The much traveled 36-year old righty reliever Jamey Wright turned in one of the best seasons of his career for the Mariners in 2011. He has pitched in 58 games (0 starts) for the Mariners so far this year and he is 2-3 with 1 save, a 3.26 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. Wright has now pitched in 86 games (0 starts) in his first two years with the Mariners and he is 2-4 with 1 save, a 3.31 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He has now pitched in 524 games (246 starts) in his first 16 years in the majors and he is 85-121 with 1 save, a 4.94 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP. Maybe Wright has finally found a home as he is pitching the best baseball of his career for the Seattle Mariners.

28-year old righty reliever Brandon League has taken full advantage of David Aardsma missing the 2011 season with a hip injury. League has saved 34 of the Mariners’ 61 wins so far this year! League has pitched in 58 games (0 starts) for the Mariners this year and he is 1-5 with 34 saves, a 2.82 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. He has only given up 45 hits in 54 1/3 innings so far this year while only walking 9 batters and whiffing 38 of them. League has been truly amazing since May 17th for the Mariners. Since May 17th, League is 1-1 with 26 saves, a 0.94 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP! He is probably the Mariners’ true MVP in 2011.

25-year old righty starting pitcher Felix Hernandez has been a lot less electric than he was in 2010, when he won the Cy Young Award. Hernandez started 34 games for the Mariners in 2010 and he was 13-12 with a 2.27 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. This year though hasn’t been quite as easy for Hernandez. He has started 27 games so far in 2011 for the Mariners and he is 11-11 with a 3.38 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. He has only given up 172 hits in his first 194 1/3 innings this year while whiffing 185 batters. He has to be getting frustrated because of the Mariners constant lack of run support the last couple of years. Still, I expect that he will finish this season strongly.

22-year old righty starting pitcher Blake Beavan came into this season as the Mariners’ #17 ranked prospect according to Baseball America. The Mariners got Beavan from the Rangers last year in the big Cliff Lee deal. He was not the most talked about player in the deal as Justin Smoak was supposedly the centerpiece of the deal. But, Beavan has looked really comfortable on the mound so far with the Mariners. He has started 6 games for the Mariners so far this year and he is 3-2 with a 2.83 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. He has only walked 6 batters in his first 41 1/3 innings in the majors. He has given up 39 hits while only whiffing 17 batters, so he’s getting hit…..just not too hard yet. Beavan reminds me a little bit of the guy he is replacing in the rotation (Doug Fister) but he probably has a higher upside than him. The Mariners hope Beavan keeps up the good work.

26-year old lefty reliever Aaron Laffey has been outstanding for the Mariners so far this year. Laffey has pitched in 29 games (0 starts) for the Mariners so far this year and he is 1-1 with a 1.82 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. He was a starter until this year with the Indians, but he has taken to his new role out of the bullpen for the Mariners. The player the Mariners traded to the Indians (25-year old righty swinging infielder) Matt Lawson decided to retire from baseball this year, so they essentially got Laffey for nothing.