A Seattle Mariners team that went young and won Monday – beating the Toronto Blue Jays on back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning by rookies Mike Carp and Casper Wells – got younger as the night went on.
As the eighth inning was under way at Safeco Field, the team announced it had signed its first-round draft pick, left-handed pitcher Danny Hultzen, to a five-year contract – after signing three other picks during the day.
There were babies everywhere for Seattle, with the 6-5 victory going to rookie reliever Tom Wilhelmsen, rookie Carp hitting a pair of home runs and rookie outfielder Trayvon Robinson adding an RBI double to the mix.
Still, a crowd of 28,530 cheered as long for the announced signings as for anything that happened on the field.
The Hultzen signing didn’t come cheaply – the 21-year-old signed an $8.5 million five-year contract that included a $6.35 million signing bonus and a clause adding him to the Mariners’ 40-man roster.
Making room for him, the Mariners released right-handed reliever Chris Ray.
There were other draft signings in the final hours before the signing deadline, including:
• Second-round pick Brad Miller, 21, received the Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award, after hitting .395 with five home runs and 50 RBI in 56 games for Clemson.
• Right-hander Carson Smith, 21, was 9-3 with a 1.99 ERA and 129 strikeouts in a team-high 113 innings during his junior season at Texas State, taken in the eighth round.
• Cavan Cohoes, 18, is a two-time all-European shortstop for Patch High School in Stuttgart, Germany, who was taken in the ninth round.
“Danny Hultzen will come to spring training with us next year,” general manager Jack Zduriencik said during the game. “He’s got good stuff – three good pitches – but the things that make him special are the intangibles.
“Hultzen is smart, athletic and a feisty competitor. It took us till the midnight hour but we got it done and we’re glad to have him.”
Mariners director of amateur scouting Tom McNamara helped draft and sign Hultzen, and said he spent last Friday with him as he took a physical.
“I asked him, ‘Do you want to be a Mariner?’ and he said he did,” McNamara said. “We didn’t worry about signability, we took the best player in every round.”
Overall, the Mariners signed 43 of their 51 picks, including 23 of their first 24.
Those players will largely fill out Seattle’s minor league system this year and next, with some surprises. But then, the Mariners have been mining nuggets from that system throughout 2011.
Three of those – Carp, Wells and Robinson – were obtained in Zduriencik trades.
Early on, the Mariners and Blue Jays waged a back-and-forth battle, with rookie Michael Pineda uncharacteristically tagged for three home runs and leaving after five innings, down 5-4.
“Pineda was erratic, he didn’t have fastball command and his delivery wasn’t consistent,” manager Eric Wedge said. “What he needs to understand is, when he left we were still in the game. He didn’t get the win but we did, and that’s what counts.”
The Mariners kept it close on second-inning RBI by Robinson, Jack Wilson and Ichiro, then Carp’s first home run – in the third inning – which pushed his hitting streak to 15 consecutive games.
When Pineda departed, Wedge gave the baseball to rookie Danny Cortes, who responded with two shutout innings in what was likely the best performance of his young career.
Another rookie, Wilhelmsen, pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning for Seattle.
Then, as Zduriencik spoke to the media about the Mariners signings, Carp hit his second home run and sixth of the season to tie the Blue Jays – and Wells, obtained in the Doug Fister trade with Detroit – hit his eighth home run of the season.
Brandon League worked the ninth inning and saved his third game in as many days, his 30th save of the season.
Afterward, Wedge was asked why Carp was succeeding in his latest opportunity after being given so few at-bats over the prior three years.
“Carp has always believed in himself. Confidence up here is the name of the game,” Wedge said. “When he makes an out, he handles it professionally, and he’s up there every at-bat ready to hit.”
Now 8-5 in August, the Mariners used eight rookies Monday, pitchers Pineda, Cortes and Wilhelmsen and position players Carp, Wells, Robinson, Kyle Seager and Dustin Ackley.
While Wedge and his staff look over that crop – and others, including Blake Beavan, Charlie Furbush and Josh Lueke – the front office signed 43 more young players.
TODAY
Toronto (Brad Mills: 1-2, 6.46 ERA) at Seattle (Jason Vargas: 7-10, 4.01), 7:10 p.m., Root Sports, 710-AM
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