Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik at Mariners FanFest 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Just have patience… really? How does a professional sports franchise market that philosophy to a fan base that has suffered a decade of poor performance? Well that’s the message Jack Z. and the Mariners front office wanted to send us with multiple commercials showing Z and Wedge saying be patient… we are building something special… we are gonna get there. Well, I am not patient. I want to know what the big plan is, who are these young special players and when will we see them! 3 of the Mariners top prospects you have probably heard of are the trio of young aces currently on our AA team, the Jackson Generals, Taijuan Walker, Danny Hultzen, and James Paxton. These 3 are heralded as the future of our rotation, and are off to a solid start this season. With any luck we may see one or two of them later this summer or at least by next season. The ‘Big 3’ have helped lead the Generals to the best record in their league (11-6) with a league leading team era of 2.57! The Generals also lead the league in shut-outs (tied with 2) strike outs (160) lowest whip (1.18) fewest hits allowed (125) fewest runs allowed (52) and fewest earned runs (45.) To say these guys are dominating in AA would be an understatement, these guys are providing a lot of hope for the future of the Mariners and gaining a lot of attention nationally. Walker, Hultzen and Paxton are all currently listed in baseballs Top 100 prospects, Hlutzen #16, Walker #18, and Paxton #77.
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Full Name: Daniel Alexander Hultzen
Born: 11/28/1989
Birthplace: Bethesda, MD
College: Virginia
Height: 6′ 3″
Weight: 200
Bats: L
Throws: L
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| 2012 Season | ||||||||||||||||||
| Team | League | W | L | ERA | G | GS | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | GO/AO | AVG |
| JXN | SOU | 1 | 2 | 2.81 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16.0 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 21 | 1.70 | .127 |
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Full Name: Taijuan Emmanuel Walker
Born: 08/13/1992
Birthplace: Shreveport, LA
Height: 6′ 4″
Weight: 210
Bats: R
Throws: R
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| 2012 Season | ||||||||||||||||||
| Team | League | W | L | ERA | G | GS | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | GO/AO | AVG |
| JXN | SOU | 2 | 0 | 1.64 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 0.55 | .158 |
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Full Name: James Alston Paxton
Born: 11/06/1988
Birthplace: Richmond, BC
College: Kentucky
Height: 6′ 4″
Weight: 220
Bats: L
Throws: L
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| 2012 Season | ||||||||||||||||||
| Team | League | W | L | ERA | G | GS | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | GO/AO | AVG |
| JXN | SOU | 1 | 0 | 4.15 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17.1 | 15 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 14 | 22 | 1.33 | .234 |
Related articles
- Future looks bright for Walker, Hultzen, Paxton (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Four phenoms make pitches for Mariners’ future (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Tempting to keep Taijuan Walker, but Mariners wise to wait (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- M’s young phenoms Hultzen, Paxton, Walker sent to minor-league camp (kitsapsun.com)
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Keep Liddi in the lineup. Dude is tearing it up right now.
I agree, he’s hot right now. We have to continue giving these young guys chances. And everyone around seems to piggyback off each other. If one guy does well, they all do well. I think thats how young players work. It’s obvious that we either all play well together or nobody gets hits. Ride the hot players.
Couldnt agree more with you guys… Liddi is killing it right now. Id really like to see Mr. Ryan move on, he is hitting like .160 and with Liddi in the lineup I dont want Seager to be the one that loses ab’s. Liddi at 3rd, shift Seager over to SS and lets let these young guys play together and start building some familiarity with one another. Both Ryan and Olivo are hitting under .200, and are not part of the long term “core” of the team, so why have them out there taking ab’s away from the young guys we are trying to develop. Chris has mentioned something similar before, but used Ichiro as his example… we cant do that… but I dont think there would be any grumbeling from the fans to see Olivo and Ryan go.