Darrin Beene is entering his seventh year at The News Tribune, having covered the Tacoma Rainiers in 2005 and Major League Baseball for two years before that. Beene, a former assistant sports editor at The News Tribune, also worked for the Los Angeles Daily News and Los Angeles Times. He lives in the South Sound with his wife and two children.
This blog is about baseball in general but specifically the Seattle Mariners and the Mariners’ Triple-A team, the Tacoma Rainiers. It will contain news, analysis, answers to your questions and audio reports.
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Mariners fans need to keep an eye on Rainiers' pitcher Francisco Cruceta, especially his walk totals. If Cruceta can keep those dreaded free passes down, he can be a special pitcher.
This year, Cruceta leads the PCL in strikeouts with 68. He gets it done with a solid fastball and a biting slider. The trouble is he sometimes doesn't know where those pitches are going.
In 50 2/3 innings, Cruceta has walked 26. That's too many. His control is also why he has only so-so numbers this year (3-3, 3.50 ERA). One of his outings was a disastrous nine-run in one inning performance.
The Mariners picked Cruceta up off the scrap heap last August. Cruceta was waived by the Cleveland Indians after being more bad than good at Triple-A Buffalo (6-4 record but a 5.19 ERA in 102 1/3 innings). He pitched about the same at Tacoma (1-1, 5.00 ERA in just 9 innings) but his live arm intrigued M's officials. He doesn't turn 25 until July 4 so there's still time for him to get it figured out.
