Mariners Notebook: Most current on Dylan Moore, Andrés Muñoz, Evan White

SHANNON DRAYER

UPDATED: MARCH 16, 2023 AT six:19 PM

The Mariners’ Dylan Moore rounds the bases appropriate following hitting a solo property run on July 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

It was a busy day for the Mariners on Thursday in Peoria with a ‘B’ game scheduled early to make up for operate lost to Wednesday’s rainout, George Kirby getting the get started off against the Giants in the principal stadium, a couple of returns from the Planet Baseball Classic, and a bit of worrisome news thrown in as nicely.

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We will get the potentially unfavorable out of the way initially. Utility player Dylan Moore was scheduled to make his initially appear in a spring game and was undoubtedly in the original lineup batting seventh, playing shortstop.

“He’s playing these days, that was the aim,” manager Scott Servais pointed out in his morning meeting with the media. “He’s been ramped up, feels superior, will play shortstop these days.”

Moore, who has been slow-played in camp appropriate following an early December core surgery, has developed his progression by way of the different checks to get back into games. He’s been hitting for weeks now, taking at-bats in reside batting practice. Operating was the final hurdle and it appeared he was ready to go, but it was announced that he had been scratched from the lineup just an hour appropriate following the media session.

Just following the game, a scoreless tie with the Giants (box score), Servais pointed out that Moore felt some issue in his side swinging in the batting cages and he was scheduled to get an MRI tomorrow.

Moore’s function has been expanded this year to be Kolten Wong’s right-handed platoon companion at second base and fill in at shortstop for J.P. Crawford, who the group intends to get added days off. When no news is no news, this is starting to veer into the concerning division with just two weeks to go till the get started off of the season. Any setback at this point could location opening day in jeopardy for Moore. We have to learn added Friday.

On a enhanced note, Andrés Muñoz developed his spring game debut, pitching an inning in the B game against the Padres. Coming off offseason surgery, it was a mixed affair for Muñoz with the fastball sitting 97-98 mph according to scouts on hand, and the two-seamer nasty early on. He did have some struggles on the other hand in the 18 pitches he threw and came away from the inning realizing he vital to make some adjustments.

“I was thinking about also drastically about the pitch clock,” Muñoz pointed out. “I started to speed up just about every single time, some issue I in no way anticipated to take location.”

Muñoz was 1 of the slowest Mariners in amongst pitches final year. The lengthy walks about the mound would give him a likelihood to calm down his ankle that was surgically repaired in the offseason. It also gave him a likelihood to gather his energy and concentrate on the subsequent pitch.

“Right now I just have to figure out what I require to have to do to be added aggressive on just about every single pitch, even if I have to do it extra swiftly,” he pointed out.

When fairly a handful of pitchers commented that the clock was on their minds in their initially outings, for most they discovered they had added time than they anticipated. For Muñoz, it was the opposite. He will require to have time to adjust, with the superior news becoming he will do so with no the discomfort he was dealing with for the majority of 2022.

Updates on minor league assignments

We could see added spring roster cuts on Friday. There have been a handful of appropriate right here, a handful of there, most announced later in the day appropriate following media had access to the manager for comments. On Thursday, I doubled back and asked about a couple of existing cuts.

On Evan White, Servais noted that he was up front with the initially baseman from the get started off of spring instruction that he wouldn’t be producing any alternatives mostly primarily based on just 15 spring at-bats.

“He desires to just go play,” Servais pointed out. “He knows he’s got to location continuous at-bats collectively and get it going there.”

The “there” is Triple-A Tacoma, a spot Servais believes have to give the pitching that White, who has missed the majority of the prior two seasons due to injuries, desires to see.

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“The pitching in April is seriously superior (in Triple-A),” he pointed out. “There are a lot of guys in the bullpen, 1 or two in the rotation, that are disappointed and ticked off they didn’t make the MLB group. Eventually they will be there in Could and June, but in April, it is fairly superior.”

Prelander Berroa was an added name of interest. The pitching prospect will get started off the season at Double-A Arkansas, and even although some project him to be a reliever with his larger-velocity fastball and wicked slider, he will be kept in the rotation precisely exactly where he can get added operate.

“He has a ton of self-assurance in his slider,” Servais noted. “The consistency, the command of his fastball? He’s a young pitcher.”

Servais acknowledged that if Berroa, who also has a decent changeup, could improve the command of his fastball, he could be a actually enticing arm for the Mariners bullpen have to a require to have arise.

Mariners notes

• Catcher prospect Harry Ford and reliever Matt Brash had been back in the Mariners’ clubhouse Thursday morning appropriate following their Planet Baseball Classic teams (Excellent Britain for Ford, Canada for Brash) had been eliminated Wednesday following pool play in Phoenix. Julio Rodríguez, Teoscar Hernández and Diego Castillo, who had been all playing for the Dominican Republic in Miami, are anticipated back Friday.

• J.P. Crawford DH’d following as soon as extra Thursday afternoon. He has been receiving remedy on his sore shoulder and playing catch from a lengthy distance. The hope is he can return to the field Sunday or Monday.

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