SEATTLE — Since he became the Mariners’ bench coach last month, Roger Hansen has barely let a day go by without putting the catchers through some sort of mid-afternoon fundamental drill.
It’s called early work, although Wednesday it might have seemed a little torturous to catcher Adam Moore.
Hansen was shooting high popups from a machine when one drifted toward the Mariners’ dugout. It kept drifting, and so did Moore, who couldn’t stop before he stumbled down the dugout steps. He didn’t make the catch, but he stayed on his feet and, thankfully for the Mariners, wasn’t harmed.
“It wouldn’t have been the first time I’d have had to scratch a catcher after early work with Roger,” manager Daren Brown said.
“I think that was Roger’s idea of trying to kill me,” Moore said.
Hansen, well known for putting catchers through grueling workouts, said he was more worried about his sunglasses, which Moore had borrowed on a sunny day.
“You have to practice hard to play hard,” Hansen said. “You don’t teach them to get hurt running over to the stairs. He can handle it — head-butt the wall, catch the ball and come back out.”
Moore said he has lost count of the times Hansen has run him into the ground, the dugout, etc., during drills since he was drafted in 2006.
“Too many times,” Moore said. “He loves it and he laughs about it.
Moore said worst occurred in September of 2006 at instructional league workouts in Peoria, Ariz.
“We were doing blocking drills and it had to be 120 degrees,” Moore said. “We’d been out there three hours and I took one in the throat. I kind of stood up and moped, and when Roger saw that he made the whole crew start running. Full gear, facemasks and everything.
“Every time we ran by him, he would say, ‘Keep going.’ There’s no telling how many laps we ran. It was miserable. That was the last time I moped.”
Mariners encouraged after Kelley surgery
Relief pitcher Shawn Kelley should be able to play catch in four months after surgery Wednesday on his right elbow revealed less damage than the right-hander had feared.
Surgeon Lewis Yocum performed what the Mariners described as a “partial” Tommy John ligament procedure. There was a slight ligament tear which Yocum repaired, but it didn’t require a full graft.
The Mariners said Kelley would begin rehab today and could begin throwing in four months.
“It’s a lot better news than another (full) Tommy John and being out between 12 and 18 months,” Brown said. “We were excited to hear that.”
Kelley had full Tommy John surgery seven years ago when he was in college, and the site of that procedure remained strong, the Mariners said.
Relief prospect Cortes to pitch in Venezuela
The Mariners changed their plan with right-handed reliever Dan Cortes and will have him pitch winter ball in Venezuela instead of the Arizona Fall League. Right-hander Tom Wilhelmsen, who pitched for the Class A Everett AquaSox and Clinton LumberKings, will replace Cortes on the Peoria Javelinas’ roster in the fall league.
The Mariners believe Cortes, whose fastball consistently topped 100 mph after he was converted into a reliever at Class AA West Tennessee this summer, could be a late-inning reliever in the big leagues next year.
“We want to get Cortes to Latin America in winter ball and get him in front of pressure situations and the fans down there,” minor league director Pedro Grifol said. “Maybe we can expedite his development down there.”
Of note
If Felix Hernandez maintains his 2.29 ERA at Safeco Field this season, it would rank as the second best home ERA in franchise history, behind Randy Johnson’s 1.89 in 1997. Jason Vargas went into Wednesday night’s start with a 2.48 ERA at home, which would rank third in franchise history. … After recording his 26th save Tuesday, closer David Aardsma had saved half of the Mariners’ victories, the second-highest percentage in team history behind Eddie Guardado’s 52.1 percent (saving 36 of the 69 victories) in 2005. … The Mariners announced they have extended their player development agreements with the Class AA West Tennessee DiamondJaxx and rookie-level Pulaski Mariners through the 2012 season. Last month, they extended with the Class A Everett AquaSox through 2012 and the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers through 2014.
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