Mariners call up prospect Taylor from Double-A

SEATTLE -- MLB Pipeline’s prospect re-rankings are due to come out in the next week. But on Saturday morning, Troy Taylor got an even better sort of promotion.

Ahead of the second game of their series against the Mets, the Mariners selected Taylor’s contract, calling up the right-handed reliever -- their No. 23 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline -- straight from Double-A Arkansas.

If the 22-year-old Taylor appears in a game for his big league debut, he’ll become the youngest Mariners pitcher to take the hill since Andrés Mu?oz in 2021.

And he’ll do so less than four years after taking on pitching full time.

“It’s insane,” Taylor said, sitting in the home dugout at T-Mobile Park. “It’s moved fast, but I’ve had a lot of people around me help me get to where I’m at today. I’m just thankful, and I’m going to keep working as hard as I can.”

Seattle picked Taylor in the 12th round of the 2022 Draft, a year after the club picked him in the 20th round and failed to sign him. An infielder throughout high school, Taylor began pitching in college -- first at Long Beach State in 2020, moving to the mound full time at Cypress (Calif.) Community College in ’21 and finally going to the bullpen at UC Irvine in ’22, when he had 42 strikeouts and a 3.82 ERA.

Getting started in the Minors last season, Taylor struck out 51 batters in 35 innings at Single-A Modesto before getting promoted to High-A Everett to finish the season.

In 40 games between Everett and Arkansas this year, Taylor logged a 1.27 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP in 42 2/3 innings, with 45 strikeouts against 14 walks. He racked up 21 saves, second-most in the Minors.

Taylor utilizes a standard fastball-sweeper mix, adding in a changeup against lefties, though his heater -- which can get up to 98 mph -- is anything but ordinary. Taylor has said that he throws it with a four-seam grip, but it runs like a two-seamer -- thanks to his arm slot.

“I go out there, and I try to throw the ball as hard as I can down the middle and let my stuff play,” Taylor said. “It is what it is after that.”

His sweeper is modeled after Matt Brash’s.

And like Brash, Taylor is set to make his Major League debut without throwing a single pitch at Triple-A. He’s the first prospect to skip Tacoma on his way to Seattle this year and the first pitcher to do so since Emerson Hancock last August.

“I’ve said it before: I think taking pitching from Double-A is way easier than taking position players from Double-A,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I do think it’s really important for position players to stop in Triple-A before they come to the big leagues. On the offensive side, you don’t control anything, you’re always reacting. It’s different on the pitching side; you do control it.

“That’s exactly what I said to Troy today when he came into my office: Nothing changes here. It’s 60 feet, 6 inches. They’re a little bit bigger, a little bit older, but trust your stuff and trust your catchers, because they’ll help you and they’ll guide you.”

When he takes the mound, Taylor will be the fourth Mariner to make his big league debut this year, joining Jonatan Clase (now in Toronto), Ryan Bliss and Tyler Locklear. Taylor will be the new face in a bullpen that’s become even more veteran heavy after the Trade Deadline acquisitions of Yimi García and JT Chargois.

“I’m just going to try to be a sponge, learn as much as I can, ask questions even if they’re dumb questions,” Taylor said. “Just try to learn as much as I can out there and really grasp this opportunity.”

In a corresponding move, the Mariners optioned Eduard Bazardo to Triple-A Tacoma.