Game 3, Mariners at Twins
Marco Gonzales vs. Bailey Ober, 11:10am
What a comeback. Two wins in two days, both in one-run games. With the exception of Andres Muñoz giving up a Byron Buxton drive that still probably hasn’t landed, the M’s bullpen has been exceptional. Today, Marco Gonzales makes his first start of the year against the Twins’ Bailey Ober.
Ober’s another fascinating story, a guy with a 92mph fastball with low spin, and a guy who refuses to give in and walk batters. On the surface, this sounds like any number of low-K, low-BB Twins prospects from the early 2000s (Nick Blackburn, maybe?), but then you see what he’s done. Ober was a strikeout maven through the minors, and he continued striking out more than a man an inning in his first taste of MLB. He’s maintained a low walk rate as well. Like opening day starter Joe Ryan, the one problem thus far has been HRs, something most of the league is struggling with.
As with Ryan, Jake Mailhot had a great overview of Ober and his Arsenal at Fangraphs here. The 6’9” Ober gets great extension which helps his fastball play up a bit, and he tweaked his slider (his primary weapon vs. righties) midway through 2021. Importantly, and a bit like Sonny Gray, Ober has a different approach to opposite-handed hitters, utilizing his change and curve.
Overall, he’s still kind of waiting for his slider to develop into a true weapon: the bones of it are there (I actually think he should go back to his original one), but he needs to add drywall and finishing to it. He’s been effective without it, though you can see he could do more than what he’s shown. Good fastball, so-so slider, four pitch repertoire…who does that remind you of? If you said Logan Gilbert, I totally agree, and more importantly, so do MLB’s algorithms, which list Gilbert’s 2021 season as Ober’s most similar pitcher.
1: Frazier, 2B
2: France, 1B
3: Winker, LF
4: Haniger, DH
5: Kelenic, RF
6: Suarez, 3B
7: Rodriguez, RF
8: Crawford, SS
9: Torrens, C
SP: Gonzales
Wow, three games in and the M’s will use three different starting catchers. I really thought Torrens would never catch again for the M’s after last year; happy to be wrong on that.
I went to the second game of the Rainiers double-header last night, which was definitely the one to see. Recent signing Daniel Ponce de Leon, the ex-Cardinals starter, pitched brilliantly for the R’s, and Penn Murfee got the win in relief. Scoreless into the final inning (the 7th), Mike Ford walked it off with a solo shot for the 1-0 win. We won’t speak of the 12-0 loss in game 1.
Frisco best Arkansas 8-7 in the highly anticipated pro debut from Rangers prospect Jack Lester.
Everett outslugged Eugene 10-7 with Noelvi Marte getting his first home run of the year.
San Jose beat Modesto 3-1.
So, Marco looked like first half 2021 Marco and the back end of the bullpen hasn’t been any better.
And just like that Seattle will have a winning record with a negative run differential after the first three games.
All right! Mariners are on a 108-win pace!