PHOENIX — The question has been asked repeatedly in recent weeks.
What more do Danny Hultzen and Nick Franklin have left to prove at the Double A level?
The answer: Nothing.
The Mariners two prized prospects will be moving on from the Jackson Generals today and joining the Tacoma Rainiers, a source within the Mariners front office confirmed.
The move will likely be announced sometime today or Thursday. The Mariners wanted to allow both to play in the Southern League All-Star game on Tuesday as a reward for their highly successful first halves to their season.
Hultzen started the game and threw one scoreless inning, recording one strikeout. Franklin went 0-for-2 with a walk.
Hultzen, the Mariners top pitching prospect and second overall pick of the 2011 draft, is 8-3 with a miniscule 1.19 earned-run average in his first season of professional baseball. He is riding a streak of 262/3 scorless innings pitched, and has allowed just five earned runs in his last 711/3 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting just .148 against him during that span. For the season, he’s struck out 79 batters and walked just 32 in 751/3 innings pitched.
Franklin is widely considered to be the Mariners shortstop of the future, possibly the opening day starter for next season. At just 21 years old, he’s rocketed through the Mariners system since being taken with the 27th overall pick of the 2009 draft.
Franklin is hitting .322 (66-for-205) with a .394 on-base percentage and a .502 slugging percentage. He has 17 doubles, four triples and four homers with 26 RBI. He’s also stolen nine bases.
Franklin is probably the Mariners best position player prospect in the organization.
He will join one-time top prospect Carlos Triunfel and veteran Luis Rodriguez. But expect Franklin to see plenty of time at shortstop with some games at second base.
Catching because he’s hitting
Jesus Montero caught for the second straight night. And Mariners manager Eric Wedge made it clear that he’s in there because of his bat.
But that’s not a knock against Montero’s catching. The young catcher is progressing defensively.
“He’s really impressing me with his catching,” Wedge said.
But with the numbers crunch of the playing in a National League park and losing the designated hitter slot, Wedge opted for offense over the experience of Miguel Olivo.
With a day game, Montero will get the day off today. But expect to see him in the lineup in San Diego.
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