Pitching prospect Matt Brash has earned a spot in the Mariners’ rotation to begin the season, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. The righty had his contract selected by the club in late September of last year but never got into a game, meaning it will be his MLB debut when he finally takes the hill in the coming days.
It’s been a remarkable rise for the Kingston, Ontario native over the past few years. Selected by the Padres in the fourth round of the 2019 draft, he pitched a few innings of rookie ball and A-ball that season. In 2020, of course, the minor league seasons were canceled by the pandemic, leaving Brash unable to pitch in any official games. At that year’s trade deadline, he was the player to be named later in a minor trade that saw reliever Taylor Williams go to San Diego. As noted by Kramer, Brash wasn’t considered a top 30 prospect of the Padres before the trade nor of the Mariners after.
In 2021, Brash proved that the Mariners had unearthed a hidden gem, as he threw 97 1/3 innings between High-A and Double-A, putting up an ERA of 2.31 between those two levels. Although his 11.9% walk rate was a bit high, his 35.1% strikeout rate was elite. Based on that dominant performance, the club selected him to their big league roster September 28th, hoping that he could help cover some innings as they were making a push for a wild card spot, despite Brash never pitching at the Triple-A level. He didn’t end up taking the mound in those final few games, however.
Based off his excellent work last year, Brash is now considered one the 98th prospect in the game by MLB Pipeline, comes in at #84 at ESPN and #45 at Baseball America. This spring, Brash has continued to build his reputation, throwing 9 1/3 innings with 12 strikeouts, 2 walks and just a single earned run. The new CBA features a provision called the Prospect Promotion Incentive whereby teams can earn an extra pick in the draft if a rookie-eligible player with 60 days or fewer of major league service who is included on a preseason top 100 prospect list by two or more of Baseball America, ESPN.com or MLB.com is promoted and finishes high in award voting in any year before he is eligible for arbitration. Since Brash cracked all three of those lists and has just six days of MLB service time, he could earn the M’s an extra draft pick for a Rookie of the Year win or a top three finish in MVP or Cy Young voting in his pre-arbitration seasons. If the international draft is implemented, he could earn the club a selection if second or third in Rookie of the Year, or fourth or fifth in Cy Young. A team can gain at most one PPI pick in the amateur draft and three total PPI picks for any individual prospect, two international and one amateur, with a max of one such pick per year. (Further details about the incentive are laid out by Evan Drellich of The Athletic.)
After an 89-win season in 2018, Seattle surprisingly decided to tear down their roster and enter a rebuild. After just a pair of losing seasons, they took a huge leap forward last year, winning 90 games and narrowly missing the postseason. Before the lockout, they added the reigning AL Cy Young Robbie Ray to the rotation, joining holdovers Marco Gonzales, Chris Flexen and Logan Gilbert. The 23-year-old Brash will round out that group to start the season. As noted by Kramer, Brash will be the first native of Kingston, Ontario to pitch in the big leagues.
Despite all that praise for Brash, he’s actually the second-best pitching prospect in the system, with George Kirby ahead of him on most lists. However, Kirby will head back down to the minors, based on the fact that he only logged 67 2/3 innings last year. “He didn’t have a huge workload last year,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It’s really important that he continues to progress. George is going to pitch for us this year, there’s no question about it. And I think he’s going to be a huge part of how our season plays out.” Should Kirby continue to develop, the Mariners will have an excellent depth option ready to go in the event of a need in the big league rotation.
This is a “feel good” story. I wish only the best for the young man.
At least the draft pick compensation is easy to figure out. Not like I read it over & over or anything trying to get all that straight.
At least you reread it a few times. I tried twice and gave up. WTF entered my thinking, I gotta say. Freakin’ lawyers write that stuff.
To be honest, it didn’t help much. I even went so far as a little doodle diagram on a magazine cover.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go take my morning lawyer.
Let me help you Ducky. If he debuts on a Wednesday and it’s at least 70 degrees at game time, the M’s qualify for a possible international signing as long as that signee is from a country that averages above 70 degrees in the weeks between Labor Day and Memorial Day. If his debut is in a Thursday and it’s overcast, the M’s qualify for a lottery drawing to win a “Jelly of the Month Club” coupon. Which is the gift that keeps on giving the whole year through, Now, if the debut is on a Saturday, Sunday, or Monday……….that part I’m not clear about.
Alright. Cool. So it’s not just me. There is an awful lot going on in that fourth paragraph, serious.
Now. About that Jelly of the Month Club…?
I’m still trying to spell *Darragh correctly! Lol.
crazy to see a guy i played against growing up realize this much success, great story.
Bold, some may say brash, move.
I hate to be that guy, but AAA by June.
Based on…?
I like his stuff, but question his command at this stage. It will be exposed after a few turns against MLB hitters. He has maybe a dozen genes above A ball? Feels a bit rushed, so I expect some additional seasoning coming at AAA.
Lord- you obviously know more than all the analysts, ex players who watched him this Spring and said- “that is a live arm with explosive stuff. It will definitely play at the big league level.” Use your At-Bat app- listen to those away broadcasts.
If you watched all 4 of his outings this Spring like I did you’d not only see how uncomfortable MLB hitters looked when facing him, you would have seen how he made many good hitters look downright foolish.
In his last outing v COL he didnt even have his best stuff and he still managed to get 6 K/0’s in 4 1/3 ip
Agreed. He’s made established MLB hitters look absolutely foolish and is more than deserving of that 5th spot.
He looked better than Robbie Ray!! I’m not saying he’s better than the reigning AL Cy Young pitcher- rather his outings were more dominant this Spring. Less huts, base runners, more K/Outs, higher velo. Surprisingly he also had more hitters leaving home plate with that look of “wtf was that!!? and “Who is that kid!?”
Though a bit ignorant, he has a point. I don’t expect him to demote but I don’t doubt he’ll experience some hiccups as I’m sure you’d agree.
You’ve obviously not seen him pitch. If you don’t want to be that guy, it’s pretty easy not to.
I have seen him pitch.
I have too, and he pitched very well, but this is the right assessment (and also the right decision by the M’s). I think Kirby’s the guy they really want in that role, and is much more talented, but they’re being careful with him as they should.
Two things about Brash are true right now.
1: His control isn’t great.
2: His stuff is so good that he can still be dominant despite that.
I got my first real six string
Bought it at the five and dime
Played until my fingers bled
Was the summer of ‘69
Former Mariners president kinda screwed up their ability to get away with sending him down for a few weeks.
There was a competition for 5th starter. A rookie was getting the spot regardless. GM couldn’t get a trade for another sp. Service time had nothing to do with anything.
Attitude can take a young pitcher quite a ways before reality takes over.
But brashness is good when facing merciless hitters.
Kidding aside, Brash has good stuff and a good approach.
Come on guys. I know it is Sunday morning but I expected a few more terrible puns. Not the sort of Brash move I’d have expected from DiPoto
Mariners hope Brash will not be trash. Good for him.
The compensation part would be more understandable if it was broken into paragraphs.
To earn a draft pick a rookie eligible player
MUST
Have 60 days or less service time
Be ranked in the top 100 prospects by 2 of the following
ESPN
MLB Pipeline
Baseball America
To earn a draft pick for his team, a player can win ROY or finish in top 3 in CY voting or MVP voting in his pre arb years.
If there is an international draft agreed to. Then a top 3 finish in ROY or top 5 CY voting gets a draft pick.
While Brash could earn 3 draft picks for the Ms, the most draft picks a team can have is one per year.
Preller brilliance on display…once again
Amuse your self while you can. I doubt we ever see anything like this again in our lifetimes. Depending on whether Torrens is a starter or not, that makes three players on the Mariners that will be regulars, in exchange for Nola & Williams.
There was the time that Cleveland traded Bartolo Colon to the Montreal Expos for Lee Stevens and 3 prospects who turned out to be Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips. Only trade I can think of where the 3 prospects all became All-Star caliber players in the big leagues.
The only comparable trade I recall is Glenn Davis for Curt Schilling, Pete Harnisch and Steve Finley. I was an Os fan at the time and couldn’t believe they made that trade. Schilling went on to have a borderline HOF career, Finley was an all star and Harnisch a mid rotation workhorse.
Jerry Dipoto has been Preller’s Kryptonite the past couple of seasons. Between two separate awful moves, Preller traded Taylor Trammell (who he had just recently traded Franmil Reyes for), Luis Torrens, Ty France, Andres Munoz and Matt Brash for Austin Nola and a couple mediocre relievers. If Preller could take all three of those trades back, the Padres would be a truly elite team right now.
I never liked Trammell my guess is frindge outfielder who makes a career off of being a 4th outfielder.
I thought super highly of France at the time and everyone was like the mariners got Trammell and a bunch of junk.
Brash was in a separate trade as a PTBNL later for a rp.
I know Brash was in a separate trade, I wrote that in my post. I was saying when you combine the two trades, the Mariners really fleeced the Padres overall.
And I agree that Ty France was the real get for the Mariners in that trade. He is somebody that the Padres are surely wishing they had right about now.
Congrats Matty!
Kids stuff is nasty. Looking forward to seeing him the many times the M’a face the rangers!
Their “giant leap forward” was more than likely a mirage, due to an unsustainable amount of good luck on their side last season. That type of luck normally doesn’t happen two times in a row.
Keep telling yourself that. It’s obvious you have no problem doing it with every article regarding Seattle. It’s starting to be comical. Like a broken record! And nobody cares about your luck theory!
It’s happening again!