The Mariners Junior: Anthony goes to Tacoma

By Anthony

Nick Franklin, future shortstop

There are some advantages to having an avid baseball fan for a father. One is missing a week of school every spring to go to Arizona and watch the Mariners. I believe the excuse was it was a family holiday; guess the teachers didn’t mind missing me for a week. The other is going to games and scoring them. For those who don’t know, scoring a game is usually recording each play on a chart so you have info from each game. My dad takes it to the extreme. Not only does he chart each play, but each pitch location and speed. So when we went to Tacoma to watch the phenom Danny Hultzen matchup against the ageless Jamie Moyer. So this is article one of two about my trip down I-5. I will write more about Danny Hultzen soon, but these are other things I noticed at Cheney Stadium in between 5 hot dogs. 

• Nick Franklin 
• At first site I was really confused, Franklin is tiny and looks like a stick figure. He isn’t quite built like a typical shortstop. 
• So I may be an idiot, but I did not realize Franklin was a switch hitter. I saw 5 at bats total and was quite impressed. I know significantly more about pitching than hitting but Franklin’s swing looked smooth and he seemed able to drive the ball the other way.
• He went 2-5 including a triple the other way off Jamie Moyer and a single the other way off a right handed reliever. He showed some nice speed and surprising power. He also flew out to the warning track in the seventh.
• Defensively I was not very impressed. Of course he was playing second base, not short, but he did not look smooth and his arm was not excellent. Not sure if he can stick at short or whether he has to move to second at Safeco. He also was slow getting the ball out of his glove on the few grounders hit his way and missed a scoop play at second. 
• Vinnie Catricala
• The third baseman of the future, or something like that, did not look excellent either. He also is awfully skinny. Could probably use a little meat on his bones with Franklin. Maybe they could eat Chone Figgins or something. I’m sure there’s a by-law that says you don’t have to pay a guy if he is eaten by teammates.
• Offensively, Catricala did not look anything special. Hitting seventh in the Rainiers order, he flew out to center 3 times and reached on a fielders choice. I would love for Catricala to turn it around but he has struggled in Tacoma this year. 
• Luis Jimenez
• I started laughing when I saw the Rainiers clean up hitter swinging in the on-deck circle. He is listed at 280 on the Tacoma website and that would be pretty accurate. 
• He is hitting the cover off the ball though. .325 with 13 home runs and 51 RBI’s. He took Jamie deep to left-center on the first pitch he saw and showed some discipline at the plate. 
• I would suggest we call him up, its not like our offense can get much worse, but he is only a DH so would take away at-bats from Carp, Montero and Jaso. Ugh…..
• Josh Kinney
• If you haven’t heard of him before I forgive you. He is a veteran reliever and actually has a ring from the 06 Cardinals team.
• His stuff is actually quite good. He has a fastball in the low 90’s that has some late movement. A good changeup that sits in the low 80’s as well as a breaking ball that isn’t as good as his other two pitches but is a nice show me pitch. If he didn’t start arguing with the field umps he would have had a nice inning but had to pitch out of a jam and showed some nice composure
• I wouldn’t mind seeing him in Seattle down the road, but some room would have to be made on the 40-man which causes some problems. 
• Jamie Moyer
• I have had the pleasure of being coached by the wily veteran so it was nice to hear him get a standing ovation on his way in from the bullpen. 
• If you haven’t heard, Jamie has been bouncing around a few teams this year trying to break back into the majors, this is his third team all year after making the Rockies and then being cut and signing with the Orioles.
• He did a pretty good job and brought back some fond memories of classic Jamie Moyer. He made Carlos Triunfel look ridiculous twice with some low 70 heat and actually hit 84 once. 
• I am hoping Jamie finds a team this year and was happy to see him get the win.

The game itself wasn’t interesting, the Rainiers lost 11-4 and Triunfel had two back-to-back errors on the exact same play. Be thankful for Brendan Ryan’s defense. The pitching wasn’t great and featured way too many walks. But that’s AAA baseball for you.