Back to Tacoma

Michael Saunders ('06) is going to start the season with the Rainiers.

As the Mariners gradually firm up their 2010 roster, Michael Saunders finds himself headed for the Tacoma Rainiers. This is great news for the Rainiers, who will get one of their strongest bats from the 2009 season back in the lineup. While it looked like Saunders had a shot at making the team early in the winter, the Safeco left field is a crowded corner with Milton Bradley and Eric Byrnes expecting to share time and Ryan Langerhans also hopeful for some outfield playing time.

Prospects, prospects, prospects

Baseball America has unveiled their Top 100 Prospects list for the 2010 season.

Former Timber Rattlers on the list:

30. Michael Saunders ('06)

59. Brett Lawrie ('09)

83. Adam Moore ('06)

93. Phillippe Aumont ('08)

Saunders is up

Here's one of those Good News-Bad News things

Mariners promote Saunders from Minors
Fellow outfielder Balentien designated for assignment

In an attempt to bolster their struggling lineup, the Mariners selected outfielder Michael Saunders from Triple-A Tacoma and designated outfielder Wladimir Balentien for assignment on Saturday.

The team now has 10 days to trade, release or outright Balentien to the Minors.

Saunders, 22, was selected by the Mariners in the 11th round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft. He was hitting .310 with 13 home runs and 32 RBIs in Tacoma, where he's spent this entire season. He'll be in uniform and available to play in Saturday's game against Cleveland, and his first appearance will be his Major League debut.

Saunders was a Rattler in 2006 and did make his Major League debut today against Cleveland. Balentien was a Rattler in 2004.

Here is the news from Geoff Baker's blog with Larry Stone filling in for, um, Geoff Baker.

Anyhow, Saunders got the news at 11:30 p.m. last night. His mother and father were already in town to see him play for Class AAA Tacoma, so he woke them up at their hotel room, delievered the news, and told him they'd be seeing major league action today. Some of his good freinds are also down here.

"I didn't sleep a wink, actually, to tell you the truth,'' he said. "I was moving around all night, my heart was thumping.''

Saunders had surgery on his right labrum and took seven months to recover. He missed te first month of the season and says he was "still rehabbing'' as he played. The biggest part was getting his throwing arm back up to speed.

His bat was fine.

"I've widened my stance a little and that's helped me kind of track baseballs and be a little bit more consistent at the plate,'' he said. "I've worked a lot with (AAA hitting coach) Alonzo Powell down there and he's helped me out a lot, taught me about the mental side of hitting.''

Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said the move was made because the team feels Saunders is ready to be the future left fielder. But there were also short-term considerations as well.

Good luck, Michael.

Odd choice for a headline

Mike Saunders (WI, '06) gets the treatment in the Tacoma News Tribune with a weird headline.

Can-miss kid Saunders a gifted prospect for Rainiers

For an organization that takes pains to assure fans that their Safeco Field experience is rated G, fit for all ages, the Mariners are surprisingly aggressive about their youth movement.

Rather than coddle top prospects in a wading pool, Seattle’s player-development mavens throw the kids into the deep end, to determine whether they are more apt to sink or swim.

Take 21-year-old Michael Saunders, whose recent invitation to Tacoma was his fourth promotion in four seasons. A former youth hockey center with the build and graceful gait of a wide receiver, the 6-foot-4, 212-pound Saunders has all the tools scouts covet – and a long swing that sometimes screams for a wrench.

In 359 professional baseball games, Saunders has more strikeouts (392) than hits (365).

Well, maybe not an odd choice, but I can see how that headline could be taken a different way.

A little history on Saunders:

Two years ago in the Single-A Midwest League, Saunders struck out 103 times in 104 games for Wisconsin, where he hit a modest .240. Rather than returning him to Wisconsin in 2007, the Mariners pushed Saunders to a more advanced Single-A California League. His response to the challenge (.299, with 14 homers, three triples and 25 doubles) earned him a late-season call-up to West Tennessee of the Double-A Southern League.

For the rest go to the article.

Saunders in Tennessee

Jason Churchill takes a look at ex-Rattler Michael Saunders in his M's Farm Report.

After a promising debut at short-season Class A Everett in 2005, Saunders met his match in the Class A Midwest League in 2006 before turning things around in the High Class A California League in 2007.

"It seemed he was searching for a way to become productive," an AL East scout said. "He's got a lot of ability, but baseball isn't a game of raw talent, it's a game of developed skills, and he was still trying to find a happy medium with his tools. But he wasn't lost, and it obviously didn't hurt him to go through that."

It didn't hurt, because Saunders is near the .300 mark and had 22 extra-base hits going into yesterday's action.

Go read the whole thing.