Mariners starters Justin Dunn, Justus Sheffield feeding off each other in summer camp
Though they will be the two youngest pitchers in the Seattle Mariners’ starting rotation, Justin Dunn and Justus Sheffield have shown manager Scott Servais they’re ready to go for this shortened 60-game season.
So far in intrasquad play, Sheffield and Dunn have each started two games, and opposed each other. In their second intrasquad starts for the Mariners on Thursday afternoon at T-Mobile Park, Dunn and Sheffield pitched 2 2/3 and 3 innings respectively.
After giving up a hit in the first inning, Dunn, the Mariners’ No. 7 prospect, settled down, striking out five and walking one on 49 pitches with his fastball sitting around 92-93 mph.
“I was really trying to focus on moving, being like a shortstop and being super athletic,” he said during a video call with reporters after his start. “So, I think in the first I just came out a little too aggressive. In the second, I kind of had time to sit down and just let my arm work so I was pretty happy about that.”
After spending a full season with Double-A Arkansas last year, Dunn has worked to improve his off-speed pitches. Thursday, he did well using his changeup and breaking ball, striking out the side swinging in the second inning.
“I couldn’t really figure out times in which to work on both,” he said. “So, I got back to this week with (pitching coach Pete Woodworth) and really locked in a routine, and I was able to work on both pitches and felt like I executed both pretty well today.”
Sheffield gave up three hits and the game’s only run while striking out four with no walks.
“I felt really good today,” he said. “Especially the more I got into the game, the more innings I kept going, I felt like I was getting stronger. I feel like I’m pretty ready to get going as far as games.”
Dunn and Sheffield spent plenty of time working together in Arkansas last year. Dunn went 9-5 in 25 games for the Travelers and appeared in four games with the Mariners following his September promotion, posting a 2.70 ERA.
Sheffield split his time between the majors and minors last year. In eight appearances and seven starts for Seattle, he went 0-1 while striking out 37 in 36 innings. He played most of 2019 with Triple-A Tacoma and in Arkansas, with a combined 25 appearances and finished with a 4.13 ERA in 133 innings.
After struggling with his pitch location in Tacoma, Sheffield rediscovered a better feel for the strike zone in Arkansas. Now, he hopes to continue to mix his pitches to put batters away.
“I was looking to actually run my two-seam in on the righties kind of front hip them,” Sheffield after Thursday’s start. “Really from the jump I wanted to get in on the batters and I was able to do that, and I was happy to see with my slider, I was able to put some guys away today with that.”
While among Seattle’s younger players, Sheffield and Dunn, who are both 24 years old, hope to make a significant impact for the Mariners this season.
“I’m ready to go,” Dunn said. “The big thing is just cutting out the little stuff like the two-out walk there, can’t have that in the first inning and just get back into that mindset of staying on attack. I like where I’m at. Feel good physically, feel good mentally.”
Even with the shorter season, Dunn and Sheffield understand the importance of working with each other.
“We talk every day about pitching, every day about our outings, how we felt,” Sheffield said. “We’ve talked about feeding off each other in the past because we’re the youngest two pitchers on the team, so we still have a lot to learn. ... As long as we keep going and pushing each other, I feel like we’re going to be pretty good in the future.”