom*, Donovan Walton*, Noelvi Marte, Jose Marmolejos, Sam Haggerty, Austin Shenton, Tyler Keenan, Kaden Polcovich

The biggest surprise amongst the infield group is the absence of Joe Rizzo. Rizzo was purportedly one of the last guys held off the team, and was simply a victim of a numbers crunch. The addition of Austin Shenton, who just recently broke his nose, is the biggest eye-popping addition to the group. It speaks volumes toward the way the organization feels about their 2019 fifth-round pick.

It should also be noted, while this mock has Wisdom and Walton on the initial 30-man roster, it’s unlikely to remain that way. The Mariners will likely elect to bring another pitcher along when they break camp. Bautista has been mentioned as a prime candidate. He would take the place of one of the utility infielders.

Outfield:

Braden Bishop*, Jake Fraley*, Kyle Lewis*, Mallex Smith*, Jarred Kelenic, Julio Rodriguez, Zach DeLoach

This is a pretty light group. Only seven names, and Seattle full-well expects the last three guys listed to remain at the alternate training site during all of 2020. The biggest question, clearly, is where is Mitch Haniger? He’ll start the season on the 45-day IL. At this stage, it’s unknown whether Haniger will be able to play at all this season.

With such a small group of outfielders, fans can likely expect another large dose of Moore and Lopes in the outfield in 2020. Marmolejos can also play a corner if necessary.

Final Thoughts

This is a roster clearly built toward player development. While it’s unlikely Seattle will have to call up one of its premier prospects to play this season, the possibility certainly exists should things go awry. The Mariners have 21 pitchers on the 40-man to play with, with Misiewicz and Gerber likely next in line.

The season is slated to kick off July 23 or 24. Schedules are expected to be announced this week.