Mariners Minor League Weekly Wrap Up: April 7th-12th, 2026
By Berlin Kofoed
Seattle, WA - The minor league baseball season is now a few weeks in, and it’s tough going early on as each affiliate of the Seattle Mariners is looking to get back to the .500 mark on the season, similar to the major league club. While the Mariners’ affiliates are in need of some work to get back to their winning ways, the past week in action saw a series win and a series split, so there is some positive news to reflect on. Here’s a weekly recap for the Mariners minor league affiliates’ games from April 7th through April 12th in the 2026 season.
AAA Rainiers @ Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston Astros affiliate)
Rainiers lose the series, two games to four
It’s another rough series for the guys in Tacoma, this time down in Sugar Land with the Space Cowboys, and I’m really hoping that they start to turn things around as the season continues. The starters showed consistency, but it just wasn’t enough when the batters weren’t driving in really any runs. Casey Lawrence made it through seven innings in game four, only allowing three runs to score off six hits and a walk. Troy Taylor closed out that game, having a bit of a rough inning that kept Sugar Land definitively in the lead.
Miles Mastruoboni started his rehab assignment in game two, but didn’t get his first hit until the end of the series, collecting a triple and putting himself in the perfect position to score on a sac-fly from Rhylan Thomas in the next at bat.
Patrick Wisdom kept adding on the homers, smashing his ninth in 13 games. Brock Rodden is another player to highlight from the series, as his consistency at the plate helped create more traffic on the basepaths. The team defense managed to keep each game close, which I love to see, but I wish the bat luck could line up a bit more to result in more runs for the team. Hopefully, as the season progresses, they can get some steady runs going and push themselves back into championship contention, as they have in recent seasons.
Transactions this past week
April 8th: Mariners sent 3B Miles Mastrobuoni on a rehab assignment to Tacoma Rainiers.
April 8th: Rainiers activated 2B Alejo Lopez.
April 8th: Mariners selected the contract of RF Connor Joe from Tacoma Rainiers.
Coming up for AAA Tacoma, the Rainiers are looking at a seven-game series against the Sacramento River Cats, a San Francisco Giants affiliate, starting on April 14th.
AA Travelers vs Wichita Wind Surge (Minnesota Twins affiliate)
Travelers and Wind Surge split the six-game series
I’ll take a split for the series, especially with how strong the pitching was throughout it. It was already impressive enough in game three when Ryan Hawks posted eight strikeouts through five innings of work, only allowing a single run to score off five hits, but the real gem came from Kade Anderson (of course). In game four, he only went through five innings, but in that time, he only had two walks recorded and an insane 11 strikeouts, which, of course, earned him Texas League Pitcher of the Week for the first time. I predict that to happen often as the season continues.
Adam Leverett also got in on the high strikeout games, recording eight through his five innings, mostly blanking Wichita aside from a single walk. Unfortunately, a blown save was given to Jason Ruffcorn in that same game after two runs scored during his two innings. Blake Rambusch (known batter and outfielder) inexplicably took the mound in the bottom of the 11th, earning a loss after two hits and a walk turned into two runs for him.
Hunter Fitz-Gerald racked up three home runs in this series alone, seemingly picking right back up from how he had been hitting in the 2025 season. Connor Charping is also starting strong, not getting impacted at all by the time off between seasons.
Something that the Travs really need to focus on is their strikeout rate, because while the pitchers were racking them up against Wichita, Arkansas was putting up just as many themselves. In the first game of the series, for example, they put up 16 strikeouts in 29 at-bats, but they were still able to stay ahead and take that win. Pitching is tough at this level, so hopefully these batters can start showing more patience at the plate to keep that strikeout number as low as possible.
Coming up for AA Arkansas, they’ll start a seven-game series against the Tulsa Drills (Affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers), beginning on April 14th.
High-A AquaSox vs Tri-City Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels affiliate)
AquaSox win the series, four games to two
Okay, so the start of this series was scary and didn’t leave a great taste in my mouth. Sure, losing is always rough, but losing 17-2 is even harder to stomach. Taylor Dollard only went 2.2 innings, letting nine of those runs go up during his outing, and that was something that this team just wasn’t able to come back from. However, after this loss, Everett locked in and took the next four games, only dropping one more on the final day.
Game four is really where it felt like Everett took back that one from the start of the series. Between three home runs (Jonny Farmelo, Felnin Celesten, and Brandon Eike), seven runs crossed home, and that was only half of their total in the end. Luke Stevenson continued to shine throughout the series, ending at .400 and proving to everyone why he was so sought after in the draft. If he keeps this up, I’ll be curious to see how long he stays in Everett.
Everyone seems to be getting the bat on the ball, which makes for a great team right now. Hopefully, they keep this going as they continue through the first half of the season, because we all know the team is going to have a complete shake-up come the all-star break, when everyone gets placed somewhere new.
Colton Shaw, after his win in game four when he went six innings and didn’t allow a single run or walk while getting three hits and striking out seven, earned the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week award. Just like Kade Anderson, with the little I’ve seen from Shaw so far, I won’t be surprised to see him earning this title again after another stellar game.
High-A Everett will look to a series down in Oregon after this series split, taking on the Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants affiliate) for six games beginning on April 14th.
Single-A 66ers vs Ontario Tower Buzzers (Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate)
66ers trail the series, two games to three
Game six of the series has been postponed to May 20th
If I can take anything away from this series, it’s that Inland Empire finally got some wins under their belts. It came in game two, in an 11-10 victory that saw a three-run homer from Aiden Taurek and three runs in the bottom of the 9th to push Inland Empire just past the finish line ahead of Ontario.
I’ve noticed that Ricardo Cova has been off to a hot start, really putting up the hits and ending over .400 at the end of this series. It seems like if there is anyone the 66ers can rely on to get the bat on the ball, it’s going to be Cova. Jean Munoz is also the first winning pitcher of the season, after going the final third of an inning and getting the last strikeout needed before the offense got the winning runs.
In game four, Mason Peters made it through four innings, blanking Ontario aside from a walk and striking out nine batters. Munoz would earn his second win after going one inning and also only allowing a single walk. It’s still early, but when the team comes together, it’s been great to see just what they can get done.
As I mentioned about Arkansas, the 66ers are striking out far too often compared to the hits they are getting. Of course, these are young guys that are still learning how to have plate discipline when put up against a higher caliber of pitching than they’re used to in high school (and possibly college), so it’ll be interesting to see how those numbers change as the coaches help them to hone their craft.
Single-A Inland Empire now shifts their focus to a six-game set against the Visalia Rawhide, an affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, which begins on April 14th.
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Cover photo Shari Sommerfeld.
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