Mariners Moose Tracks, 5/7/21: D.J. Peterson, Albert Pujols, and Jarred Kelenic

Good morning everybody and happy Friday! Let’s get you some links as all four Mariners full-season minor league teams are now in full swing.

In Mariners news...

• Remember Mariners prospect D.J. Peterson? Corey Brock at The Athletic checks in with the former can’t-miss slugger. Peterson discussed his journey with mental health issues and the advocacy that has followed. ($)

In the Minors...

• Thanks to an absolutely brilliant performance by left-handed starter Adam Macko (4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K), the Modesto Nuts took care of business against the Stockton Ports yesterday by a 2-1 final. The Slovakia native could be this year’s most noteworthy pop-up prospect for Seattle. (Box score)
• Everett put together a performance we all know they’re capable of — and one we’ll more likely see several more times this season — with a blowout 12-1 win against Hillsboro last night. There were too many notable performances in this one to single any out, so you’ll just have to check the box score, but Emerson Hancock struck out three in two hitless innings in his Mariners organizational debut. Not bad at all. (Box score)
• The Travelers finally got their first win of the season in a 4-2 victory against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. The Arkansas pitching staff deserves immense credit for silencing Bobby Witt, Jr. (2-for-14, 5 K) to this point in the series. We will have no shortage of exciting pitching prospects to watch this year. On the hitting side, Jakes Scheiner and Anchia both went deep in this one. (Box score)
• The Tacoma Rainiers opened their season last night, falling to El Paso in an extra-innings contest 7-6. Jarred Kelenic and Cal Raleigh both smacked homers in the game. The former had M’s fans on Twitter going bananas as we continue to wait for his call-up to the show. (Box score)
• We have video of that first Tacoma homer for Kelenic.

• Meanwhile, look at that smooth delivery from Hancock.

Around the league...

• The Angels shocked everyone yesterday when they cut bait with future Hall of Fame first baseman Albert Pujols while the former slugger was in the last year of his massive contract. Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic has all of the details of this strange drama. ($)
• He, uhh...may reconsider making good on this.

• Back to the Mariners quickly, we should never take for granted what the team was able to achieve here.

• Our very own Michael Ajeto updated his top 100 starting pitcher rankings over at Pitcher List.
• Jordan Shusterman wrote about the relievers that have impressed in the early parts of the season, including the M’s own Kendall Graveman.
• Jay Jaffe at Fangraphs says the Angels defense takes a lot of the blame from the team’s poor pitching performance so far.