Amid a flurry of organizational roster moves made by the Seattle Mariners on Monday, four Everett AquaSox — third baseman Austin Shenton, catcher Dean Nevarez, and relievers Reid Morgan and Evan Johnson — were called up to Low-A West Virginia.
In his 21 games in Everett, Shenton posted the second-best batting average (.367) and OPS — on-base-plus slugging — (1.041) among qualified hitters in the Northwest League. The Bellingham native was the Mariners’ fifth-round pick in last month’s major-league draft.
Shenton got right to work with his new team, homering in the sixth inning of West Virginia’s 5-0 win over the Columbia Fireflies on Monday night.
Shenton served as the Power’s designated hitter and was in the fifth slot in the batting order.
Nevarez didn’t see a great deal of action behind the plate with 2019 draft pick Carter Bins receiving the lion’s share of the starts.
A 19th-round pick in 2018, Nevarez posted a slash line of .200/.260/.549 in 12 games in Everett. Nevarez started the season in Low-A West Virginia and hit .195/.275/.439 before being demoted.
Johnson and Morgan were staples of the AquaSox bullpen.
Morgan posted a 1.17 ERA and struck out 5.87 batters per nine innings over 72⁄3 innings. Johnson compiled a 3.07 ERA and fanned 8.57 batters per nine in his 142⁄3 innings.
A total of nine players were promoted Monday throughout the Mariners’ system, most notably 2018 first-round pick Logan Gilbert and 2018 third-round pick Cal Raleigh. They both went from High-A Modesto to Double-A Arkansas. Raleigh, who slugged eight homers and 19 total extra-base hits last season with the AquaSox, led the California League with 22 homers this season, including nine in his past 11 games.
Gilbert was 5-3 with a 1.73 ERA over 12 starts for the Nuts.
