The Mariners signed reliever Scott Effross to a minor league contract. The deal was announced by the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, where the right-hander has reported.
Effross had spent this season on a minor league contract with Detroit. He missed time early but has been healthy since April 22. Effross made 27 appearances for the Tigers’ top farm team, allowing 4.46 earned runs per nine across 36 1/3 innings. The underlying marks weren’t encouraging, as he only struck out 16% of opponents with a league average 42% ground-ball rate. The Tigers released him last week.
The 32-year-old Effross is trying to get to the majors for a fifth season. The sidearmer had a surprise year with the Cubs as a rookie in 2022. The Yankees traded then-prospect Hayden Wesneski to acquire Effross at that year’s deadline. He almost immediately blew out and underwent Tommy John surgery that cost him the ’23 campaign.
The injuries continued to stack up. Effross had back surgery over the 2023-24 offseason and didn’t return until September. A left hamstring strain cost him the first six weeks last year, by which point he was essentially in a depth role. Effross tossed 10 2/3 MLB innings in an up-and-down bullpen job. The Yankees non-tendered him after the season.
Seattle’s bullpen, much like the team as a whole, has underperformed its talent. They’re 11th in earned run average and 13th in strikeout rate. They’ve missed more bats of late but have a 5.02 ERA in the last month due to a home run spike. They lost Cole Wilcox to an oblique strain last week and have two or three middle relief spots for which Effross can compete.
