Mariners, Dane Dunning Agree To Minor League Contract

The Mariners are in agreement with righty Dane Dunning on a minor league deal, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. That’ll presumably come with a non-roster invite for the Wasserman client.

Dunning is looking to rebound from a frustrating season. The former first-round draftee was limited to 12 big league appearances between the Braves and Rangers. He allowed a near-7.00 ERA across 20 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. Dunning has spent the majority of his career as a starter and continued to work from the rotation in Triple-A. The results there were a little better, as he pitched to a 4.67 ERA with a league average 21.6% strikeout percentage and 7.6% walk rate across 69 1/3 frames.

The 31-year-old Dunning held a rotation spot for the Rangers from 2021-23. He fired a career-high 172 2/3 innings of 3.70 ERA ball for the World Series team in ’23. He has never had big velocity or strikeout ability, but he’s generally a solid strike-thrower who did a decent job avoiding hard contact during his best seasons. The home run ball has become a bigger issue over the past two years.

Dunning can work as long relief or rotation depth at Triple-A Tacoma. He’d probably need multiple Spring Training injuries to get consideration for an Opening Day roster spot. Dunning obviously wouldn’t crack Seattle’s rotation if their top five starters are healthy, and most of their projected bullpen is out of minor league options.

They don’t have an especially deep rotation beyond their excellent front five, however. Logan Evans and Emerson Hancock would be their next men up. Neither has found much success at the MLB level. Evans posted a 4.32 ERA with below-average strikeout stuff over his first 16 appearances. Hancock was pitching in short relief by the end of last season and might fit better there, as he has a near-5.00 ERA in 31 career starts. Rookie Blas Castaño and swingman Jhonathan Diaz are the other depth starters on the 40-man roster.