Mariners recall Vogelbach, Andreoli ... but where’s Mike Zunino?

The Seattle Mariners added two position players to their active roster before Friday’s game against the Chicago White Sox.

Neither of them were catcher Mike Zunino.

They recalled again hot-hitting first baseman Daniel Vogelbach and outfielder John Andreoli from Triple-A Tacoma and outrighted right-hander Mike Morin back to the Rainiers.

This comes after the Mariners optioned right-hander Matt Festa back to Double-A Arkansas earlier this week.

Zunino went to the 10-day disabled list on July 5 with a bone bruise in his ankle that left him in a walking boot. He’s eligible to be activated, but apparently will require a few extra days in his rehab despite Mariners manager Scott Servais saying he had been progressing faster than normal.

Their original prognosis was that Zunino’s recovery would take 2-3 weeks. The Rainiers have a three-game homestand from Friday-Sunday against Salt Lake that would allow Zunino to get some time in before returning to the big-league club.

Servais said Zunino would catch 5-6 innings with Triple-A Tacoma on Friday and then DH on Saturday.

“We thought it would be better for him to get a few more at-bats,” Servais said. “Physically he feels good. As much as we’ve missed him, and we certainly need him back and we want him to come back, we want him to feel good about where he’s at.”

He might return to the Mariners in time for their Tuesday game against the San Francisco Giants.

“Maybe before that. Not sure right now,” Servais said. “We’ll see how it goes the next couple of nights.

“Mike can do a lot of things for us offensively. We saw it last year. When he gets going he’s really good and it really changes the look of the bottom of our lineup. So we want to give him every chance to come back and be productive right out of the chute.”

Meanwhile, the 25-year-old Vogelbach is in Seattle for the fourth time this season.

He’s struggled in limited opportunities in the big leagues, hitting .210 (13-for-62) with two home runs, but he’s hitting .305 with a 1.038 OPS (on-base plus slugging) with 13 home runs in 63 games with the Rainiers.

That was after Vogelbach fearned his way onto the Mariners’ Opening Day roster after one of the best spring performances in Mariners’ history, when he hit .407 with a 1.455 OPS and seven home runs in 22 games.

“I’ve felt good all year, even up here I’ve felt good,” Vogelbach said. “It’s just a different mentality this year, and with the swing adjustments I’ve made I’m in a way better position to hit and I’m just definitely happy with where I’m at right now at the plate.”

The move figures to be temporary, as Vogelbach has become accustomed to. The Mariners will have to make three corresponding moves when Felix Hernandez, James Paxton and Zunino are activated off of the disabled list.

But, for the meantime, Vogelbach offers a left-handed bat off the bench against a heavy right-handed pitching staff in the White Sox.

“We’ll see how long this goes for,” Servais said. “Really, we’re just looking for everybody in our organization, Triple-A, Double-A, they need to be ready to help us because you are on the depth chart at those levels and you never know when you’ll get the call.”

Injury updates

Servais said that starters Paxton and Hernandez are on schedule to join the rotation in the next week, with Hernandez to start Saturday’s 7:10 p.m. game in his first appearance since heading to the 10-day disabled list with back stiffness on July 8.

Paxton will throw a bullpen session on Saturday and he said he felt no pain throwing 30 pitches off flat ground over the break, while he was in Wisconsin pitching to his brother-in-law. Paxton went to the DL on July 13 after throwing less than an inning his last start against the Angels.

He’s tentatively set to start the Tuesday game against the Giants.

On tap

Hernandez (8-7, 5.13 ERA) will be opposed by White Sox right-hander Dylan Covey (3-5, 5.69 ERA) in the 7:10 p.m. Saturday game at Safeco Field. It will broadcast on Root Sports and 710-AM radio.

This story was originally published July 20, 2018 at 1:56 PM.