In March, we told you about how the Mariners scouted and found pitcher Chris Flexen, who spent last season in the KBO. Because of the pandemic, Seattle did all of its scouting by video, breaking down footage of Flexen’s starts in Korea.
The Mariners were impressed enough by what they saw — and had a need — to offer Flexen a very reasonable deal to come back to the big leagues, where he last pitched with the Mets in 2019.
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As it turns out, Flexen might be baseball’s best bargain this season. Where else are you going to get a 2.9 WAR (FanGraphs) for $1.4 million?
On Friday, Flexen won his 12th game and lowered his ERA to 3.66 in 162 1/3 innings. In a rotation that has been anything but stable this season, he’s been a rock.
“I have to say, even when we left spring training and where I thought he could possibly go with us … he has far exceeded any expectation I had for him,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “Which is a credit to him. His stuff has gotten better. He’s going to keep you in a game and throw a ton of strikes.”
Flexen, who agreed to a two-year deal for $4.75 million with a $600,000 signing bonus, earned an extra $1 million on Friday when he surpassed the 160-inning mark. He’s set to make $2.75 million in 2022 and his $8 million option for 2023 will kick in if he either pitches 160 innings in 2022 or gets to 300 innings between 2021-2022.
As the Mariners think ahead to what their rotation might look like in 2022, they’ve already got four starters under club control: Marco Gonzales, Yusei Kikuchi (it’s complicated, see here), Logan Gilbert and Flexen. There’s interest in bringing back Tyler Anderson, and there’s a chance the team could still head there this offseason.
But after not knowing how Flexen would assimilate back to the big leagues this season, there’s now no question that he can pitch. He does it a little differently, too. He ranks in the bottom seventh percentile in the big leagues in strikeouts but also ranks in the top 87th percentile in walks allowed.
“I think it’s definitely a huge step forward for myself,” Flexen said. “To be able to take the ball every fifth, sixth day and compete with this team … I’ve had a hell of a roll with these guys. We’re not done yet. But it’s been strong.”
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Because of injuries, underperformance and the occasional use of the “opener,” the Mariners have used 15 different starting pitchers in 2021. They sometimes wondered how they would fill those innings, as they exhausted their organizational depth.
But they haven’t had to worry about Flexen. Not once.
“I feel good every time he’s out there,” Servais said. “When he takes the ball, it feels like he’s going to give you a chance to win.”
On the road back
Servais’ phone buzzed a lot late Friday night, though it had nothing to do with the Mariners’ 6-2 victory over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
The text messages were about 22-year-old pitcher Andrés Muñoz, who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery. Muñoz was one of the four players the Padres sent to the Mariners as part of a trade-deadline deal in August 2020.
“I got text messages from a number of people last night, giving me a thumbs up, that he had a great outing the first time out there,” Servais said. “Good for him. Awesome young man, and he’s very young (he’ll turn 23 in January).
“The big thing for him is to end the season on a high note, get a couple rehab outings under his belt so he feels good coming into next year.”
Muñoz hit 101 mph and struck out all three hitters he faced in an Arizona Complex League game against Dodgers prospects. He will pitch every fourth day or so and will be completely ready to go for the start of spring training in February.
This was the first game Muñoz had appeared in since Sept. 15, 2019, while he was with the Padres. He began that season in Double A but later advanced to the big leagues, where he had a 3.91 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 23 innings. He had Tommy John surgery in March 2020.
Earlier this year, there was a hope that Muñoz could return to the big leagues toward the end of the season. But he had a small setback during his rehabilitation. But he’s on track now and figures to be an interesting cog for the 2022 Mariners’ bullpen.
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“He’s special,” Servais said.
Figuring it out
It has been a difficult first season in the big leagues for Mariners rookie outfielder Jarred Kelenic, though there have been some signs of improvement.
On Friday night in Kansas City, Kelenic had the first multi-home run game of his young career. On Saturday, he took two walks, showing the kind of strike-zone discipline that was missing during his first stint with the team earlier this season.
Then on Sunday, all Kelenic did was hit two doubles and his 13th home run of the season.
“He’s in a much more comfortable place,” Servais said. “It’s been a steady climb. For the most part, he’s been able to slow it down.”
For September, Kelenic is hitting .283 with six of his 13 home runs, four doubles and 15 RBIs in 16 games.
For his part, Kelenic feels he is doing a better job of handling the frequent failures the game can — and will — throw at you.
“I think anytime you go through struggles, it’s God’s way of having you take a step back,” Kelenic said. “It’s your biggest opportunity to learn, and that’s really how I tried to look at it, as frustrating as it was.
“For everything that happened, and I knew that if I just stayed true to myself and I continued to just grind and continued to learn and ask questions, I knew that eventually it would slowly start to get better. I haven’t 100 percent got it figured out yet … but I’m trending in the right direction.”
(Photo of Chris Flexen: Jay Biggerstaff / USA Today)