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.

22-year old rookie righty starting pitcher Michael Pineda has been picked to the All-Star team to replace Justin Verlander (pitched Sunday). Pineda has pitched in 18 games (all starts) for the Mariners so far this year and he is 8-6 with a 3.03 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. He has only given up 81 hits in his first 113 innings with 113 whiffs, which is pretty awesome. Stuff wise, he’s just as good as Felix Hernandez is right now! That should be really scary for the rest of the A.L. West!

25-year old righty starting pitcher Felix Hernandez and 28-year old righty closer Brandon League have been selected to the All-Star team. Hernandez hasn’t been near as good as last year when he won the Cy Young Award, but he has been solid. Hernandez has started 18 games for the Mariners so far this year and he is 8-7 with a 3.35 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. He has given up 112 hits and he has whiffed 124 batters in 129 innings so far this year. He has also only walked 42 batters this year as his control has been pretty solid. Brandon League has replaced the injured David Aardsma as the closer for the Mariners and he’s been pretty good at the job. League has pitched in 38 games (0 starts) for the Mariners so far this year and he is 0-4 with 23 saves, a 3.28 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. League has been very aggressive on the mound as he has only walked 6 batters in his first 35 2/3 innings this year.