The Mariners announced that they have claimed outfielder Jacob Hurtubise off waivers from the Reds. The latter club designated him for assignment a few days ago. The M’s already had a 40-man vacancy. They announced that Hurtubise will report to Triple-A Tacoma, so no corresponding active roster move will be required.
Hurtubise, 27, has seen brief big league work in each of the past two seasons with Cincinnati. He’s totaled 83 major league plate appearances and batted .167/.291/.212 in that tiny sample. He’s been far better in Triple-A, where his speed, plate discipline and hit-over-power approach have been evident in parts of three seasons. Hurtubise has amassed 502 plate appearances with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate in Louisville, slashing .270/.416/.337 with just three homers but a 30-for-34 showing in stolen base attempts.
That excellent speed has allowed Hurtubise to capably slot into all three outfield positions, despite lacking the prototypical arm strength needed to play right field. He’s a rangy, versatile defender who recorded a 45-steal season in the minors as recently as 2023. Hurtubise is in the second of three minor league option years.
The Mariners actually drafted Hurtubise in the 39th round back in 2019, but he opted to return to school and instead headed back to West Point for his senior year. As Baseball America points out in their scouting report on him, a rule change in 2020 allowed athletes at military academies to delay their service until after their playing careers had been completed. He signed with the Reds as an undrafted free agent — the 2020 draft was shortened to only five rounds — and has now, in rather circuitous fashion, landed with the first team that originally tried to draft him.
Seattle’s outfield depth has been stretched thin by injuries to Victor Robles and Luke Raley. Hurtubise is the latest in a growing line of outfield alternatives the M’s have explored since those injuries. Dominic Canzone is currently getting a look, but the Mariners have also tried Leody Taveras, Rhylan Thomas, Miles Mastrobuoni and others as they look to hold things down until either Raley/Robles can return or until additional reinforcements can be acquired (likely closer to the trade deadline).
Now we’re cooking with gas, glad to see the Ms front office making moves…..🤦🏼♂️
Well, Jerry said he was gonna make a big move before the deadline and by God, the man is true to his word!
M’s always taking Reds players.
As usual, who?
World Series, here we come!
Such a great move to address the twin black hole that is the Mariners’ 1B platoon… …
I wish Jacob well in Seattle.
Maybe Ichiro can show him how to really use that batting style of his.
I thought Hurtubise was going to be the Reds CF for years to come. The Mariners may have a good player.
Not if you’ve been watching him the past few years. The Reds have a big problem developing outfielders. If Hurtubise can’t beat out Will Benson he’s not worth much. The Reds wouldn’t have cut him loose if they thought he would ever be good.
The Reds have not been drafting outfielders let alone developing them. Only pitchers and shortstops.
You do understand that not every player gets drafted. The Reds sign a lot of players from the Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries. The reasoning is it’s harder to find pitchers and infielders outside of the draft. So, how up are you on Reds acquiring players over the last sixty years or so? Also you don’t draft outfielders unless they are the top 10% of players available. Usually the pitchers are the top athletes on a baseball team in high school, AAU teams etc. If they do not pan out as a pitcher when moving up to college or higher levels of amateur baseball they move to different positions, most notably, outfielders. That’s why you don’t normally draft an outfielder out of high school. College outfielders have already gone through this transition and that’s why you see teams draft college outfielders. The Reds would rather pick a pitcher or a specialty infielder because they are harder to find than an outfielder. Was that a satisfactory explanation or were you just making a random uneducated statement?
That reply was to Octavian8. Not to you. Jacob is another coulda, woulda, shoulda for the Reds. Their outfielders all tend to be good AAAA players. Great at AAA but terrible at the major league level.
I stick to my convictions. I hope he can prove me right.
Get your World Series tickets now!