Mariners Moose Tracks, 4/10/22: Roki Sasaki, Noelvi Marte, Lucas Giolito, Myles Straw

Happy Sunday! As a reminder, today is another breakfast baseball game, with the pregame starting on 710 ESPN/ROOT around 9, PT which is just...so early for a Sunday. I’m sorry and I know I am a feral lil’ raccoon who is up all night but that is just. Too Early. But if you’re up that early anyway because you’re some kind of Disney character who rises with the sun and sings to small animals and does vigorous exercise before the rest of us drag our grease-soaked corpses out of bed, good for you, please report back on anything you hear on the pre-game show.

In Mariners news:

Nothing of note here, except the signing of Daniel Ponce de Leon (covered in the next section), and oh yeah, in case you missed it, Julio got his first pro hit yesterday:

In Mariners minors news:

The Rainiers split a doubleheader against the Salt Lake Bees by a lopsided score (losing 12-0 in the first game, and winning 1-0 in the second), the Arkansas Travelers lost 7-8 to the Frisco RoughRiders, the Nuts lost 1-3 to the San Jose Giants, and the AquaSox won 10-7 over the Eugene Emeralds. The Everett game was probably the most fun in the system yesterday: Adam Macko struck out 14, and Noelvi Marte hit his first home run of the season.

Speaking of that Rainiers doubleheader, the second game win featured a strong outing from new Mariner Daniel Ponce de Leon, formerly of the Cardinals (although he was with the Angels this spring). The Mariners stay loving the Cardinals’ castoffs, but maybe with good reason:

Around the league:

• Not really Mariners news, but Mariners-adjacent news: White Sox starter Lucas Giolito is more than likely likely headed to the IL with an abdominal injury and will not pitch in this week’s series against the Mariners. Good, because I hate rooting against Giolito, a good pitcher and an excellent dude.
• Things are off to a rough start for the Rangers, who in addition to going 0-2 so far, recently placed new pitching acquisition Jon Gray on the 10-day IL with a blister; RHP Spencer Patton has been recalled from Round Rock to take Gray’s spot.
• The Giants are calling up their top prospect, OF Heliot Ramos.
• Good for speedster Myles Straw, formerly fringe-y Houston Astro become Cleveland starter, who just signed a five-year extension with the Guardians.
• Our hearts go out to former Mariner/current Met Edwin Díaz after the sudden death of his grandfather. Díaz is currently on the bereavement list as he travels home to Puerto Rico to mourn his grandfather.
• World Series rings are already over-the-top, but the Atlanta Braves pretty definitively raised the bar on the 2021 championship rings.
• Speaking of swag, do you refuse to recognize the Rays and accept only the Devil Rays as your master? Then the Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay’s Triple-A team) have a jersey for you:

Kate’s pick:

20-year old phenom Roki Sasaki threw a perfect game yesterday for the Lotte Marines of the NPB, the first in 28 years in the league. He struck out 19 batters, and set an NPB record by striking out 13 in a row. He’s real, real good, and if/when he gets posted to MLB, will be a really fun story to follow, so get in on it now so you can be a Sasaki hipster.