Mariner Farm Report -- Sinker Ball Launches Luce -- Work At `Hangar' Earns Promotion
Robert Luce not only survived a half-season of pitching at "The Hangar," he thrived.
The former UNLV standout, Seattle's ninth-round draft pick last June, compiled a California League-leading 10-1 record and a 2.81 earned-run average in 14 starts this spring for the Class A Lancaster JetHawks. In 86 1/3 innings he allowed 100 hits, struck out 57 batters and walked 24.
The performance put the right-handed sinker-ball pitcher on a fast track to the Class AA Southern League. He was promoted to Memphis last week.
Luce's statistics are exceptional because the JetHawks play half of their games in a stadium where hitters often are helped by winds of 30 to 50 mph.
"They call it the Hangar but they should call it the Launching Pad," said Ron Romanick, Mariner minor-league pitching coordinator. "A 320-plus-foot fly ball goes 400 feet there."
Luce, 22, "can really compete," Lancaster Manager Rick Burleson said. "He has three good pitches. He keeps them down. He gives up some hits, but he can turn around and get a double-play ball. He's always battling."
Luce broke into pro ball with the Everett AquaSox last summer, notching seven saves and a 4.39 ERA in 23 relief appearances.
Larry Beinfest, Mariner player-development director, said the 6-foot, 168-pound Luce "has been outstanding for his first full year out. He didn't start in Everett, but we worked with him in the instructional league last fall. He has mound savvy. He's very intelligent. He throws a lot of strikes. He's a super competitor."
Romanick said the Mariners changed Luce's grip on his breaking ball last summer to give him a harder breaking ball. In instructional league, the M's added "a four-seam fastball to the away side of the plate" to the two-seam fastball in Luce's pitching repertoire.
"His velocity, when he needed it, would go up three, four miles an hour with good command," Romanick said. "His sinker's 88-89 miles an hour and he can dial it up to 90-91 with his four-seam."
Luce made the Lancaster team this spring partly because the Mariner organization didn't have a lot of experience at the highest Class A level, Romanick said.
"We were worried about him because it's a big jump from Everett to the California League," Romanick said. "But he had the aptitude. And being a sinker-ball pitcher, he had a chance at `Launch-caster.' And he's taken off with that."
Promotions, demotions
Luce's promotion was one of a flock of midseason roster changes in the Mariner organization.
Three of Memphis' top hitters - infielders Paul Torres (.344) and Joe Millette (.304) and outfielder Eddie Christian (.336) - were promoted from the Class AA Chicks to the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers.
Tacoma sent infielder Giomar Guevara (.244) and infielder-outfielder Charles Gipson (.314) to Memphis and released left-handed pitcher Ravelo Manzanillo (2-1, 6.52 ERA).
In other moves:
Second baseman Chris Dean (.335), outfielder Miguel Correa (.329) and catcher Dusty Wathan (.297) were promoted from Lancaster to Memphis. Catcher Karl Thompson (.230) was sent from Memphis to Lancaster. Memphis infielder Jason Cook retired.
Right-hander Joe Mays (9-3, 2.09 ERA), ex-Washington State catcher Jim Horner (.248), infielder-outfielder Jason Regan (.254) and outfielder Josh Watts (.278) were promoted from Wisconsin to Lancaster. Wisconsin got infielder Ramon Valera from Everett and right-hander Roy Smith from extended spring training by way of Memphis, where he made two relief appearances.
Tacoma Rainiers .
Through Thursday .
BATTING AB H 2B 3B HR BI SB Avg. Raabe 287 104 22 2 8 51 0 .362 . Zinter 245 84 14 3 15 51 1 .343 . Decker 153 48 11 0 4 25 0 .314 . Gipson 35 11 2 0 0 5 0 .314 . Leach 192 60 13 1 4 25 1 .313 . Rohrmeier 217 64 19 1 15 55 0 .295 . Ibanez 256 73 19 2 8 44 2 .285 . Sheets 239 60 11 0 7 29 3 .251 . Varitek 195 48 8 0 8 32 0 .246 . Guevara 176 43 5 1 2 13 3 .244 . Christian 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .
PITCHING W L Sa IP H BB SO ERA . McCarthy 0 0 0 3.2 3 2 3 0.00 . Holzemer 0 0 5 20.0 15 5 19 1.35 . Franklin 1 1 0 19.0 14 3 11 1.42 . Berumen 1 0 0 6.0 7 1 5 1.50 . Gajkowski 3 1 1 42.2 47 14 21 4.01 . Witte 3 1 0 40.0 44 18 34 4.05 . Crow 3 1 7 31.2 40 17 25 4.55 . J.Manzanillo 0 0 1 11.1 11 l 6 14 4.76 . Suzuki 2 4 0 42.0 31 39 32 4.93 . Abbott 4 2 0 54.2 52 18 70 5.10 . Carmona 1 3 0 27.1 26 18 25 5.27 . Hurtado 2 4 0 56.1 66 21 45 5.43 . Harikkala 3 6 0 68.2 104 32 55 7.47 . Pacheco 0 2 0 21.2 35 13 16 9.55 .
Best of the rest BATTING
Average (minimum 15 at-bats) - Castro (Wisconsin, A) 9/25, .360; Torres (Memphis, AA) 75/218, .344; Villalobos (Lancaster, A) 73/213, .343; Christian (M) 80/238, .336; Dean (L) 88/263, .335; Correa (L) 70/213, .329; Jorgensen (M) 72/236, .305; Millette (M) 58/191, .304; Skeels (L) 16/53, .302.
Doubles - Dean (L) 23, Correa (L) 21, Christian (M) 20, Burrows (W) 20, Wathan (L) 17.
Triples - Brock (L) 8, Mathis (L) 6, Harrison (W) 6, Dean (L) 5, Burrows (W) 5, Correa (L) 4.
Home runs - Correa (M-L) 16, Clifford (L) 15, Burrows (W) 11, Kim (L) 9, Regan (W) 9, Watts (W-L) 9.
RBI - Torres (M) 55, Clifford (L) 54, Correa (M-L) 52, Monahan (M) 47, Christian (M) 39, Dean (L) 38, Villalobos (L) 38, Burrows (W) 38, Figueroa (W) 37, Jorgensen (M) 36, Mathis (L) 36.
Stolen bases - Dean (L) 15, Brock (L) 14, Harrison (W) 14, Gipson (M) 12, Mathis (L) 9.
PITCHING
Earned-run average (minimum 6 innings pitched) - Meche (Everett, A) 0.00, 7 ip; Mears (E) 0.00, 7 ip; Brosnan (M) 0.36, 25 1/3 ip; Spencer (L) 1.69, 26 2/3 ip; Stark (W) 1.84, 68 1/3 ip; Fitzgerald (W) 1.91, 37 2/3 ip; Mays (W) 2.09, 81 2/3 ip; Luce (L) 2.81, 86 1/3 ip; Gutierrez (W) 2.83, 35 ip (4.09 in 11 ip at L) Holdridge (M) 2.97, 30 1/3 ip.
Winning pct. (minimum 2 decisions) - Fitzgerald (W) 2-0, 1.000; Jacobs (W) 2-0, 1.000; Luce (L) 10-1, .909; Simmons (M) 7-2, .778; Mays (W) 9-3, .750; Scheffer (L) 6-2, .750; Palki (W) 3-1, .750; Cloude (M) 8-3, .727; Stark (W) 5-2, .714.
Saves - Holdridge (M) 15, Fitzgerald (W) 7, Palki (W) 5, Spencer (L) 5, Kennison (W) 4, Westfall (L) 3.
Strikeouts-walks - Fuentes (W) 86-32, Stark (W) 81-23, Mays (W) 79-23, Cloude (M) 71-33, Kaye (W) 65-46.