The Mariners are calling up pitching prospect Emerson Hancock for his big league debut, reports Robert Murray of Fansided. Hancock, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2020 draft, is not yet on the 40-man roster and will need to have his contract selected.
Hancock, 24, has tossed 98 innings in Double-A this season, working to a 4.32 ERA with a career-best 26% strikeout rate, a 9.2% walk rate and a 42% ground-ball rate. He’s been prone to nightmare outings this season, twice being tagged for nine runs in a start and serving up seven runs in another. Outside those few hiccups, he’s generally been excellent; dating back to June 1, he’s sitting on a 2.97 ERA — despite the fact that one of those nine-run drubbings occurred along the way. Over his past four outings, Hancock has a 1.44 ERA and 26-to-4 K/BB ratio in 25 innings.
Widely regarded as one of the Mariners’ top five prospects, Hancock sits in the mid-90s with his heater and has a trio of secondary offerings — all of which garner average or better ratings on MLB.com’s scouting report on the right-hander. FanGraphs touts Hancock’s changeup as his best bat-missing offering, while his slider also draws above-average grades.
Hancock will become the latest in a growing line of homegrown pitching talent to join the Mariners’ roster. Seattle also drafted and developed George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo, all of whom ranked among the sport’s top 100 prospects prior to their respective debuts. Hancock might not be quite as highly touted as some of those arms were at the time of their own promotions, but he’s nevertheless a former top-10 pick with some success at the Double-A level and a good chance at laying claim to a spot in the Seattle rotation.
It’s an increasingly crowded starting staff in Seattle — hence ample trade interest in the Mariners’ young, controllable arms at this year’s deadline — as the staff also features ace Luis Castillo and injured veterans Robbie Ray and Marco Gonzales. Ray will be out well into next year after undergoing Tommy John surgery, however, and Gonzales has been limited to just 10 starts this season. It’s an enviable wealth of pitching talent — one that figures to draw interest again in the offseason.
For now, Hancock’s promotion will give the club six starters, though it’s possible one of Woo or Miller could see their workload reduced in the near future. The former only tossed 57 innings in the minors last year but is already up to 99 this season between the majors and minors. Miller got to 133 2/3 last year and is up to 105 1/3 here in 2023. Adam Jude of the Seattle Times reported yesterday that the club has been considering deploying a six-man rotation, in light of those concerns about their younger hurlers. Hancock logged 98 1/3 frames last year and is up to an even 98 this season, which may put a ceiling on how many innings he has to give as well. In the short term, an injured list stint for Woo keeps the rotation at five players.
The club has been hot lately, winning six in a row and nine of their last 11. That’s helped them leapfrog teams like the Red Sox and Yankees and put the M’s in the top spot among American League teams not currently in playoff position. They’re still two games back of the Blue Jays for the last Wild Card spot but they are firmly in the mix for a playoff run, with Hancock hopefully giving them a boost in that regard.
YES!!! Everybody check out his first start, very impressive kid and has battled some adversity to be better than ever this year so far.
SODOMOJO, I can’t wait to see this youngster.
I will be watching for Emerson Hancock’s debut.
And how often do we see a whole list of pitchers like these, all drafted and developed by a single team?
These Mariners are the greatest!
This is a repeat of what, 10 years ago? A young homegrown group of 3… how well did that work out for them?
Time will tell but it’s certainly eerily reminiscent of Paxton, Walker, and Hultzon.
Let’s try to think not.
Anyway it’s a whole different clubhouse now. Team spirit could not be better.
Huh? You mean Gilbert, Kirby, Miller? Hancock and Woo are just bonuses
Hultzon barely was healthy enough to make it into ML before his career ended,
Sooo….the age of pitching come to an end ? How can Seattle have that much pitching yet be so average ??
You haven’t been paying attention.
They started very slow and then got rolling finally.
Since then, they are the greatest.
They have the best record in the majors since independence day. Don’t know what u guys are smoking. Go ‘s
Hancock was flashing 3, arguably 4, plus pitches at the time of the draft. Health has been the question for him, but he looks healthy now and he’s starting to flash those plus moments again.
I really believe he frontline potential if he can stay healthy. He was the player I was hoping for in the 2020 draft. It was a rare moment where Seattle got the player I wanted.
In 2019, I wanted Corbin Carroll. He went 6 picks before Seattle. That turned out alright for Seattle, anyway. They’ve done well drafting pitchers.
Does he walk out to Herbie Hancock music?
ELP
See, I don’t know what that means.
Oh I get it, I had to warm up first.
He may want to combine it with some Emerson Lake & Palmer stuff… Please excuse the lame joke, but I wanted to show our senior citizens around here that they are neither alone nor forgotten!
Gruß,
BSHH
Welcome back my friends…
Yes BSHH, some senior citizens I guess, plus even a few old fossils like myself.
No Herbie Hancock walk up. That would be ‘cultural appropriation’ and leftists would go even crazier than they are already.
Love Keith Emerson, but he couldn’t carry Herbie Hancock’s tuning fork. Maiden Voyage would be appropriate.
BPax are you saying Caucasian players can only have Caucasian walk-up music, & Black players can only have Black walk-up music ??? You can go ahead & test that theory out next time you’re at a ballpark to see how open minded & multi-cultural MLB players musical tastes really are.
No politics!
Currently got the headphones on rocking out to King Crimson’s “Larks Tongue In Aspic” myself…right on boys, great music!!!
They give out a lot less D+’s than D-. It’s not a grade they like to give out
Probably want it to be less confusing when Colt Emerson eventually gets to AA. But as the Mariners will tell you too many Emersons is a good problem to have! As a team the Mariners have pretty much cornered the market on Fords and Emersons!
Seattle also has the market on Genos 🙂
I’m excited about this. Miller, Woo, and Hancock are all receiving the opportunity to sink or swim while in the playoff race. Let’s see which of those trio are part of the future. GOMS.
Anyone have any idea of who is going to be sent down? Are we going to a 6 man roation??I am glad to see him progress but what will his role be??
I’m thinking maybe send down Campbell and piggyback Miller or Woo with Hancock for a couple starts. I could also see a scenario in which Woo is optioned and transitioned into an effective long reliever, although I doubt that’s something he would be interested in (and I can’t see the front office forcing that).
Not interested in? I see a lot of pitchers coming up to the Show and they’d do whatever is asked of them to stay.
And plenty who haven’t. He’s pitched decently enough to probably get some say in that.
Yes I’m guessing the dial back Woo’s starts when he come off IL in 2 weeks. Prolly only let him go 4 innings tops and maybe pair with Hancock on days. One thing is for sure, marco will prolly have to be a lefty out the pen if he comes back at all this season. With Castillo as ace, kirby at 2, and Gilbert the prolly best 3 in the majors, it’s an enviable rotation right now. Woo, Miller and Hancock all have #3 upside as well.
Woo to IL
Yeah Woo has “tightness” aka “inningscapitis.” To the DL
Probably a safe call. Seems he’s been laboring a bit lately so let’s give him some rest.
I think I’ve heard of this issue, it’s also called noboobooitis, typically found in pitchers who don’t deserve to lose service time, but need to be shut down for two weeks due to workload issues.
Matt Festa was DFA’d and Devin Sweet optioned.
Disappointed that we didn’t get to see much of sweet.
I have a feeling he’ll be back. Liked what little I saw of him.
I think that impressive change up would be a great fit amongst our flamethrowers in the bullpen.
Hancock has got to get into a game with Will Smith.
Hopefully Hancock keeps the destruction to a minimal, especially if they play in LA.
You guys acting like he’s some sort of wannabe superhero but he hasn’t even started a game yet!
Is that we are acting like or that what you want to hear?
Did I miss the pun… or you, Selah?
=)
We watched his struggles for the past few years. Some wondered if he would ever make it to the show because of injuries. So yea its a big deal he finally gets his shot. Regardless if it’s successful or not. Just shows he is finally healthy.
For what it’s worth, Hancock’s had an uneven history in the minors and coincidentally might be the least sure 1st round pick Jerry & Co. has ever selected in the draft while also being the only one taken in the Top 10 (1-6).
There’s a little Pete Carroll/John Schneider to their draft process where they tend to do more with less and less with more. I think most Seahawk fans would say they almost prefer the 4th and 5th round guys more than what the Seahawks select in the 1st and 2nd rounds, in terms of what they get relative to perceived value.
The Mariners are the same way. Some examples of round & pick number: Gilbert 1-14, Kirby 1-20, Raleigh 3-12, Miller 4-12, Woo 6-12, and Marlowe 20-19.
Notably, most teams don’t get productive young frontline starters who quickly jump to the majors in the 4th and 6th rounds, let alone ace potential guys in the middle and backend of the 1st round. They only seem to be getting better at drafting too.
Hancock should’ve been the surest of our arms and has been anything but a guarantee. He quickly climbed the Top 100 and then was heavily devalued for a limited number of innings during his first season in the minors and has kind of been stuck in AA.
He did have a fantastic Futures Game appearance striking out 3 batters to retire the side. Most important, he loves being a part of the Mariners orgabization and from all accounts is a high quality human being, which makes him easy to root for as an individual.
As an organization, not too much hasn’t gone our way in terms of prospect development and promotion of minor leaguers, so there’s no reason to think this should be any different.
Seattle sports has embraced the next man up philosophy from Pete Carroll’s secondary, to Jordan Morris coming off the bench to score 4 goals in one game when one of the Sounders’ starting attackers had to miss a game, to the Mariners rotation successfully going 11-12 guys deep and posting excellent results this year in general.
Hard to know what went wrong in those bad outings for Emerson. Coaches could of been calling for extra amount of off speed to get him over the hump and to the majors. I’m thinking Emerson/Woo piggyback, but we’ll see what the M’s think…
So is he going to pitch against San Diego or Baltimore? I’d possibly wait until Kanasa city
Los Padres on Wednesday, I believe.
Hey Gwynning+ these two games should be barn-burners…! Wishing good tidings to your boys and just hope everyone stays healthy so we can still keep those slim (but not zero!) hopes alive that our two teams will be squaring off in the World Series! Stranger things have happened lol….cheers my boy!
Here’s wishing! It’s a fond hope of mine, knowing that one franchise would be guaranteed their first Chip! My boys are in virtual must-win/Playoff mode here on out… they’ll either hammer the gas or Peter out.
Records aside, we both have some really fun and exciting teams to show off and the future looks solid, too. Grats on Emerson’s graduation, I think he’ll be a strong arm.
Cheers amigo, best of luck and maybe I’ll catch you on The Athletic again!
I wouldn’t worry about the Padres, I am very confident they will secure a playoff berth in some way or another…they have too much talent. Zero faith in Dbacks or Giants even remaining over .500 by the end of season for one thing. You have a clear lane my friend !! Oh and unfortunately my gift subscription to the Athletic ran out so that’s why I haven’t been blabbering my incoherent nonsense over there. At NY Post as Sam the Butcher lol but that place can get pretty low class in the comments section though I do get a kick reading some of those native New Yorkers go off on the Yankees & Boone & Trashman in their straight talkin’ exasperated expletive-laden manner lol. Cheers!
@Gwynning how bout that called strike 3 inside on HSK to end the 6th LOL
Is it just me or is umpiring at an all time worst?
Some go against us, some go against us. Hopefully at the end of the year it all evens out. Now for some offense, geez.
Sorry SODO I know you weren’t talking to me. My bad.
Happy to yak ball with ya ISOB! It was shocking to see HSK react emotionally
Magnificent start from Gilbert. Wow. That was dominating.
My Pads have been on the bad end of some egregious calls all year. HSK knew it was a ball, but Logie is absolutely dealing. Props to Julio for that HR deke on Junior though! I thought it was “fun” and ALL good.
I knew Tatis was going to have an answer to JRod’s trick catch of his HR ball. Love Tatis … what an athlete.
Hader looks as good as I’ve ever seen him
Hader is in top form… and about to find a giant loot box in FA. And going back yes, umpiring is at an all-time worst. What Iggy said here holds true, though- you just hope the bad calls balance out.
Between CB and Laz it’s time to start setting an age limit behind the plate. Why are we relying on 60 year old men’s eye sight and cognitive abilities for balls and strikes?!?
Are you that Pregoshin look alike guy?? You may want to check under your hood.
LOL I know, I have all kinds of issues.
You’re the first one to correctly identify him though!
Seem like Pads tend to not fare well against new / debut pitchers in the past few years for some reason. Need to change thst.
Ig – I agree the lane is clear but wow, they just don’t seem to want to kick it in fear and make the passes! It’s mind boggling how that amount of talent can be so ineffective. If not for the bottom of the order and Kim they would still be 8 out!
Don’t forget Angel, he’s the worst one of all. Then is so in denial he blames racism for his failures. Hell, his race is the only reason he still has a job.
If he was white, he’d be lucky to be painting the chalk lines on the baseball field and allowed to work the sprinklers.
As if his inability to get calls right is due to racism in a league where the most popular players are asian (Ohtani, Darvish, Yoshida, etc.) latino (Julio, Soto, Tatis, Alvarez, Robert, etc.) and/or black (Betts, Judge, Chisholm, McCutchen, Stanton, etc.)
What happened to AAA?
Still there, for when and if he needs a step back to regroup.
Yeah we tried that with Jordan Walker.
Didn’t go well…….
We tried it with Miller, Woo & Julio- so far so good.
So far…..
Lol they’re doing great and are establishing themselves as solid major league ballplayers so far.
What happened to AAA? It became the St. Louis Cardinals.
Kassiedog, I’m a Cardinals fan and that’s funny right there. Don’t know why Stevie and King of Cards are baselessly trolling but I’m not sure they are actually real Cardinals fans either. I think they are just idiots that found a baseball page and randomly chose a team to “support”
Thanks Perkins. I respect the Cardinals organization but do get caught up in troll control once in a while.
Like Gilbert, Kirby, Miller and Woo? You’re a funny guy lil Stevie.
man they should rly trade a starter for hitting
At one point Robbie Ray will be back in 2024 so there’s another starter. Mariners are fully loaded with pitchers, a very good problem to have.
Agree. I do think you are going to see that happen in the off season. I cannot imagine that they try and resign Teoscar Hernandez and will need at least two strong bats. One at 2B and perhaps one outfielder or 1B/DH. One if not both of those new bats, needs to be players who put the ball in play and do not strike out a ton….
The Reds should be looking to make a trade with Seattle, they need a starter and they have a plethora of infielders.
And yet he’d be the ace of your sorry pitching staff.
Woo to IL and Hancock takes his place in rotation.
Dipoto has these pitchers lineup like a cord of wood. I’m wondering what the turnaround time developing pitchers opposed to positional players are, since M’s pitching only get as far as AA… Seems to me the greater investment would be on the pitching side of things. He also can now extend them as trading chips as well. Do we know this as the Dipoto way? Something like the opening of a new Hwy. Planed or not It looks like this road will get you somewhere,
Much better at developing pitching so far. Without looking, I think each of these guys has been up in 3 years or less other than Hancock who made the jump in just over 3 years.
Whatever happened to that bullpen pitcher we had last year who became injured? But was lights out. His injuries had carried over this year but since he has been in Tacoma…. Oh nevermind I will look him up.
Sadler?
Sadler is 7 appearances into his rehab assignment and it hasn’t been pretty. ERA up over 10.
Boy, we’re sure doing well with a bunch of #4 starters!
@LSJ if you think Gilbert, Kirby, and Miller are #4’s, you’re nuts. Maybe on the 93 Braves.
This is awesome to see. Almost a whole staff of great young arms coming up to supplement a team for a fan base that deserves it. 20+ years of suffering ended! Go Mariners!
A founding father and a poet shall make a fine pitcher.
Another Georgia product.