Back on the field

Down in the Winter Leagues post for today, you may have noticed that someone is back on the field.

The Seattle Times is there with the story.

A three-strikeout day isn't something top Mariners prospect Carlos Triunfel hopes to see a lot of.

But the 19-year-old Class AA shortstop was pleased just to be back in the batter's box Thursday, making his Arizona Fall League debut after a serious leg injury. Triunfel missed most of 2009 after breaking his fibula and tearing ankle ligaments on his left leg in his team's second game of the season.

He started at shortstop for the Peoria Javelinas on Thursday and wound up going 0 for 3, all strikeouts, and a walk.

"I just got done speaking to him on the phone and I told him, 'So, I thought you told me you were ready?' " quipped Pedro Grifol, the Mariners' director of minor-league operations. [Editor...Ha ha ha. What a kidder.]

In all seriousness, Grifol says Triunfel is slightly ahead of schedule.

"He had a very serious injury," Grifol said. "Just to have him back out there playing this winter is pretty fortunate."

Triunfel had been designated a "Priority Player" on his Peoria team and thus will see plenty of daily action.

How do you spell confidence?

T-R-I-U-N-F-E-L!

There is much more to the story below than the snarky headline of this post. Click it and read about the development of the ex-Rattler.

Top prospect Carlos Triunfel to Mariners fans: 'I'll see you up there soon'

Carlos Triunfel struggled to catch his breath as the guy standing in front of him barked out another order.

"Let's do one more, Carlos! One more!" James Clifford shouted to the sweat-drenched shortstop prospect. "Are you ready to do another one?"

Hunched over, hands-on-knees in the baking sun, Triunfel could only nod before joining the Mariners' minor-league strength and conditioning coordinator on a grueling side-to-side shuffle exercise, designed to improve the agility of a leg he badly injured last April.

That Triunfel, 19, plucked from the Dominican Republic sandlots three years ago, could even understand what was being said indicates growth by one of the team's brightest prospects.

Learning to understand, if not speak, English has been a major breakthrough for the team's most-hyped Latin American prospect since Felix Hernandez. As he works to get back on the field, Triunfel admits he had growing to do away from it.

"I've learned the discipline of baseball," Triunfel said in Spanish, with interpreter Rafael Colon doing the translation. "I've learned how to behave. How to be a professional."

Good.

Also from Baseball America

They have a story on Carlos Triunfel ('07) titled Growing Up: Triunfel proves he can hang with the big kids. It's behind the subscriber wall, so here is just a taste.

"It feels good. I'm happy I'm here," Triunfel said through an interpreter. "I'm getting to know new people and learning from everyone on the team because they have a lot more experience."

Overall, the Mariners' gamble to test-drive Triunfel in the AFL environment, where he competes against players in their early to mid-20s, as they take closer aim on the majors, can now be safely seen as a savvy decision with long-term appeal.

Sure, Hawaii Winter Baseball would have been the more conservative and logical assignment, particularly given Triunfel's midseason maturity issues that led to a suspension while at high Class A High Desert.

Yet the AFL has offered the shortstop a greater and necessary challenge, if not an inadvertent spurring-on.

If you have a subscription check it out. If you don't it will probably be in the magazine that is on newsstands or will be hitting newsstands soon.

Missed this one on Triunfel

The Victor Valley Daily Press had this profile on Carlos Triunfel ('07). You can read it as a companion piece to the Seattle Times piece that I posted yesterday.

“He should be out of high school now and he’s playing in a high (Class A) professional baseball team with kids that are 24 and 25,” Mavericks batting coach Eddie Menchaca said.
...
“I think one thing that’s going to hold him back might be his defense,” Menchaca said. “A lot of it is just being so young and not playing enough. He doesn’t know how to slow the game down. But I think once he figures that out I think he’s going to be good. And if you put both of them together, strong bat with a good glove, and with the arm he’s got, he could be something good.”

Diet tips from Triunfel, including his opinion on American food are at that first link.

State of the Seattle Bullpen

Geoff Baker has some bullpen news from Arizona. Mark Lowe ('05) gets some pub.

A fuzzy bullpen picture began to clear up even before the first Mariners workout of the day.

That's when right-handed reliever Chris Reitsma and southpaw Arthur Rhodes were called into some early morning meetings and told they had no chance of making the team. The picture became even more clear by the ninth inning of an 8-5 win by the Mariners over the Kansas City Royals later in the afternoon.

It was in that final frame that relief pitcher Mark Lowe, making a comeback from elbow surgery just like Reitsma and Rhodes, fired consecutive pitches at 95 mph and then another at 96 mph to finish off the game's final hitter on a pop fly to right. For Lowe, who retired three straight hitters after surrendering a leadoff double, the return to mid-90s velocity and the ability to control it has almost certainly landed him a spot on this team.

"That's kind of the whole idea of spring training," Lowe said. "You want to work your way up and then kind of ease into the season if you can."

Also in the story, down a bit, is this, um bit.

The Mariners were treated to an advance look at 18-year-old shortstop prospect Carlos Triunfel, who replaced Yuniesky Betancourt in the sixth inning and made a dazzling defensive play right off the bat. The inning's first batter, Mark Teahen, hit a ball that seemed headed into center field.

But it struck the second base bag and popped in the air. Triunfel had been ranging to his left, snagged the ball and made a cannon throw to first base while off balance to nab Teahen.

One other note: Ryan Feierabend was optioned down to AAA.

Larry Stone likes him some Triunfel

Ex-Rattler Carlos Triunfel gets the column treatment courtesy of Larry Stone of the Seattle Times.

Part of the allure of spring training is spotting The Next Big Thing, before he breaks out for the world to see.

It's the same feeling, no doubt, experienced by lucky souls who saw Robin Williams riffing at comedy clubs in the Bay Area or Bruce Springsteen rocking at New Jersey dive bars in the 1970s.

Last week, I saw the Mariners' future, and its name is Carlos Triunfel.

OK, perhaps that intentional echo of Jon Landau's famous 1974 Springsteen rave is a little melodramatic.

Triunfel, after all, is just a babe in arms in baseball terms, less than a month removed from his 18th birthday. He has yet to hit his first professional home run, and innumerable potential pitfalls still await him on the road to stardom.

And yet, sometimes you just can tell when someone has "got it." After watching Triunfel for a few days on a distant minor-league practice field at the Mariners' spring complex here, I'm going to go out on a limb — just me and every scout who has ever seen him play — and say that Triunfel has the touch of greatness.

Part of it may be the honesty with which Triunfel answers the question why he signed with Seattle.

The final proof of Triunfel's unique talent was the fact that super-agent Scott Boras took him on as a client. Boras doesn't take on stiffs. With former Mariners infielder Domingo Ramos, now a Boras associate, working as liaison, Engle knew he would have to outbid the usual suspects — the Yankees and Red Sox, among a half-dozen teams dealing with Boras.

I spoke to Triunfel in the Mariners' minor-league clubhouse, with Rafael Colon, one of the organization's mental-skills coaches, serving as interpreter. Asked why he chose the Mariners, Triunfel spoke in Spanish to Colon, and they both laughed.

Colon's blunt translation: "Seattle offered more."

Just as a reminder, here is the recap of Triunfel's career so far:

After breaking into professional ball in Seattle's instructional league in the winter after the 2006 season, Triunfel started last year at Class A Wisconsin — extraordinary for a 17-year-old. Even more extraordinary, he hit .309 in 43 games to make the Midwest League All-Star team.

A thumb injury kept Triunfel out for nearly six weeks, but after his rehab, the Mariners employed their trademark "sink or swim" prospect philosophy by elevating Triunfel to High Desert.

That's their high Class A team in the California League, featuring prospects up to five years older than him. Triunfel more than held his own, hitting .288 in 50 games, albeit with just 12 extra-base-hits in 208 at-bats.

The Orioles wanted him in the Adam Jones and Company for Erik Bedard trade, but Seattle didn't want to lose him. They kept him. Now, what's ahead for the young shortstop?

Some scouts believe that Triunfel will ultimately wind up as a third baseman or corner outfielder. [Greg] Hunter said Triunfel will likely start the year back at High Desert. But if the Mariners like what they see, he will continue to shoot quickly up the ranks.

If Triunfel remains on the fast track, it's conceivable he could be ready to replace Adrian Beltre at third base when Beltre's five-year contract expires after the 2009 season.