Baseball fans in Appleton, Wis., saw this season what everyone watching the Everett AquaSox noticed last year. Jeff Dunbar has a good arm.
There’s a big difference this year.
What Dunbar showed last year from behind the plate, he displayed this year from the mound after the Seattle Mariners converted him from catcher to pitcher.
Dunbar finished his second pro season 6-for-6 in save situations for the Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, going 1-1 with a 3.26 earned run average in 16 games.
Last year with Everett, Dunbar threw out 29.8 percent of the baserunners who tried to steal against him, the fourth-best percentage in the Northwest League. He also batted .247 with 21 RBI for the AquaSox.
Dunbar began his conversion to pitcher this year at short-season Class A Pulaski, where he was 1-0, 2.45 with three saves.
“When we drafted him, we had it in the backs of our minds that he was potentially going to be a pitcher,” said Greg Hunter, the Mariners’ minor league director.
The Mariners selected Dunbar in the 11th round of the 2007 draft after he’d graduated from Cal-Riverside.
“He made a nice, easy transition to being a pitcher,” Hunter said. “We sent him to Pulaski and he performed, and then we felt like he was able to handle the next step. We sent him to Wisconsin and he continued to perform.”
Dunbar was one of the few success stories in a difficult season for the Timber Rattlers.
Another was right-hander Michael Pineda, the only starting pitcher with a winning record.
He pitched a complete-game one hitter Monday in the Rattlers’ season finale, a 3-0 victory over Quad Cities. Pineda finished 8-6 with a 1.95 ERA in 26 games, including 21 starts.
The Rattlers finished their season 25-45 and eighth in the Midwest League Western Division second-half standings.
Elsewhere around the Mariners’ minor league system:
Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers: Despite a constant flow of players to the parent Mariners late in the season, the Rainiers finished as the Pacific Coast League’s hottest team.
They went 31-14 after the All-Star break, including a 20-2 stretch at home in Cheney Stadium. Tacoma’s 80-64 record was the franchise’s third 80-victory season in the past 25 years. The Rainiers finished second in the PCL Pacific North, 3½ games behind first-place Salt Lake.
DH Victor Diaz won the team’s MVP and offensive player of the year awards after batting .283 with 25 home runs and 106 RBI. Right-hander Andy Baldwin won the King of the Hill pitching award after going 10-5 with a 4.75 ERA. He went 4-0 in his last seven starts.
Class AA West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx: The Diamond Jaxx, who won the Southern League North first-half championship, begin their best-of-five divisional series tonight against second-half champion Carolina.
Outfielder Mike Wilson was named to the league all-star team after finishing the regular season with a .276 average, team-record and league-best 27 home runs and 84 RBI.
Catcher Adam Moore batted .319 with 14 homers and 71 RBI. He hit safely in 15 of the final 17 games, batting .393 in that span.
The Diamond Jaxx were 29-39 and finished fourth in the second-half standings.
Class A High Desert Mavericks: Shortstop Carlos Truinfel hit safely in 33 of the final 38 games and finished the season with a .287 average, eight homers and 49 RBI. He stole 30 bases in 39 attempts.
Second baseman Chris Minaker, of Edmonds-Woodway High School, batted .385 with six homers and 59 RBI.
The Mavericks finished 26-44 and fifth in the California League South second-half standings.
Short-season Class A Pulaski Mariners: The Elizabethton Twins swept the Mariners 7-4 and 7-0 in the best-of-three Appalachian League championship series last week. It was Elizabethton’s second straight league title and third in the past four years.
Rob Mummau, who led the Mariners to a 40-27 record, was named the league’s manager of the year.
Two Mariners, catcher Juan Fuentes and infielder Mario Martinez, were named to the postseason all-star team. Fuentes batted .337 with two home runs and 40 RBI in 59 games. Martinez batted .319 with five homers and 33 RBI in 64 games.
Rookie-level Peoria Mariners: Catcher Henry Contreras hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games and finished the season with a .345 average. Outfielder Scott Savastano had eight hits in his final 17 at-bats and finished with a .298 average. He ended the season with a seven-game hitting streak.
The Mariners were 12-16 and finished sixth in the Arizona League second-half standings.
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