Mariners Moose Tracks, 9/4/21: Lucas Giolito, Taylor Williams, and Bryan Ruby

In Mariners News...

• RHP Taylor Williams was dealt to the Padres by the Seattle Mariners at last year’s deadline in exchange for RHP Matt Brash. It seems like the deal is working out for the M’s thus far.

• Three Mariners minor leaguers won player of the month honors in their leagues. Congratulations to INF Connor Hoover of Everett (High-A West), OF Alberto Rodriguez of Modesto (Low-A West), and RHP Ryan Weber of Tacoma (Triple-A West).
• Things got rowdy down in Reno for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. Keep an eye out for an exceptionally aimed glove hurl by R’s catcher José Godoy.

Around the League...

• Chicago White Sox ace Lucas Giolito hits the 10-day IL with a strained hamstring, as the club plays things cautiously this September with an unshakable lead on the pathetic AL Central.
• A long-challenging issue has been attempting comparisons across eras, even stretching back just 20 or 30 years now that baseball has seen such an explosion of information technology. Robert Arthur at Baseball Prospectus ($) has endeavored to make inroads on those issues, however, and has found a way to reliably back-estimate exit velocity at least back into the early 1990s, offering the chance to estimate... what was Barry Bonds’ average exit velocity?
• Infielder Bryan Ruby of the now-independent Salem-Keizer Volcanoes came out as gay, becoming the only currently active known out professional baseball player to do so.
• Cardinals longtime announcer Mike Shannon struggled, like so many of us, to understand exactly what NFTs are during a recent ad read.

• The Giants beat the Dodgers in an extra-innings thriller last night. Mike Petriello at MLB.com investigated how San Francisco, long noted for its pitcher-friendly park, has come to lead MLB in home runs.
• The Angels have released SS José Iglesias, a somewhat surprising move as he’d been a below-average but mostly capable option. The timing of the release guarantees Iglesias cannot be playoff eligible with any other club.
• Oakland has recalled former Mariners reliever LHP Sam Moll, and placed RHP Frankie Montas on the restricted list temporarily due to visa issues ahead of the club’s three game series in Canada against the Blue Jays. Montas will return to action on Thursday when the club gets underway stateside against the ChiSox.
• Best wishes to Johnny Bench, who announced he would not be attending this week’s upcoming Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

• Speedy recovery as well to both the Cubs manager and general manager.

• Former Mariners minor leaguer Jose Sirí was called up by the Houston Astros and debuted last night as a pinch runner.
• Negro Leagues ace John Donaldson is being honored by his hometown of Glasgow, Missouri.
• Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright reached an exceptional milestone last night, as the two made their collective 300th starts together as a battery, only the fifth pitcher-catcher duo to reach such heights.
• Not a great list of company for Mike Trout, though at this point the Angels may simply be holding him out for excess caution in a lost season.

• Zach Hayes at Pitcher List attempted to uncover whether pitchers getting funky with their motion and messing with timing works.