Young lefty Nick Margevicius to start for Mariners in place of injured Kendall Graveman
More than a year removed from his most recent start in the majors, Mariners young lefty Nick Margevicius will make another Saturday night against Colorado at T-Mobile Park.
It will be his first start since joining the organization in the offseason, and first since last June, when he made his final of 12 starts with the Padres after landing on their Opening Day roster as a 22-year-old.
“It’s been a wild ride from the time I got called up to coming over to the Mariners,” he said during a video call with reporters Friday.
Margevicius, now 24, had a similar path to most his first two professional seasons. After he was drafted in the seventh round by San Diego in 2017, he spent the summer pitching in rookie ball in Arizona and for the Short-A Tri-City Dust Devils. The following season, he tossed 135 innings across 23 games in Low-A and High-A with 146 strikeouts to only 17 walks.
Then he was invited to big league spring training in 2019, and made his big league debut that March without ever pitching a game above the High-A level.
Margevicius compiled a 1.69 ERA across his first three starts, but as hitters started to get comfortable, his numbers dipped. He was optioned to Double-A last June when his ERA peaked at 6.41 after a disastrous start against the Rockies at Coors Field. He allowed nine runs on 11 hits and was pulled after recording just one out in the second inning.
He spent most of the summer in Double-A before he was promoted again in late August, this time as a reliever, and appeared in five games out of the bullpen.
Was Margevicius rushed to the majors too soon?
“I just handled it the best I could at the time,” he said. “Looking back on it, maybe it was a little quick. Maybe I wasn’t quite ready for some of the things, but at the same time, I did what I could right away and had some success right away. I just hit a little struggle, and it was hard for me to bounce back from that. But, I think doing that so early and young in my career has offered me the chance to grow probably a little bit earlier than if something would have come along the line a little bit later.
“I don’t know if I was rushed or not, but I’m excited about where I’m at right now, and and continuing to learn and move forward has been great for me.”
Margevicius was designated for assignment by the Padres in January, and picked up by Seattle a week later. The Mariners have always envisioned Margevicius as a starter, but with the COVID-19 pandemic wiping out the minor league season, he’s started 2020 in Seattle’s bullpen.
With all of the twists and turns in the past year, Margevicius said what he’s learned most is how to be adaptable.
“I think everyone’s learning that lesson,” he said. “I think it really applies to the baseball field. I’ve kind of learned that transitioning to the bullpen a little more, and now going back to the starting role — just how adaptable can you be? The circumstances you can’t control, so what are you going to do in that situation? That’s kind of what I’ve learned the most in the past year.”
Despite spending most of his career as a starter, Margevicius saw the benefit of working out of the bullpen early on.
“I think it’s been great for me,” he said. “It offers you a totally different perspective on the game and how you approach your day, with the kind of work you have to do every single day to get ready to possibly pitch in a game.
“You watch the game a little bit differently, depending on how many pitches a certain guys’ throwing in an inning instead of just watching the game as a whole. It’s given me a totally different perspective on the game, which I really appreciate a lot more now, and I think it’s been very helpful for me.”
He’s made three appearances in relief for Seattle in the first two weeks of the season, and was called on to fill a spot in the rotation when Kendall Graveman was placed on the 10-day injured list with neck spasms earlier this week. With Graveman likely to miss at least two starts, Margevicius could get the opportunity for a more extended look with Seattle back in a starting role.
“We grade out all of our guys’ pitches on a scale, and his stuff is really pointing north,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It’s getting better. The fastball, the quality of the breaking pitches. Marge is very calm. He’s got a very professional approach. He’s a pitch-maker. He knows how to execute pitches and then sequence them together. It’s not just stuff coming at you.
“Even though he’s a young guy, he’s got a pretty mature approach to how he’s attacking hitters. He is a starting pitcher, we’ve always viewed him as a starter. Being in our bullpen early on was nice for us because we could put him in there for multiple innings, so I think he’ll do a really good job for us (Saturday).”
Margevicius said he’s remained stretched out to an extent due to the high volume of his weekly throwing program, but the Mariners will look for 4-5 innings or about 60-70 pitches from him Saturday night in their second of three games against Colorado.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” he said. “I’ve always been a starter. But, whatever I’ve got to do this year, we’re just kind of going with it. 2020 is a weird year, and I’m willing to do whatever we’ve got to do to help us win.”
