The Mariners have agreed to a minor league pact with veteran left-hander Andrew Albers, MLBTR has learned. It’ll be the second stint with the Mariners for Albers, a client of True Gravity Baseball.
The 36-year-old Albers, originally a tenth-round pick by the Padres back in 2008, Albers has pitched in parts of five Major League seasons in addition to three years spent in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and one in the Korea Baseball Organization. He appeared in five games with the Twins in 2021, logging 19 innings but yielding 16 runs during that time.
In signing with the Mariners, Albers returns to the organization with which he’s had the most success at the MLB level. The 2017 Mariners acquired Albers from the Braves in exchange for cash in August and plugged him right into the big league pitching staff. He responded with 41 innings of 3.51 ERA ball across nine appearances (six starts, three relief outings) while posting a 20.8% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.6% walk rate.
All in all, Albers has pitched 139 2/3 innings at the big league level, during which he’s notched a 4.58 ERA with a 14.9% strikeout rate, a 5.6% walk rate and a 40.2% ground-ball rate. He’s also logged a 3.60 ERA in parts of five Triple-A campaigns — a total of 563 innings.
The Mariners’ rotation, as currently constructed, has four arms locked into spots: Robbie Ray, Marco Gonzales, Chris Flexen and Logan Gilbert. Prospects Matt Brash, Levi Stoudt and George Kirby could all be in line to make their debuts this season, though Brash’s presence on the 40-man roster might give him the inside track on a spot out of camp. In addition to those prospects, the Mariners can now have both Albers and fellow veteran Asher Wojciechowski as depth options in Triple-A Tacoma.
Odds are Andrew Albers would get the first crack at the final rotation spot. I’d trust him more than Asher Wojciechowski
That’s a rather Brash statement!
please keep him….signed every Twins fan
All teams need that point guy
Slowly but surely, the Mariners are honing the edge of the pitching blade. Hope for another lefty, though.
There isn’t really that many high-leverage relievers left, but Tony Watson might be a good fit. He’s appeared in at least 60 games every year (outside of 2020) since his 2011 season, and has posted an ERA+ of 100 or better since then as well.