2025 Mariners Minor League Recap, June 16 - June 22

Lazaro Montes and Co. take home the first half crown

Welcome back to our weekly Mariner prospect recap! Lets dive right into a red hot Tacoma squad.

Tacoma Rainiers

38-37

It was a massive week for the Rainiers against the Isotopes, securing the 5-1 series win with a 7-2 victory in Sunday afternoon’s contest. The Rainiers are back above .500 for the first time in what feels like forever and looking exceptionally strong as the second half approaches. If they can roll this over and continue playing like this throughout the summer months, I’d expect the Rainiers to surprise some people and potentially compete for a playoff spot.

I may be opening up a can of worms here, but Tyler Locklear has been truly exceptional for the past month or so. Working an 8-21 week that included three homers and a pair of doubles, Locklear is beginning to look like his former self at the plate and may just be turning his season around around a rough start. Locklear was long considered the heir-apparent to the first base job after dominating the middle minors, however after struggling in Triple-A and not showing a ton in the majors, his prospect light has faded quite substantially. I still believe he’s got plenty left in the tank and think he can be a factor for the position long term, but he’s going to have to keep this level of production up if he wants a shot at it. Keep it up, Ty Lock!

Since being sent down for roster shuffling purposes, Logan Evans has thrown the ball really nicely for the Rainiers’ rotation. Logging a pair of starts against the Isotopes, Evans has combined for nine innings of three run ball with 13 K’s. Evans is obviously on the outside looking in for a big league spot, but it’s been encouraging to see his progress hold in the PCL. Hopefully Evans can continue to develop in a low pressure environment and build himself up for the Seattle rotations of the future.

Arkansas Travelers

35-34

Another split for Arkansas this week. It’s becoming commonplace for the Travs at this point, though I can’t necessarily complain. This roster is lacking impact across the board. I’m looking forward to this next wave of promotions that are sure to come soon.

Every day I become more and more convinced we’ll be seeing Brandyn Garcia at some point this season. There’s plenty of help to be had in Tacoma, but none of them have the upside that Garcia possesses. With another two innings and four more strikeouts, Garcia’s high octane fastball and wipeout slider has done him well in recent outings. He’s had a few blowup outings here and there, but it’s been positive on the whole.

Now without Jared Sundstrom, the Travs are going to have to dig deep and scratch out runs any way they come. Guys like Caleb Cali, Bill Knight, Connor Charping, and Josh Hood will need to major contributors for this lineup if they want to stay afloat in the standings. They don’t need to be a juggernaut offensively, but they’ve got to be able to put up some crooked numbers.

Everett AquaSox

38-31

First half Champs! The Sox fought back after an abysmal start of the season to take the first half title. They had to stave off the Vancouver Canadians and their 20-3 end to the season, but they managed to pull it off. Congrats Everett!

It’s been a while since we checked in on Lazaro Montes after his scorching hot start, but he’s been consistently putting up great numbers all season long. Rocketing four homers on the week, Montes continues to show off his prodigious power ability while maintaining his ability to draw a healthy amount of walks. The hit tool will always be a major question for Montes, but if he can be a three true outcome masher that poses a major threat in the middle of a lineup, he’ll be a major asset to any team.

The Jurrangelo show was out in full force on Saturday night’s start, perhaps reminding the people just how special he can be. Firing off four innings without allowing an earned run, Cijntje struck out six batters along the way and did not walk anyone, a great development I’m hoping we’ll see more of. Cijntje’s innate athleticism gives him sky high potential and his pure stuff has shown well thus far, but outings like this show he’s making progress towards developing a better feel for commanding his weapons and using them to their fullest potential. Time will tell how things work out with Jurrangelo, but I’m bullish on his future as a starter at the major league level.

Modesto Nuts

39-30

They might not have been able to claim the first half title, but it was a hell of an effort for this Nuts team. A first half to be proud of for Modesto.

Ryan Sloan continues to throw the ball exceptionally well for this team and looks like an incredibly polished product despite his youth. Logging five innings of shutout ball with three K’s, Sloan finished his first scoreless outing of the year as he continues to lower his ERA to a number more reflective of his performance. I’m curious how national evaluators will view his season when it comes time to update the league wide boards, but I have to think Sloan will find his way on to every single top one hundred list out there. He looks polished beyond his years and the stuff is for real.

ACL Mariners

Chia-Shi Shen continues to show well for the Baby M’s, logging another four innings with six strikeouts. I expect him to get some run for the Nuts at some point this season.

Roberto Perez is listed at 5’9 145lb, but he’s been nails so far this season. I know very little about the player, but I wanted to give him some love.

DSL Mariners

Leandro Romero continues to be good for this squad. He’s up to three on the year as a shortstop.

Yorger Bautista is starting to look a bit better at the plate, but the hit tool has been rough thus far. The strikeouts are sky high as of now and will need to come down if he wants to be a big leaguer. He remains the biggest variance prospect in the entire system.

That concludes our weekly roundup! Thanks for reading and GOMS!!