Churchill on Balentien

Balentien regains form
Outfielder adjusts after demotion, having hot July

At the end of the season's first month, the Mariners called up outfielder Wladimir Balentien for a big league audition. The club was beginning what is sure to ultimately become a rebuilding process after a disastrous start to the 2008 campaign, and was looking to find out just how much its farm system had to offer.

Balentien struggled between flashes of power in Seattle, hitting just .196 with 35 strikeouts in 117 plate appearances, and was optioned back to Triple-A Tacoma on June 16.

He's turned that around.

Farm Reports...

Seattle Times from July 1:
After hot start at Tacoma, outfielder Michael Saunders has cooled off

It began with an RBI double in his debut. Then a three-hit game, with a bunt single and a home run to right-center field. And before Michael Saunders could return to Tacoma — not to mention reality — he put up two more hits, with four RBI, in his third game at Class AAA.

After one road series with Tacoma, Saunders looked more like the Mariners' solution in center field than a 21-year-old just promoted from AA West Tenn in an aggressive move by the front office. The 11th-round pick had six hits in 13 at-bats (.462), with seven RBI, three extra-base hits and two walks.

"I don't think I could have started any better," Saunders said.

Seattle Times from July 8
Big-league move can't come soon enough for OF

Greg Halman remembers the first time he stayed up late to watch the World Series. The game lasted into the early morning at his home in the Netherlands, way later than most 3-year-olds are allowed to stay up. But in the Halman home, where dad was an ex-player and baseball mattered most, that was just fine.

Halman has wanted to be a major-leaguer since.

"For me, baseball was as big as any Little League player that's in the United States," he said. "It was the world to me, and it still is."

And now even though he's close, though he has transformed from raw talent to legitimate prospect, he doesn't want to hear that he has plenty of time to get there.

"I don't have time to lose," he said. "Why not right now? I want it right now."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer July 1
Thomas turning corner

The next time the Mariners go fishing on the farm for a starting pitcher, Triple-A Tacoma might not be the spot to cast the line. Justin Thomas has begun to turn a corner at Double-A West Tennessee, and has the brightest future among healthy starters at either level.

Thomas, 24, began the 2008 season with three solid starts in four tries, but lost control in May, surrendering 56 base runners in just 33 innings of work, including 20 bases on balls.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer July 8
Waiting on Triunfel

By most accounts, shortstop Carlos Triunfel began the 2008 season as the Mariners organization's top prospect. In his first pro season, the Dominican Republic native flashed the physical skills of a future star, and most scouts projected even more from him in year two.

But it hasn't happened ... yet.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer July 10

Farm aid? Probably not
M's system lacks quality first basemen

With the release of Richie Sexson on Thursday, the Mariners will begin their search for a first baseman. They won't find a ready answer in their farm system.

The organization has drafted and signed numerous first basemen in the past six years, but not one has developed into a major league player.

Those closest to the major leagues are 25 or older and have yet to prove they can produce consistently in Triple-A. Only one talent in the system -- 2008 second-round draft pick Dennis Raben -- looks like a certain keeper, and he's at least two years away from reaching the big leagues.

Every player mentioned by Jason -- save Raben -- has played with the Timber Rattlers: Bryan LaHair ('04), Marshall Hubbard ('05), Johan Limonta ('06), Carlos Peguero ('07), and Gerardo Avila ('07, '08).

Report on Tui

Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider has his first installment of the Farm Report for 2008 in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The profile is a familiar name.

When the Mariners handed out more than $2 million to their third-round draft pick in June 2004, the record signing bonus for Woodinville native Matt Tuiasosopo was expected to be well worth the investment.

Nearly four years later, scouts are beginning to wonder if baseball ever is going to click for the former Washington quarterback recruit.

"There are always concerns when an athlete is giving up one or two other sports to focus on baseball," said an assistant scouting director of an AL team. "Sometimes they take to baseball easily, sometimes it takes years."

Although Tuiasosopo flashed the ability to hit for extra bases early in his career during short stints with the club's two short-season affiliates, there have been fewer questions answered than most initially expected.

Plenty of scout talk follows and a recap of the tough time Tuiasosopo had at Double-A. Then, there is this at the end.

"We've been working on getting his hands to settle in," Tacoma hitting coach Alonzo Powell said. "He sees the ball well and can go the other way, and getting his hands to a more steady position will allow him to get the bat head out in front more often. That's where the power is going to come from."

The latest scouting reports no longer lead off with comments about him being more of an athlete than a hitter.

"No, he's shown he can learn, he works hard and is developing now," the AL executive said.