The Mariners announced they’ve selected righty reliever Zach Pop onto the big league roster. Rookie starter Logan Evans was optioned back to Triple-A Tacoma to create an active roster spot. Seattle had two openings on the 40-man roster.
Pop will make his team debut whenever he gets into a game. He joined Seattle in mid-April on a minor league deal. That came after he was released by the Blue Jays. Pop was battling elbow inflammation at the time, but he got back on the mound by the middle of May. He made two rehab appearances in the complex league before reporting to Tacoma. Pop has made 11 appearances and tossed 9 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs (though only three were earned). He has fanned nine against five walks.
The 28-year-old Pop has pitched in parts of four MLB seasons. He threw 48 1/3 frames for the Jays last season, working to a 5.59 ERA with a well below-average 15.8% strikeout percentage. Pop doesn’t have huge swing-and-miss stuff, but he sits around 96 MPH with his sinker and has posted a gaudy 55% ground-ball rate in his career. He’ll add a grounder specialist to Dan Wilson’s middle relief corps for the time being. He’s out of minor league options, though, so the M’s would need to designate him for assignment to take him off the big league roster.
Seattle can operate with an extra reliever for this weekend’s series against the Guardians. Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Emerson Hancock are lined up to start those games. Adam Jude of The Seattle Times writes that Logan Gilbert is expected to return from the injured list during next week’s series against the Red Sox, at which point Seattle will go back to five starters and an eight-man bullpen. Gilbert has been down since late April with a flexor strain. He has made a trio of rehab starts with Tacoma, combining for 9 2/3 innings of three-run ball.
Call that a Pop Up
The ball just pops when he releases it. It causes the batter to hit a pop up.
He should be a position player so we can talk about how much pop his bat has.
Plug him at DH, he can’t be any worse than the hitters not named Cal Raleigh!
Anyone else skip the article and go straight to the comments?
I am going with 75% of us did exactly that.
I read a few lines then came here for the laughs.
I’m going to call him Poppy
Thought it said Zach Top and was like “Damn that boy IS talented”
“Pop life, everybody needs a thrill
Pop life, we all got a space to fill
Pop life, everybody can’t be on top
But life, it ain’t real funky unless it’s got that pop”
—- Prince
I will thumbs up any Prince reference
He’ll never live up to the legacy of his father, Soda.
I thought his dad was Iggy?
If he pitches shirtless we’ll CALL him “Iggy.”
I’m going the other way. This is Zachly what the M’s need right now.
That pun did not pop right to me
You can hear it all over the ball park, a lot of pop coming off that bat.
I’d be willing to bet the Mariners wish they hadn’t made that Robbie Ray/Mitch Haniger trade at this point. I get they were trying to shed payroll (as usual), but their rotation has been pretty decimated by injury this season and Ray is looking as good as he ever has for SF. All because the Mariners are cheapskates.
We don’t catch a lot of Seattle Mariners games here on the East Coast, but the Mariners 40 man roster and prospects are intriguing. Cal Raleigh has quietly been the best catcher in baseball the last 2 and half years. Andres Munoz is arguably the best closer in baseball. Dylan Moore has an incredible glove, no matter where you stick him. Not sure if Seattle’s FO would entertain a trade for Julio Rodriguez, but his power numbers would be better if he played his home games somewhere else. His star power would probably play up elsewhere too, as most of us on the East coast are already sleeping when one of these guys do something spectacular. They also have one of the best catching prospects in MLB, sporting a .320/.420/.440 slash at AAA, while blocked at the big league level. If I were the Phillies I’d offer them Mick Abel and positional prospect for Harry Ford & Dylan Moore. You get your long term catcher with Realmuto hitting free agency this winter and improve your 28th ranked defense with Moore, who could play 2B, LF & CF vs. LHP’s and fill in at 3B until Harper comes back. Just a thought.
Issue is Seattle needs impact hitting, ready to contribute now not a SP or positional prospect.
They seem to be pretty good at identifying pitchers and getting the best out of them.
The front office seems to believe that Ford and Raleigh can cohabitate and thrive on this team.
Juilo isn’t going any where, at least not soon and do I smell an east coast bias?
Everything else is good so need to send over a young impact infielder hitter if you want those 2 plus some.
We aren’t taking another RHP. We have 6 RHPers good enough to start in the MLB. Hancock is certainly not a top 3 starter but is a good 4 or 5. Evans looks like he might be a 2 or 3 maybe a 1 but needs more seasoning. He will pickup another pitch or 2 and improve the ones he throws now. Our 4 young pitchers have come back from the winter with a new pitch or a tweak on the old ones. These guys feed off of each other and are very competitive with each other. The White Sox have 3 LHPers in AAA about ready to come up. Schultz seems like the obvious choice but the other two are closer from what I’ve read. We need that LHPer to break up teams sending out heavy or all LH batters.
Jerry needs to get on the phone with the Sox and make a deal for one of them. No we are not sending one of our 4 there. Hancock or Evans even Castillo could be in the package. A young OFer with some power would be nice also. Or a young good 1st bm. We don’t want to block any of the young talent ready or almost ready to come up. Emerson might see a little time up this year but definitely around the same time next year that Young came up. Then we will have to do something with Williamson. Maybe move him to first. The last week or so he has hit over .300. I have said it a few times he is making adjustments soon after pitchers have made adjustments to him. He has a great glove so 1st should not be a problem if they do decide to move him.
Logan Evans throws six pitches already. What other pitches do you want him to throw?
Why bring up Pop? Do the Ms think they don’t need a decent reliever?
Ahhh some of the remnants from the O’s trade of Manny Machado to LA…
If he becomes a star, what a marketing opportunity with that name! Lolly, Soda, Tootsie, Rocks, Popeye’s Chicken… His agent must be hoping Ca Ching!
Why do so many failed Jays relievers end up on the Mariners?
Yup. dfa Pop tomorrow add Casey Lawrence….
Dirty pop
On a more serious note… why on earth would this be your choice? Coming off elbow inflammation, hasnt pitched well at all. 7 runs in 9 2/3 innings in AAA? On top of that he had a terrible year last year. This move makes no sense. There had to be better options.
Okay… I’m done popping off now.
They don’t mind DFAing him when Gilbert is activated to start. This move was basically to keep Solano or Garver from having to pitch an inning, I guess.
If that would keep the bats out of their hands let them pitch. Those guys need to be let go as a sunk cost. They have to pay them no matter what so POP ‘em out the door and get in someone who can hit.
I also do not believe Seattle wants Ford to come up and back up Cal. It is not fair to him and a waste of talent. They need to trade him out of respect to him. He could bring back a good return. Him and Evans would be a great battery to trade. White Sox don’t need Ford but would Castillo. Evans or Hancock work? I know you can never predict the future but it looks like Seattle has most positions filled in a couple years. Time to start locking the 4 up long term. Gilbert said he would be willing to start talks on an extension. If he signs I think the 3 others do too. We need that young good LHPer in our staff maybe 2 of them. We don’t have a LHPer that will be ready soon.
The Tacoma bullpen will still have Snap and Crackle…