Mariners Release Mauricio Llovera

The Mariners have released right-hander Mauricio Llovera, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The righty will head to the open market in search of his next opportunity in the coming days.

Llovera, 28, has bounced around a bit in the past year-plus. The Giants added him to their roster last July, a few weeks before he was then designated for assignment and traded to the Red Sox for righty Marques Johnson. He stuck on Boston’s roster for a few months before he was designated for assignment again in January. The Mariners claimed him off waivers at that time but then passed him through unclaimed in March.

He accepted that outright assignment and has been pitching in the Mariners’ system this year, though without much success. He has been on and off the minor league injured list a few times and has only thrown 19 2/3 innings on the farm this year. In that time, he has allowed 4.58 earned runs per nine frames, striking out just 16.5% of batters faced. That lackluster performance apparently compelled the Mariners to let him go.

His performance in previous years was much stronger, which is why he was garnering interest from various clubs not too long ago. He tossed 42 2/3 minor league innings over 2022 and 2023 with a 2.11 ERA. In that time, he struck out 33.5% of batters faced while only walking 5.9% of batters who stepped to the plate.

Llovera has also tossed 59 major league innings in his career, but with an uninspiring 5.80 ERA. But both his fastballs averaged in his mid-90s while he also threw a slider, cutter and changeup, per Statcast. It’s been a rough season so far but perhaps some club has a plan for getting him back on track, especially if his injuries were holding him back this year. If Llovera eventually makes it back to the majors, he is out of options but has less than two years of service time.