Mariners call up top prospect Sheffield
The Seattle Mariners have called up top prospect Justus Sheffield, and he is expected to pitch Friday night when the team hosts the Texas Rangers.
Sheffield, a lefty, was the key acquisition for the Mariners when they traded pitcher James Paxton to the New York Yankees for three players in the offseason.
The pitcher, who turns 23 next month, entered the 2019 season as the No. 1 prospect in the Mariners organization, as rated by MLB.com and Baseball America.
He has appeared in four games (three starts) at Triple-A Tacoma and is 0-1 with a 3.93 ERA (eight earned runs in 18 1/3 innings) with 11 strikeouts and 14 walks. In his most recent start on April 17 at El Paso, he allowed two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings.
In a corresponding move, the Mariners designated right-handed pitcher Shawn Armstrong for assignment. Armstrong was 0-1 with a 14.73 ERA, surrendering six earned runs in 3 2/3 innings pitched.
Sheffield is expected to pitch Friday night in relief of left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who manager Scott Servais intends to have a short outing - perhaps just one inning -- to preserve his arm. It had been Servais' plan coming into the season to give Kikuchi the occasional short outing since pitchers in Japanese baseball go longer between starts than MLB pitchers do, but he hasn't had the ability to do so yet.
"It's just a way to allow him to pull back, recharge the batteries a little bit and keep an extended life in those batteries as the season goes on," Servais said.
--Field Level Media
