AquaSox update: News, storylines, standouts from the past week

The Everett AquaSox split their six-game series with the Vancouver Canadians this past week in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Here’s a look back at some news, storylines and standouts for Everett in The Herald’s weekly AquaSox update:

WILLIAMSON PROMOTED TO DOUBLE-A

Brandon Williamson had been a strikeout machine on the mound this season for the AquaSox. And on Friday, the 2019 second-round draft pick was rewarded with a promotion from High-A Everett to Double-A Arkansas.

In six starts with the AquaSox this year, Williamson posted a 3.19 earned-run average in 31 innings pitched, along with a whopping 59 strikeouts and just 10 walks. The 6-foot-6 left-hander struck out 1.9 batters per inning and 47.6% of the batters he faced — both of which are the best marks by a wide margin among qualified pitchers in the six-team High-A West.

Williamson, ranked by MLB.com as the No. 9 prospect in the Seattle Mariners’ organization, has limited opponents to a .189 batting average this season.

Williamson’s best outing came May 29 against Vancouver, when he allowed just one run and two hits in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out 13 of the 25 batters he faced in that game.

Williamson has made 16 appearances in his young minor league career, all with the AquaSox. After being drafted by the Mariners out of Texas Christian University, he made 10 appearances with Everett in 2019, back when the AquaSox were a Short Season-A club. He posted a 2.35 ERA in 15 1/3 innings that season, with 25 strikeouts and just five walks.

MORE BIG NUMBERS ON OFFENSE

The AquaSox have made offensive outbursts the norm this season. And this past week, they put a few more crooked numbers on the scoreboard.

Everett opened the series by totaling 15 hits in a 16-9 rout last Tuesday. It was already the fourth time this season that the AquaSox have reached the 15-run mark. To put that in perspective, Everett scored 15-plus runs in a game just three times over the previous eight seasons combined.

The AquaSox had two more big offensive nights on Friday and Saturday, when they rolled to victories of 9-2 and 12-4. In the latter game, they pounded out eight extra-base hits. Everett has scored double-digit runs in nine of its 40 games this season.

The AquaSox are averaging 6.7 runs per game, which is 1.2 runs more than any other team in the High-A West. Everett also leads the High-A West in batting average (.266), on-base percentage (.369), slugging percentage (.460), home runs (46) and extra-base hits (160).

DELOACH’S RED-HOT HITTING

AquaSox outfielder Zach DeLoach had a big series at the plate, going 12-for-22 with six doubles in five games against Vancouver. The 2020 second-round draft pick out of Texas A&M University is riding a 12-game hitting streak and has doubled in six consecutive games.

DeLoach, ranked by MLB.com as the Mariners’ No. 12 prospect, was batting .231 this season prior to his current hitting streak. Since then, he’s batted .438 with nine doubles over his last 12 games. He’s raised his batting average all the way to .296 — which ranks fifth in the High-A West — and has four home runs, one triple and 14 doubles.

STRONG PITCHING PERFORMANCES

Several pitchers from Everett’s talented rotation had strong outings this past series. Here’s a look at the AquaSox pitchers who stood out against Vancouver:

Emerson Hancock: The Mariners’ 2020 first-round draft pick pitched five innings in his start Saturday, allowing one earned run and three hits. The 22-year-old right-hander struck out eight of the 20 batters he faced and yielded only one walk. It was the longest start of the season for Hancock, who is ranked by MLB.com as the sport’s No. 23 overall prospect. The former University of Georgia star has a 2.14 ERA in 21 innings this season, with 20 strikeouts and 10 walks.

Levi Stoudt: The 2019 third-round draft pick allowed just one run and two hits in six innings during his start last Friday, while striking out six batters and walking three. Stoudt, ranked by MLB.com as the Mariners’ No. 13 prospect, has a 3.38 ERA in 34 2/3 innings this season, with 38 strikeouts and 24 walks.

Tim Elliott: The 2019 fourth-round draft pick pitched six strong innings of relief last Thursday. He struck out 10 of the 23 batters he faced and allowed just one run, three hits and one walk. Elliott, the Mariners’ No. 24-ranked prospect, has a 3.81 ERA in 26 innings this season, with 35 strikeouts and 13 walks.

Brandon Williamson: In his final start with the AquaSox before being promoted to Double-A Arkansas, Williamson allowed one run and three hits in 5 1/3 innings last Tuesday. He struck out eight batters and walked three.

J-ROD ROSTERED FOR FINAL OLYMPIC QUALIFIER

Highly touted prospect Julio Rodriguez is taking another leave from the AquaSox to play for the Dominican Republic national team in this week’s Final Olympic Baseball Qualifier in Puebla, Mexico.

Rodriguez is listed on the Dominican Republic’s roster for the three-team event, which runs Tuesday through Saturday and will determine the sixth and final berth for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The other two countries vying for the final Olympic spot are Venezuela and the Netherlands. The Dominican Republic is seeking its first Olympic berth in baseball since 1992.

Rodriguez, ranked by Baseball America as the sport’s No. 3 overall prospect, also played for the Dominican Republic a few weeks ago at another Olympic qualifier event in Florida. The star 20-year-old outfielder went 11-for-24 in five games at the event, with two massive home runs, seven RBIs, seven runs scored and a key sliding catch. He helped the Dominican Republic to a second-place finish out of eight teams, which advanced the country to this week’s final qualifier.

In 28 games with the AquaSox this season, Rodriguez is batting .325 with six home runs, two triples and eight doubles. He leads the High-A West in both batting average and slugging percentage (.581), and ranks fourth in on-base percentage (.410).

MARLOWE CALLED UP

Outfielder Cade Marlowe, the No. 30-ranked prospect in the Mariners’ organization, was promoted to the AquaSox last week.

Marlowe started the season at Low-A Modesto and batted .301 with six home runs, five triples and six doubles in 34 games with the Nuts. He posted a .556 slugging percentage, which ranks sixth in the eight-team Low-A West.

Marlowe went 3-for-14 in his first three games with Everett this past week. On Saturday, he was 2-for-5 with a triple and three RBIs.

This is Marlowe’s second stint with the AquaSox. He played for Everett at the Short Season-A level in 2019, after being selected in the 20th round of that year’s draft. He batted .301 with three homers, three triples and 15 doubles in 62 games with the AquaSox that season.

STANDINGS UPDATE

Everett (24-16) is second in the High-A West standings, sitting 1.5 games behind first-place Eugene. Vancouver is in third place, 2.5 games back of Eugene.

UP NEXT

The AquaSox continue their 12-game road trip with a six-game series against last-place Tri-City (14-27). The series is slated to run Tuesday through Sunday at Gesa Stadium in Pasco. After that, Everett returns to Funko Field for a six-game series against Vancouver from June 29 through July 4.